# ■ Chapter 1 The Creature in the Shop

My name is Dr Frederick Treves. I am a doctor at the London Hospital. One day in 1884, I saw a picture in the window of a shop near the hospital. I stopped in front of the shop and looked at the picture. At first I felt interested, then I felt angry, then afraid. It was a horrible, ugly picture. There was a man in the picture, but he did not look like you and me. He did not look like a man. He looked like an elephant.

I read the writing under the picture. It said：

Come in and see the Elephant Man. 2 pence. I opened the door and went in.

There was a man in the shop. He was a dirty man in an old coat with a cigarette in his mouth. 'What do you want？'he asked.

I'd like to see the elephant man, please, 'I said.

The man looked at me angrily. 'Well, you can't, ' he said. 'The shop's closing now. You can come back tomorrow. '

I'm sorry, 'I said. ' But I would like to see him now. I have no time tomorrow—I have a lot of work to do. But I can give you more than 2 pence. '

The man looked at me carefully. Then he took the cigarette out of his mouth and smiled with his yellow teeth.

All right, sir, 'he said. 'Give me twelve pence then. '

I gave him the money and he opened a door at the back of the shop. We went into a little room. The room was cold and dark, and there was a horrible smell in it.

A creature sat on a chair behind a table. I say a creature, because it was not a man or a woman, like you or me. The creature did not move or look at us. It sat very quietly on the chair in the cold, dark, dirty room, and looked at the table. The creature had a cloth over its head, because of the cold. On the table in front of it, there was a dead flower.

Stand up! 'said the shopkeeper, loudly.

The creature stood up slowly. It took the old cloth off its head, and put it on the chair.

I looked at the creature and felt sad. I am a doctor, so I know a lot about accidents and ill people. I see horrible, ugly things every day. But this creature, this thing, was the worst of all. There were no men or women in the hospital like him.

He wore some old trousers, but no shirt, coat, or shoes, so I could see his body very well. His head was the most interesting thing. It was very, very big—like an enormous bag with a lot of books in it. The head did not have much hair, and there was another bag of brown, dirty skin at the back of it. This skin came down below his neck. I could not see one of his eyes very well, because a lot of skin came down in front of his face, too.

An enormous red tooth came out of his mouth, under his nose. It looked like an elephant's tooth. The mouth and nose were like holes in the face. The face could not smile or laugh or look angry or sad, because the skin could not move. It was dead, like an elephant's face.

There were more bags of dirty skin on the front and back of the creature's body. These bags came down to his legs. The right arm was enormous, and there were bags of skin on it, too. The right hand was like a man's foot.

But the left hand the left arm and the left hand were beautiful! The left arm had wonderful skin, and the fingers of the left hand were long and beautiful. It was like a young woman's hand!

Walk, Merrick! ' said the shopkeeper angrily. 'Come on, quickly, move! 'He hit the creature with his hand.

Slowly, the creature walked across the room. But he could not walk well. His legs were very big and fat, and he had a bad back. He could not walk far without a stick.

All right, thank you, 'I said. 'Let him sit down. I don't want to see any more. 'I felt ill, and the smell in the room was very bad.

Yes, sir, 'said the shopkeeper. 'Sit down, Merrick. '

We went out of the room and closed the door. The shop－keeper smiled at me with his yellow teeth.

Wonderful, sir, isn't it？'he said. 'The best Elephant Man in England! Hundreds of people come to see him, you know, hundreds! I take him all over the country, I do! '

Yes, very interesting, 'I said. 'Can I sit down？'

Yes, sir, of course. Here's a chair. 'He looked at me, smiling. 'Would you like a glass of water, sir？'

Yes, please, 'I said. Then I looked at the things in the dirty shop. There were two or three bad apples and some old black bananas：that was all. 'Er, no…no, thank you. I'm all right, 'I said. 'Did you…did you call the creature Merrick？'

That's right, sir. Joseph Merrick. The best ElephantMan in England! I take him all over the country, you know. Lots of people want to see him. '

Yes, I see. Do you get a lot of money？'

Well, sometimes we do, sir, yes. But it's difficult, you see, sir, because of the police. The police don't like us, you see, sir. So we can't stay in a town very long. We usually move every week. '

Yes, I see. Well, anyway, Mr…er？'

Silcock, sir. Simon Silcock. '

Yes, well, Mr Silcock, I'm a doctor at the London Hospital. My name is Dr Treves. I think this…er… this man Joseph Merrick is very interesting, and I would like to see him at the hospital. I want to look at him more carefully, you see.

Yes sir, I see. But how can he get to the hospital？It's going to be difficult. '

Why, man？ The hospital's not far from here. '

Well, yes, sir. I know. But, you see, Merrick can't walk very well. He needs help. '

You can come with him. Do you want more money？Is that it？'

Well, yes, sir, I do. But, you see, people are afraid of him too… In the road, little boys always run after him and hit him. Then the police get angry because people are afraid. Sometimes they take us to prison. '

I see, 'I said. 'Well, how can he come to the hospital, then？'

Bring a cab, sir, 'said Silcock. 'You can take him to the hospital in a cab. '

