睡前聽故事｜Katie女巫系列之「Katie和一隻會說話的貓」（附音頻哦~）

Katie and the Cat Who Talked

Katie和會說話的貓

Every Saturday, not far from where Katie lived, there was a market. Farmers came into town and set up their stalls in a car park.

每個周六，離Katie住的地方不遠，有一個超市。農民從鎮上來，在一個停車場擺攤。

They sold the tastiest apples, the freshest eggs, and all sorts of vegetables that still had the mud from the fields on them.

他們出售最好吃的蘋果，最新鮮的雞蛋，各種各樣還帶著霜的蔬菜。

Katie liked to go there with her mum who looked for unusual herbs like sorrel, angelica and coltsfoot. Sometimes she made spells with these herbs, but quite often she just put them in her soups.

Katie喜歡和媽媽一起去尋找一些不同尋常的藥草，例如掌葉大黃、當歸和款冬。有時候她用這些藥草製作咒語，但是大多數時候只是用來做湯。

One morning, as they were leaving the market, they passed an old lady who was standing on the corner holding a wicker basket.

一天早上，她們正要離開市場的時候，路過一個站在角落裡的老婦人，她拿著一個柳條籃子。

「Little girl, do you want to see what I have inside this basket?」 she asked.

老婦人問：「小姑娘，你想看看我的籃子里有什麼嗎？」

Katie was a bit afraid, because she thought that perhaps she had something bad in the basket, like apples that were poisonous.

Katie有點害怕，因為她覺得籃子里可能有什麼不好的東西，像是有毒的蘋果。

Besides, she knew that she must never speak to strangers. But then she heard a little sound.

除此之外，她知道不能跟陌生人說話。但是之後她聽見一個聲音。

「Mee-ow.」

「喵。」

「Oh Mum, can we look please?」 she asked.

「媽媽，我們能看看嗎？」她問。

Katie's mum was curious to see too. The old lady pulled back the cloth, and they saw that inside the basket, four little kittens were clambering over each other.

Katie的媽媽也很好奇想看看。老婦人把籃子上的布拉開，她們看見籃子里有四隻小貓互相依偎。

「Oh please, they are so cute, Mum can we have one?」

「哦天啊，他們太可愛了，媽媽我們能養一隻嗎？」

Mum shook her head.

媽媽搖了搖頭。

「Oh please, please, can we have a kitten? I want one so much. I promise to look after it and besides,」 she whispered, 「a cat could help me with my magic.」

「求求你了，我們養一隻吧？我特別想要一隻。我保證照顧它，再說一隻貓也能對我的魔法有幫助。」Katie悄悄地說。

One of the kittens was black. Mum picked it up by the scruff on the back of its neck – the way a mother cat picks up her kittens.

其中一隻小貓是黑色的。媽媽拎著小貓脖子後面的皮把它拎起來，就像貓媽媽拎著自己的孩子一樣。

She examined it closely and made sure that he was completely black without even the smallest white mark on its paws.

她近看仔細檢查，確保小貓是純黑色的，爪子上也沒有小白點。

「All right,」 she said. 「We'll buy this one.」

「好的，我們就買這隻了。」媽媽說。

Back at home, the fluffy little creature did loads of incredibly cute things like playing with a ball of wool, looking in the mirror and thinking there was another cat there, and climbing in and out of Katie's shoe.

回到家，毛茸茸的小傢伙做了很多很可愛的事情，像玩毛線球，看著鏡子里的自己以為是另一隻貓，從Katie的鞋裡爬進爬出。

「Mum, what sort of magic can cats do?」 asked Katie.

「媽媽，貓能有哪種魔法？」Katie問。

「Cats are very clever and can be your ears and eyes,」 said Mum. 「But you must be very careful. Cats don't have much tact. They can get you into all sorts of trouble.」

「貓很聰明，能做你的耳朵和眼睛。」媽媽說。「但是你必須非常小心。貓沒有太多的智力，他們能給你帶來各種麻煩。」

「By my cat's clever,」 said Katie. She picked up her kitten and kissed him. 「I shall call you Solomon,」 she said. 「Because you are so much wiser than ordinary cats.」

Katie抱起她的小貓親吻它，說「因為你的聰明，我給你起名字叫Solomon。因為你比普通的貓都聰明。」

The months passed and Solomon grew up into a serious young cat who liked to sit and watch Katie do her homework.

