The Frog Prince

One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water, that rose in the midst of it, she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favourite plaything; and she was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell. After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounded away, and rolled along upon the ground, till at last it fell down into the spring.

一个晴朗的傍晚，一位年轻的公主戴上帽子，穿上木屐，独自到林中散步；走到一处清凉的泉水边，泉水正从林子中央涌出，她便坐下来歇息片刻。她手里拿着一只金球，那是她最心爱的玩具；她总喜欢把球抛向空中，再接住落下的球。玩着玩着，她把球抛得太高，落下来时没能接住；金球便滚开去，一路滚啊滚，最后掉进了泉水里。

The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. Then she began to bewail her loss, and said, ‘Alas! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.’

公主望着泉水去找她的球，可泉水很深，深得她看不见底。于是她伤心地哭了起来，说道：“唉！只要能找回我的金球，我愿意把我所有的华服和珠宝，把我世上所有的一切都给出去。”

Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, ‘Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?’ ‘Alas!’ said she, ‘what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.’ The frog said, ‘I want not your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep upon your bed, I will bring you your ball again.’

正说着，一只青蛙把头探出水面，说道：“公主，你为什么哭得这么伤心？”“唉！”她说道，“你这丑陋的青蛙，能帮我什么忙呢？我的金球掉进泉水里了。”青蛙说道：“我不要你的珍珠、珠宝和华服；但只要你肯爱我，让我和你住在一起，从你的金盘子里吃东西，睡在你的床上，我就把你的球给你找回来。”

‘What nonsense,’ thought the princess, ‘this silly frog is talking! He can never even get out of the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks.’ So she said to the frog, ‘Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.’

“这青蛙说的都是些什么胡话，”公主心想，“他连从泉水里出来都办不到，怎么可能到我这儿来呢，虽说他也许真能帮我把球找回来，那我就答应他的要求好了。”于是她对青蛙说：“好吧，只要你把我的球找回来，你要的我都答应你。”

Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring. As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could. The frog called after her, ‘Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said,’ But she did not stop to hear a word.

于是青蛙把头一低，深深地潜入水中；过了一会儿，他又浮了上来，嘴里叼着那只球，把球扔到了泉水边上。年轻的公主一见自己的球，便跑过去把它捡起来；她重新拿到球，欣喜若狂，竟把青蛙忘得一干二净，只顾飞快地往家跑。青蛙在她身后喊道：“等等，公主，把我也带上，你答应过的呀。”可她根本没停下来听。

The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise—tap, tap—plash, plash—as if something was coming up the marble staircase: and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:

第二天，公主正坐下来吃饭，忽然听见一阵奇怪的声音——啪嗒，啪嗒——扑通，扑通——仿佛有什么东西正沿着大理石台阶爬上来；不一会儿，门上传来轻轻的敲门声，一个小小的声音喊道：

‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’

“开门吧，我亲爱的公主， 为你的真心爱人开门吧！ 莫忘了你我曾说过的话， 就在那林荫下清凉的泉边。”

Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as she could came back to her seat. The king, her father, seeing that something had frightened her, asked her what was the matter. ‘There is a nasty frog,’ said she, ‘at the door, that lifted my ball for me out of the spring this morning: I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.’

公主便跑去开门，一看，原来是那只她早已忘得一干二净的青蛙。她一见之下大为惊恐，赶紧关上门，跑回座位上坐下。国王，她的父亲，见她受了惊吓，便问她出了什么事。“门外有只讨厌的青蛙，”她说道，“今早是他帮我把球从泉水里捞出来的：我当时告诉他可以来跟我一起住，只当他绝不可能离开那泉水；可如今他竟到了门口，还想进来呢。”

While she was speaking the frog knocked again at the door, and said:

正说着，青蛙又敲了敲门，说道：

‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’

“开门吧，我亲爱的公主， 为你的真心爱人开门吧！ 莫忘了你我曾说过的话， 就在那林荫下清凉的泉边。”

Then the king said to the young princess, ‘As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.’ She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on—tap, tap—plash, plash—from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat. ‘Pray lift me upon chair,’ said he to the princess, ‘and let me sit next to you.’ As soon as she had done this, the frog said, ‘Put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of it.’

国王便对公主说道：“既然你已经许下了诺言，就该遵守；去把他放进来吧。”公主只好照做，青蛙便跳进屋来，一路啪嗒啪嗒、扑通扑通地跳，从屋子的一头跳到另一头，一直跳到公主坐着的桌子跟前。“劳驾把我抱到椅子上，”他对公主说道，“让我坐在你身边。”公主刚一照做，青蛙又说道：“把你的盘子挪近些，好让我也能吃点。”

This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, ‘Now I am tired; carry me upstairs, and put me into your bed.’ And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light he jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house. ‘Now, then,’ thought the princess, ‘at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.’

公主便照做了，等青蛙吃饱了，他说道：“我这会儿累了；把我抱到楼上，放到你的床上去吧。”公主虽然万分不情愿，还是把他捧在手心里，放到了自己床上的枕头上，青蛙便在那儿睡了一整夜。天一亮，他就跳起来，蹦下楼去，出了门。“好啦，”公主心想，“他总算走了，以后再也不用为他烦心了。”

But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said:

可她想错了；因为等到夜幕再次降临，她又听见了同样的敲门声；青蛙又来了，说道：

‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’

“开门吧，我亲爱的公主， 为你的真心爱人开门吧！ 莫忘了你我曾说过的话， 就在那林荫下清凉的泉边。”

And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and standing at the head of her bed.

公主开了门，青蛙便进来了，跟前一晚一样睡在她的枕头上，直到天明。第三天夜里也是如此。可第二天早晨公主醒来时，却惊讶地发现床头站着的不再是那只青蛙，而是一位英俊的王子，正用她所见过最美的眼睛望着她。

He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights. ‘You,’ said the prince, ‘have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father’s kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.’

他告诉公主，自己曾被一位心怀恶意的仙女施了魔法，变成了青蛙；命中注定要一直这样，直到有位公主把他从泉水里带出来，让他从她的盘子里吃东西，在她的床上睡三个晚上为止。“是你，”王子说道，“破解了这残酷的魔咒，如今我别无所求，只盼你能随我回到我父亲的王国，我要娶你为妻，一生一世爱护你。”

The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying ‘Yes’ to all this; and as they spoke a gay coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince’s servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.

你可以想见，年轻的公主几乎没有片刻犹豫，便答应了这一切；正说着话，一辆华丽的马车驶了过来，拉车的是八匹装饰着羽饰、系着金色挽具的骏马；马车后面，骑马跟随的是王子忠心耿耿的仆人海因里希，他在王子被施魔法期间，为主人的不幸悲痛欲绝、哀恸日久，几乎伤心得心都要碎了。

They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince’s kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years.

于是他们向国王告别，登上那辆由八匹骏马拉着的马车，一路欢欢喜喜、热热闹闹地朝王子的王国出发，平安抵达之后，从此幸福快乐地生活了许多许多年。