王子复仇记

The countryside was lovely. It was summer. The wheat was golden and the oats were still green. The hay was stacked in the low-lying meadows. There lay great woods around the fields and meadows. There were deep lakes in the midst of the woods. In the sunniest spot stood an old mansion surrounded by a deep moat. Great leaves grew from the vines on the walls of the house right down to the water's edge. Some of the leaves were so big that a child could use them as an umbrella.

In the depths of a forest a duck was sitting in her nest. Her little ducklings were about to be hatched. At last one egg after another began to crack. "Cheep, cheep!" the ducklings said. "Quack, quack!" said the duck. "How big the world is!" said all the young ones.

But the biggest egg was still there. And then she settled herself on the nest again.

"Well, how are you getting on?" said an old duck who came to pay her a visit. "This egg is taking such a long time," answered the sitting duck. "The shell will not crack, but the others are the finest ducklings. They are like their father."

"Let me look at the egg which won't crack," said the old duck. "You may be sitting on a turkey's egg! I have been cheated like that once. Yes, it's a turkey's egg! You had better leave it alone and teach the other children to swim."

"I will sit on it a little longer."

At last the big egg cracked. How big and ugly the baby was! "That is a very big duckling," she said. "None of the others look like that. Can he be a turkey's chick? I will soon find out. I will make him go into the water."

The next day the mother duck with her family went down to the moat. She sprang into the water. "Quack, quack!" she said, and one duckling jumped in after another. The big ugly one swam around with them. "No, that is no turkey," she said. "Quack, quack! Now come with me and I will take you into the world. Keep close to me at all times. Be careful of the cat!" The first day passed, and everything was fine.

Afterwards, matters grew worse and worse. The poor duckling was chased and harassed by all the other ducklings because he was very ugly. The ducks bit him, the hens pecked him, and the girl who fed them kicked him aside. Then he ran off and soon came to a great marsh where the wild ducks lived. He was so tired and miserable that he stayed there the whole night.

In the morning the wild ducks flew up to see their new friend. "You  are  very  ugly," said  the  wild  ducks, "but that does not matter to us." He stayed there two whole days. And then two wild geese came. Just at that moment the sound of "Bang! Bang!" was heard, and both the wild geese fell dead among the reeds. It was a terrible shock to the poor duckling. A big dog appeared close to him. He showed his sharp teeth and went on without touching him.

"Oh, thank Heaven! I am so ugly that even the dog won't bite me!" sighed the duckling.

In the evening he reached a little cottage where an old woman lived with her cat and her hen. Her eyesight was not good, and she thought the duckling was a fat duck. "I will be rich if I have duck eggs," she said. So she took in the duckling for three weeks, but he laid no eggs. The cat was the master of the house and the hen was the mistress. "Can you lay eggs?" asked the hen.

"No," answered the duckling.

"Then you had better go out into the wide world," said the cat. So away went the duckling.

One evening the sun was just setting when a flock of beautiful large birds appeared out of the bushes. The duckling thought, "I've never seen anything so beautiful."

They were dazzlingly white with long necks. They were swans. He did not know what the birds were. The winter was so bitterly cold that the duckling swam about in the water to keep himself from freezing.

The sun began to shine warmly again. The larks were singing and beautiful spring had come. Then, all at once, the duckling raised his wings and they flapped with much greater strength than before. Before he knew it, he found himself in a large garden where the apple trees were in full blossom and long branches of lilacs overhung the shores of the lake. Just in front of him he saw three beautiful white swans swimming towards him.

"I will fly to them and they will hack me to pieces because I am so ugly. But it doesn't matter. I would rather be killed by them than be bitten by the ducks or pecked by the hens." So he flew into the water and swam towards the swans. They saw him and darted towards him.

"Kill me! Oh, kill me!" said the poor duckling, and he waited for his death bowing his head towards the water. But what did he see in the clear water? He was no longer a dark gray ugly bird. He was himself a swan! Some children came into the garden with corn and pieces of bread, which they threw into the water. The smallest child shouted with joy, "There is a new one." The other children shouted, "Yes, a new one has come."

He said to himself, "I never dreamed that I could be so happy when I was the ugly duckling!"

