簡述：
原文取自約翰．歐哈拉的同名著作 Appointment in Samarra一書所援引的寓言故事「相約薩馬拉。」據歐哈拉所述，此寓言由毛姆重述；歐哈拉的小說直接引用毛姆版本。因為這個寓言故事太經典，忍不住跟格友們分享一下。
原文：
"The Appointment in Samarra" (as retold by W. Somerset Maugham [1933]) [1]
The speaker is Death
“There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”—John O’Hara, Appointment in Samarra
【拙意】
死神說話：
「在巴格達，有位商人遣使隨僕到市場採買物資；不一會他返回，臉色慘白、渾身發顫地說：主人，就剛才我在市場採買時，被人群中的一位婦人推了一下；我一轉頭就認出是『死神』本尊撞了我。她看了我一眼，還作勢威脅我的性命。快，借我你的馬，我『馬上』[2]逃離這座城市、盡我所能擺脫命運的掌握。我將前往薩馬拉；到那邊，死神定不會找上我。商人出借了馬匹，而隨僕一躍而上，用力一蹬、刺入馬的兩側，催策坐騎、死命奔逃。而後，商人前往市場，見『我』就站在人群之中；他走向『我』說道：今早見到我的奴僕時，為何作勢威脅他的性命呢？那不是恐嚇，『我』說，我只是吃驚得抖了一下。『我』很錯愕：怎麼會在巴格達遇見他；因我倆早已相約今晚薩馬拉見。」[3]【拙譯】
[1] 原文網址：https://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm
[2] “ride away” is a tricky one. 我「馬上」聯想到”ride away’ and “right away”：為了註明諧音效果，在「馬上」兩字加上引號。
[3] 「因我倆早已相約今晚薩馬拉見。」似乎更為流暢？第一次嘗試：「因我倆早已相約薩馬拉，今晚在那碰頭才對。」