幾個月過去了，Solomon長成了一隻年輕的貓咪，它喜歡坐著看Katie做作業。

He often went out for long walks on his own, and Katie wondered where he wandered and what he saw.

他常常獨自出去散步，Katie很好奇他去哪了，看到了什麼。

「Wouldn't it be nice to ask him?」 she thought. And then she had an idea.

「問他會不會不太好？」Katie想，然後她想到一個好主意。

She went into her mother's room and pulled down a volume from the Encyclopedia of Magic. There were some spells in there that were so secret that they weren't even on the internet yet.

Katie進媽媽的房間，從魔法百科全書中拉下一卷。裡面有一些咒語非常隱秘，甚至在網上都找不到。

She turned through the pages of magic instructions that began with 「C」 and she found the one that looked the most promising for her purpose. It was called 「Cat's Tongue」.

她打開了以C開頭的魔法介紹頁，她找到了那個看起來最有希望的咒語，叫做「貓的舌頭」。

Katie went out into the garden to pick some catnip. She said a magic spell over it, and came back in to the kitchen to give it to Solomon. He purred appreciatively because there was nothing that he liked more than catnip.

Katie來到花園，找到一些貓薄荷，對著它念了一些咒語，然後回到廚房，把貓薄荷給了Solomon。他很高興，因為沒有什麼比貓薄荷更喜歡的了。

「Now Solomon,」 said Katie, 「can you tell me where you went on your walk today and what you saw?」

「現在Solomon，你能告訴我你今天去哪了，看到什麼了嗎？」Katie問。

「Murrrrr,」 said Solomon.

Solomon叫到：「喵喵喵……」

「I'm afraid I don't understand cat talk,」 said Katie.

「恐怕我聽不懂貓語，」Katie說。

「I was just thinking,」 said Solomon, 「what to tell you first. Would you like to know about the mouse that I caught and ate for breakfast?」

Solomon說：「我在想，應該先告訴你什麼。你想知道我捉到了一直老鼠，然後把它當早餐吃了嗎？」

「Not really.」

「不太想。」

「Or would you like to know about the oak tree where I sharpen my claws?」

「或者你想知道我磨爪子的那顆橡樹嗎？」

「Not especially.」

「不是特別想。」

「Then shall I tell you who I saw with your friend Isis?」

「那麼我應該告訴你我看見你的朋友Isis和誰在一起嗎？」

「Yes,」 said Katie. 「That would be rather more interesting.」

「是的，」Katie說。「那一定非常有趣。」

「I saw Isis sitting in her garden with Tim eating ice creams, and do you know what? They kissed!」

「我看到Isis坐在她的花園裡，和Tim一起吃冰淇淋，你知道嗎？他們親親了！」

「Huh! They didn't?」

「啊，他們真的親了？」

「They did. I saw it.」

「親了，我看見了。」

And Katie was so excited that she couldn't wait to tell everyone at school all about Isis and Tim, but of course she wasn't going to tell Isis or Tim themselves, because they obviously already knew about it.

Katie太興奮了，她等不及要告訴學校所有的人，Isis和Tim的事，但是她不能告訴Isis和Tim，顯然他們已經知道這件事。

「Wow, you don't say!」 said Emma.

「哇，是真的嗎？」Emma說。

「Ugh, how could she? He has blackheads on his nose,」 exclaimed Jane.

「啊，她怎麼能選Tim，他的鼻子上有黑頭。」Jane大叫。

「But how do you know?」 asked Ravinia.

「但是你是怎麼知道的？」Ravinia問。

As Katie couldn't say how she knew, because her talking cat was meant to be a secret, so she just said that she saw it all with her own eyes.

Katie不能說她是怎麼知道的，因為她的會說話的貓是一個秘密，所以她只能說她自己看見的。

The next day, when Katie came home, she found Solomon sleeping on top of a pile of laundry.

第二天，當Katie回家時，她發現Solomon睡在一堆衣服上。

「Solomon, wake up you sleepy moggy! What did you see today?」

「Solomon，快醒來！你今天看到了什麼？」

「Well,」 he said with a stretch and a yawn, 「I was walking along the top of the school wall when I saw your friend Isis again. She was talking to Ravinia and she said that you were a spy and a tell-tale-tit.」

「好吧，」他伸著懶腰打著哈欠，「我在學校的圍牆上面走著，又看見你的朋友Isis。她正在跟Rivinia說話，她說你是個間諜，專門編造故事。」

「She didn't!」 exclaimed Katie with great indignation.

