6 A Message

CHAPTER 6

第六章

A Message "'Wait! Leave the beast alone!' Captain Brown shouted. "The fishermen stopped striking the sea monster. The serpent roared and plunged beneath the water. Enormous waves rocked our ship. Green seawater splashed over the deck. We're done for! I thought as I landed on top of my shipmates. Somehow I dragged myself to my feet and looked out on the water.

“等一下！放开那畜生！”布朗船长喊道。 渔夫们不再打海怪了。 那条蛇咆哮着潜入水中。 巨浪摇晃着我们的船。 绿色的海水溅到甲板上。 我们完了！当我落在我的船友身上时，我想。 不知怎么的，我勉强站了起来，望着水面。

"The sea serpent slithered away. Loop after loop of its scaly green body curled through the water as it went on its way. None of us spoke. We looked at the cauldron, which had left a large hole in the deck. Had the monster been trying to tell us something? we wondered. Perhaps the monster didn't like that garbage was being

海蛇滑走了。 它那长满鳞片的绿色身体一圈又一圈地在水中蜿蜒游动。 我们谁也没有说话。我们看了看坩埚，它在甲板上留下了一个大洞。 那个怪物是不是想告诉我们什么？ 我们想知道。也许怪物不喜欢这些垃圾

thrown into its watery home. We all agreed that the people of Wrenly needed to change their ways. "Captain Brown took us to port. We told King Henry—King Caleb's father—what we had seen and heard. The king believed every word of our story. He knew he could trust Captain Brown.

被扔进水里的家。 我们都认为雷利的人们需要改变他们的生活方式。 “布朗船长把我们送到了港口。 我们把所见所闻告诉了亨利国王——迦勒国王的父亲。 国王相信我们所说的每一句话。 他知道他可以信任布朗船长。

"'But you must never speak of it,' said the king. 'We mustn't upset the good people of Wrenly.' He also said that if we didn't have evidence of a monster, then no

“‘但是你绝对不能提起这件事，’国王说。 “我们不能让兰利的好人难过。”他还说如果我们找不到怪物存在的证据，那就没有

one would believe our tale. Then King Henry made a royal decree: HEAR YE! HEAR YE! BY ROYAL DECREE OF THE KING OF WRENLY: NO DUMPING GARBAGE INTO THE SEA! LAWBREAKERS WILL BE THROWN IN THE DUNGEON FOR TEN DAYS. "Some of the fishermen told the story of the sea serpent against the king's wishes. But no one believed them. The villagers made fun of the fishermen and called them crazy. But I'm here to say—cross my heart —that every word of this story is true." Everyone sat in silence. Then Lucas said, "I believe you, Nanny Louisa. I've always believed you." "I believe you too," said Clara. "And I," said Queen Sophie. "But what do we do now?" Lucas asked.

有人会相信我们的故事。 然后亨利国王颁布了一道皇家法令：“听着！”你们当听!根据鹪鹩王的皇家法令：禁止向海里倾倒垃圾！违法者将被关在地牢里十天。 一些渔夫违背国王的意愿，讲述了海蛇的故事。 但是没有人相信他们。村民们取笑渔民，说他们疯了。 但我在这里发誓，这个故事的每一个字都是真的。” 每个人都沉默地坐着。然后卢卡斯说：“我相信你，路易莎保姆。 我一直相信你。” “我也相信你，”克拉拉说。 “我也是。”索菲王后说。 “可我们现在怎么办呢？”卢卡斯问道。