Chapter 2-4

CHAPTER FOUR Bennett comes to the rescue. No, he really does... Next morning when the cook came down to make breakfast, he found that a great haunch of venison had gone. It had been hanging in the larder and it would have been venison pie for thirty people that evening. One of the maids had seen Princess Florizella taking it upstairs. The cook went to find the king and queen.

第四章 班纳特前来救场。 哦，他可真的来啦…… 第二天早上，厨师下楼准备早餐时，发现一大块鹿腰腿肉不见了。 那块肉之前一直挂在食品储藏室里，本来是要在今晚做成鹿肉派，够三十个人吃的。 有个女仆看见弗洛里泽拉公主把它扛上楼了。 厨师便去找国王和王后。

"I am sorry to have to tell you, but I am afraid that Princess Florizella is under a lion enchantment," he said as soon as he was in the royal breakfast parlour. "In the past twenty-four hours, she has taken from my larder: a steak-and-mushroom pie, a dozen raw lamb chops and a haunch of venison that would have served thirty people." The king and queen gasped. "What's a lion enchantment?" asked the king. "Someone has put her under a spell to turn her into a lion," the queen explained. "But surely it can't be true! Who would do such a thing to Florizella? She's always been so popular, except for that unfortunate incident with a python." "Send for the royal enchanter!" said the king. "This is his sort of thing." (In the Seven Kingdoms you can send for an enchanter like you can send for a plumber or an electrician in our world. They have magic there, but no electricity. (Which would you rather have?) It's great for spells, but a nuisance when it's dark, and of course there's no TV, no phones

“很抱歉不得不告诉二位，弗洛里泽拉公主恐怕是中了狮子魔咒了。”他一走进王室早餐室就开口说道。 “过去二十四小时里，她从我食品储藏室拿了：一个蘑菇牛排派，一打生羊排，还有一块够三十人吃的鹿腰腿肉。” 国王和王后都倒抽了一口冷气。 “什么是狮子魔咒呀？”国王问。 “就是有人给她下了咒语，要把她变成狮子。”王后解释道。 “可这肯定不是真的啊！ 谁会对弗洛里泽拉做这种事呢？ 她一直都很招人喜欢，除了上次和巨蟒的那件倒霉事之外。” “传皇家魔法师过来！”国王下令。 “这种事他最拿手了。” （在七大王国里，你传唤魔法师就和我们世界里叫水管工或者电工一样方便。 他们那里有魔法，但没有电。 （你更想要哪一样呢？） 魔法用来施咒很棒，可天黑的时候就很麻烦了，而且当然啦，那里没有电视，没有电话

or drones, not even vacuum cleaners or electric toothbrushes. But there are magicians. The royal palace always has two enchanters on call, day and night, in case of visits from wicked fairy godmothers, accidents with spinning wheels, the disappearance of girls or the arrival of armies of gnomes– the sort of things that happen in fairy tales and are very inconvenient.) The royal enchanter came at once, looking grave. "Eating meat to excess," he said thoughtfully. "How does she smell?" The queen thought hard. Florizella had popped into her room that morning, and after a night with four wolf cubs she had smelled a bit… a bit… "Whiffy!" she said honestly. The enchanter nodded. "Any sign of a mane growing round her neck and head?" he asked. The queen looked horrified. What with hiding the venison bone and mopping up after the wolf cubs, Florizella had not bothered to brush her hair that morning. It didn't look in the least like a lion's mane– but frightened people often get

也没有无人机，连吸尘器或者电动牙刷都没有。 但那里有魔法师呀。 王宫总是随时备着两位魔法师，昼夜待命，以防邪恶教母来访、纺车伤人事故、女孩失踪或是小矮人大军入侵——这些都是童话里常发生、又特别棘手的状况。） 皇家魔法师立刻就来了，神色严肃。 “过量食肉，”他若有所思地说道， “她闻起来味道怎么样？” 王后仔细回想了一下。 那天早上弗洛里泽拉还跑进过她的房间，和四只小狼崽待了一整晚，她闻起来有点……有点……“臭烘烘的！” 她老老实实地回答。 魔法师点了点头。 “那她脖子和脑袋周围有没有长出鬃毛的迹象？”他问道。 王后露出了惊恐的神色。 那天弗洛里泽拉忙着藏鹿骨头，还要跟在小狼崽后面收拾，根本没顾上梳头。 她的头发半点儿都不像狮子的鬃毛——可受惊的人经常会

things wrong. "Oh dear!" the queen said. "And her nails!" She meant that they were so dirty– Florizella had torn up the venison into little pieces for the wolf cubs by hand, and she hadn't had time to wash. "Claws…" The enchanter nodded. "Very bad indeed." "Surely not," the king said quietly. "Only one solution," the enchanter announced. "We'll have to lock her up in her room until we can find who has put this spell on her– and how to lift it." "I suppose so—" "Have to," the enchanter said briskly. "Can't have her going around the countryside eating people. Very bad for the monarchy. Nothing upsets people more than a royal family eating small children. The very worst thing that can happen." The queen nodded. "We'll have to keep it secret," she said. "I'll order the guards." "And I'll tell the cook to keep feeding her meat,"