「她不能這樣！」Katie非常生氣地大叫。

「Of course, you don't have to believe me if you don't want to.」

「當然，如果你不想，你不用相信我。」

「I do believe you Solomon. I just meant, like, how dare she say a thing like that? She's my friend. Well you know what? I'm not speaking to her anymore.」

「我真的相信你Solomon。我只是想說，她怎麼敢這麼說？她是我的朋友。你知道嗎？我不會再跟她說話了。」

And for the rest of the week at school, Isis and Katie pretended not to notice each other, even though they were normally the best of friends.

在學校的剩餘時間裡，Isis和Katie假裝互不關心，即使他們曾是最好的朋友。

When they weren't falling out with each other, Isis and Katie would share secrets and problems, and quite often, when they got home from school, they would chatter on the phone because they liked each other's company so much.

當他們互相不爭吵時，Isis和Katie會經常分享秘密和問題，當她們回家時，還會帶電話聊天，因為她們互相喜歡對方的陪伴。

Now Katie wasn't speaking to Isis. So she called Paul who used to go her school.

現在Katie不跟Isis說話，所以她打電話給經常去她學校的Paul。

Isis was looking out of her bedroom window at the spot where she had sat with Tim. Tim had given her one tiny little kiss, as an experiment, just to see what all the fuss was about that sort of thing. And she had liked it.

Isis正看著窗外她和Tim曾經坐在一起的地方。Tim曾經輕輕地吻了她，作為一個實驗，她只是想看看這種事情有什麼大驚小怪的。她喜歡上了這種感覺。

She would have liked it less if she had known that Katie was spying on her? But how? The garden had a high wall all around it. Had she climbed up a tree? Or flown over on her broomstick, more like.

如果她知道Katie在監視她，她會喜歡這種感覺少一點嗎？但如何？花園被高牆環繞，Katie是爬樹上來的嗎？或者騎著她的掃帚，更有可能。

But however she had spied that kiss, the hurtful thing was that she had gossiped about it. When the rumours started to spread around school, thanks to Katie and her big mouth, Tim became embarrassed and stopped being her friend.

但無論如何她看到了那個吻，最讓人傷心的是Katie還四處宣揚。當傳聞傳遍學校，由於Katie和她的大嘴，Tim變得很尷尬，不願意和她做朋友了。

While Isis was thinking these sad thoughts, she noticed that a black cat was sitting in the apple tree, watching the birds flutter around the nut container that swung to and fro from a branch.

當Isis正在想這些的時候，她注意到一直黑色的貓坐在蘋果樹上，看著鳥兒從這個樹枝跳到那個樹枝。

「I know you,」 she said. 「You're that witch Katie's cat.」

「我認識你，」她說，「你是Katie的貓。」

And then Isis thought to herself. 「That's it! The cat is Katie's spy… but I bet I can turn that cunning creature into a double agent. Soon he'll be spying for me. It doesn't take much to win a faithless cat's heart.」 She knew exactly what to do. Two minutes later she was walking down the garden path carrying a saucer of clotted cream.

Isis想，「就是它，這是貓是Katie的間諜，但是我打賭我能把這隻狡猾的動物變成雙面間諜。很快他就要成為我的間諜。贏得一直貓的信任不用花費很多。」她清楚地知道怎麼做。兩分鐘后，她走在花園小路上，帶著一碟奶油。

「Here kitty, kitty,」 she called. That was all it took. Soon Solomon's rough tongue was lapping up the cream. 「Now would you like to come inside and have some gorgeous smelly sardines?」 asked Isis.

「這裡，貓咪，貓咪。」她叫著。這就是所有的一切。一會兒Solomon的舌頭就舔著盤子了。「現在你願意加入進屋裡，享用一些美味的沙丁魚嗎？」Isis問。

「I don't mind if I do,」 said Solomon.

「我不介意，」Solomon說。

When Solomon had eaten the tinned sardines in the kitchen, Isis lifted up the feline fellow and took him to her room where she put him down on her big soft pink pillow. As he stretched out she tickled his belly.

