3. She Can't Be Ours.
Her atrocious aunt haddeprived the child of all her gravity. If you ask me how this was effected, Ianswer, "In the easiest way in the world. She had only to destroy gravitation."For the princess was a philosopher, and knew all the ins and outs of the lawsof gravitation as well as the ins and outs of her boot-lace. And being a witchas well, she could abrogate those laws in a moment; or at least so clog theirwheels and rust their bearings, that they would not work at all. But we havemore to do with what followed than with how it was done.
The first awkwardness thatresulted from this unhappy privation was, that the moment the nurse began tofloat the baby up and down, she flew from her arms towards the ceiling.Happily, the resistance of the air brought her ascending career to a closewithin a foot of it. There she remained, horizontal as when she left hernurse's arms, kicking and laughing amazingly. The nurse in terror flew to thebell, and begged the footman, who answered it, to bring up the house-stepsdirectly. Trembling in every limb, she climbed upon the steps, and had to standupon the very top, and reach up, before she could catch the floating tail ofthe baby's long clothes.
When the strange fact cameto be known, there was a terrible commotion in the palace. The occasion of itsdiscovery by the king was naturally a repetition of the nurse's experience.Astonished that he felt no weight when the child was laid in his arms, he beganto wave her up and not down, for she slowly ascended to the ceiling as before,and there remained floating in perfect comfort and satisfaction, as wastestified by her peals of tiny laughter. The king stood staring up inspeechless amazement, and trembled so that his beard shook like grass in thewind. At last, turning to the queen, who was just as horror-struck as himself,he said, gasping, staring, and stammering,—
"She can't be ours,queen!"
Now the queen was muchcleverer than the king, and had begun already to suspect that "this effect defective cameby cause."
"I am sure she isours," answered she. "But we ought to have taken better careof her at the christening. People who were never invited ought not to have beenpresent."
"Oh, ho!" said the king, tapping hisforehead with his forefinger, "I have it all. I've found her out.Don't you see it, queen? Princess Makemnoit has bewitched her." "That's just what Isay," answered the queen.
"I beg your pardon,my love; I did not hear you.—John! bring the steps Iget on my throne with."
For he was a little kingwith a great throne, like many other kings.
The throne-steps werebrought, and set upon the dining-table, and John got upon the top of them. Buthe could not reach the little princess, who lay like a baby-laughter-cloud inthe air, exploding continuously. "Take the tongs, John," said his Majesty; andgetting up on the table, he handed the them to him.
John could reach the babynow, and the little princess was handed down by the tongs.
3.她不可能是我们的孩子
可怜的孩子被残暴的姑姑夺走了所有的重力。要是你问我这是怎么做到的，我会说：“用这个世界上最轻松的方法。她不过是破坏了地心引力。”对于像邪恶公主这样一个女巫来说，她知道地心引力规律的所有细节，就好像她知道鞋带的所有细节一样。同样，作为一名女巫，她可以在一瞬间消解这些规律，或者说，至少是动些手脚，堵住转动的齿轮，锈住它们的轮轴，这样就能让它们不发挥作用。但是我们更应该关心的是，接下来会发生什么，而不是这一切是怎么发生的。
这不幸的掠夺带来的第一个尴尬局面就是，当保姆想要上下摇晃宝宝哄哄她的时候，小宝宝竟然从她的怀中径直飞向了天花板。幸运的是，空气的阻力让她的上升速度降了下来，她在碰到天花板前的最后一刻停了下来。她就待在那儿，身体和她离开保姆怀中时一样平躺着，一边蹬着小脚，一边吱吱咯咯地开心笑着。惊恐不已的保姆摇动铃铛召唤男仆，男仆应声赶来，立刻取来扶梯。保姆颤颤巍巍地爬上扶梯，最后不得不站在梯子顶端，站直了身子，这才算够到小宝宝长长衣衫飘动的一角。
当这件怪事被众人发现的时候，立刻引得宫中一阵大乱。国王发现这一幕时的表情，简直和保姆是一个模子。他发觉怀里的孩子竟没有一点分量时，感到十分奇怪，他想要上下晃晃她，小宝宝就像先前一样慢慢地升向天花板，这让他大惊失色。小公主舒舒服服地飘在那里，感觉非常满意，她发出的咯咯笑声可以证明这一点。
国王站在那儿向上看着，半晌都没有说一句话，他浑身颤抖得如此厉害，大把的胡子就像是风中的草叶。最后，他转身看着王后，王后刚刚也被吓蒙了。他喘息着，目不转睛、结结巴巴地说道：
“她不可能是我们的孩子，王后！”
此刻，王后显得要比国王聪明多了，她已经猜测到“恶果必先有恶花”。
“我敢保证她是我们的孩子，”她回答道，“而且我们本应该在受洗仪式的时候更仔细地照顾她。那个不请自到的人现在应该已经不在这里了。”
“哦，啊！”国王说道，用食指敲打着额头，“我全明白了。我已经发现她不在这里了。你没发现吗，王后？麦克恩奥蒂公主向我们的宝宝施了魔法！”
“我说的就是这个意思。”王后答道。
“原谅我，我亲爱的，我没有听到你说的话。约翰！把我登上宝座用的梯子拿过来。”
他是一个小个子国王，但却有一个高大的宝座，就像许多别的国王一样。
宝座扶梯拿过来了，放在了宴会桌上，约翰爬到梯子的顶端。但是他够不着小公主，她就像是空中一片欢乐的宝宝云，不断地发出笑声。
“用这把钳子，约翰。”国王陛下说着，一边踏上桌子，把工具递给约翰。
这次约翰可以够着小宝宝了，小公主就这样被钳子夹了下来。