弄错事情。 “哦天呐！” 王后叫道。 “还有她的指甲！” 她本来是说指甲特别脏——弗洛里泽拉用手把鹿肉撕成小块喂小狼崽，还没来得及洗手。 “是爪子……”魔法师点了点头。 “情况实在是很糟糕。” “不会吧。”国王平静地说道。 “只有一个解决办法，”魔法师宣布道， “我们得把她锁在自己的房间里，直到找出给她下咒的人，还有解除咒语的方法为止。” “我想也只能这样了——”“必须这么做，”魔法师干脆地说道， “可不能让她在乡间乱跑吃人。 这对王室名声太不利了。 什么都比不过王室成员吃小孩更让民众不满的了。 这是能发生的最糟糕的事了。” 王后点了点头。 “我们得保密，”她说道， “我去传令给守卫。” “我会告诉厨师继续给她送肉，”

the king said. "Poor little Florizella, she'll miss her puddings!" "And I'll cast spells to look for the wizard who has done this," the royal enchanter promised. All this time, Florizella was up in her room playing with the wolf cubs, quite forgetting that she was very late for breakfast. She didn't even notice that it was nearly time for lunch. She did not even hear the key turn as they locked her in. One of the puppies, whom she had named Samson, was hiding under the bed and Florizella was trying to tempt him out by waggling her hairbrush at him. His little furry hackles were raised and he was growling through his tiny white teeth. Then he came out, stalking, just like a grown-up wolf, only ten times smaller. Florizella forgot all about going down to breakfast, and poured them some milk from her morning tea tray. She was so absorbed she did not hear the tap on

国王说道。 “可怜的小弗洛里泽拉，她吃不到布丁了！” “我会施法找出干这件事的巫师。”皇家魔法师承诺道。 这时候，弗洛里泽拉正在楼上自己的房间里和小狼崽们玩耍，完全忘了自己早就该去吃早餐了。 她甚至都没注意到快到午饭时间了。 她连他们把她锁在房里，钥匙转动的声音都没听见。 有只小狼崽，她给起名叫参孙，正躲在床底下，弗洛里泽拉挥着自己的梳子，想把他哄出来。 他毛茸茸的小颈毛都竖起来了，正露着小小的白牙低吼。 接着他走了出来，蹑手蹑脚的，就和成年狼一模一样，只是小了十倍而已。 弗洛里泽拉完全忘了要下楼吃早餐的事，从自己的早茶托盘里倒了些牛奶给他们。 她太投入了，都没听见敲门声

the window. Then there was a louder knock. Then there was a hoarse whisper. "Honestly, Florizella! Are you deaf?" It was her best friend, Prince Bennett, clinging on to the ivy. Florizella ran to the window. Samson, the naughty wolf cub, took his chance while her back was turned. He jumped up on to her bed, got under the covers and started tunnelling down between the sheets. "Anybody would think you liked climbing ivy," Florizella said scornfully as she opened the window and Prince Bennett climbed in. "What's wrong with the stairs all of a sudden?" "What's wrong with you, you mean!" Bennett said smartly. "Guards on your door and the place in uproar? Me forbidden to see you– I came over at once, of course." Then he turned round. "What was that noise?" he demanded. Florizella grinned. "Wolves," she said. "No, not a howling from the forest, a kind of scuffling in your bed." "Wolves," said Florizella again, and she pulled

窗边。 紧接着传来了更响的敲门声。 然后是一个沙哑的低语声。 “说真的，弗洛里泽拉！ 你聋了吗？” 是她最好的朋友，贝内特王子，正抓着常春藤挂在外面。 弗洛里泽拉跑到窗边。 淘气的小狼崽萨姆森趁她背过身的功夫抓住了机会。 他跳上她的床，钻进被子里，开始在床单之间拱来拱去。 “不知道的还以为你喜欢爬常春藤呢，”弗洛里泽拉开窗户的时候嫌弃地说，贝内特王子跟着爬了进来。 “楼梯是突然出什么问题了吗？” “我看是你出问题了才对！” 贝内特机灵地回嘴。 “你门口全是守卫，整个地方乱哄哄的？ 他们还不许我见你——我当然马上就赶过来了。” 接着他转过身。 “刚才那是什么声音？”他问道。 弗洛里泽拉咧嘴笑了。 “是狼呀。”她说。 “不是，不是森林里的狼嚎，是你床那边传来的窸窸窣窣的动静。” “是狼呀。”弗洛里泽拉又说了一遍，然后她拉开