當Solomon吃完了廚房里的沙丁魚罐頭，Isis把這隻貓抱起來，把它帶到她的房間，放在她那柔軟的粉色枕頭上。當他伸懶腰時，她撓著他的肚子。

「Mrrr. You sure know how to spoil a cat,」 said Solomon.

「喵！你真的知道如何溺愛一直貓，」Solomon說。

「I sure do,」 said Isis. 「And you can come here, drink cream, feast on sardines, and lie on my pillow any time you want. But tell me. Who is your owner and what is he or she like?」

「我當然知道，」Isis說，「任何時候你想來，你都可以來這，喝奶油，享受沙丁魚，躺在我的枕頭上。但是告訴我，誰是你的主人，他或者她喜歡什麼？」

「Oh nobody special, just a little witch called Katie,」 purred Solomon.

「哦沒什麼特殊的人，就是一個叫Katie的小女巫，」Solomon咕嚕著說。

「I know her. She has a boyfriend, hasn't she?」 asked Isis, taking a stab in the dark.

「i認識她，她有一個男朋友，對嗎？」在黑暗中Isis嘗試問。

「Not really. She just holds hands with Paul sometimes,」 he said.

「不完全是。她只是和Paul牽了幾次手，」他說。

And Isis thought that was rather interesting. 「And tell me,」 she said, 「what does she say about the other kids at school?」

Isis覺得非常有趣。「告訴我，她在學校是怎麼說別的孩子的？」她問。

「Oh nothing worth knowing. Just that Annabel has bandy legs, and Georgie is a cry baby, and Ravinia can't be trusted to keep a secret, and Laura is so stupid that she takes notes when she's watching cartoons on TV.」

「哦沒什麼值得知道的。就是Annabel有O型腿，Georgie是個愛哭鬼，Ravinia守不住秘密，Laura很愚蠢，她會在看電視上的卡通動畫時，記筆記。」

That was more than enough information. Five minutes later Isis had dialed Katie's number and was relating back all the interesting facts that she had just learnt.

這是超多的信息了。5分鐘后，Isis撥通了Katie的號碼，她把她剛剛聽到的事情都聯繫起來了。

「That's all rubbish,」 said Katie. 「It's a tissue of lies.」

「都是垃圾，」Katie說，「這是一套有組織的謊言。」

「No, it's not. It's the perfect truth.」

「不，不是。它是完美的事實。」

「Prove it,」 challenged Katie. And she immediately wished that she hadn't said that.

「證明一下，」Katie挑釁地說。然後她立馬希望她沒說過這話。

「All right I will prove it. Your black moggy is lying on my pillow in my room and I'm going to invite Annabel, Georgie, Ravinia and Laura round to hear what he has to say. And then I'm going to tell the entire world about you and Paul. In fact, I'm going to send record dedications for soppy love songs to all the radio stations on your behalf.」

「好的，我會證明的。你的黑色的貓正躺在我房間的枕頭上，我這就去邀請Annabel，Georgie， Ravinia和Laura來聽你的貓是怎麼說的。然後我要告訴全世界你和Paul的事。事實上，我會以你的名義給所有的廣播電台送上愛的情歌的獻唱。」

「No, you wouldn't.」

「不，你不會的。」

「Try me.」

「試試吧。」

And Katie realised that she was in a tight spot – one that magic wouldn't necessarily get her out of.

Katie意識到，她在一個很擁擠的地方，根本不允許她施展魔法。

「Ok,」 she said. 「I'm sorry that I gossiped about you.」

「好，」她說。「對不起我傳你的謠言了。」

And although Isis didn't accept her apology right away, the next day at school, when she found herself next to Katie in the dinner queue she asked:

儘管Isis不能立馬接受Katie的道歉，第二天在學校，當她發現在食堂排隊時挨著Katie，她問：

「How's your cat?」

「你的貓怎麼樣了？」

「I don't know. He's not talking to me.」

「我不知奧，他不跟我說話。」

「You mean that even your cat doesn't talk to you any more?」

「你是說，你的貓不再跟你說話了？」

「Not since last night. I took the spell off him. I'm not so sure that a talking cat is such a good idea.」

「自從昨晚，我把咒語從他身上拿走。我不確定一隻會說話的貓是不是好主意。」

And after that, Isis and Katie became best friends again – because everyone needs somebody special that they can talk to.

從那以後，Isis和Katie又成了最好的朋友，因為每個人都需要一個能夠說話的特殊的人。