"But I don't think thou wilt be able to at present. I don't know exactly what's the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the house; a sort of sick, and yet he don't look so. In fact, he ain't sick; but no, he isn't well either. Any how, young man, he won't always see me, so I don't suppose he will thee. He's a queer man, Captain Ahab-so some think-but a good one. Oh, thou'lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He's a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab's above the common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain't Captain Bildad; no, and he ain't Captain Peleg; he's Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king!"
"不過,我認為你現在要見他是辦不到的。我也不很清楚他是怎么一回事;但是,他一直是足不出戶;也許生病,可又不很象生病。事實上,他不是生病;不過,不,他身體可也不很好。總之,小伙子,他跟我也不常見面,因此,我認為他也不會見你。他是個怪人,亞哈船長...有人這么看法...不過,他卻是個好人。啊,你一定會很喜歡他;別擔心,別擔心。亞哈船長么,他是個偉大的,不敬神卻又象神似的人物;他不多說話;不過,等到他一開口,那你就得好好聽他。要記住,我事先警告你;亞哈是跟普通人不同的;亞哈曾經進過許多大學堂,也到過好些吃人生番的地方;他一向習慣于比海浪還更深奧的奇跡;他那支激烈的魚槍曾經打中比大鯨還要有力與奇特的仇敵。他的魚槍呵!說起敏捷和準確來,真是我們島上數一數二的啊,他不是比勒達船長;不,他也不是法勒船長;他就是亞哈,朋友;那個古代的亞哈,你知道,是一個君王呀!"
"And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?"
"而且是個十惡不赦的人。當那個邪惡的王給刺死了的時候,狗可不是都去舔他的血么?"
"Come hither to me-hither, hither," said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost startled me. "Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself.Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove prophetic.
"到這邊來....這邊,這邊,"法勒說道,眼睛閃出一股意味深長的神色,簡直要把我給嚇呆了。"記住,小伙子;這些話可千萬別在裴廓德號上說。也別在隨便什么地方亂說。亞哈船長這個名字并不是他自己取的。這是他那個癡癡呆呆的守寡母親的愚蠢無知的怪念頭。她在他只有十二個月的時候就死了。然而這個該黑特老太婆蒂斯蒂克,卻說這名字總會證明是有預見性的。
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