Chapter 3-3

CHAPTER THREE Courier creates a truly brilliant invention As soon as the two Good Manner Eagles reached the palace front door, they dropped down out of the sky and went SPLASH into the moat and held Courier and Florizella under the water for what felt like a very long time. Finally, they lifted them up again, spluttering and coughing. "What did you do that for?" Florizella demanded. "You nearly drowned me."

第三章 信使发明了一个绝妙的新点子 两只礼仪鹰刚飞到宫殿正门，就猛地从天上俯冲下来，“扑通”一声栽进护城河里，把信使和弗洛里泽拉按在水里，感觉过了好长好长时间才松手。 最后它们终于把俩孩子拎了起来，俩人都呛得直咳嗽，大口往外吐水。 “你们干吗要这么做啊？”弗洛里泽拉气呼呼地质问。 “你们差点把我淹死！”

"It's good manners to wash your hands before meals," one of the eagles told her, placing her in the courtyard before the palace front door. "Wash your hands, yes! Not be held underwater!" The eagle ignored her complaints. "Now, do I have to remind you about sitting up straight and using your knife and fork?" "You don't have to remind me of anything," Florizella said crossly. "In fact, I wish you wouldn't do anything at all. It's not helpful." The eagle looked down its big yellow beak at her. "Is that a polite tone of voice?" he asked. "Is that a polite tone of voice for a princess? What does Princess Rule number eight say?" Rule no 8: Beautiful manners are a princess's greatest gift. Florizella shut her mouth very tightly on a very rude reply. "Do princes have to be so very polite?" Courier asked his eagle, who was holding him flat on his

“饭前洗手是礼貌呀。”一只鹰回答她，把她放到宫殿正门前面的院子里。 “洗手是没错！ 可也不用把人按在水里啊！” 鹰完全不理会她的抱怨。 “对了，需要我提醒你坐直身子，还有正确使用刀叉的规矩吗？” “你什么都不用提醒我。”弗洛里泽拉没好气地说。 “说实话，我倒希望你什么都别做。 你这样一点都不讨人喜欢。” 鹰俯下身子，用黄色的大尖喙对着她。 “你现在说话的语气有礼貌吗？” 它问道。 “公主说话能用这种语气吗？ 公主守则第八条是怎么说的？” 第八条：得体的举止是公主最珍贵的财富。 弗洛里泽拉紧紧抿住嘴，把到了嘴边的粗话硬生生咽了回去。 “王子也必须这么讲礼貌吗？” 信使问抓着他的那只鹰，那只鹰正用爪子把他按得脸朝下。

face under a restraining claw. "Young princes, for example? Are beautiful manners my greatest gift?" "No." The eagle lifted him up and tweaked his wet clothes into place with its big beak so that it pulled him one way and another like a puppet. "Princes have the Permit. They can pretty well do whatever they like. They ought to be noble, but day-to-day good manners– not so much." "Oh, so how should I be noble?" Courier asked, interested at once. "Riding around and rescuing," the eagle said. "Challenging duels. Taking on dragons. Brave stuff. Fun stuff." "The Prince Permit! Isn't it great?" Courier said, grinning at Florizella and knowing how much it would irritate her. As her little brother, he believed (wrongly) that it was his job to be irritating now and then. "Ridiculous, old-fashioned nonsense," she said, and marched into the palace for lunch with her father the king and her mother the queen.

爪子死死按着他不让动。 “就比如年纪小的王子？ 得体的举止也是我最珍贵的财富吗？” “不是。” 鹰把他拎起来，用大尖喙扯着他的湿衣服拽来拽去调整平整，把他扯得像个木偶一样东倒西歪。 “王子有特权许可。 他们差不多想做什么就可以做什么。 他们得有 noble 风范，不过日常的礼貌规矩嘛——就没那么多要求了。” “哦，那我要怎么做才算有 noble 风范呀？” 信使一听立刻来了兴趣，连忙问道。 “骑着马四处救人呀。”鹰回答。 “接受决斗挑战。 对战恶龙。 就是勇敢的事。 好玩的事。” “王子特权！是不是超棒的？” 信使冲弗洛里泽拉咧嘴笑着，他可清楚这话肯定能把姐姐惹毛。 作为她的弟弟，他（错误地）觉得时不时惹姐姐生气就是自己的任务。 “荒唐又老掉牙的蠢规矩。”她哼了一声，大步走进宫殿，准备和国王爸爸、王后妈妈一起吃午饭。

