Chapter 1-2

Prince Bennett was in a hammock in the orchard of his palace, reading a fairy tale, when Florizella marched in. "Hi, Florizella!" he said as soon as he saw her. "You know, the weirdest things happen in books…" "Something rather weird has happened here as well," Florizella said shortly. "Great!" Bennett said. "I love it when something happens. Was it SUDDENLY? I like it best when

贝内特王子正躺在王宫果园的吊床上读童话，就在这时，弗洛里泽拉大步走了进来。 “嗨，弗洛里泽拉！” 他一看见她就开口招呼。 “你知道吗，书里的怪事可多了……”“这儿也发生了一件相当奇怪的事。”弗洛里泽拉直截了当地说。 “太棒了！” 贝内特说。 “我就盼着有事情发生呢。 是突然发生的吗？ 我最喜欢那种

it's SUDDENLY. Are we going on an adventure? Shall I get my sword?" "It's more of a thinking adventure," Florizella said. "Bennett– if you had an older sister, would she be queen and you stay prince all your life?" "No," Bennett said. "I'd be the king and she'd stay a princess all her life unless she was lucky enough to marry a king. That's the Prince Permit. You know: princesses have the Princess Rules and we princes have the Prince Permit, which tells us how everything happens and everything we should do." Florizella was fascinated. "I knew about the Princess Rules, because I had to learn them and everyone wanted me to obey them, but not about the Prince Permit. What sort of things do princes have to do?" Bennett laughed. "We don't have to do anything! It's a permit- it allows us to do things; it's not like rules that tell you what you can't do. It's a prince thing. We get the throne, no matter how many older sisters we have, and we write the laws– no matter what people say about them. We

突然发生的事。 我们要去冒险吗？ 我要不要去拿我的剑？” “这更像是一场需要动脑的冒险。”弗洛里泽拉说。 “贝内特——要是你有个姐姐，是不是她就会当女王，你一辈子都只能当王子？” “不会啊。”贝内特说。 “我会当国王，她一辈子都只能是公主，除非她运气好嫁给了一位国王。 这是《王子特权准则》。 你知道的：公主有《公主守则》，我们王子有《王子特权准则》，里面写了所有事该怎么运行，还有我们该做的一切。” 弗洛里泽拉听得入了迷。 “我知道《公主守则》，因为我得学这个，所有人都要我遵守它，但我从来没听说过《王子特权准则》。 王子都得做些什么事呀？” 贝内特笑了起来。 “我们什么都不用做！ 这是特权准则——是允许我们做各种事的，不像那些守则，只会告诉你什么不能做。 这是王子专属的。 不管我们有多少个姐姐，王位都是我们的，法律也是我们来定——不管别人对法律有什么看法。 我们

own all the land and we get really, really rich, but we never, ever talk about it. We get a twenty-one gun salute on our birthday, and people bow to us. We're first in the charge into battle but last into lifeboats– I think the lifeboats is the only time we're ever at the back of the queue, and of course that hardly ever happens. We get to fight all the dragons and monsters, while princesses can only watch. We get the best horse and we get to choose our bride. She can't choose us, and she can't say "no". We can behead people if we want to. You know, just regular prince stuff." "But that's not fair," Florizella said. "I get the Princess Rules, and you get a whole load of permissions?" Prince Bennett shrugged. "It's not fair at all!" he agreed happily. "It's completely in favour of princes. But it's always been like that, so nobody questions it—" "I'm questioning it!" Florizella interrupted him. "Yes. But we princes don't. And most people don't even think about it because it's always been this way. Best of all is when they say it's

拥有所有的土地，能变得特别特别有钱，但我们从来不会提起这件事。 我们过生日的时候会鸣21响礼炮，所有人都要向我们鞠躬。 打仗的时候我们冲在最前面，但登救生艇的时候我们排在最后——我觉得救生艇是唯一会让我们排在队伍最后的情况，而且当然啦，这种事几乎不会发生。 我们能去打所有的龙和怪兽，公主就只能在旁边看着。 我们能得到最好的马，还能自己选新娘。 她不能选我们，也不能说“不”。 要是我们想的话，还能砍人的头。 你懂的，就是王子的日常特权嘛。” “可这太不公平了。”弗洛里泽拉说。 “我要遵守《公主守则》，你却有一大堆特权？” 贝内特耸了耸肩。 “确实一点都不公平！” 他乐呵呵地认同道。 “这规则完全是偏向王子的。 但一直都是这样的，所以没人质疑——”“我就要质疑！” 弗洛里泽拉打断了他。 “是啊。 但我们王子不会质疑。 而且大多数人根本不会去想这件事，因为一直都是这样的。 最妙的是大家会说这是

"natural". As if us getting first place in everything is how it's always been, and always has to be." "But it isn't natural!" Florizella exclaimed. "It's been made up so princesses don't get a fair chance at things! It was invented by princes, and enforced by kings!" "I know!" Bennett grinned. "And we can be bad princes too– which princesses never are. We can be bad kings. We can grind the poor—" "Grind them?" "Be mean to them. We can declare wars for no reason, we can be tyrants and tell everyone what to do, and if people object, we can say that's treason, and cut their heads off. It's just great being a prince." "I can't be a bad princess," Florizella said regretfully. "A princess can get locked up in an unscalable tower for just being eighteen. Imagine what people would do to a princess who was actually bad!" "Put her to sleep in a glass coffin?" Bennett suggested.

