∞《想象中的動物》，1969

　　The Book of Imaginary Beings

　　博爾赫斯和瑪格麗特·格雷羅 合著

　　銅人塔羅斯

　　這種金石之軀的造物成爲想象中的生靈譜系中最爲令人心悸的一族。不妨回想一下那有着銅角銅足、口鼻噴火的憤怒公牛，伊阿宋藉助美狄亞的魔法之力纔將它們套軛加犁；那孔迪亞克1虛擬的有感知的大理石人；那《天方夜譚》中把第三個行腳僧從黑磁山邊救出的船伕，“一個銅人，胸前掛着塊鉛牌，上面刻有護身符和方塊字”；那在威廉·布萊克的神話中落入絲網的“溫婉之銀女，或熱烈之金女”，被女仙用來取悅情人2；還有那哺育了戰神阿瑞斯的金屬鳥3。

　　在此名單上我們或許可再加上另一隻可資遴選的動物，那迅疾的野豬吉林伯斯蒂4，它的名字意思是“金鬃”。

　　神話學家保羅·赫爾曼寫道：

　　這件活的金屬製品來自鑄造技藝嫺熟的矮人之手。他們把一張豬皮扔進火中，造出來一頭可以穿行於大地、海洋和天空的金野豬。無論黑夜有多黑，金野豬的道路上總是充滿光明。

　　吉林伯斯蒂爲挪威神話中的愛情、婚姻與豐收女神弗雷婭駕車。

　　傳說常見哥哥Freyr坐着金豬，他妹妹Freyja弗雷婭的坐騎是貓。

　　除此之外，就是塔羅斯，克里特島的守護者。有人認爲這個巨人是火神伏爾甘或巧匠代達羅斯的作品。

　　羅得島的阿波羅尼烏斯在其《阿耳戈號英雄記》（Argonautica，卷四，第1638-1648頁）中對之進行了描述：

　　當他們來到迪克特港的停泊處時，塔羅斯，那青銅的巨人，從堅硬的懸崖上砸下岩石，阻止他們繫纜靠岸。塔羅斯屬於從灰樹5中繁衍起來的青銅人類家族，是衆神之子中僅存的一個；克洛諾斯之子6把他送給了歐羅巴，作爲克里特島的守護者；以其青銅雙腳，他一天內大步巡察全島三次。他全身包括四肢都是青銅鍛就而刀槍不入，但在他腳踝的肌腱之下卻藏着一根鮮紅的血管，這流動着生與死的血管外面卻只覆蓋着一層薄薄的皮膚。

　　當然，正是由於這脆弱的腳踵，塔羅斯一命嗚呼。美狄亞拋出敵意的一瞥蠱惑了塔羅斯，當這個巨人再次開始從懸崖上拋擲巨石進行攻擊時，“一塊碎巖的尖角擦傷了他的腳踝，血管中的靈液像熔化的鉛汁般奔涌而出；不消多時，他就再也不能高踞於那塊突出的絕壁之上了。”

　　神話的另一個版本是：塔羅斯燒得渾身通紅，然後用他的雙臂把人緊緊箍住，將人殺死。這一次，青銅巨人是死在女巫美狄亞帶領的卡斯托爾和波呂克斯，即孿生兄弟狄奧斯庫裏7之手。

　　譯註：

　　1、孔迪亞克：法國哲學家，認爲人類一切知識來源於感官活動，大理石人是他爲闡述這一學說的心理學模型。

　　2、參見布萊克的長詩《阿爾比翁女兒們的幻象》。

　　3、這種鳥善以羽毛爲箭發動攻擊。阿耳戈號上的英雄們曾在黑海上遭遇過。

　　4、這是挪威神話中矮人埃契和布洛克兄弟爲與火神洛基打賭，而用一張豬皮在熔爐中打造出來並作爲供奉獻給弗雷婭。吉林伯斯蒂像閃電般迅速。

　　5、灰樹，白蠟樹的一種。據希臘神話，青銅時代的人類都起源於灰樹杆製作的標槍。

　　6、指希臘神話主神宙斯。

　　7、卡斯托爾和波呂克斯乃宙斯的雙生子，狄奧斯庫裏爲他們的總稱。

　　這種金石之軀的造物成爲想象中的生靈譜系中最爲令人心悸的一族。不妨回想一下那有着銅角銅足、口鼻噴火的憤怒公牛，伊阿宋藉助美狄亞的魔法之力纔將它們套軛加犁；那孔迪亞克虛擬的有感知的大理石人；那《天方夜譚》中把第三個行腳僧從黑磁山邊救出的船伕……

　　——博爾赫斯｜姜白 譯

　　—Reading and Rereading—

　　Talos

　　Living beings made of metal or stone make up some of fantastic zoology's most alarming species. Let us recall the angry bulls with brass feet and horns that breathed flames and that Jason, helped by the magic arts of Medea, yoked to the plow; Condillac's psychological statue of sensitive marble; the boatman in the Arabian Nights, "a man of brass with a tablet of lead on his breast inscribed with talismans and characts," who rescued the third Kalandar from the Magnet Mountain; the "girls of mild silver, or of furious gold," which a goddess in William Blake's mythology caught in silken nets for the delight of her lover; and the metal birds who nursed Ares.

　　To this list we may also add a draft animal, the swift wild boar Gullinbursti, whose name means "golden-bristled." The mythologist Paul Herrmann writes:"This living piece of metalwork came from the forge of skillful dwarts; they threw a pigskin into the fire and drew out a golden boar with the power of traveling on land, sea, and air. However dark the night, there is always light enough in the boar's path." Gullinbursti pulled the chariot of Freya, the Norse goddess of love, marriage, and fertility.

　　And then there is Talos, the warden of the island of Crete. Some consider this giant the work of Vulcan or of Daedalus; Apollonius of Rhodes tells us about him in his Argonautica (IV, I638-48):

　　And Talos, the man of bronze, as he broke off rocks from the hard cliff, stayed them from fastening hawsers to the shore, when they came to the roadstead of Dicte's haven. He was of the stock of bronze of the men sprung from ash-trees, the last left among the sons of the gods; and the son of Cronos gave him to Europa to be the warder of Crete and to stride round the island thrice a day with his feet of bronze. Now in all the rest of his body and limbs was he fashioned of bronze and invulnerable; but beneath the sinew by his ankle was a blood-red vein; and this, with its issues of life and death, was covered by a thin skin.

　　It was through his vulnerable heel, of course, that Talos met his end. Medea bewitched him with a hostile glance, and when the giant again began heaving boulders from his cliff, "he grazed his ankle on a pointed crag, and the ichor gushed forth like melted lead; and not long thereafter did he stand towering on the jutting cliff."

　　In another version of the myth, Talos, burning red-hot, would put his arms around a man and kill him. The bronze giant this time met death at the hands of Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, who were led on by the sorceress Medea.

　　博爾赫斯

　　題圖：Medeia and Talus

　　Sybil Tawse