Chapter 1-1

THE MAMMOTH ADVENTURE

猛犸象大冒险

CHAPTER ONE In which two guests outstay their welcome (it is very rare that anyone wishes a Sea Serpent would stay longer) "What is going on outside?" the king demanded crossly. The queen listened. There was a noise like thunder: PAD-PAD-PAD-PAD-pad-pad-pad-pad followed by silence. Then it began again. PAD-PAD-PAD-PAD. Then they heard a great swooshing noise, like a wave breaking on a shore, and a cross voice said, "You moved! I saw you!"

第一章 两位客人赖着不走了（从来没人盼着海蛇能多留一会儿）“外面出什么事了？” 国王生气地问道。 王后仔细听着。 传来一阵打雷似的声响：啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒，之后就没声了。 接着声响又响起来了。 啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒。 然后他们听见一阵巨大的哗哗声，就像海浪拍上岸，一个生气的声音说道：“你动了！ 我看见你了！”

Through the turret window, they could hear a giggle. "Did not." Next came a sound like an ebbing wave, and then a sudden thunder of footsteps, and the same voice cried out in triumph: "Home! I'se home! I win! I'se home!" "What in Fairytale Land are they doing?" the king demanded. "That's six– four to me," it said. "Go back to the start. Round eleven coming up." The king joined the queen at the window to watch their two inconvenient guests. "They're playing a game like Grandmother's Footsteps," she said wearily. "The Sea Serpent is under the drawbridge like a troll, and the Mammoth has to get across like a Billy Goat Gruff. The Sea Serpent pops up and if it sees the Mammoth move, he has to go back to the beginning again. If he freezes before the Sea Serpent comes up, he stays quite still, waits till the Sea Serpent goes underwater again and then races to the end of the drawbridge."

透过塔楼的窗户，他们听到一声偷笑。 “我才没有。” 接着传来退潮似的声响，然后突然一阵打雷似的脚步声，还是那个声音得意地大喊：“到啦！我到啦！ 我赢了！ 我到啦！” “他们在童话王国里搞什么鬼啊？” 国王质问道。 “我现在六比四领先。”那个声音说道。 “回到起点去。 第十一局要开始了。” 国王走到窗边王后身边，一起看这两个碍事的客人。 “他们在玩一个类似‘奶奶的脚步’的游戏。”她疲惫地说。 “海蛇像坏巨人一样待在吊桥下面，猛犸象要像暴躁公山羊那样过桥。 海蛇探出头来，如果看见猛犸动了，猛犸就得重新回到起点。 如果海蛇出来前猛犸就定住不动，他就一直站着，等海蛇再潜回水里，就冲向吊桥终点。

"But that noise, like a hundred cannons firing rounds of shot all at the same time! Is that the Mammoth tiptoeing?" said the king. "Yes," said his wife shortly. "It's like thunder," the king remarked. "Undoubtedly," the queen agreed. "Undootedly! And they have been playing this game for how long?" "All summer," the queen said through gritted teeth. "Every single day." "Will the drawbridge stand the weight?" He peered out again as there was another great rumble of noise and the castle rocked. "Is he dancing now?" "That's his celebration," she said. "A special dance on his hind legs. He does it every time he gets to the

“可是那动静啊，就像一百门大炮同时开火！ 那就是猛犸在踮脚走吗？”国王说。 “没错。”王后简短地回答。 “这动静就跟打雷一样。”国王说。 “没错。”王后附和道。 “可不嘛！ 他们玩这个游戏玩多久了？” “整整一个夏天。”王后咬着牙说。 “天天都玩。” “吊桥能承受得住这个重量吗？” 又是一阵轰隆隆的巨响，城堡都晃了，国王又往外瞄了一眼。 “他现在是在跳舞吗？” “那是他庆祝胜利呢。”她说。 用后腿跳的专属舞蹈。 每次他走到吊桥

