第5章 The Old Man and the Big Fish[第3页/共15页]

His left hand was still cramped,but he was unknotting it slowly.

“Now,”he said,when his hand had dried,“I must eat the small tuna.I can reach him with the gaff and eat him here in comfort.”

A small bird came toward the skiff from the north.He was a warbler and flying very low over the water.The old man could see that he was very tired.

Just then the fish gave a sudden lurch that pulled the old man down onto the bow and would have pulled him overboard if he had not braced himself and given some line.

“How does it go,hand?Or is it too early to know?”

“He has slowed much,”he said.

“Stay at my house if you like,bird,”he said.“ I am sorry I cannot hoist the sail and take you in with the small breeze that is rising.But I am with a friend.”

It encouraged him to talk because his back had stiffened in the night and it hurt truly now.

“What kind of a hand is that,”he said.“Cramp then if you want.Make yourself into a claw.It will do you no good.”Come on,he thought and looked down into the dark water at the slant of the line.Eat it now and it will strengthen the hand.It is not the hand's fault and you have been many hours with the fish.But you can stay with him forever.Eat the bonito now.

The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out. He came out unendingly and water poured from his sides. He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender.His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier and he rose his full length from the water and then re-entered it,smoothly,like a diver and the old man saw the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out.