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插图和解说辞（九）

字母表是怎样编制出来的 

【英】鲁迪亚德·吉卜林著

原作者 插图

熊威廉 译

（图一）

        这是一幅字母发音图。

（图二）

在项链上端，开头第一颗珠子是一颗古老的银珠子是忒古麦部落统领老献出来的；接下来是三颗黑色的蠔珠；下面是一颗蓝灰色的泥土珠子；再下面是一颗天然的金珠子，这是一个豪门望族奉献的礼物，是他们从非洲弄来的，实际上这个是一颗印度珠子。下面是一颗长长的扁平边的非洲产玻璃珠子，这是忒古麦部落在一次战斗中缴获的；接下来是两颗玉绿色的泥土珠子，其中一颗上面有圆点点，另一颗上面有圆点点和饰带；下面是三颗有点裂痕的琥珀珠子；再下来是三颗红白相间的泥土珠子，其中两颗有圆点，另一颗大的中心处呈齿状。紧接其后是字母，在字母与字母之间有一颗白色的小泥土珠子，里面写着与前面的字母相同的字母。字母表分述如下：

A是草书在一颗牙齿上——我觉得这是一颗麋鹿牙。

B 忒古麦的圣盔放在古老的旗帜残片上。

C 是一块珍珠牡蛎壳的内前部。

D 应该是一块蠔贝壳的外前部。

E 是一根卷曲的银丝。

F 是折断了的，雄鹿的角的残存部分。

G 是涂黑了的一块木片。G 后面的珠子是一块小贝壳，不是泥土珠子。我不知道他们为什么那么做。

H 是一种棕色的大蛤贝。

I 是手工打磨的一个长贝壳的内部。打磨这块贝壳花了忒古麦三个月。

J 是珍珠母里面的一只鱼钩。

L 是一根折断了的银质长矛。当然，字母K是在J后面的，但是，这挂项链曾一度断开了，他们在修补时把顺序弄错了。

K 是一块涂成黑色的骨头碎片。

M 是在一块浅灰色的贝壳。

N 是一块所谓的斑岩，上面乱画了一只鼻子。忒古麦花了五个月才磨光了这块宝石。

O 是一块中间有一个洞的牡蛎贝壳。

P和Q 丢失了。它们是在远古时代的一场大战中丢失的，后来这个部落的成员用响尾蛇的干颌骨修补这挂项链时，可是都没有找到P和Q。这正如俗话所说的：小心P和Q，免得犯错误。

R 显然是一块鲨鱼的牙齿。

S 是一条细小的银蛇。

T 是一块骨头的一端，被打磨成黑褐色，闪闪发光。

U 是另一块牡蛎贝壳。

V 也丢失了。

W 是一块弯曲的珍珠母。他们在一块很大的珍珠母里面发现了它，并用一个细金属丝沉到沙滩和水里锯下来的。打磨钻孔花了塔菲一个半月的时间。

X 是银线穿珠，居中的是一颗未打磨过的红松榴石。这颗宝石是塔菲发现的。

Y 是在象牙里的一截鲤鱼尾骨。

Z 是一块铃状的玛瑙，上面布满了Z形条纹.他们用一根条纹做成一条Z形蛇，又找到一块软玉石并放在红砂石和蜂蜡里磨光。就在铃口处，你们可以看见一块泥土珠子，上面重复标着字母Z。

以上是全部的字母。

字母后的珠子是一小块圆圆的绿色的铜矿砂；接着是一块天然的绿松石；下面是一块天然的金子，他们称之为水金；下一个是西瓜状的泥土珠子，白底绿斑。接下来是四块扁平的象牙碎片，碎片上有圆点点，很象是动物牙齿；接着是三颗玉石珠子，磨损得很厉害；下面是两颗在边缘处有锈斑的软铁，它们肯定有魔力，因为样子都很普通；最后一颗非常非常大的古旧的非洲珠子，很象玻璃，蓝的，红的，白的，黑的，还有黄的。紧接着是一个套环，以便把另一端的银质大纽扣套住。就这些，完了。

我把这挂项链小心复制下来了。它重一磅七盎司半。衬背的粗黑曲线只是用来使珠子和物件看得更清晰些。

Beginning at the top, the first bead is an old silver one that belonged to the Head Priest of the Tribe of Tegumai; then came three black mussel-pearls; next is a clay bead (blue and gray); next a nubbly gold bead sent as a present by a tribe who got it from Africa (but it must have been Indian really); the next is a long flat-sided glass bead from Africa (the Tribe of Tegumai took it in a fight); then come two clay beads (white and green), with dots on one, and dots and bands on the other; next are three rather chipped amber beads; then three clay beads (red and white), two with dots, and the big one in the middle with a toothed pattern. Then the letters begin, and between each letter is a little whitish clay bead with the letter repeated small. Here are the letters—

A is scratched an a tooth—an elk-tusk I think.

B is the Sacred Beaver of Tegumai on a bit of old glory.

C is a pearly oyster-shell—inside front.

D must be a sort of mussel shell—outside front.

E is a twist of silver wire.

F is broken, but what remains of it is a bit of stag’s horn.

G is painted black on a piece of wood. (The bead after G is a small shell, and not a clay bead. I don’t know why they did that.)
H is a kind of a big brown cowie-shell.
I is the inside part of a long shell ground down by hand. (It took Tegumai three months to grind it down.)
J is a fish hook in mother-of-pearl.
L is the broken spear in silver. (K aught to follow J of course, but the necklace was broken once and they mended it wrong.)
K is a thin slice of bone scratched and rubbed in black.
M is on a pale gray shell.
N is a piece of what is called porphyry with a nose scratched on it. (Tegumai spent five months polishing this stone.)
O is a piece of oyster-shell with a hole in the middle.
P and Q are missing. They were lost, a long time ago, in a great war, and the tribe mended the necklace with the dried rattles of a rattlesnake, but no one ever found P and Q. That is how the saying began, ‘You must mind your P’s. and Q’s.’
R is, of course, just a shark’s tooth.
S is a little silver snake.
T is the end of a small bone, polished brown and shiny.
U is another piece of oyster-shell.

V is also missing.
W is a twisty piece of mother-of-pearl that they found inside a big mother-of-pearl shell, and sawed off with a wire dipped in sand and water. It took Taffy a month and a half to polish it and drill the holes.
X is silver wire joined in the middle with a raw garnet. (Taffy found the garnet.)
Y is the carp’s tail in ivory.
Z is a bell-shaped piece of agate marked with Z-shaped stripes. They made the Z-snake out of one of the stripes by picking out the soft stone and rubbing in red sand and bee’s-wax. Just in the mouth of the bell you see the clay bead repeating the Z-letter.

These are all the letters.

The next bead is a small round greeny lump of copper ore; the next is a lump of rough turquoise; the next is a rough gold nugget (what they call water-gold); the next is a melon-shaped clay bead (white with green spots). Then come four flat ivory pieces, with dots on them rather like dominoes; then come three stone beads, very badly worn; then two soft iron beads with rust-holes at the edges (they must have been magic, because they look very common); and last is a very very old African bead, like glass—blue, red, white, black, and yellow. Then comes the loop to slip over the big silver button at the other end, and that is all.

I have copied the necklace very carefully. It weighs one pound seven and a half ounces. The black squiggle behind is only put in to make the beads and things look better.