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When Lu Xun Was a Child
by Wang Shijing
As a child, Lu Xun was in the charge of a nurse called Mama Chang. She was an honest country woman. At first she must have been a young widow in the countryside, who went to town to seek a living for herself after her husband died and she lost her land. Nobody knew what her name was. As Lu Xun’s grandmother called her “Achang”, other people also called her by the same name. but the children usually called her “Mama Chang”. She was so full of mysterious lore and had so many rules of behavior that the children sometimes found her quite puzzling. For instance, if someone died, you should not say he was dead but “he has passed away”. You should not enter a room where someone had died or a child had been born. If a grain of rice fell to the ground, you should pick it up, and the best thing was to eat it. On no account must you walk under the bamboo pole on which trousers or pants were hanging out to dry. She would not let the children get up to mischief. If they pulled up a weed or turned over a stone, she would say they were naughty and threaten to tell their mother. In the beginning, the children did not think much of her. Lu Xun was especially angry with her when she inadvertently stepped on and killed his favorite little mouse. However, one thing which unexpectedly made Lu Xun feel respect for her was that she often told the children stories of the “Long Hairs” (the Taiping Rebellion). Another thing which inspired Lu Xun with a still greater respect for her was that she was able to produce from nobody knew where an illustrated edition of the Book of Hills and Seas, which Lu Xun had been longing for day and night.
Lu Xun had been longing for an illustrated copy of the Book of Hills and Seas for sometime. The whole business started with a distant great-uncle named Yutian, who was living in the same compound. A fat and kindly old man, he liked to grow flowers such as chloranthus and jasmine. The old man was a lonely soul with no one to talk to, so he like the children’s company and often even called them his “young friends”. He owned a big collection of books, one of which was called The Mirror of Flowers with many beautiful illustrations of flowers and trees. The children found this book most attractive. But the old man told them that the illustrated edition of the Book of Hills and Seas was even more attractive, with pictures of man-faced beasts, nine-headed snakes, three-footed birds, winged men and headless monsters who used their teats as eyes… Unfortunately, he happened to have mislaid it. Eager as they were to look at the book with such strange pictures, the children did not like to press him to find it. None of the people the children asked knew where to get it, and the children had no idea where they could buy it themselves. The main street was a long way from their home, and the New Year holiday was the only time in the year when they were able to go there to look around, but during that period the bookshops were closed. As long as the children were playing, it was not so bad, but the moment they sat down they would think of the Book of Hills and Seas. Probably because Lu Xun harped on the subject so much, even Achang got wind of it and started asking what this Book of Hills and Seas was. Lu Xun then told her about it.
About a fortnight or a month later, Mama Chang came back after some leave at home and the moment she saw Lu Xun, she handed him a package. “Here, son!” she said cheerfully. “I’ve bought you that Book of Holy Seas with pictures.” What an unexpected piece of news! To young Lu Xun it was even more thrilling than the New Year holiday or a festival. He hastened to take the package and unwrap the paper. There were four small volumes and, sure enough, the man-faced beast, the nine-headed snake… all of them were there. Although the paper was yellow and the drawings very poor-so much so that even the animals’ eyes were oblong, and both the engraving and printing were very crude, nevertheless, it was Lu Xun’s most treasured book. Later, in a highly impassioned essay Lu Xun paid tribute to this country woman of peasant origin and described his own deep affection for her.
The book was indeed something extraordinary. Lu Xun received it from Mama Chang’s hands along with her incomparably deep affection for him. It touched the young Lu Xun more deeply than any other book he had read.
注释
(1) “她懂得许多莫名其妙的道理”，译为 She was so full of mysterious lore，其中 lore 的意思是“口头传说或信仰”。此句根据上下文也可译为 She was so full of superstitious beliefs。
(2) “她不许孩子们乱走动”意即“她不许孩子们调皮捣蛋”，不宜按字面直译。现把它译为 She would not let the children get up to mischief，其中动词短语 to get up to 作“干（不好的事）解”。
(3) “她不知从什么地方替鲁迅找到了……”译为 she was able to produce from nobody knew where…，其中 nobody knew where 作名词用，是介词 from 的宾语。而 to produce 在此作“出示”、“拿出”解。
(4) “台门”即“院落”，现译为 compound。
(5) “叔祖”可译为 great-uncle 或 granduncle。
(6) “连长妈妈也知道了”译为 even Achang got wind of it，其中 got wind of 是成语，作“听到……的消息”解。
(7) “哥儿”译为 son，是英语中年长者对男孩或年轻男子的亲昵称呼。根据上下文，“哥儿”在此可译为 young master。 |
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