Chapter 2-1

Princess Florizella's home, the Land of the Seven Kingdoms, and Prince Bennett's home, the Land of Deep Lakes, are both beside a deep unending sea that holds sea monsters, mermaids, enormous whales, shoals of fish, underwater mountains, drowned cities and, of course, pirates. Just a regular fairytale sea. The seaside towns have rocks where maidens are sometimes tied, or pirates marooned, unscalable cliffs and ice-cream

弗洛里泽拉公主的家乡七王国之地，和贝内特王子的家乡深湖之地，都毗邻一片广阔无垠的深海，海里住着海怪、美人鱼、巨鲸、成群的鱼儿，还有海底山脉、沉没的城市，当然啦，还有海盗。 就是童话里很常见的那种大海。 海边小镇上有礁石，有时候会有少女被绑在上面，或是有海盗被放逐在那儿，还有爬不上去的悬崖，和卖冰淇淋的

shops and stalls selling buckets and spades. The only train in the Seven Kingdoms runs to and from the seaside so that everyone can go for a swim or a paddle on the hot days of summer and come home in the cool evening and eat fish and chips. There are no other railway lines but the coastal track, so that every train in fairytale land only goes to somewhere nice. And it's such a short journey that nobody ever asks, "Are we there yet?" because the answer is always "yes'. It was just such a day when Florizella and her friend Bennett decided to take little Prince Courier to the seaside. It was the first time he had ever been to the sea, so they ordered a huge picnic from the royal kitchens and it came in a hamper so big that it had to be loaded into the luggage van of the train and travel on its own. "What's in it?" Courier asked. "Sandwiches," Florizella said. "And pies, jellies, fruit, salad, crisps, cheeses, sweets, drinks, yogurts, roast chicken and drumsticks, fish fingers and buns, hot dogs and cakes. Just the usual."

小店，还有卖小桶和铲子的摊位。 七王国唯一的火车往返于海边，这样夏天天热的时候，大家都能去游泳或是蹚水，傍晚凉下来的时候再回家吃炸鱼薯条。 除了这条沿海铁轨，就没有别的铁路线了，所以童话国度里的每趟火车，都只会开往好玩的地方。 而且路程特别短，从来没人会问“我们到了吗？”，因为答案永远是“到啦”。 有一天，弗洛里泽拉和朋友贝内特决定带小库里尔王子去海边玩。 这可是库里尔第一次去海边，所以他们让王室厨房准备了超大一份野餐，装野餐的篮子大得不得了，得单独放到火车的行李车厢里运。 “篮子里有什么呀？” 库里尔问。 “有三明治呀。”弗洛里泽拉说。 还有馅饼、果冻、水果、沙拉、薯片、奶酪、糖果、饮料、酸奶、烤鸡和鸡腿、鱼条和小面包、热狗还有蛋糕。 都是平常会带的东西啦。

"Have a lovely time," the king said wistfully. "I'd come with you myself for two pence." "We have work to do," the queen reminded him. "So we do," the king said sadly. Samson the royal dog, who had once been a wolf, was going with them, so the king patted him on the head, saw them all into the royal carriage and waved them off. Florizella thought that nobody, not even a princess and two princes, should keep a carriage all to themselves. As soon as they had started along the winding track to the seaside, she opened the doors of the royal carriage so that everyone could have a seat whether they were princes and princesses or not. When they stopped at the little villages along the way people got on carrying their pigs to market, goose girls put their birds in the luggage racks, and witches made their brooms hover in the corners and sat on them, refusing to pay the full price for a seat as they had brought their own. Samson gave the brooms a long hard

“祝你们玩得开心呀。”国王一脸向往地说。 “要不是有事，我恨不得跟你们一起去。” “我们还有工作要做呢。”王后提醒他。 “确实是哦。”国王失落地说。 王室的狗狗萨姆森以前是匹狼，这次也跟着他们一起去。国王摸了摸它的头，目送所有人坐上王室马车，挥手跟他们道别。 弗洛里泽拉觉得，就算是公主和两位王子，也不该独占一整辆马车。 马车刚沿着通往海边的蜿蜒小路出发，她就打开了王室马车的门，不管是王子公主还是普通人，都能上来坐。 他们路过沿途的小村庄停下时，人们抱着要去集市卖的猪上了车，牧鹅姑娘把鹅放到行李架上，女巫们让扫帚悬在车厢角落，自己坐在扫帚上，不肯付全价车票，说座位是自己带的。 萨姆森盯着那些扫帚看了好半天，

look and went to Bennett. Samson was not fond of magic. Everyone was excited to be going to the seaside for the day. The goose girls were especially nice to Florizella as there is a tradition in fairytale land of goose girls marrying royals.

然后走到贝内特身边。 它可不喜欢魔法相关的东西。 所有人都为这天能去海边玩兴奋得不行。 牧鹅姑娘们对弗洛里泽拉特别友好，因为童话国度里有个传统，牧鹅姑娘会和王室成员结婚。

"Actually, I'm not going to marry anyone," Princess Florizella said. "Goose girls or goat herds or anyone." "What about a handsome prince?" Courier asked cheekily, winking at Bennett. "We've been through all that," Florizella told him. "It's a whole other story. It was written before you were even thought of." They got to the seaside just as it was starting to get hot. The train went along a narrow track beside the sea so people could choose where to get off. Some preferred the rock pools where they could see starfish and sea anemones, and listen to the mermaids singing. Other people preferred the sandy beach where they could build castles and moats, paddle in the sea and swim. Those who wanted to look for shells and fossils of long-ago dragons and dinosaurs got off the train at the shingle beaches. At the end of the line the train puffed uphill to the top of a narrow cliff where there was a stake with chains and a cannon with cannonballs. The train turned round on a huge

“其实呀，我谁都不打算嫁。”弗洛里泽拉公主说。 不管是牧鹅姑娘、牧羊人，还是别的什么人，我都不嫁。 “那帅气的王子也不嫁吗？” 库里尔调皮地问，还朝贝内特眨了眨眼。 “我们早就说过这事啦。”弗洛里泽拉告诉他。 那完全是另一个故事了。 早在你还没出生的时候，那个故事就写好了。 他们到海边的时候，天正好开始热起来。 火车沿着海边的窄轨道开，大家可以选自己想去的地方下车。 有些人更喜欢岩池，在那儿能看到海星和海葵，还能听美人鱼唱歌。 另一些人更喜欢沙滩，在那儿可以堆城堡、挖护城河，还能去海里蹚水、游泳。 想找贝壳、找远古龙和恐龙化石的人，就在砾石滩那站下车。 线路的尽头，火车 puff puff地爬上窄窄的悬崖顶，那儿有个拴着铁链的桩子，还有一门装着炮弹的大炮。 火车在一个巨大的