The Wild Swans

The Wild Swans. A retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale by Karen Mokler. Illustrated by Sumiti Kolina. Focus question. What role does Eliza play in the story?

《野天鹅》 卡伦·莫克勒 改写自安徒生童话 苏米提·科利纳 绘图 思考问题 伊莱扎在故事里扮演了什么角色？

There once lived a king who had eleven sons and one daughter. The children were happy, but then their father married a wicked queen who did not love the children at all. Soon after the wedding, she turned the princes into eleven wild swans. With a strange cry, they flew through the windows of the palace, high up into the clouds and away.

从前有一位国王，他有十一个儿子和一个女儿 孩子们本来过得很开心，直到国王娶了一位恶毒的王后，她一点都不爱这些孩子 婚礼结束没多久，她就把王子们变成了十一只野天鹅 随着一声怪叫，他们飞出王宫的窗户，直上云霄，远走高飞了

When the king asked the queen if she knew where the princes were, she merely smiled and shook her head. As for the Princess Eliza, all that day she looked for her brothers but did not find them. Then at dusk, she saw eleven white swans flying toward her bedroom window. They flew one behind the other, like a long white ribbon, through the open window and into her room.

国王问王后知不知道王子们去了哪里，她只是笑着摇了摇头 公主伊莱扎找了哥哥们整整一天，却一无所获 到了傍晚，她看见十一只白天鹅朝着她卧室的窗户飞过来 它们一只跟着一只，像一条长长的白丝带，穿过敞开的窗户飞进了她的房间

As the sun set, the feathers of the swans fell off and Eliza's eleven brothers stood before her. As long as the sun is in the sky, we brothers fly about as wild swans, said the oldest. Each night when the sun sinks, we regain our human form.

太阳落山后，天鹅的羽毛纷纷脱落，伊莱扎的十一个哥哥站在了她面前 大哥说：只要太阳还挂在天上，我们兄弟就只能以野天鹅的身份四处飞翔 每天晚上太阳落下，我们就能变回人形

That night, Eliza dreamed that a fairy came to her. Your brothers can be released, she said. If you have courage and perseverance, do you see the nettle which I hold in my hand? Many grow in the nearby forest. These you must gather and spin into yarn. From this yarn, you must knit eleven shirts with long sleeves.

那天晚上，伊莱扎梦见一位仙女来到她身边 仙女说：你的哥哥们可以得救 你有勇气和毅力吗？你看见我手里拿的荨麻了吗？ 附近的森林里长了很多这种荨麻 你要采摘这些荨麻，纺成线 再用这些线织出十一件长袖衬衫

Be warned, though," the fairy added. From the moment you commence your task, until it is finished, you must not speak. The first word you utter will kill your brothers. Their lives hang upon your tongue. Then she touched Eliza's hand lightly with the nettle, and a pain like that of burning fire awoke the princess. Close by her lay a nettle like the one she had seen in her dream.

不过仙女还提醒她说 从你开始做这件事的那一刻起，到做完之前，你都不能说话 你说出的第一个字就会杀死你的哥哥们 他们的性命全拴在你的舌头上 接着她用荨麻轻轻碰了碰伊莱扎的手，火烧一样的疼痛让公主醒了过来 她身边正好放着一株荨麻，和她梦里见到的一模一样