The Princess on the Pea豌豆公主

【編者注】 作者簡介：漢斯·克里斯訂·安徒生（1805－1875）丹麥著名童話作家。

There once was a prince， and he was looking for a princess to get married. But the princess must be a real princess. 從前有一位王子想娶一位公主，但她必須是一位真正的公主。

So he traveled around the world in search for such a lady. But no matter where he went， he always ran into some troubles. 王子走遍了全世界，想要尋到一位這樣的公主。可是無論他到什么地方，他總是碰到一些麻煩。

There did exist princesses， however， it was not easy to tell their true identity. The prince went home and he was unhappy. 公主倒有的是，不過他沒有辦法斷定她們究竟是不是真正的公主。王子回到家，心中很不快活。

One night， there was a sudden， dreadful storm. The thunder was roaring， the rain pouring down. 有一天晚上，忽然下起了一陣可怕的暴雨。雷電交加，大雨傾盆。

This was really a bit frightening! When someone knocked at the door， the old king went and opened the door. 這真讓人害怕！突然有人敲門，老國王走過去打開了門。

Outside stood a girl. But， alas!After the rain and the wind， how ugly she looked! 站在外面的是一位姑娘。可是，天哪！經(jīng)過了風(fēng)吹雨打之后，她的樣子是多么難看啊！

Water was flowing down her hair and clothes， and then into the toe， and heel. She said she was a real princess. 水沿著她的頭發(fā)和衣服向下流，流進(jìn)鞋尖，又從腳跟流出來。她說她是一個(gè)真正的公主。

“Yes， this is something we can test immediately.” thought the old queen， but she said nothing. “是的，這點(diǎn)我們馬上就可以考查出來。”老皇后心里想，可是她什么也沒說。

She walked into the bedroom， took away all the bedding and put a piece of pea on the bed. 她走進(jìn)臥房，把所有的被褥都搬開，在床榻上放了一粒豌豆。

Then she took out 20 mattresses， and pressed them on the pea. Then， she put twenty feather quilts above the mattresses. That night the princess slept on all those staffs. 于是她取出二十床墊子，把它們壓在豌豆上。隨后，她又在這些墊子上放了二十床鴨絨被。這位公主夜里就睡在這些東西上面。

The next morning， the princess said， “I couldn’t close my eyes almost all night! I slept on a very hard thing， making my skin black and blue and hurting me so much!” 第二天早晨，公主說，“我差不多整夜沒合上眼！天曉得我床上有件什么東西？我睡到一塊很硬的東西上面，弄得我全身發(fā)青發(fā)紫，真痛啊！”

Then everyone found she was a real princess， for she could feel a pea under twenty mattresses and twenty feather quilts. 現(xiàn)在大家就看出來了。她是一位真正的公主，因?yàn)閴涸谶@二十床墊子和二十床鴨絨被下面的一粒豌豆，她居然還能感覺得出來。

So the prince took her as his wife， for now he knew he had a real princess. 因此那位王子就選她為妻子了，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在他知道他得到了一位真正的公主。

And the pea was sent to the museum; if no one takes it away， people can now see it there. 這粒豌豆因此也就被送進(jìn)了博物館，如果沒有人把它拿走的話，人們現(xiàn)在還可以在那兒看到它呢。