end of the drawbridge without the Sea Serpent catching him." "That drawbridge is going to collapse into the moat if they carry on like this," the king said crossly. "It's the guards I feel sorry for," the queen agreed. "Every few minutes, the Mammoth comes charging over the drawbridge and then they all have to salute and shout, "Halt! Who goes there?" and the Mammoth just giggles." "And who is to blame for all this chaos in my royal palace?" the king demanded, puffing himself up so that his uniform tightened over his chest and his medals jangled. "Name the culprit!" The queen shrugged. They were both thinking of the same person. "Name her!" The king made it quite clear who he was blaming. "You know as well as I do," the queen said. "It's Florizella of course! She thought it was only fair to keep the Mammoth in the Seven Kingdoms after he got magicked here by accident. And we all agreed that the Sea Serpent should get an allowance in picnics if it would give up eating princesses. We saw no problem about it living in the moat– except it is a

尽头，都没被海蛇抓住，他就会跳这个舞。” “再这么玩下去，吊桥都要掉进护城河了。”国王生气地说。 “我就可怜那些卫兵。”王后同意道。 “每隔几分钟，猛犸冲过吊桥，他们都得敬礼大喊：‘站住！ 什么人？’ 结果猛犸就只是咯咯笑。” “把我的王宫搅得这么一团糟，该怪谁啊？” 国王气鼓鼓地质问，制服都被他鼓出来的胸膛绷紧了，奖牌叮当作响。 “说出是谁干的好事！” 王后耸了耸肩。 他俩心里想的是同一个人。 “说出她的名字！” 国王把话挑明了，他知道该怪谁。 “你和我一样清楚是谁。”王后说。 当然是弗洛里泽拉啦！ 猛犸是被魔法意外变过来的，她觉得把猛犸留在七国之内才公平。 我们之前也都同意，如果海蛇不再吃公主，就可以每天享受野餐待遇。 我们都觉得它住在护城河里没什么问题——只不过这件事对我们来说有点

bit embarrassing for us when we have visitors. But nobody dreamed they would become such good friends. Nobody imagined this game. Nobody could have thought that they would play it all day, every single day." "Well, somebody should have thought of it," the king said grandly. "And I know who!" He stalked to the royal office door, opened it and shouted down the spiral stone staircase, "Florizella!" He waited for a moment. In the sunny silence, he could hear the birds singing, the hens sleepily clucking in the orchard and the bees droning in the rose garden. It was all very peaceful and quiet, then– PAD-PAD-PAD-PAD-pad-pad-pad-pad, and the Sea Serpent whooshed up and the Mammoth froze. "Sssaw you," the Sea Serpent hissed, and the Mammoth ran heavily back to the start of the drawbridge and waited for his friend to sink under the bridge so he could begin creeping across again. "Hi, Daddy King, hi, Mummy Queen!" Florizella ran up the spiral stairs and came into the room. She was wearing her jodhpurs and hard hat. Her brother Courier came in behind her, wearing a full riding habit with a skirt that looped elegantly over his arm.

尴尬，家里来客人的时候。 可没人想到他俩会变成这么要好的朋友。 没人能想到会玩这个游戏。 没人能想到他们会一整天玩，天天都玩。” “哼，早就该有人想到这点了。”国王傲慢地说。 “而且我知道是谁！” 他大步走到王宫办公室门口，打开门朝着螺旋石阶大喊：“弗洛里泽拉！” 他等了一会儿。 阳光明媚，四周安静，他能听到鸟儿唱歌，果园里母鸡困困地咕咕叫，玫瑰园里蜜蜂嗡嗡响。 本来一切都安安静静，接着——啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒-啪嗒，海蛇嗖地探出头，猛犸一下子定住不动了。 “看——看见你了。”海蛇嘶嘶地说，然后猛犸噔噔噔跑回吊桥起点，等着他朋友潜回桥下，再重新爬过桥。 “嗨，国王爸爸，嗨，王后妈妈！” 弗洛里泽拉跑上螺旋楼梯，走进房间。 她穿着马裤，戴着马术帽。 她哥哥库里尔跟在她后面进来，穿着全套骑装，还把骑马裙优雅地挽在胳膊上。