Chapter 2-6

CHAPTER Six It is a little late to talk about good manners. But here are the Good Manner Eagles Meanwhile, Florizella had been swimming in wider and wider and wider circles, looking down into the water, diving down when she caught sight of anything, hoping that she would see Courier somewhere on the seabed, or in the sea. But there was no sign of him. Florizella kept bobbing up out of the water to take a breath and shout, "Courier!", but there really was no sign of him at all.

第六章 现在讲文明礼仪好像有点晚了。 不过现在「礼仪之鹰」来了。 与此同时，弗洛里泽拉一直在一圈圈越游越远，边游边往水底看，一瞥见什么东西就潜下去，希望能在海床上或是海里什么地方找到信使。 可哪里都没有他的影子。 弗洛里泽拉时不时从水里冒出来换气，边喊：「信使！」，可真的连半点儿他的踪迹都找不到。

She asked fish; she asked bobbing octopi who shrugged their many shoulders– no one had seen him. Florizella was more frightened for her little brother than she had ever been in her whole life. More frightened than when she had met the dragon, or the wolves, or the giant or the kidnappers. Finally, she climbed out of the sea to the foot of the Unscalable Cliffs and there she found Bennett dismounting from the Sea Serpent, which had three pirate ships wrapped in its snaky coils. "Can't find him," was all she said. "I've been looking and looking." It was such dreadful news that Bennett went quite white. "I was certain he'd turn up. Probably talking. Full of himself." Florizella shook her head. "This is dreadful," she said. "Worse than dreadful. And I keep thinking…" Her voice got all croaky and she stopped to sniff. "You can cry," Bennett offered. "Girls and boys can cry when they need to." "I'm not being a cry baby?" Florizella checked.

她问过路过的鱼，也问过晃来晃去的章鱼，章鱼们晃着好多只触手耸肩——谁都没见过他。 弗洛里泽拉这辈子从来没这么为自己的小弟弟担心过。 比之前遇到恶龙、遇到狼群、遇到巨人，还有遇到绑匪的时候都要害怕。 最后，她从海里爬上来，到了「爬不上悬崖」的山脚下，正好碰到班尼特从海蛇身上下来，那海蛇的长身子还缠着三艘海盗船呢。 「找不到他。」她只说得出来这一句话。 「我找了好久好久了。」 这个消息太糟糕了，班尼特的脸一下子就白了。 「我本来还笃定他会自己冒出来的。 八成是光顾着说话了。 又得意忘形了。」 弗洛里泽拉摇了摇头。 「太糟了，」她说， 「比糟还要糟。 而且我总在想……」她的声音变得沙哑，停下来吸了吸鼻子。 「你可以哭的，」班尼特安慰她。 「不管男孩女孩，难受了都可以哭。」 「我这样不是爱哭鬼吧？」 弗洛里泽拉确认道。

"Not when it's important," he assured her. Two tears rolled down Florizella's cheeks at the thought of her lost brother. "How ever am I going to tell Mum and Dad?" Florizella whispered. And that was when they heard the royal trumpets from the Queasy Quays, and the sky over their head went dark as two Good Manner Eagles swooped down. "We're not late!" Florizella and Bennett both shouted. But the claws of both huge birds had fastened into their belts and hauled them off the beach and up into the sky. "Punctuality," said one bird. "Is the politeness of princes," completed the other.

「遇到要紧事的时候哭不算的。」他向她保证。 一想到弟弟不见了，弗洛里泽拉的两滴眼泪顺着脸颊滚了下来。 「我到底要怎么跟爸爸妈妈说啊？」 弗洛里泽拉小声说。 就在这时，他们听见「晃荡码头」传来了王室的号角声，接着两只礼仪之鹰猛扑下来，头顶的天一下子暗了。 「我们没迟到！」 弗洛里泽拉和班尼特一起喊道。 可两只巨鸟的爪子已经牢牢抓住了他们的腰带，把他们从沙滩上拎起来，往天上飞去。 「守时，」一只鸟说。 「是王子的第一美德。」另一只接话道。

"We weren't late; we're not even expected!" Florizella explained. "Definitely expected," said one eagle. "Can't be late for the king," said the other. "Nothing more important than good manners!" they said together in a terribly smug chorus. "That's what we say!" "That's what you always say," Florizella complained. "And you swoop down and grab me,

「我们没迟到呀，本来也没人叫我们来！」 弗洛里泽拉解释道。 「当然是要叫你们来的。」一只鹰说。 「见国王可不能迟到。」另一只说。 「没有什么比良好的礼仪更重要！」 他俩一起得意洋洋地齐声说道。 「我们就是这么说的！」 「你们每次都这么说。」弗洛里泽拉抱怨道。 「每次都猛扑下来抓我，

and half the time I didn't even have to go! But you never listen to me!" The two royals, dangling helplessly from the Good Manner Eagles" claws, were flown to the Queasy Quays and dropped gently in a wet heap before Florizella's mother and father. Samson went up to them both and sniffed them over. He was glad to see them. He had run to fetch help the moment Bennett had said he had a Brilliant Plan. Samson the wolf thought that help was better than a Brilliant Plan, and this time he was right. "Mum, it's about Courier…" Florizella started at once. "Isn't he clever?" her mother said. "An island of his own! A whole new kingdom!" "No, we lost—" Florizella started, and then went quiet when Bennett leaned gently but warningly against her. "Where is he?" Bennett asked. "Our very clever Prince Courier?" "There!" said the queen, stepping back and pointing into the harbour. And there was the Sea Serpent, looking very pleased with itself with

大半时候我根本不需要去！ 可你们从来都不听我说话！」 两个小王室成员被礼仪之鹰的爪子抓着，一点办法都没有，被带到了晃荡码头，轻轻扔在弗洛里泽拉的爸爸妈妈面前，浑身湿淋淋的，堆成一团。 萨姆森走到他俩身边，凑过来闻了闻。 见到他们它很高兴。 之前班尼特刚说自己有个「绝妙计划」的时候，它就跑去找人帮忙了。 狼萨姆森觉得，找人帮忙可比「绝妙计划」靠谱多了，这次它可太对了。 「妈妈，关于信使的事……」弗洛里泽拉立刻开口。 「他是不是特别聪明？」 妈妈说。 「属于他自己的岛！ 一整个全新的王国！」 「不是，我们弄丢了——」弗洛里泽拉刚开口，班尼特轻轻碰了碰她，给了她个警告的眼神，她就安静了。 「他在哪呢？」 班尼特问。 「我们特别聪明的信使王子？」 「在那儿！」王后说着往后退了一步，指向港口的方向。 海蛇就在那里，看起来得意极了，

three pirate ships wound up in its infinite coils. Beyond it, further out to sea, there was Courier, standing on a small rounded black island, and holding the flag of the Seven Kingdoms to claim the territory.

三艘海盗船被它长长的身子缠得严严实实的。 在海蛇后面更远的海面上，信使站在一座圆圆的黑色小岛上，举着七国的旗帜，宣告这座领地属于他。