Death Speaks

死神說

從前，在巴格達有一名商人，他派了個僕人到市集購買糧食。未幾，僕人折返，他臉色發青、全身顫抖，並告訴他：主人，剛才在市集人叢中有個女人碰一碰我，回頭一看，方發現碰我的原來是死神。她凝視著我，又做手勢恐嚇；現在，請借我一匹馬，好讓我離開這個城市，避一避鋒頭。我會騎馬到莎瑪拉，那麼死神便找我不到了。商人把馬借給他，僕人飛身上馬，兩腿夾緊馬腹，策騎全速前進。之後，商人來到市集，見到我站在人叢之中，於是趨前問道：你今早見到我的僕人，幹麼用手勢恐嚇他？我回答：那不是恐嚇的手勢，不過是我嚇了一跳而已。我很驚訝在巴格達遇見他，畢竟我約好他今晚在莎瑪拉見面。

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me.  She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate.  I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me.  The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.  Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?  That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

最近看完Jeffrey Archer的短篇小說集To Cut A Long Story Short，卷首的第一個短篇並不是他的作品，而是他在世界各地旅行尋找靈感時碰到的一個原是阿拉伯語的小故事。這個故事流傳已久，作者不詳，但卻令JA非常感動，認為是極短篇小說的極致，以致除了把它收進小說集外，他還仿照著這種風格創作了兩個故事（The Letter及Love at First Sight）。

相信是我水平不夠，這無疑是一個有趣的小故事，但卻沒有讓我特別感動，是我忽略了甚麼嗎？