12 The swamp

CHAPTER TWELVE The swamp Ted was giddy with excitement. The Grimwood Players would be meeting soon for a final dress rehearsal before the Big Show later that night. 'You're going to come and watch me, aren't you, sis?' he said, bouncing up and down in the den. Nancy drained the last of her coffee. 'Yeah,' she grunted. 'Got nothing better to do, have I?' He ran over to her and flung his arms around her middle. 'Wish me luck, Nance!' 'Break a paw, kid,' she said and gently ruffled the fur between his ears. After Ted had gone for rehearsals, Nancy went to her side of the den and removed the blanket she had thrown over the mysterious paw prints. She hadn't told Ted about her discovery. She ripped out a blank sheet of paper from his notebook and found half a crayon. She traced the paw prints onto the paper. Then she ripped Princess Buttons' tail from the wall and stuffed it into her jacket pocket. It

第十二章沼泽特德兴奋得头晕目眩。 格里姆伍德的球员们很快就会在当晚晚些时候的大表演之前进行最后的彩排。 “你会来看我的，是不是，姐姐？”他说着，在洞里跳上跳下。 南希把最后一点咖啡喝光了。 “是啊，”她咕哝着说。“我没有更好的事可做，是不是？”他跑向她，张开双臂搂住她的腰。 “祝我好运吧，南希！”“把爪子折断，孩子，”她说着，轻轻地捋了捋他耳朵间的毛。 泰德去排练后，南希走到书房她那一边，把盖在神秘爪印上的毯子拿掉。 她没有告诉泰德她的发现。 她从他的笔记本上撕下一张白纸，发现了半支蜡笔。 她把爪印印在纸上。 然后她把纽扣公主的尾巴从墙上扯下来，塞进她的夹克口袋里。 它

suddenly felt risky leaving it just hanging on the wall, and something in Nancy's gut was telling her that trouble was around the corner… No, it's not trouble, actually, it's just me, your friend and neighbour Eric B. Dynamite. Back at the rehearsal, Willow was talking to Ted about

突然觉得把它挂在墙上很冒险，南希的内心告诉她，麻烦就要来了……不，这不是麻烦，实际上，是我，你的朋友兼邻居埃里克·B。 炸药。在排练的时候，薇洛在跟泰德说

the special dance they were to perform at the very end of the Big Show. 'You'll be fine,' she assured him. 'Just do everything I do but backwards.' ,They were practising their dance moves at the side of the stage, while various backstage crew hurried about with spotlights and microphones. Ingrid's assistant, Tamara, was wearing sunglasses and shaking uncontrollably. There had been an awful lot for her to organize. Some rabbits had permanently vanished during the magic act. Emo Omar said he was 'too emotional' to recite any of his poetry. The badgers, meanwhile, were practising their singing, which was so terrible that even the nearby flowers started crying. 'It's going to be a disaster!' wailed Tamara. 'You two kids better not let me down.'

他们将在大秀的最后表演特别的舞蹈。 “你会没事的，”她向他保证。 “做我做的一切，但不要倒过来做。他们在舞台的一边练习舞蹈动作，而后台的工作人员则拿着聚光灯和麦克风忙碌地走来走去。 英格丽德的助手塔玛拉戴着墨镜，不停地发抖。 她要组织的事情太多了。 一些兔子在魔术表演中永远地消失了。 埃莫·奥马尔说，他“太情绪化了”，无法背诵自己写的诗。 与此同时，獾们正在练习唱歌，歌声太可怕了，就连附近的花儿也哭了起来。 “这将是一场灾难！”塔玛拉哀号道。 “你们两个孩子最好别让我失望。”

Willow gave a salute. 'I promise we will be fabulous,' she said. 'Ted and I have been practising every day.' Tamara waddled away, muttering to herself. Ted suddenly looked terrified. 'Willow… what if I'm rubbish?' he said. But Willow just shrugged. 'Let's have fun dancing around and don't worry about anything else. Something crazy always happens. Last year someone set fire to a squirrel. Is your sister coming?' 'Oh yes, she said she would,' beamed Ted. 'Really?' said Willow. 'I thought this kind of thing would be too cheerful for someone as miserable as her.' Ted frowned. 'She just misses her mates and the Big City, I think,' he said. 'Maybe if… maybe if some people were a bit nicer to her, she wouldn't be so grumpy.' 'By "some people" do you mean me?' asked Willow. 'Yes.' Ted grinned. 'Please could you try? I think you and Nancy actually have a lot in common.' Willow frowned and stomped off for a coffee break, which proved Ted's point entirely.