乡村真美。此时正值夏季。田里的小麦都呈现金黄色而燕麦依然青绿。干草被堆放在低洼的草地上。广大的树林围绕着田野和草地。树林的中央有多处深幽的湖泊。在阳光最充足的地方矗立着一栋老旧的大宅邸。这栋宅邸被一条深长的壕沟所包围，茂盛的叶子从这栋房子墙上的藤蔓往下长，延伸到河水的边缘。其中有一些叶子很大，小孩子可以拿它们来当雨伞。

在森林的深处有一只母鸭正坐在她的巢中。她的小鸭们即将孵出来。终于蛋一个接一个地开始裂了。『吱，吱！』小鸭们叫着。『呱，呱！』母鸭回道。『这个世界好大啊！』小鸭们异口同声道。

但最大的蛋依旧在那儿。于是她又再坐回她的巢中。

一只年长的鸭子过来拜访她说：『喂！你近来可好吗？』坐着的母鸭回答说：『这枚蛋花了很长的时间，壳偏偏还不裂开，不过其它的小鸭都是最完美的鸭子，他们很像他们的爸爸。』

年长的鸭子说：『让我看看那枚不会裂开的蛋，你或许是坐在一枚火鸡的蛋上！我曾经像那样被骗过一次。不错，那是火鸡的蛋！你最好不要管它，去教其它的小鸭游泳吧。』

『我要再多坐一会儿。』

终于这枚巨蛋裂开了。这小子可真是又大又丑！她说：『那是一只非常巨大的小鸭，其它的小鸭没有一只看起来像他一样。他会是火鸡的孩子吗？我会尽快查清楚。我将叫他下水去。』

隔天这只母鸭带着她的一家人走到壕沟。她跳入水中。『呱，呱！』她说。小鸭们一只接一只地跳进河里。这只又大又丑的小鸭跟着他们一起游来游去。她说：『不是的，那不是火鸡。呱，呱！现在跟我来，我将带你们去参观这个世界。要一直跟紧我并小心猫！』第一天过去了，一切都还顺利。

之后，事情愈来愈糟。这只可怜的小鸭被所有的小鸭追逐和骚扰，因为他长得很丑。大鸭们咬他，母鸡们啄他，而喂食他们的女孩把他踢到旁边去。于是他离家出走，不久就来到一片野鸭住的广大沼泽。他又疲倦又痛苦，因此他整晚都在那里。

早上这群野鸭们飞来看他们的新朋友。这些野鸭说：『你长得非常丑，

但那对我们来说无所谓。』他在那里整整待了两天。然后有两只野雁飞过来。就在那个时候，他听到『砰！砰！』的声音，那两只野雁摔落在芦苇丛中死了。对这只可怜的小鸭来说，那是一次很可怕的冲击。一只巨大的狗出现在他的身边，离他很近。这只狗露出锐利的牙齿，继续往前走，没有碰他。

这只小鸭叹息说：『哦，谢谢老天爷！我的样子丑到连狗都不会咬我！』

晚上他来到一间小屋。这间小屋住着一位老婆婆和她的猫及母鸡。她的视力不好，以为这只小鸭是一只肥鸭。她说：『要是我有了鸭蛋，我就发财了。』因此她留这只小鸭住了三个星期，但他并没有下蛋。这只猫是这间房子的主人，而这只母鸡是女主人。母鸡说：『你能不能下蛋呢？』

小鸭回答说：『不能。』

这只猫说：『那幺你最好离开到外面广大的世界去。』就这样这只小鸭离开了。

有一天晚上，太阳刚刚下山，此时有一群漂亮的大鸟从矮树丛飞出来。小鸭心想：『我从来没有看过这幺漂亮的东西。』

他们有修长的脖子，全身是令人眩目的白色。他们是天鹅。他并不知道这些鸟是什幺鸟。冬天非常地寒冷刺骨，因此这只小鸭在水中游来游去以免冻僵了。

太阳又开始温暖地照耀着，云雀在歌唱，美丽的春天已经来临了。突然这只小鸭举起他的翅膀，而翅膀拍动的力气要比以前大。不知不觉中，他发觉自己已置身在一座广大的花园里。花园里的苹果树开满了花，紫丁香长长的枝桠垂挂在湖岸边。就在他的面前，他看到三只美丽的白天鹅向他游过来。

『我将朝他们飞去，而他们将会把我劈成粉碎，因为我长得非常丑。不过没有关系。我宁愿被他们杀死也不愿被那些鸭子咬或是被那些母鸡啄。』因此他飞入水中朝这些天鹅游过去。他们看到他就向他冲过来。

『杀死我吧，噢，杀死我吧！』可怜的小鸭说着朝水中低头，等待死亡的来临。但他在清澈的水中看到什幺了呢？他不再是只黑灰丑陋的鸟，他自己竟然是一只天鹅！有些小孩手拿玉米和面包来到这个花园，将这些东西投入水中。个子最小的那位孩子兴高采烈地大叫：『有一只新来的天鹅。』其它的孩子大叫：『对啊！来了一只新的。』

他对着自己说：『当我是那只丑小鸭的时候，我作梦也没想到我能够这幺快乐！』