油彩畫布/沂作品
The Fish Without Even Giving It A Thought
Written by/Miao-Yi Tu Translated by /Kris Chen
The variegatedcarp to me was strange, just as I might be to it.
It, however, caught my eye, in the night of Eastern Taiwan, by the tranquil lake at the resort hotel. Variegated carpshere were not like fish but tourists, they observed travelers who came and went, just like the travelers who also observed them. Thus they formed an interesting reciprocal relationship.
The variegated carp lived in a pond surrounded by flowers and grass. In the middle, there was a strange pavilion which seemed to purposely let people experience the feeling of “being in the middle of water”. A traveler stepped in the pavilion and suddenly realized he should have worn plastic slippers and found his feet allwet. When he looked down, he found his lower legs immersed in water. Oh, in fact the floor of the pavilion was a little bit lower than the pond, the water nimbly flew into the floor, and nimbly soaked the traveler’sankles. Come and sit down! The crispy clear water washed away the tiredness of the traveler: starting from the legs, then the knees, then thes to mach, then the heart, then the nose and eyes. When it reached the eyes, the traveler sitting in the pavilion had already fallen into his sweet dream. Right by the tranquil water side, and beneath the starry sky.
Hey! There were sticky animals moved around the legs, awakening the traveler softly. The traveler jumped up from the bench! His glasses fell down under the table, he bent over to pick them up. Wow! There was a fish, a carp, a red one, abride-like fish. So he was kissed by the bride-like fish on his legs in the dream a short while ago. It seemed to be his legs’ pleasure. Hey, the traveler smiled. Another black carp also swam close and opened its mouth to pick at the sole of his foot. The traveler got a bit annoyed and kicked it. How strange. They were both carp, why did people treat them so differently? The traveler had a smile. Nothing he could do about it. The red carp was as glamorous and beautiful as a bride, while the black one was like Chang Fei. How did it feel to be kissed by Chang Fei? It was like beings neakily and force fully kissed.
The traveler sat back and fell into sleep, his feet lightly rubbing the fish. The traveler and the fish, underneath the starry sky at night, were both nurtured by the relationship.
The night was late when the traveler woke up from his dream again. This time, he looked down with a mood of winning the lottery. Guess whathe was looking at?
It was not just one bride carp, or one Chang Fei carp, but ten basketball teams of bride and Chang Fei carp. There were also white carp, and they all gathered around the traveler’s feet. The traveler didn’t move his legs as these flocks of carp had fallen asleep. Were the carp dreaming of the traveler? The traveler felt that there should be a personifiedim agination between human and fish. The traveler didn’t want to wake up the fish, he wanted to wait until they woke up naturally. On the other hand, it was also that he greedily loved the romantic feeling of leaning side by side with the fish. So he just let the fish sleep by his legs.
However,it was late at night, but the carp were still not woken. The traveler moved his legs, thoughun willingly. As soon as he moved his legs, the groups of carp immediately began to “splash” and scattered away. The acts were so ingenious, it was as to nishing and impressive.
In the day time, the variegated carp in the pond were clearly seen. The fish and the traveler returned to the diverse routes of the fish and the human. The traveler knelt down by the pond to observe the fish. He sprinkled a handful of feed, the fishgroup immediately swam closer, they all came to squeeze and grab, rushing and fighting for food, which was exactly the same with human beings. The traveler couldn’t help but feeling hisheart grow cold. He had always believed that the fish were just like the description in the children’s rhyme:“Little fish, little fish, swim in the water; swim here and swim there, how happy”.
The traveler put his legs back to the water. The Chang Fei carp came to kiss his legs. Fine, you may kiss my legs. You and I both are striving for life.
The camera stopped at the fish kiss. In the view point of this traveler, the fish kissed him without even giving it athought.
魚想也不想 ◎凃妙沂
錦鯉魚對我來說陌生的，就像我對錦鯉魚來說也是陌生的。
牠卻吸引了我的目光，在這東部夜晚的靜覷潭邊的休閒旅店，這裡的錦鯉不像是魚，倒像是觀光客，觀察著來往的旅人，一如來觀察牠的旅人，因此形成了有趣的對等關係。
錦鯉魚住在一個有花草圍繞的水池，水池中央有一個怪異的亭子，這亭子擺明了是要體驗｢宛在水中央｣的滋味，旅人踏進亭中，就驚覺腳需要穿塑膠拖鞋，然後又發現腳下濕濕的，低頭一看，水已淹浸了小腿，喔，原來這亭子的地板比水池矮了一截，池水就巧妙地流進亭中的地面，然後巧妙的淹浸了旅人的腳裸。坐下來吧，清澈的池水洗去旅人的疲憊，從腳開始，再到膝蓋，再到胃，再到心，再到鼻子和眼睛，到了眼睛，坐在亭中的旅人已進入夢鄉，就在靜覷的水畔，天上繁星點點。
嘿，有黏黏的動物在腳邊活動，輕輕叫醒旅人，旅人從椅子上跳起來！眼鏡摔落桌下，旅人彎身撿拾，哇，那是一尾魚，錦鯉魚吧，紅色，像新娘子般的魚，所以剛才夢中是被新娘子般的魚吻了腳，好像是腳的榮幸呢。嘿，旅人笑了起來，然後一尾黑色的錦鯉魚也游來張嘴啄著旅人的腳板，旅人有點生氣地踢牠，真是奇怪，同樣是錦鯉魚，為什麼待遇如此不同？旅人莞爾一笑，沒辦法啊，紅色的錦鯉魚如新娘子般嬌豔美麗，黑色的錦鯉魚感覺卻像張飛，被張飛吻的感覺如何？好像是被偷偷強吻了。
旅人又重新坐下來進入夢鄉，腳也輕輕和魚兒摩傞，旅人與魚，在夜晚的星空下，友誼滋長著。
夜深了，旅人再度從夢中醒來，這回他用中獎的心情低頭看，你猜他看到什麼？
那不只是一尾新娘錦鯉，或一尾張飛錦鯉，是十個籃球隊的新娘錦鯉和張飛錦鯉，還有白錦鯉，此刻都聚首在旅人腳邊，旅人沒有移動腳，因為這群錦鯉魚睡著了，錦鯉魚夢到了旅人了嗎？旅人覺得人魚之間需要擬人的想像，旅人不忍心吵醒魚，想等魚自然醒，一方面也是貪戀著與魚依偎的浪漫，就讓魚在腳邊酣睡。
但是夜深了，錦鯉魚夜未醒，旅人只好忍痛移動腳，旅人一動腳，錦鯉魚群馬上｢撲通｣一哄而散，動作敏捷，令人嘆為觀止。
白天的錦鯉魚在池中一覽無餘，魚與旅人又回到魚類和人類殊途，旅人蹲在池邊觀察魚，他撒了一手掌的飼料，魚群馬上從游過來，擠啊搶啊都來了，為食物而奔波和爭奪，這一點和人類是一樣的，旅人不禁感到心寒，一直以為魚就像兒歌中說的：「魚兒魚兒中游，游來游去真快樂。｣
旅人再度把腳放在水中，張飛錦鯉來吻旅人的腳，就讓你吻吧，你和我一樣都是在認真生活啊。
鏡頭就停在魚吻，對於這個旅人的觀點，魚想也不想就吻了他。
--原載2006,2,6中國時報人間副刊
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