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Talking about Old Nan made him sad.
提起老奶媽令他傷心。
"Do you think the ironmen killed her?"
“你認為鐵民有沒有殺她？”
They hadn't seen her body at Winterfell.
他們在臨冬城沒見到她的尸體，
He didn't remember seeing any women dead, now that he thought back.
回想起來，他不記得看到過任何女人的尸體。
"She never hurt no one, not even Theon.
“她沒傷害過任何人，對席恩也很好。
She just told stories.
她只是講故事。
Theon wouldn't hurt someone like that.
席恩不會傷害她，
Would he?"
對嗎？”
"Some people hurt others just because they can," said Jojen.
“有的人傷害別人只為了炫耀權力，”玖健道。
"And it wasn't Theon who did the killing at Winterfell," said Meera.
“臨冬城大屠殺的元兇不是席恩，”梅拉說，
"Too many of the dead were ironmen."
“因為許多死者正是他手下的鐵民。”
She shifted her frog spear to her other hand.
她將蛙矛換到另一只手。
"Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran.
“記住老奶媽的故事，布蘭，
Remember the way she told them, the sound of her voice.
記住她講故事的方式，記住她的嗓音。
So long as you do that, part of her will always be alive in you."
只要你記得，她的一部分就一直活在你心里。”
"I'll remember," he promised.
“我會的，”他承諾。
They climbed without speaking for a long time, following a crooked game trail over the high saddle between two stony peaks.
然后他們繼續攀爬，沿著彎彎曲曲的狩獵小徑穿越兩座石峰之間高高的鞍部，很長一段時間都沒再說話。
Scrawny soldier pines clung to the slopes around them.
細瘦的士卒松攀附在周圍山坡上，
Far ahead Bran could see the icy glitter of a stream where it tumbled down a mountainside.
前方遠處，一條結了薄冰的河流順著山腰流淌而下。
He found himself listening to Jojen's breathing and the crunch of pine needles under Hodor's feet.
布蘭只聽見玖健的呼吸聲和松針在阿多腳下的吱嘎響。
"Do you know any stories?" he asked the Reeds all of a sudden.
“你們知道什么故事嗎？”他突然問黎德姐弟。
Meera laughed.
梅拉笑道，
"Oh, a few."
“哈，知道一些。”
"A few," her brother admitted.
“知道一些，”她弟弟確認。
"Hodor," said Hodor, humming.
“阿多，”阿多哼哼著。
"You could tell one," said Bran.
“講個故事嘛，”布蘭道，
"While we walked.
“邊走邊講。
Hodor likes stories about knights.
阿多喜歡聽騎士的故事。
I do, too."
我也喜歡。”
"There are no knights in the Neck," said Jojen.
“頸澤沒有騎士，”玖健說。
"Above the water," his sister corrected.
“沒有浮在水面上的騎士，”她姐姐糾正，
"The bogs are full of dead ones, though."
“只有沼澤里的死人。”
"That's true," said Jojen.
“沒錯，”玖健說。
"Andals and ironmen, Freys and other fools, all those proud warriors who set out to conquer Greywater.
“安達爾人、鐵民、佛雷家族和其他傻瓜，所有妄圖征服灰水望的狂徒，
Not one of them could find it.
沒一個找得到它。
They ride into the Neck, but not back out.
他們騎入頸澤，卻再也出不來，
And sooner or later they blunder into the bogs and sink beneath the weight of all that steel and drown there in their armor."
遲早會撞入沼澤，被沉重的鋼鐵拖著沉下去，淹死在盔甲之中。”
The thought of drowned knights under the water gave Bran the shivers.
一想到水下淹死的騎士，布蘭不禁打了個冷戰。
He didn't object, though; he liked the shivers.
但他并不害怕，他喜歡冷戰的感覺。
"There was one knight," said Meera, "in the year of the false spring.
“曾有一位騎士，”梅拉說，“他的故事發生在‘錯誤的春天’。
The Knight of the Laughing Tree, they called him.
人們稱他為‘笑面樹騎士’，
He might have been a crannogman, that one."
他也許是個澤地人。”
"Or not."
“也許不是。”
Jojen's face was dappled with green shadows.
玖健臉上點綴著斑斑駁駁的綠影。
"Prince Bran has heard that tale a hundred times, I'm sure."
“這故事布蘭王子肯定聽過一百遍了。”
"No," said Bran.
“沒有。”布蘭說。
"I haven't.
“我沒聽過。
And if I have it doesn't matter.
就算聽過也沒關系。
Sometimes Old Nan would tell the same story she'd told before, but we never minded, if it was a good story.
有時候老奶媽會反復講以前說過的故事，如果那是個好故事，我們就不介意。
Old stories are like old friends, she used to say.
她常說，老故事就像老朋友，
You have to visit them from time to time."
得時不時拜訪。”
"That's true."
“沒錯。”
Meera walked with her shield on her back, pushing an occasional branch out of the way with her frog spear.
梅拉背著盾牌行走，偶爾用蛙矛撥開擋路的樹枝。
Just when Bran began to think that she wasn't going to tell the story after all, she began,
正當布蘭以為她終究不會講故事時，她開了口，
"Once there was a curious lad who lived in the Neck.
“從前有個好奇的男孩，住在頸澤里，
He was small like all crannogmen, but brave and smart and strong as well.
他像所有的澤地人一樣矮小，也一樣勇敢聰明而強壯。
He grew up hunting and fishing and climbing trees, and learned all the magics of my people."
他自小打獵、捕魚、爬樹，學習族人所有的魔法。”
Bran was almost certain he had never heard this story.
布蘭差不多可以肯定自己沒聽過這個故事。
"Did he have green dreams like Jojen?"
“他做不做玖健那樣的綠色之夢呢？”
"No," said Meera,
“不做，”梅拉說。
"but he could breathe mud and run on leaves, and change earth to water and water to earth with no more than a whispered word.
“但他能在泥沼下呼吸，在樹葉上奔跑，只需低聲輕語，就可以把土地變成水，把水變成土地。
He could talk to trees and weave words and make castles appear and disappear."
他能跟樹木交談，能隔空傳話，能讓城堡出現或者消失。”
"I wish I could," Bran said plaintively.
“希望我也會，”布蘭憂郁地說，
"When does he meet the tree knight?"
“他什么時候遇到樹騎士的？”
Meera made a face at him.
梅拉朝他扮個鬼臉。
"Sooner if a certain prince would be quiet."
“如果某位王子肯安靜的話，很快就遇到了。”
"I was just asking."
“我只問問而已。”
