The dog disappeared instantly, and before the soldier could even look round, he returned with the princess. She was lying on the dogs back asleep, and looked so lovely, that every one who saw her would know she was a real princess. The soldier could not help kissing her, true soldier as he was. Then the dog ran back with the princess, but in the morning, while at breakfast with the king and queen, she told them what a singular dream she had had during the night, of a dog and a soldier, that she had ridden on the dogs back, and been kissed by the soldier.
狗儿立即就跑到门外去了。在这士兵的意料之外,它一会儿就领着公主回来了。她躺在狗的背上,已经睡着了。她是一个真正的公主,谁都可以看出,因为她非常好看。这个兵士忍不住想吻她一下,因为她是一个不折不扣的公主呀。公主又被狗儿带回去了。可是天亮以后,当国王和王后正在饮茶的时候,公主说她在晚上做了一个很奇怪的梦,梦见了一只狗和一个兵,她自己骑在狗身上,那个兵吻了她一下。
“That is a very pretty story, indeed,” said the queen. So the next night one of the old ladies of the court was set to watch by the princesss bed, to discover whether it really was a dream, or what else it might be.
王后说:“这倒是一个挺好玩的故事呢!”因此第二天夜里有一个老宫女就守候在公主的床边,看看这究竟是梦呢,还是什么别的东西呢。
The soldier longed very much to see the princess once more, so he sent for the dog again in the night to fetch her, and to run with her as fast as ever he could. But the old lady put on water boots, and ran after him as quickly as he did, and found that he carried the princess into a large house. She thought it would help her to remember the place if she made a large cross on the door with a piece of chalkchalk n.粉笔, 白垩vt.用粉笔写, 和以白垩. Then she went home to bed, and the dog presently returned with the princess. But when he saw that a cross had been made on the door of the house, where the soldier lived, he took another piece of chalk and made crosses on all the doors in the town, so that the ladyinwaiting might not be able to find out the right door.
那个兵士非常想再见到这位可爱的公主一次。因此狗儿晚上又来了,背起她,很快地跑走了。那个老宫女立刻穿上套鞋,以同样的速度在后面追赶他们。当她看到他们跑进一幢大房子里去的时候,她想:“我现在可知道这块地方了。”于是她就在这门上用白粉笔画了一个大十字,随即她就回去睡觉了。公主被狗儿送回来了。不过当狗儿看见兵士住的那幢房子的门上画着一个十字的时候,它也取了一支粉笔来,把城里所有的门上都画了一个十字。这件事做得很聪明,因为所有的门上都画了十字,那个老宫女就找不到对的地方了。
Early the next morning the king and queen accompanied the lady and all the officers of the household, to see where the princess had been. “Here it is,” said the king, when they came to the first door with a cross on it.
清晨,国王、王后、那个老宫女以及所有的官员很早就都来了,要去看一看公主所去过的地方。当国王看到了第一个画有十字的门的时候,他说:“就在这儿!”
“No, my dear husband, it must be that one,” said the queen, pointing to a second door having a cross also.
可是王后发现另一个门上也有个十字,所以她说:“亲爱的丈夫,不是在这儿吗?”
“And here is one, and there is another!” they all exclaimed, for there were crosses on all the doors in every direction.
这时大家都齐声说:“那儿有一个!那儿有一个!”因为他们无论往什么地方看,都发现门上画有十字。
So they felt it would be useless to search any farther. But the queen was a very clever woman, she could do a great deal more than merely ride in a carriage. She took her large gold scissors, cut a piece of silk into squares, and made a neat little bag. This bag she filled with buckwheat flourbuckwheat flour 荞麦粉, and tied it round the princesss neck, and then she cut a small hole in the bag, so that the flour might be scattered on the ground as the princess went along.
因此他们认为,即使再找下去,也不会得到什么结果。不过王后是一个相当聪明的女人。她不但会坐四轮马车,而且还能做一些别的事情。她取出一把金剪刀,把一块绸子剪成了几片,缝了一个很精致的小袋,在袋里装满了很细的荞麦粉。她把这个小袋系在公主的背上。这样布置好了以后,她就在袋子上剪了一个小口,这样公主走过的路上,都会撒上细粉。
During the night, the dog came again and carried the princess on his back, and ran with her to the soldier, who loved her very much, and wished that he had been a prince, so that he might have her for a wife. The dog did not observe how the flour ran out of the bag all the way from the castle wall to the soldiers house, and even up to the window, where he had climbed with the princess. Therefore in the morning the king and queen found out where their daughter had been, and the soldier was taken up and put in prison. Oh, how dark and disagreeable it was as he sat there, and the people said to him, “Tomorrow you will be hanged.”