《鸟的天堂》 巴金

A Paradise of the Birds

Ba Jin

After we finished dinner at Chen’s little school, the heat of the day had already diminished. The sun retreated behind the hills, leaving brightly colored clouds hanging in the sky, over the hills and trees.

“Let’s go boating!” Chen proposed, as we watched the mountain view by the pond in front of the school gate.

“Great,” the rest of the group answered enthusiastically.

We walked through a gravel path, and before long we reached the bank, where a pavilion stood made of straw. Filing through the pavilion, we found several small boats anchored under two big trees along the bank.

One after another, we hopped into one of the boats. One friend loosened the rope, pushed the bamboo pole against the bank, which moved the boat to the center of the river.

Three friends were rowing; Ye and I were sitting in the middle, enjoying ourselves in the scenery surrounding us.

In the distance a pagoda was erected on the top of a hill, surrounded by many green trees. It was rare to see such a pagoda, and over there it was the hometown of my friend Ye.
The river was wide, the water glistening without a ripple. The boat was steadily floating on the water, the three oars pulling in rhythm.

Then the river narrowed at a certain point. Clusters of leaves stretched out touching the water’s surface. The leaves were in a lovely green color. There seemed to be many lush banyan trees, but I couldn’t make out where the main trunks of the trees were.

My friends immediately corrected me as I referred to them as being many banyan trees. One of them said it was only one banyan, and another said there were two. I had seen many enormous banyans before, but it was the first time I saw such a gigantic one.

As the boat drew nearer to the banyan, I finally got a good look at it. This was a huge tree, with countless branches, on which grew aerial prop roots. Many of the roots were dangling to the ground, some all the way into the soil. There were branches hanging above the water. Seen from a distance, the tree seemed to be reposed on the water.

It was in the lush season (the tree bearing little fruits, many of which had fallen.) The banyan seemed to showcase its vibrant life energy to us. There were many leaves, clusters over clusters, with not even a tiny hole existing. The emerald green shining brightly in front of our eyes, it was like on each leaf there was a new life dancing. What a tree it is growing in the beautiful southern part of China!

The boat was moored under the tree for a moment, but we didn’t get onto the bank because it was so wet. A friend said it was known as the ‘paradise of the birds’ here. The local peasants forbade anyone to catch these birds. I thought I had heard some sounds of flapping wings, but by the time I shifted my eyes to that direction, I didn’t see any birds. There were many roots sticking out on the ground, looking like stakes. The soil was wet, perhaps for the tides frequently washed onto the shore. There were no birds in the “paradise of the birds,” I thought. The boat moved again, as a friend pushed the boat, and it drifted to the center of the river.

Along the path in the crop fields on the shore there were some litchi trees, with clusters of the red weighty fruits hiding among the leaves. Our boat was heading towards there. A friend pulled the boat into a ditch with an oar. We moored the boat at the path, and jumped onto the bank.

Two friends swiftly climbed up the trees, throwing down several clusters of litchis with leaves. Chen, Ye and I were down below catching them. After they came down, we ate the litchis as we headed back to the boat.

On the following day, we boated to Ye’s hometown, the place we had seen the hills and the pagoda. Setting off from Chen’s little school, we passed the ‘paradise of the birds’ again.

This time it was morning, and the sun was pouring over the water, as well as the branches. Everything was extremely bright. We stopped under the tree for a moment.
It was very quiet at first, but then a burst of chirps broke the silence. Chen clapped his hands, and we saw a big bird flying over, then a second, and a third. We continued to clap, and soon the woods became very boisterous. Bird chirps were all over the place, and so were the birds, the big ones, small ones, variegated ones and black ones. Some perched on the branches, chirping; some were flying up; some were flapping their wings.

I busied myself by watching them. Just as I saw this one clearly, I already missed the other one, and when I turned my eyes to the second one, the third one had flown off. A thrush flew out, but was startled by our clapping and then turned back into the woods. It stopped at a thin branch, and started to sing enthusiastically. The sounds were so beautiful.

“Let’s go.” Ye rushed me to leave.

As the boat was floating to the village under the pagoda, I kept turning back to look at the lush banyan left behind. I felt a little melancholy to leave this place. Yesterday, I was cheated by my eyes. The “paradise of the birds” is a real paradise for the birds!

June, 1933 in Guangzhou.

