Vampires: Folklore, fantasy and fact - Michael Molina

譯者: Elaine Cheng 審譯者: Ya Hui Hung

Good evening!

晚安!

What's the matter?

怎麼了?

Are you afraid of vampires?

你害怕吸血鬼嗎?

He he, no need to worry,

嘿嘿，別擔心，

I'm not staying for dinner.

我不打算留下來吃晚餐。

(Laughter)

哈哈哈，我是來這裡告訴你們

I'm here to guide you through a brief history of vampires,

吸血鬼的歷史的，

illustrating how our image has changed

看我們怎麼從

from a shambling corpse

拖著蹣跚步履的活屍，

to the dapper gentleman you see before you.

演化成你面前的這衣冠楚楚的紳士的。

Vampires are nearly as old as you humans.

吸血鬼的存在幾乎跟一般人類一樣久，

Stories about us, revenants,

遠在史前文明就有

關於我們的

appear in cultures extending as far back as prehistoric times.

故事以及證據。

But we weren't called vampires back then

只是當時的人不叫我們吸血鬼

and most of us did not look the way we imagine vampires today.

而且我們的樣貌

也跟現代人所想像的

Ha, far from it!

差了十萬八千里!

For example, the Mesopotamian Lamashtu

舉例來說，美索不達米亞文明 有種叫拉瑪西圖的怪物，

was a creature with the head of a lion and the body of the donkey,

它有著獅子的頭

跟驢子的身體，

and the ancient Greek striges

還有，古希臘的貓頭鷹

were simply described as bloodthirsty birds.

都被當作是嗜血的鳥。

Others were even stranger.

還有更古怪的!

The Philippine manananggal would sever her upper torso

菲律賓民間故事中的曼杜哥 是種能把上下半身分離，

and sprout huge, bat-like wings to fly.

並長出巨大的蝙蝠翅膀的飛天怪物。

The Malaysian penanggalan was a flying female head

馬來西亞的潘那賈拉是攜著自己的五臟六腑

with dangling entrails.

在天空中飛來飛去的女人頭。

(Laughter)

嘿嘿嘿嘿。

And the Australian Yara-ma-yha-who

還有，澳洲的亞拉瑪雅呼

was a little red guy with a big head,

是個身材短小，有顆大頭、紅皮膚、

a large mouth,

大嘴，

and bloodsuckers on his hands and feet.

然後會用手腳吸血的怪物。

Oh, and let's not forget the Caribbean's soucouyant,

噢，當然不能漏掉棲息在加勒比海的蘇庫沿

the West African obayifo,

西非的歐貝伊佛，

and the Mexican Tlahuelpuchi.

還有墨西哥的塔拉回又普契。

(Laughter)

嘿嘿，很迷人吧?

Charming, aren't they?

Though they may look vastly different,

它們或許長的截然不同，

all of these beings have one common characteristic:

但這些妖怪都有一個共同點:

They sustain themselves by consuming the life force of a living creature.

它們是靠著消耗其他生物的生命泉源

來維生的。

This shared trait is what defines a vampire --

這個特徵定義了吸血鬼--

all the other attributes change with the tides.

其他的特質會像潮汐一樣改變。

So, how do we arrive

那我們究竟是怎樣演變成為

at the reanimated fellow you see before you?

你們今天看到的模樣呢?

Our modern ideal emerges in 18th-century Eastern Europe.

現代吸血鬼的樣貌緣起於

18世紀的東歐。

With the dramatic increase of vampire superstitions,

人們對於吸血鬼的迷信造就了

stories of bloodsucking, shadowy creatures

許多令人顫慄的

become nightly bedside terrors.

床邊故事

And popular folklore,

廣為流傳的民間故事，

like the moroi among the Romani people

像是吉普賽人的魔洛伊，

and the lugat in Albania,

還有阿爾巴尼亞的盧迦特，

provide the most common vampire traits known today,

都提供了現代人熟知的吸血鬼特徵，

such as vampires being undead

像是吸血鬼是活屍，

and nocturnal and shape-shifting.

夜行者，

還會變形。

You see, Eastern Europe in the 18th century

你要知道，18世紀的東歐

was a pretty grim place

挺悲慘的，

with many deaths occurring from unknown diseases and plagues.

不知名的疾病跟瘟疫

造成了大量的死亡。

Without medical explanations, people searched for supernatural causes

在沒有科學的解釋之下，

人們選擇了超自然的答案，

and found what looked like evidence in the corpses of the victims.

並在屍體還有受害者當中

找到想看的證據。

When villagers dug up bodies

當有死因不詳的屍體

to discern the cause of the mysterious deaths,

被挖掘出來驗屍時，

they would often find the cadavers

村民經常發現

looking very much alive --

棺材裡的死人看起來好像還沒死--

longer hair and fingernails,

它們有變長的頭髮跟指甲，

bloated bellies,

鼓起的腹部，

and blood at the corners of mouths.