威洛敬了个礼。她说：“我保证我们会过得很棒。” “泰德和我每天都在练习。”塔玛拉摇摇摆摆地走开了，嘴里喃喃自语。 泰德突然显得很害怕。 “威洛……如果我是垃圾怎么办？”他说。 但薇罗只是耸耸肩。“让我们尽情跳舞吧，别担心其他的事情。 疯狂的事情总会发生。 去年有人放火烧了一只松鼠。 你姐姐要来吗?“哦，是的，她说她会的，”特德笑道。 “真的吗?威罗说。“我想，对于像她这样不幸的人来说，这种事情未免太令人高兴了。”泰德皱起了眉头。 他说：“我想，她只是想念她的伙伴们和这座大城市。” “也许如果有人对她好一点，她就不会这么暴躁了。”“你说的‘有些人’是指我吗？”威罗问。 “是的。”泰德咧嘴一笑。“你能试试吗？” 我觉得你和南希其实有很多共同点。”威洛皱起眉头，跺着脚去喝咖啡休息，这完全证明了泰德的观点。

When Nancy arrived at Titus's caravan, she found him wrapped in a tatty red dressing gown, rolling about on the floor. 'What are you doing?' she asked. 'Oh! Hello there. Just ironing my mayoral robe!' said Titus, slowly getting up and dusting himself down. Nancy took the sheet of paper out of her pocket. 'Who do these paw prints belong to?' she asked. Titus trotted over to take a closer look. 'Hmm… they don't ring any bells. Where are they from?' 'I found them in the den. Painted onto a lump of stone.' 'Well, they belong to a pair of foxes, I'd say,' he said. 'You've been in Grimwood forever. You must know whose they are!' said Nancy. Titus shrugged. 'There are many creatures in Grimwood who I know, and many that I don't. And there are some who I may have simply forgotten all about.' Nancy growled and shoved the paper back in her pocket. 'Who do you want those paw prints to belong to, young Nancy?' asked Titus gently.

当南希到达提多的商队时，她发现他裹着一件破旧的红色晨衣，在地板上打滚。 “你在干什么？”她问。 “啊!你好。在熨我的市长袍！提图斯说着，慢慢地站起来，掸去身上的灰尘。 南希从口袋里拿出那张纸。 “这些爪印是谁的？”她问。 提图斯小跑过去仔细看了看。 “嗯……它们听不起来。 他们来自哪里？“我在洞里找到的。” 画在一块石头上。“嗯，我想它们是一对狐狸的，”他说。 “你一直都在格里姆伍德。 你一定知道他们是谁的！南希说。 提图斯耸耸肩。“格里姆伍德有许多我认识的生物，也有许多我不认识的。 还有一些人我可能已经完全忘记了。”南希咆哮着把报纸塞回口袋里。 “你想让那些爪印属于谁，小南希？”提图斯温和地问道。

Nancy looked at the floor. 'I can't remember them,' she said slowly. 'Who?' 'My parents. I can't remember them.' Titus and Nancy sat in silence for some time. 'Well. That's a diffcult thing for young shoulders to carry,' said Titus eventually. 'But you carry it very well, Nancy. I don't know who your parents were or where they are now. But I know they taught you well. They would be very proud of how you look after your brother.' Nancy wrapped her tail around herself and sighed. 'I don't know why, but I've just got this feeling,' she said. 'It feels like they're near me. I didn't have this feeling in the Big City, but I've got it here.' Titus smiled. 'Young Ted has certainly made himself at home, hasn't he? Does he miss the Big City too?' 'I dunno. Not really.' 'Did he have many friends there?' asked Titus.

南希看着地板。 “我记不住了，”她慢慢地说。 “谁?”“我的父母。我记不住了。”提多和南希沉默地坐了一会儿。 “好。“这对年轻的肩膀来说是一件很难承担的事情，”提图斯最终说。 “可是你背得很好，南希。 我不知道你父母是谁，也不知道他们现在在哪里。 但我知道他们教得很好。 他们会为你照顾你弟弟的方式感到骄傲的。”南希用尾巴裹住自己，叹了口气。 “不知道为什么，我就是有这种感觉，”她说。 “感觉他们就在我身边。 我在大城市里没有这种感觉，但我在这里有了。”提图斯笑了。 “小泰德把自己当成了自己的家，不是吗？” 他也想念大城市吗？“我不知道。” 不是真的。“他在那儿有很多朋友吗？”提多问。