鸟的天堂

巴金

　　我们在陈的小学校里吃了晚饭。热气已经退了。太阳落下了山坡，只留下一段灿烂的红霞在天边，在山头，在树梢。
　　“我们划船去！”陈提议说。我们正站在学校门前池子旁边看山景。
　　“好，”别的朋友高兴地接口说。
　　我们走过一段石子路，很快地就到了河边。那里有—个茅草搭的水阁。穿过水阁，在河边两棵大树下我们找到了几只小船。
　　我们陆续跳在一只船上。一个朋友解开绳子，拿起竹竿一拨，船缓缓地动了，向河中间流去。
　　三个朋友划着船，我和叶坐在船中望四周的景致。
　　远远地一座塔耸立在山坡上，许多绿树拥抱着它。在这附近很少有那样的塔，那里就是朋友叶的家乡。
　　河面很宽，白茫茫的水上没有波浪。船平静地在水面流动。三只桨有规律地在水里拨动。
　　在一个地方河面变窄了。一簇簇的绿叶伸到水面来。树叶绿得可爱。这是许多棵茂盛的榕树，但是我看不出树干在什么地方。
　　我说许多棵榕树的时候，我的错误马上就给朋友们纠正了，一个朋友说那里只有一棵榕树，另一个朋友说那里的榕树是两棵。我见过不少的大榕树，但是像这样大的榕树我却是第一次看见。
　　我们的船渐渐地逼近榕树了。我有了机会看见它的真面目：是一棵大树，有着数不清的桠枝，枝上又生根，有许多根一直垂到地上，进了泥土里。一部分的树枝垂到水面，从远处看，就像一棵大树躺在水上一样。
　　现在正是枝叶繁茂的时节（树上已经结了小小的果子，而且有许多落下来了。）这棵榕树好像在把它的全部生命力展览给我们看。那么多的绿叶，一簇堆在另一 簇上面，不留一点缝隙。翠绿的颜色明亮地在我们的眼前闪耀，似乎每一片树叶上都有一个新的生命在颤动，这美丽的南国的树！
　　船在树下泊了片刻，岸上很湿，我们没有上去。朋友说这里是“鸟的天堂”，有许多只鸟在这棵树上做窝，农民不许人捉它们。我仿佛听见几只鸟扑 翅的声音，但是等到我的眼睛注意地看那里时，我却看不见一只鸟的影子。只有无数的树根立在地上，像许多根木桩。地是湿的，大概涨潮时河水常常冲上岸去。 “鸟的天堂”里没有一只鸟，我这样想道。船开了。一个朋友拨着船，缓缓地流到河中间去。
　　在河边田畔的小径里有几棵荔枝树。绿叶丛中垂着累累的红色果子。我们的船就往那里流去。一个朋友拿起桨把船拨进一条小沟。在小径旁边，船停住了，我们都跳上了岸。
　　两个朋友很快地爬到树上去，从树上抛下几枝带叶的荔枝，我同陈和叶三个人站在树下接。等到他们下地以后，我们大家一面吃荔枝，一面走回船上去。
　　第二天我们划着船到叶的家乡去，就是那个有山有塔的地方。从陈的小学校出发，我们又经过那个“鸟的天堂”。
　　这一次是在早晨，阳光照在水面上，也照在树梢。一切都显得非常明亮。我们的船也在树下泊了片刻。
　　起初四周非常清静。后来忽然起了一声鸟叫。朋友陈把手一拍，我们便看见一只大鸟飞起来，接着又看见第二只，第三只。我们继续拍掌。很快地这个树林变得很热闹了。到处都是鸟声，到处都是鸟影。大的，小的，花的，黑的，有的站在枝上叫，有的飞起来，有的在扑翅膀。
　　我注意地看。我的眼睛真是应接不暇，看清楚这只，又看漏了那只，看见了那只，第三只又飞走了。一只画眉飞了出来，给我们的拍掌声一惊，又飞进树林，站在一根小枝上兴奋地唱着，它的歌声真好听。
　　“走吧，”叶催我道。
　　小船向着高塔下面的乡村流去的时候，我还回过头去看留在后面的茂盛的榕树。我有一点的留恋的心情。昨天我的眼睛骗了我。“鸟的天堂”的确是鸟的天堂啊！

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　1933的6月在广州