王子复仇记16

The frog believed the king's daughter. He dipped his head under the water and dived to the bottom. After a while he carried the ball to the surface, and threw it onto the grass.

When the king's daughter saw the beautiful ball, she was full of joy. She took it and ran away as fast as she could.

"Wait, wait," cried the frog. "Take me with you! I can't run as fast as you." But the young princess would not listen to the frog's croaking. She ran to the palace as fast as she could, and soon forgot the poor frog. So the frog returned to the fountain and remained there.

The next day, however, when the princess was sitting with the king and eating out of her own little golden plate, she heard a strange noise on the marble steps outside. Then came a knock on the door, and a voice cried, "Lovely princess, open the door for me." So she rose and went to the door.

But when she caught sight of the frog, she closed the door and seated herself again at the table. She looked quite pale. When the king saw that his daughter was frightened, he asked, "My child, who is at the door? Has a giant come to carry you away?"

"Oh, no, Father," she replied, "it is no giant, only a very ugly frog."

"A frog! What can he want with you, my daughter?"

"Ah, my dear father, I will tell you all about it. Yesterday when I was playing with my golden ball by the fountain in the forest, it rolled into the water, and because I cried, the frog fetched it for me, and I promised him that he could come to the castle and be my companion. I thought he could not get out of the water to come to me, and now here he is."

青蛙相信国王女儿的话。它把头浸入水中，潜至水底。过了一会儿，它把球带出水面，并把它拋在草地上。

国王的女儿看到她漂亮的球时，非常高兴。她把它拿起来，然后飞快地跑掉了。

青蛙叫道：『等一等，带我一起走。我没有办法和你跑得一样快。』但是这位年轻的公主根本不理青蛙的叫声。她尽快地跑回皇宫，不久就把那只可怜的青蛙忘记了。于是青蛙返回喷水池旁并待在那儿。

然而，第二天当公主和国王坐在一起，用她的小金盘用餐时，她听到外面大理石台阶上传来奇怪的声音。然后传来敲门声，一个声音叫道：『美丽的公主，请为我开门。』于是她就起身走到门口去。

但是当她看到那只青蛙时，便关上门又坐回她的位子上。她看起来脸色苍白。当国王发觉他女儿被吓到时，便问道：『孩子，在门外的是谁？是巨人要来把你带走吗？』

她回答：『哦！不是的，父亲。那不是巨人，只不过是只非常丑的青蛙。』

『青蛙！它找你做什幺呢，女儿？』

『哦，亲爱的爸爸，我来告诉您一切。昨天我在森林里的喷水池旁玩金球时，球滚到水里面去了。因为我哭了，所以那只青蛙就帮我把球找回来，而我答应它可以到城堡来做我的朋友。我以为它不可能从水中跑来找我，但是现在它已经来了。』