Chapter 2-7

CHAPTER SEVEN Five-Fathom Frieda discovers the Princess Rules Florizella clamped her hand over Bennett's mouth to stifle his shriek of protest. "Shh," she whispered fiercely to him. "If she wishes it out loud, and her fairy godmother hears, then it's your wedding day and I'm bridesmaid." Bennett's dark eyes boggled above Florizella's hand. "You'll be quiet?" she demanded.

第七章 五英寻弗里达发现了公主法则 弗洛里泽拉一把捂住贝内特的嘴，免得他喊出抗议的话。 “嘘。”她压低声音冲他凶道。 “要是她大声把愿望说出来，被她的教母听到，那你就得娶她，我还要当伴娘呢。” 贝内特的黑眼睛在弗洛里泽拉的手上方瞪得溜圆。 “你会乖乖安静的对不对？” 她追问道。

Bennett nodded. Carefully, Florizella released him. "She must be stopped!" Bennett hissed. "At once! This has gone too far!" "It's worse for me than for you," Florizella pointed out. "If she gets her way, you're Mr Five-Fathom Frieda, for happily ever after, but what happens to me? She wants me gone." "We'd better capture her at once," Bennett said. "Before she starts wishing for anything. Before that idiot Courier tells her to wish for me!" "But how?" "Rush and grab?" Bennett suggested. "If only I'd brought my sword." "I've got a dagger in my boot," Florizella said in a modest sort of voice. "Course you have," Bennett said enviously. "Always! But that's not enough. They've got a crew of twenty, a weapons" room, a gunpowder room and cutlasses." "We've got Courier on board," Florizella pointed out. "I don't know if that is an advantage or not," Bennett said gloomily. "Just listen to him now…"

贝内特点了点头。 弗洛里泽拉小心翼翼地松开了手。 “必须阻止她！” 贝内特压低声音气呼呼地说。 “就现在！ 这事已经闹得太不像话了！” “我可比你惨多啦。”弗洛里泽拉指出。 “要是她如愿以偿，你就要当五英寻弗里达的先生，一辈子和她过，那我呢？ 她巴不得我消失呢。” “咱们最好马上抓住她。”贝内特说。 “得赶在她开始许愿之前。 赶在那个蠢信使叫她许愿嫁给我之前！” “可怎么抓呀？直接冲上去按住她？” 贝内特提议道。 “要是我带了剑就好了。” “我靴子里插了把匕首哦。”弗洛里泽拉语气还有点小骄傲。 “你当然有啦。”贝内特羡慕地说。 “你每次都带着！ 可光有匕首不够呀。 他们有二十个船员，还有武器库、火药库，好多弯刀。” “信使也在船上呀。”弗洛里泽拉提醒他。 “我不知道这算好事还是坏事。”贝内特闷闷不乐地说。 “你听他现在还在说呢……”

Courier and Frieda had strolled together to the far side of the ship, chatting happily. They were practically arm in arm: the best of friends. Bennett and Florizella crept up the gangplank and ducked down behind a couple of barrels in the middle of the deck. Bear widened his eyes as he saw them hiding, but he went on mopping slowly, saying nothing. All the other pirates had left the ship as soon as Five- Fathom Frieda had stopped watching them. They were sitting on the quayside, having a rest, gloomily comparing the blisters on their hands from scrubbing the deck. On board, Courier was still advising Frieda. "There's just one hitch: Bennett can't marry anyone who isn't a princess." "He can't?" "No, so the first thing to do would be to wish yourself royal– and then the rest will just simply follow. The crown jewels, the castle and the handsome prince." "I'll do that then," Frieda decided and, before Bennett and Florizella could spring forward and grab her, she closed her eyes and said: "I wish, I wish, I wish I was a royal princess."

信使和弗里达一起慢悠悠走到了船的另一头，正聊得开心呢。 俩人几乎都挽着胳膊了，好得跟亲朋友似的。 贝内特和弗洛里泽拉蹑手蹑脚走上跳板，蹲到了甲板中间几个桶的后面躲起来。 贝尔看见他们躲起来，眼睛瞪得圆圆的，但还是继续慢悠悠擦着地，什么也没说。 五英寻弗里达一不盯着，其他海盗全都下船了。 他们坐在码头上歇着，蔫头耷脑地比着各自擦甲板磨出来的水泡。 船上的信使还在给弗里达出主意。 “只有一个小问题：贝内特不能娶不是公主的人哦。” “真的不行吗？” “对呀，所以第一件事就是许愿让自己变成王室成员——剩下的事自然就水到渠成啦。 王冠珠宝呀，城堡呀，还有英俊的王子，全都会有的。” “那我现在就许愿。”弗里达打定了主意，还没等贝内特和弗洛里泽拉冲出来抓她，她就闭上眼睛说：“我许愿，我许愿，我许愿我是个王室公主。”

There was a whoosh and a POP! and then BANG! There was Five-Fathom Frieda, just the same as ever in her big sea boots with a cutlass in her belt, but crammed on top of her huge pirate hat was a sparkling tiara, and rolling out across the deck under her muddy boots was a bright red carpet.