“天性使然”。 就好像我们样样都占先本来就该这样，也必须永远这样似的。” “可这根本不是什么天性！” 弗洛里泽拉喊道。 “这都是编出来的，就是为了不让公主有公平争取的机会！ 这是王子们编出来，再由国王们强制执行的！” “我知道！” 贝内特咧嘴笑了。 “我们还能当坏王子呢——公主可从来不能当坏公主。 我们能当坏国王。 我们可以压榨穷人——”“压榨他们？” 就是对他们很刻薄。 我们可以毫无理由地发动战争，能当暴君，命令所有人听我们的，要是有人反对，我们就说那是叛国，把他们的头砍下来。 当王子简直太爽了。” “我可不能当坏公主。”弗洛里泽拉遗憾地说。 公主只要满了十八岁，都有可能被关进根本爬不出来的高塔里。 想想看，要是一个公主真的做了坏事，大家会怎么对她！” “把她放进玻璃棺材里长睡不醒？” 贝内特提议道。

"Snow White got that just for being pretty," Florizella said gloomily. "Little Red Riding Hood got swallowed by a wolf just for visiting her granny." "And Sleeping Beauty…" Bennett reminded her. "Don't even get me started on Sleeping Beauty! But anyway– that's not what's just happened." "Something's happened? Oh! Yes! You said. Was it SUDDENLY?" "It was rather suddenly," Florizella agreed. "We've suddenly got a prince. A mistaken delivery. It was supposed to go somewhere else." "Take it round to them?" Bennett suggested. "When they're in?" "I thought of that, but they don't want it. They meant to order a Baby Belling, not a real baby. It was a substitution. A really bad substitution." "What's a Baby Belling?" "A sort of cooker," Florizella said gloomily. "So you can see they don't want a real baby. But my parents really do. And they're saying he's going to be king. Of MY kingdom."

“白雪公主就落得那样的下场，就因为她长得漂亮。”弗洛里泽拉闷闷不乐地说。 “小红帽就因为去看奶奶，被狼吞进了肚子里。” “还有睡美人……”贝内特提醒她。 “快别提睡美人了！ 不过话说回来——我来不是要讲这个的。” “是发生什么事了吗？ 哦！ 对呀！ 你刚才说了。 是不是突然发生的？” “确实挺突然的。”弗洛里泽拉承认道。 “我们家突然多了个王子。 是送错货了。 本来该送到别的地方去的。” “那给他送过去呀？” 贝内特建议。 “趁他们在家的时候？” “我想过这个办法，但他们不想要。 他们本来订的是贝林牌迷你电炉，不是真的婴儿。 是送错货了。 错得特别离谱。” “贝林牌迷你电炉是什么？” “是一种小烤箱。”弗洛里泽拉郁闷地说。 “所以你明白的，他们不想要真的婴儿。 但我爸妈特别想要。 他们还说他以后要当国王。 当我的王国的国王。”

"Well– that's the risk you take," Bennett said cheerfully. "When you're born a girl." "But I don't want to take that risk," Florizella replied. "I didn't mean to take it." "Those are the Princess Rules," Bennett replied. "Like the Prince Permit– it's just how it's always been done in fairytale land." "Well, I don't obey the Princess Rules," Florizella objected. "You know I don't. I have my own horse, Jellybean; I've killed my own dragon. I get a twenty-one gun salute on my birthday, all to myself. And I am going to inherit the Land of the Seven Kingdoms." "You were going to inherit the Land of the Seven Kingdoms," Bennett corrected. "But not any more! Not now they've got a prince." Florizella thought hard. "Well, this is one Princess Rule I'm going to break for sure," she said. "I'm not giving up my kingdom." "Then you'll have to teach your little brother not to use his Prince Permit," Bennett said. "Because the Prince Permit says that boys are better than girls, that they become king whether

“哎——这就是你要承担的风险呀，”贝内特乐呵呵地说。 “谁让你生来就是女孩子呢。” “可我不想承担这种风险，”弗洛里泽拉回答。 “我本来也没想担这种风险。” “这都是公主守则里的规定呀，”贝内特答道。 “就像王子特权一样——童话王国里一直都是这么办事的。” “哼，我才不遵守什么公主守则呢，”弗洛里泽拉反驳道。 “你知道我从来都不守的。 我有自己的马，叫软糖豆；我自己亲手打败过恶龙。 我过生日的时候，会有专属的21响礼炮仪式。 而且我将来还要继承七王国的领地呢。” “你本来是要继承七王国的领地的，”贝内特纠正她。 “但现在不行啦！ 现在他们有王子了呀。” 弗洛里泽拉认真地思索起来。 “哼，这条公主守则我是肯定要打破的，”她说。 “我才不会放弃我的王国。” “那你就得教你弟弟，别乱用他的王子特权，”贝内特说。 “因为王子特权里说男孩比女孩更优秀，不管有没有女孩，男孩都能当国王。”