■ 1 店鋪裡的怪物

我是弗雷德裡克·特里維斯博士，倫敦醫院的醫生。1884年的一天，我在醫院附近一家店鋪的櫥窗裡看見了一張照片。我停下來，看著這張照片。起先我覺得這張照片挺有趣，後來就感到生氣、害怕起來。那是一幅可怕的、醜陋的照片。照片上有個男人，但不像你和我。他看上去不像個人，而像一頭大象。我看了看照片下面的文字，上面寫著：進來吧，看看這個象人，一次兩便士。

我推開門走了進去。

店裡有個男人，穿著一件舊外套，嘴裡叼著一支菸。“你想幹什麼？”他問道。

“我想看看象人。”我說。

這個人生氣地看著我。“不行。”他說，“店鋪現在關門了，你明天來吧。”

“對不起，”我說，“我想現在就看，明天我沒有空，我有許多事情要做，我可以另外多給一些錢。”

這個人仔細地打量著我，後來他取下嘴裡的菸捲，露出了滿嘴黃牙。

他說，“好吧，先生。就給十二便士吧。”

我把錢給了他，他就打開了店鋪後門。我們走進一個小房間，房間又冷又暗，裡面一股噁心的氣味。

一個怪物坐在桌子後面的椅子上。我說那是一個怪物，它不像你和我，不是男人也不是女人。它一動不動地坐在這間又冷又暗又髒的房間裡的椅子上，眼睛盯著桌子，由於陰冷，這個怪物的頭上蓋著一塊布，在他面前的桌子上放著一朵枯萎的花。

“站起來，”店老闆大聲地說。怪物慢慢地站起來，取下頭上的蓋布放在椅子上。

看著這個怪物，我感到很悲傷。我是一個醫生，我很瞭解事故和病人。我每天要遇到許多可怕的、醜惡的東西，可這個怪物卻是最糟糕的。醫院裡沒有任何一個男人或女人像他這個樣子。

他穿著條舊褲子，沒有穿襯衫、外套和鞋子。所以，我可以清楚地看見他的身體。他的頭部最有趣，長得很大很大，就像一個裝著許多書籍的大口袋。頭上頭髮不多，腦後還耷拉著一塊褐色的、骯髒的頭皮，一直垂到脖子下面。我看不見他的一隻眼睛，因為皮膚也從臉部垂下來。

一顆巨大的紅牙齒從嘴裡露出來，就像一顆象牙，嘴和鼻子就像臉上開的洞，從他臉上看不出微笑還是大笑，也看不出生氣和悲傷，因為這種皮膚無法活動，它已經失去活力，像一隻大象的臉。

這個怪物身體的前胸和後背的髒皮膚上有許多囊腫，這種囊腫<包狀物>一直拖到他的腿部。右臂巨大，皮膚上也有包狀物，右手像男人的腳。

然而左手——左臂和左手——卻是長得很美，左臂上有漂亮的皮膚，左指頭纖長、美麗，就像年輕女人的手一樣。

“走一走，麥裡克！”店老闆生氣地說，“朝前走，動一動，快！”他用手打著這個怪物。慢慢地，這個怪物走到房間的對面。可他走不好，他的腿又粗又肥，背部有病，沒有柺杖走不遠。

“好了，謝謝你，”我說，“讓他坐下來，我不想再看什麼了。”我感到噁心，房間裡的氣味難聞極了。

“好的，先生，”店老闆說著。“坐下，麥裡克。”

我們走出房間，關上門。店老闆朝我笑了笑，露出滿嘴黃牙。

“好極了，先生，是不是？”他說，“這是英國最棒的象人！成千上百的人來看他，知道嗎？成千上百！我帶他到全國各地去，真的！”

“挺有意思！”我說，“我可以坐下嗎？”“當然可以，先生。請坐。”他朝我看了看，笑了笑說：“來杯水嗎，先生？”“謝謝，請給我一杯水，”我說。接著我朝髒商店裡那些東西看著，有兩三個壞蘋果、幾根爛香蕉。僅此而已。“啊！不……不，謝謝，我沒事！”我說。“你……你把這個怪物叫作麥裡克嗎？”

“不錯，先生，約瑟夫·麥裡克。英國最棒的象人。我將把他帶到全國各地去，你知道，許多人要看他。”

“那你會賺到很多錢嗎？”

“嗯，有時會賺到很多錢。但是也很難，因為警察找麻煩，你知道的，先生，警察不喜歡我們，所以我們不能在一個城鎮呆很長時間，通常每星期就換個地方。”

“是的，我明白，噢，……先生，您是……呃？”

“西爾庫克，先生。西蒙·西爾庫克。”

“是的，哦，西爾庫克先生，我是倫敦醫院的一個醫生。我是特里維斯博士。我想，這個……呃……約瑟夫·麥裡克這個人非常有趣，我想在醫院裡見到他，我想更好更仔細地看看他，你看怎麼樣？”

“是的，先生，我明白您的意思！但是，他怎能到醫院去呢？這是很困難的。”

“為什麼不行呢，先生，醫院離這兒不遠。”

“是的，先生，我知道，但是，您看，麥裡克走不好，他需要別人幫他”。

“你可以和他一塊兒來，你還要錢嗎？是這樣嗎？”

“噢，是的，先生，你知道，人們也害怕他…… 走在路上，孩子們總是追他打他。警察也會生氣，怪他嚇著了大家。有時候警察就把我們送進監獄裡。”

“噢，”我說，“那麼，他怎麼能到醫院裡去呢？”

“弄一輛馬車來，先生，”西爾庫克說。

“您可以用馬車送他去醫院。”