只听嗖的一声，“啪！”接着“砰！”的一声响。 五英寻弗里达站在那儿，身上还是穿着大航海靴，腰里别着弯刀，和之前一模一样，只是她大大的海盗帽上硬塞了顶闪闪发光的小王冠，她沾满泥的靴子底下，鲜红色的地毯正顺着甲板铺展开来。

"Blimey," said Courier. "Your fairy godmother is quick." "Exhausted!" came a voice from somewhere up in the rigging. "Worn to a shred! At the end of my tether! And never a word of thanks." "I wish I had a mirror," Frieda remarked touching her crown. There was an almighty crash and a huge gold- framed mirror fell down from the crow's nest at the top of the mast and splintered into a thousand sharp pieces on the deck. "Slipped!" came the voice from the rigging. "Not surprising really. I'm beside myself." "I wish I had a mirror that I could see myself in!" Frieda bellowed upwards, clearly irritated at not getting her own way. "Now!" BANG! again! And now there was a long pier glass standing unbroken on the deck before the pirate captain. She gave a little gasp at her reflection, and turned one way and then the other, admiring herself from the topmost sparkling stone in her tiara to the crimson carpet under her boots. "Your Royal Highness." Courier bowed, and she beamed at him. "But now that you're royal there are a

“我的天呀。”信使说。 “你的仙女教母动作可真快。” “累死我了！”桅杆的索具里传来一个声音。 “都累成碎片了！ 我已经忍到极限了！ 连句谢谢都听不到。” “我许愿要有面镜子。”弗里达摸着王冠说道。 随着一声巨响，一面超大的金边镜子从桅杆顶端的瞭望台掉了下来，在甲板上摔成了上千块锋利的碎片。 “滑了一下！”索具里的声音又传来。 “这也不奇怪嘛。 我都快慌神了。” “我许愿要一面能照得见我的镜子！” 弗里达冲着上面吼道，愿望没实现，她显然很生气。 “马上就要！” “砰！” 又一声响！ 现在甲板上立着一面高高的穿衣镜，完好无损，就摆在这位海盗船长面前。 她看着镜子里的自己轻轻抽了口气，转过来转过去，从王冠上最顶端那颗闪光的宝石，一直看到靴子下的深红色地毯，把自己欣赏了个遍。 “公主殿下。” 信使鞠了一躬，她笑得满脸灿烂地看着他。 “不过既然您现在是王室成员了，那就有一”

few things you have to do," he said. "No I don't! I don't have to do anything," Princess Frieda snapped. "I always do only what I want." Overhead, in the sky, there was a small dot, circling. "We could rush her now," Bennett whispered. "While she's distracted by the tiara and the red carpet." "Hang on a minute," Florizella said. She pointed upwards where the dot had come a little lower, almost as if an eagle was looking down and listening. "Hang on a minute, Bennett. I know it's surprising, but it may be that Courier has, right now, a Brilliant Plan." "But you have to have good manners if you're royal," Courier said gently. "You have to say "please" and "thank you", and you can never take anything that isn't yours. You have to be kind, think about others, step back and ask people if they'd like to go first, ask them if they've come far… that sort of thing. There are Princess Rules and you have to obey them." "I'm not doing any of that," Princess Five-Fathom Frieda declared roundly. "I'm not wasting my time on

“有几件事你必须做到。”他说。 “我才不要！ 我什么都不用做。”弗里达公主厉声说。 “我从来只做我想做的事。” 头顶的天空中出现了一个小点，正打着转盘旋。 “我们现在就可以冲上去抓住她。”贝内特小声说。 “趁她现在的注意力都在王冠和红地毯上。” “等一下。”弗洛里泽拉说。 她抬手指向空中，那个小点飞得更低了些，看起来就像有只老鹰正往下看，听着大家说话。 “等一下，贝内特。 我知道这听起来很意外，但说不定信使现在正有个绝妙的主意。” “可如果你是皇室成员，就得举止得体呀。”信使温和地说。 “你得会说‘请’和‘谢谢’，不是自己的东西绝对不能拿。 你要善良，多为别人着想，多退一步问问别人要不要先走，问问人家是不是赶了很远的路……这类事情都要注意。 有专门的公主守则，你必须遵守。” “我才不会做这些事。”五浔的弗里达公主斩钉截铁地宣布。 “我才不要浪费时间在