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. ’

我是弗雷德里克.特里维斯博士，伦敦医院的医生。1884年的一天，我在医院附近一家店铺的橱窗里看见了一张照片。我停下来，看着这张照片。起先我觉得这张照片挺有趣，后来就感到生气、害怕起来。那是一幅可怕的、丑陋的照片。照片上有个男人，但不像你和我。他看上去不像个人，而像一头大象。我看了看照片下面的文字，上面写着：进来吧，看看这个象人，一次两便士。

我推开门走了进去。

店里有个男人，穿着一件旧外套，嘴里叼着一支烟。“你想干什么？”他问道。

“我想看看象人。”我说。

这个人生气地看着我。“不行。”他说，“店铺现在关门了，你明天来吧。”

“对不起，”我说，“我想现在就看，明天我没有空，我有许多事情要做，我可以另外多给一些钱。”

这个人仔细地打量着我，后来他取下嘴里的烟卷，露出了满嘴黄牙。

他说，“好吧，先生。就给十二便士吧。”

我把钱给了他，他就打开了店铺后门。我们走进一个小房间，房间又冷又暗，里面一股恶心的气味。

一个怪物坐在桌子后面的椅子上。我说那是一个怪物，它不像你和我，不是男人也不是女人。它一动不动地坐在这间又冷又暗又脏的房间里的椅子上，眼睛盯着桌子，由于阴冷，这个怪物的头上盖着一块布，在他面前的桌子上放着一朵枯萎的花。

“站起来，”店老板大声地说。怪物慢慢地站起来，取下头上的盖布放在椅子上。

看着这个怪物，我感到很悲伤。我是一个医生，我很了解事故和病人。我每天要遇到许多可怕的、丑恶的东西，可这个怪物却是最糟糕的。医院里没有任何一个男人或女人像他这个样子。

他穿着条旧裤子，没有穿衬衫、外套和鞋子。所以，我可以清楚地看见他的身体。他的头部最有趣，长得很大很大，就像一个装着许多书籍的大口袋。头上头发不多，脑后还耷拉着一块褐色的、肮脏的头皮，一直垂到脖子下面。我看不见他的一只眼睛，因为皮肤也从脸部垂下来。

一颗巨大的红牙齿从嘴里露出来，就像一颗象牙，嘴和鼻子就像脸上开的洞，从他脸上看不出微笑还是大笑，也看不出生气和悲伤，因为这种皮肤无法活动，它已经失去活力，像一只大象的脸。

这个怪物身体的前胸和后背的脏皮肤上有许多囊肿，这种囊肿<包状物>一直拖到他的腿部。右臂巨大，皮肤上也有包状物，右手像男人的脚。

然而左手——左臂和左手——却是长得很美，左臂上有漂亮的皮肤，左指头纤长、美丽，就像年轻女人的手一样。

“走一走，麦里克！”店老板生气地说，“朝前走，动一动，快！”他用手打着这个怪物。慢慢地，这个怪物走到房间的对面。可他走不好，他的腿又粗又肥，背部有病，没有拐杖走不远。

“好了，谢谢你，”我说，“让他坐下来，我不想再看什么了。”我感到恶心，房间里的气味难闻极了。

“好的，先生，”店老板说着。“坐下，麦里克。”

我们走出房间，关上门。店老板朝我笑了笑，露出满嘴黄牙。

“好极了，先生，是不是？”他说，“这是英国最棒的象人！成千上百的人来看他，知道吗？成千上百！我带他到全国各地去，真的！”

“挺有意思！”我说，“我可以坐下吗？”“当然可以，先生。请坐。”他朝我看了看，笑了笑说：“来杯水吗，先生？”“谢谢，请给我一杯水，”我说。接着我朝脏商店里那些东西看着，有两三个坏苹果、几根烂香蕉。仅此而已。“啊！不……不，谢谢，我没事！”我说。“你……你把这个怪物叫作麦里克吗？”

“不错，先生，约瑟夫.麦里克。英国最棒的象人。我将把他带到全国各地去，你知道，许多人要看他。”

“那你会赚到很多钱吗？”

“嗯，有时会赚到很多钱。但是也很难，因为警察找麻烦，你知道的，先生，警察不喜欢我们，所以我们不能在一个城镇呆很长时间，通常每星期就换个地方。”

“是的，我明白，噢，……先生，您是……呃？”

“西尔库克，先生。西蒙.西尔库克。”

“是的，哦，西尔库克先生，我是伦敦医院的一个医生。我是特里维斯博士。我想，这个……呃……约瑟夫.麦里克这个人非常有趣，我想在医院里见到他，我想更好更仔细地看看他，你看怎么样？”

“是的，先生，我明白您的意思！但是，他怎能到医院去呢？这是很困难的。”

“为什么不行呢，先生，医院离这儿不远。”

“是的，先生，我知道，但是，您看，麦里克走不好，他需要别人帮他”。

“你可以和他一块儿来，你还要钱吗？是这样吗？”

“噢，是的，先生，你知道，人们也害怕他…… 走在路上，孩子们总是追他打他。警察也会生气，怪他吓着了大家。有时候警察就把我们送进监狱里。”

“噢，”我说，“那么，他怎么能到医院里去呢？”

“弄一辆马车来，先生，”西尔库克说。

“您可以用马车送他去医院。”