【赫临译笔】小驼背3 - 心云驛站

“尊敬的先生，”他开口说：“您要绞死的这个回教徒不该去死。我才是有罪的。昨天晚上一对陌生男女来敲我家的门，给我送来一个病人。仆人开了门，但由于天黑，没能看清他们的脸，仆人欣然同意叫醒我，并递给我诊费。当仆人向我叙述情况时，他们似乎把病人抬到楼梯顶部，把他放在那了。我没有等拿来灯笼，就匆忙地赶出来，在黑暗中，我绊到了什么东西。这个东西就头朝下顺着楼梯滚了下去，一直滚到底部。我检查了一下，发现他已经死了。我被自己所做的事吓坏了，就和妻子一起把尸体搬到屋顶，让它顺着邻居的烟囱滑了下去，就是您刚才要绞死的那个承办商。承办商在他的房间里发现了这个人，自然认为他是个小偷，一下把他打倒在地，他就一动不动地躺在地板上。承办商俯身一检查，发现他死了。他就以为这个人是被自己打死的。但这当然是个错误，通过我的叙述，你该明白我才是凶手。虽然我没有犯罪动机，但我同样还是应该因此而受罚。否则，身背两个回教徒的血债，我会良心不安。因此，我请求您，放了这个人，让我代替他去死，因为我才有罪。”

“噢，大人，”他转向警察局长，大声喊道：“您差点要了三个无辜人的性命！如果您有耐心听听我的故事，您就会明白谁才是真正的凶手。如果有个人要接受惩罚，这个人应该是我！昨天黄昏，我正在店里轻松地工作，这时，一个喝得烂醉的小驼背走过来，坐在门口。他唱了几首歌，后来，我请他到我家过夜。他接受了邀请，我俩一起离开。晚餐，我请他吃了一块鱼，吃时，一根刺卡在他喉咙里，虽然我们做了该做的，但几分钟后，他还是死了。他的死令我们非常难过，但害怕我们需要承担责任，我们就把他的尸体搬到了犹太医生的家里。我敲了门，要仆人尽快请医生下来看我们带来的病人，为了让她加快速度，我们给了她一块钱作为诊费。她立刻就消失了，我把尸体拖到楼梯顶部，就和妻子匆忙回了家。医生在下楼时不小心撞上了尸体，发现他死了，一定认为自己是凶手。现在你知道了真相，放了他，让我替他去死。”
警察局长和观众深感惊讶，沉浸在小驼背之死所引发的奇遇中。

“陛下，”他们说：“这个小驼背喝多了酒，从王宫里跑出去，到大街上去逛，今天上午发现他已经死了。一个人因造成他的死亡而被捕，他被关押起来，等着竖起一个绞刑架。就在刚要行刑时，来了一个人，接着又来了一个人，每个人都说自己是凶手，这持续了很长时间，此时此刻，警察局长正忙着询问声明他才是真正凶手的那个人。”

苏丹王听到这里，立刻命令传达员去把警察局长，以及所有与小驼背之死有关的人员都带来，还要带上小驼背的尸体，他想再看一眼。传达员匆匆去了，他赶到的很及时，裁缝的身体正在空中摇晃。他的声音打破了人群的沉默，他命令放下裁缝。刽子手认识传达员是国王的人，他放下了裁缝。见裁缝已没事，传达员找到警察局长，传达了苏丹王的命令。因此，警察局长立刻动身去王宫，他带上裁缝，医生，承办商还有富商，富商肩上扛着小驼背的死尸。

"Worshipful sir," he began, "this Mussulman whom you desireto hang is unworthy of death; I alone am guilty. Last night a man and a womanwho were strangers to me knocked at my door, bringing with them a patient forme to cure. The servant opened it, but having no light was hardly able to makeout their faces, though she readily agreed to wake me and to hand me the feefor my services. While she was telling me her story they seem to have carriedthe sick man to the top of the staircase and then left him there. I jumped upin a hurry without waiting for a lantern, and in the darkness I fell againstsomething, which tumbled headlong down the stairs and never stopped till itreached the bottom. When I examined the body I found it was quite dead, and the corpse was that of a hunchback Mussulman.Terrified at what we had done, my wife and I took the body on the roof and letit down the chimney of our neighbour the purveyor,whom you were just about to hang. The purveyor, finding him in his room,naturally thought he was a thief, and struck him such a blow that the man fell down and lay motionless on the floor. Stooping to examine him, and finding him stone dead, the purveyor supposed that the man had died from the blow he hadreceived; but of course this was a mistake, as you will see from my account,and I only am the murderer; and although I am innocent of any wish to commit acrime, I must suffer for it all the same, or else have the blood of two Musselmans on my conscience. Therefore send away this man, I pray you, and letme take his place, as it is I who am guilty."

On hearing the declaration of the Jewish doctor, the chief of policecommanded that he should be led to the gallows,and the Sultan's purveyor go free. The cord was placed round the Jew's neck,and his feet had already ceased to touch the ground when the voice of thetailor was heard beseeching theexecutioner to pause one moment and to listen to what he had to say.

"Oh, my lord," he cried, turning to the chief of police,"how nearly have you caused the death of three innocent people! But if youwill only have the patience to listen to my tale, you shall know who is thereal culprit. If some onehas to suffer, it must be me! Yesterday, at dusk, I was working in my shop witha light heart when the little hunchback, who was more than half drunk, came andsat in the doorway. He sang me several songs, and then I invited him to finishthe evening at my house. He accepted my invitation, and we went away together.At supper I helped him to a slice of fish, but in eating it a bone stuck in histhroat, and in spite of all we could do he died in a few minutes. We felt deeply sorry for his death, but fearing lest we should be held responsible, wecarried the corpse to the house of the Jewish doctor. I knocked, and desiredthe servant to beg her master to come down as fast as possible and see a sickman whom we had brought for him to cure; and in order to hasten his movements Iplaced a piece of money in her hand as the doctor's fee. Directly she haddisappeared I dragged the body to the top of the stairs, and then hurried awaywith my wife back to our house. In descending the stairs the doctor accidentally knocked over the corpse, and finding him dead believed that hehimself was the murderer. But now you know the truth set him free, and let medie in his stead."

"Sire," replied they, "the hunchback having drunk more than was good for him, escaped from the palace and was seen wandering about thetown, where this morning he was found dead. A man was arrested for havingcaused his death, and held in custody till a gallows was erected. At the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves of the murder, and this went on for a longtime, and at the present instant the chief of police is engaged in questioninga man who declares that he alone is the true assassin."

The Sultan of Kashgar no sooner heard these words than he ordered an usherto go to the chief of police and to bring all the persons concerned in the hunchback's death, together with the corpse, that he wished to see once again.The usher hastened on his errand, but was only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging in the air, when his voice fell upon the silence of thecrowd, commanding the hangman to cut down the body. The hangman, recognising the usher as one of the king's servants, cut down the tailor, and the usher,seeing the man was safe, sought the chief of police and gave him the Sultan'smessage. Accordingly, the chief of police at once set out for the palace,taking with him the tailor, the doctor, the purveyor, and the merchant, whobore the dead hunchback on their shoulders.

When the procession reached the palace the chief of police prostrated himself at the feet ofthe Sultan, and related all that he knew of the matter. The Sultan was so muchstruck by the circumstances that he ordered his private historian to write down an exact account of what had passed, so that in the years to come themiraculous escape of the four men who had thought themselves murderers mightnever be forgotten.