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第34节

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o relate to you in the next chapter。



CHAPTER VIII AND LAST



〃Come to me; O ye children! For I hear you at your play; And the questions that perplexed me Have vanished quite away。

〃Ye open the Eastern windows; That look towards the sun; Where thoughts are singing swallows; And the brooks of morning run。

* * * * *

〃For what are all our contrivings And the wisdom of our books; When compared with your caresses; And the gladness of your looks?

〃Ye are better than all the ballads That ever were sung or said; For ye are living poems; And all the rest are dead。〃

LONGFELLOW。


Here begins the never…to…be…too…much…studied account of the nine… hundred…and…ninety…ninth part of the wonderful things which Tom saw on his journey to the Other…end…of…Nowhere; which all good little children are requested to read; that; if ever they get to the Other…end…of…Nowhere; as they may very probably do; they may not burst out laughing; or try to run away; or do any other silly vulgar thing which may offend Mrs。 Bedonebyasyoudid。

Now; as soon as Tom had left Peacepool; he came to the white lap of the great sea…mother; ten thousand fathoms deep; where she makes world…pap all day long; for the steam…giants to knead; and the fire…giants to bake; till it has risen and hardened into mountain… loaves and island…cakes。

And there Tom was very near being kneaded up in the world…pap; and turned into a fossil water…baby; which would have astonished the Geological Society of New Zealand some hundreds of thousands of years hence。

For; as he walked along in the silence of the sea…twilight; on the soft white ocean floor; he was aware of a hissing; and a roaring; and a thumping; and a pumping; as of all the steam…engines in the world at once。  And; when he came near; the water grew boiling…hot; not that that hurt him in the least:  but it also grew as foul as gruel; and every moment he stumbled over dead shells; and fish; and sharks; and seals; and whales; which had been killed by the hot water。

And at last he came to the great sea…serpent himself; lying dead at the bottom; and as he was too thick to scramble over; Tom had to walk round him three…quarters of a mile and more; which put him out of his path sadly; and; when he had got round; he came to the place called Stop。  And there he stopped; and just in time。

For he was on the edge of a vast hole in the bottom of the sea; up which was rushing and roaring clear steam enough to work all the engines in the world at once; so clear; indeed; that it was quite light at moments; and Tom could see almost up to the top of the water above; and down below into the pit for nobody knows how far。

But; as soon as he bent his head over the edge; he got such a rap on the nose from pebbles; that he jumped back again; for the steam; as it rushed up; rasped away the sides of the hole; and hurled it up into the sea in a shower of mud and gravel and ashes; and then it spread all around; and sank again; and covered in the dead fish so fast; that before Tom had stood there five minutes he was buried in silt up to his ankles; and began to be afraid that he should have been buried alive。

And perhaps he would have been; but that while he was thinking; the whole piece of ground on which he stood was torn off and blown upwards; and away flew Tom a mile up through the sea; wondering what was coming next。

At last he stopped … thump! and found himself tight in the legs of the most wonderful bogy which he had ever seen。

It had I don't know how many wings; as big as the sails of a windmill; and spread out in a ring like them; and with them it hovered over the steam which rushed up; as a ball hovers over the top of a fountain。  And for every wing above it had a leg below; with a claw like a comb at the tip; and a nostril at the root; and in the middle it had no stomach and one eye; and as for its mouth; that was all on one side; as the madreporiform tubercle in a star… fish is。  Well; it was a very strange beast; but no stranger than some dozens which you may see。

〃What do you want here;〃 it cried quite peevishly; 〃getting in my way?〃 and it tried to drop Tom:  but he held on tight to its claws; thinking himself safer where he was。

So Tom told him who he was; and what his errand was。  And the thing winked its one eye; and sneered:

〃I am too old to be taken in in that way。  You are come after gold … I know you are。〃

〃Gold!  What is gold?〃  And really Tom did not know; but the suspicious old bogy would not believe him。