嘴角還有血跡。

(Laughter)

嘿嘿，很顯然這些人還沒死透。

Clearly, these people were not really dead.

Heh, they were vampires!

嘿，它們是吸血鬼!

And they had been leaving their graves

而且它們曾離開墳墓

去覓食。

to feast on the living.

(Grunt)

The terrified villagers would quickly enact

嚇壞了的村民趕緊舉行

a ritual to kill the undead.

儀式來把這些活屍送回陰間。

The practices varied across the region,

不同地區的儀式不近相同，

but usually included beheadings,

但砍頭，

burnings, and staking the body to the coffin

焚燒，

還有將屍體釘入棺材裏，

to prevent it from getting up.

都是常見的方法。

(Laughter)

Grizzly stuff!

很殘酷吧!

But what the villagers interpreted as unholy reanimation

村民把這些現象當作邪惡的復活，

were actually normal symptoms of death.

殊不知那只是死亡的正常現象。

When a body decomposes, the skin dehydrates,

軀體在腐化的過程

皮膚的水分會流失

causing the hair and fingernails to extend.

因而讓頭髮和指甲變長。

Bacteria in the stomach creates gases

細菌在胃裡產生的氣體

that fill the belly,

使得肚子膨脹

which force out blood and matter through the mouth.

並將血液跟其他物質從口中擠出。

Unfortunately, this science was not yet known,

因為當時的科學不足以解釋

so the villagers kept digging.

村民便不停地把屍體挖出來。

In fact, so many bodies were dug up

奧地利女皇甚至還

that the Empress of Austria

派遣御醫到各地去釐清吸血鬼的謠言，

sent her physician around to disprove the vampire stories,

因為有太多的屍體被開棺驗屍。

and she even established a law prohibiting grave tampering.

同時女皇還立法

禁止任何開棺的舉動。

Still, even after the vampire hunts had died down,

但就算人們不再試著找出吸血鬼，

the stories of legends survived in local superstition.

這些故事

卻沒有停止流傳，

This led to works of literature, such as Polidori's "The Vampyre,"

這也成了許多文學作品的靈感，

像是波利多里的 "吸血鬼" (The Vampyre)、

the Gothic novel "Carmilla,"

歌德式小說 "女吸血鬼卡蜜拉" (Carmilla)，

and, most famously, Bram Stoker's "Dracula."

還有，史多克 (Bram Stoker) 的小說 "德古拉" (Dracula)

Although Stoker incorporated historical material,

雖然史多克在小說中融入了像

like Elizabeth Báthory's virgin blood baths

血腥伯爵夫人伊麗莎白巴托里 喜愛的處女鮮血浴，

and the brutal executions of Vlad Dracul,

以及佛拉德三世的殘酷處刑

it was these local myths

這類的歷史記事，

that inspired the main elements of his story:

他的主要靈感還是來自民間故事：

the Transylvanian setting,

將故事地點設在特蘭西法尼亞、

using garlic to defend oneself,

用大蒜護身

and the staking of the heart.

還有用木樁穿心來殺死吸血鬼。

While these attributes are certainly familiar to us,

當然除了這些熟悉的元素，

elements he invented himself have also lasted over the years:

史多克自己想出來的

一些橋段，像是

fear of crucifixes,

吸血鬼害怕十字架、

weakness in sunlight,

陽光會使他們虛弱、

and the vampire's inability to see their reflection.

還有在鏡中沒有倒影，

也流傳至今。

By inventing new traits,

史多克的小說保留了傳統，

Stoker perfectly enacted the age-old tradition

又加入了新的元素，

of elaborating upon and expanding the myth of vampires.

完美的闡述以及擴充了

吸血鬼迷思。

As we saw, maybe you met my relatives,

正如我們所見，

你們都可能見過我的親戚，

a huge of variety of creatures stalked the night before Dracula,

數不清的夜行者

在德古拉伯爵之前就已徘徊在夜幕低垂時，

and many more will continue to creep through our nightmares.

更多的夜行者

也會在未來繼續成為我們的夢靨。

Yet, so long as they subsist off a living being's life force,

不管是什麼生物、怪物，只要他們需要

取活體的生命力來活下去，

they are part of my tribe.

他們就屬於我族，

Even sparkling vampires can be included.

當然吸血鬼也是。

After all, it's the continued storytelling and reimagining of the vampire legend

不管怎麼說，也是靠不間斷的流傳、

還有故事的改編，

that allows us to truly live

我們才真正能存活下來，

forever.

直到永遠。

(Ominous laughter)

阿哈哈哈哈哈！