But someone else had come to lunch with the queen. More to the point, it had come to lunch ON the queen. When Florizella entered the magnificent marble banqueting hall, she found a great stake driven into the marble floor, the king and queen tied to the stake and the Sea Serpent from the bay of the Unscalable Cliffs smiling at them both in a most agreeable way. "Another princess for lunch!" it hissed when it saw Florizella. "And so politely punctual!" At once, one of its powerful little forelegs shot out, grabbed her and tied her back to back with the king and queen on the same stake. "And another!" It was just about to grab Courier, when Courier lifted one hand in a stop sign, and then the other, like someone doing a disco-dance and said. "Stop right there. Thank you very much."

可还有别的“客人”也来和王后一起吃午饭了。 更准确地说，它是打算把王后当午饭吃。 弗洛里泽拉走进华丽的大理石宴会厅时，只见一根粗大的木桩钉在大理石地面上，国王和王后被绑在木桩上，之前在无法攀登悬崖海湾遇到的海蛇正对着俩人情不自禁地笑着。 “又来个公主当午餐！” 它看见弗洛里泽拉，嘶嘶地吐着信子说。 “还这么有礼貌，准点得很！” 话音刚落，它就猛地伸出一条有力的小前腿，一把抓住弗洛里泽拉，把她和国王、王后背对背绑在了同一根木桩上。 “又来一个！” 它正要抓信使的时候，信使突然举起一只手做了个停下的手势，接着又举起另一只，就像跳迪斯科似的，开口说道： “就在那儿别动。 多谢了啊。”

The Sea Serpent was so surprised that Courier had neither screamed nor fainted that it did stop, right where it was, and widened its beautiful blue eyes. "I have a permit," Courier said very firmly. "The Prince Permit. You can't lay a hand on me; I'm a prince. You can fight me to the death, of course, but I'm assuming nobody wants to risk that. Not with me being the only son and heir." "Worth a go," said the king from under the coils. "Boys will be boys. Can't stop them! When I was a lad—" "Of course not, Courier!" said the queen, a little breathless because the Serpent was squeezing. "You're too precious to risk in a fight…" "OK! You have the Prince Permit, so nobody is allowed to touch you. I'll eat this one first instead," the Serpent said, eyeing Florizella. "Not so," Courier said, still very confident. "She has a permit too." "She can't have!" the Sea Serpent said angrily. "She's a princess; she has to follow the Rules. She has a life cycle: Grow Up, Tied Up, Eaten Up.

海蛇见信使既没尖叫也没吓晕，惊讶得真的停在了原地，它漂亮的蓝眼睛都瞪得更大了。 “我有特权许可。”信使说得非常笃定。 “王子特权许可。 你碰都不能碰我，我可是王子。 当然啦，你可以和我决一死战，但我猜没人想冒这个险吧。 毕竟我可是独生子，是王位继承人呀。” “我觉得可以试试，”被缠在蛇身底下的国王开口了，“男孩子嘛就是这样。 男孩子本来就爱冒险。 拦不住的！ 我年轻的时候啊——” “当然不行，信使！”王后急忙打断他，她被海蛇缠得有点喘不上气。 “你太珍贵了，不能冒险打架……” “行吧！ 你有王子特权，所以谁都不能碰你。 那我先吃这个好了。”海蛇说着，眼睛盯上了弗洛里泽拉。 “那可不行。”信使还是一副胸有成竹的样子。 “她也有特权许可。” “她不可能有！” 海蛇气呼呼地说。 “她是公主，就得遵守规矩。 她们的人生流程就是：长大、被绑、被吃掉。”