But after a while Tom began to understand a little。  For; as the vapours came up out of the hole; the bogy smelt them with his nostrils; and combed them and sorted them with his combs; and then; when they steamed up through them against his wings; they were changed into showers and streams of metal。  From one wing fell gold…dust; and from another silver; and from another copper; and from another tin; and from another lead; and so on; and sank into the soft mud; into veins and cracks; and hardened there。  Whereby it comes to pass that the rocks are full of metal。

But; all of a sudden; somebody shut off the steam below; and the hole was left empty in an instant:  and then down rushed the water into the hole; in such a whirlpool that the bogy spun round and round as fast as a teetotum。  But that was all in his day's work; like a fair fall with the hounds; so all he did was to say to Tom …

〃Now is your time; youngster; to get down; if you are in earnest; which I don't believe。〃

〃You'll soon see;〃 said Tom; and away he went; as bold as Baron Munchausen; and shot down the rushing cataract like a salmon at Ballisodare。

And; when he got to the bottom; he swam till he was washed on shore safe upon the Other…end…of…Nowhere; and he found it; to his surprise; as most other people do; much more like This…End…of… Somewhere than he had been in the habit of expecting

And first he went through Waste…paper…land; where all the stupid books lie in heaps; up hill and down dale; like leaves in a winter wood; and there he saw people digging and grubbing among them; to make worse books out of bad ones; and thrashing chaff to save the dust of it; and a very good trade they drove thereby; especially among children。

Then he went by the sea of slops; to the mountain of messes; and the territory of tuck; where the ground was very sticky; for it was all made of bad toffee (not Everton toffee; of course); and full of deep cracks and holes choked with wind…fallen fruit; and green goose…berries; and sloes; and crabs; and whinberries; and hips and haws; and all the nasty things which little children will eat; if they can get them。  But the fairies hide them out of the way in that country as fast as they can; and very hard work they have; and of very little use it is。  For as fast as they hide away the old trash; foolish and wicked people make fresh trash full of lime and poisonous paints; and actually go and steal receipts out of old Madame Science's big book to invent poisons for little children; and sell them at wakes and fairs and tuck…shops。  Very well。  Let them go on。  Dr。 Letheby and Dr。 Hassall cannot catch them; though they are setting traps for them all day long。  But the Fairy with the birch…rod will catch them all in time; and make them begin at one corner of their shops; and eat their way out at the other:  by which time they will have got such stomach…aches as will cure them of poisoning little children。

Next he saw all the little people in the world; writing all the little books in the world; about all the other little people in the world; probably because they had no great people to write about: and if the names of the books were not Squeeky; nor the Pump… lighter; nor the Narrow Narrow World; nor the Hills of the Chattermuch; nor the Children's Twaddeday; why then they were something else。  And; all the rest of the little people in the world read the books; and thought themselves each as good as the President; and perhaps they were right; for every one knows his own business best。  But Tom thought he would sooner have a jolly good fairy tale; about Jack the Giant…killer or Beauty and the Beast; which taught him something that he didn't know already。

And next he came to the centre of Creation (the hub; they call it there); which lies in latitude 42。21 degrees south; and longitude 108。56 degrees east。

And there he found all the wise people instructing mankind in the science of spirit…rapping; while their house was burning over their heads:  and when Tom told them of the fire; they held an indignation meeting forthwith; and unanimously determined to hang Tom's dog for coming into their country with gunpowder in his mouth。  Tom couldn't help saying that though they did fancy they had carried all the wit away with them out of Lincolnshire two hundred years ago; yet if they had had one such Lincolnshire nobleman among them as good old Lord Yarborough; he would have called for the fire…engines before he hanged other people's dogs。 But it was of no use; and the dog was hanged:  and Tom couldn't even have his carcase; for they had abolished the have…his…carcase act in that country; for fear lest when rogues fell out; honest men should come by their own。  And so they would have su

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