PART II

The queen's hair was black as night; and theking's had been, and his daughter's was, golden as morning. But it was not thisreflection on his hair that arrested him; it was the double use of the wordlight. For the king hated all witticisms, and punning especially. And besides,he could not tell whether the queen meant light-haired or light-heired; for whymight she not aspirate her vowels when she was exasperated herself?

He turned upon his other heel, and rejoined her.She looked angry still, because she knew that she was guilty, or, what was muchthe same, knew that HE thought so.

"My dear queen," said he,"duplicity of any sort is exceedingly objectionable between married peopleof any rank, not to say kings and queens; and the most objectionable formduplicity can assume is that of punning."

"There!" said the queen, "I nevermade a jest, but I broke it in the making. I am the most unfortunate woman inthe world!"

She looked so rueful, that the king took her inhis arms; and they sat down to consult.

"Can you bear this?" said the king.

"No, I can't," said the queen.

"Well, what's to be done?" said theking.

"I'm sure I don't know," said thequeen. "But might you not try an apology?"

"To my old sister, I suppose youmean?" said the king.

"Yes," said the queen.

"Well, I don't mind," said the king.

So he went the next morning to the house of theprincess, and, making a very humble apology, begged her to undo the spell. Butthe princess declared, with a grave face, that she knew nothing at all aboutit. Her eyes, however, shone pink, which was a sign that she was happy. Sheadvised the king and queen to have patience, and to mend their ways. The kingreturned disconsolate. The queen tried to comfort him.

"We will wait till she is older. She maythen be able to suggest something herself. She will know at least how shefeels, and explain things to us."

"But what if she should marry?"exclaimed the king, in sudden consternation at the idea.

"Well, what of that?" rejoined thequeen. "Just think! If she were to have children! In the course of ahundred years the air might be as full of floating children as of gossamers inautumn."

"That is no business of ours," repliedthe queen. "Besides, by that time they will have learned to take care ofthemselves."

A sigh was the king's only answer.

He would have consulted the court physicians;but he was afraid they would try experiments upon her.

第2节

王后和国王的头发都乌黑发亮，而他们女儿的发丝却是如清晨阳光般的金黄色。然而，让他止住脚步的，倒不是对头发的反应，而是王后说的这个词的双重用 法。因为国王特别讨厌俏皮话，还有双关语。此外，他也有些分不清，王后说的到底是“发丝浅浅”还是“后嗣轻轻”，当她被激怒的时候，她的发音为什么不能更清楚一点呢？

他转回身来，走到王后身旁。她看起来还是怒气冲冲的，因为她知道自己说错了话，或者——这也没什么不同——她知道他认为自己说错了话。

“我亲爱的王后，”他说道，“口是心非会让任何一对夫妇感到不痛快，更不要说是国王和王后了；而最最叫人讨厌的口是心非，可以说，就是这种含糊其词的双关语。”

“好了！”王后说道，“我从来都不开玩笑的，但是我现在实在受不了了。我是这个世界上最不幸的女人！”

她看上去如此沮丧，国王不由爱怜地把她拉到怀中，一起坐下来商量。

“你受不了了吗？”国王问道。

“是的，我受不了了。”王后答道。

“那好，我们该做些什么呢？”国王说道。

“我也不知道，”王后说道，“或许你可以去道个歉？”

“向我的姐姐道歉，我想你是这个意思吧。”国王说道。

“正是。”

“好的，我可以试试看。”

于是，第二天他就去了公主姐姐的家里，诚心诚意地向她道歉，乞求他的姐姐收回魔咒。可公主阴沉着脸，声称她根本不知道国王在说什么。然而她的眼睛却发出粉红色的光，这说明她心里特别地开心。她唯一的建议就是叫国王和王后要耐心一点，一切会慢慢好起来的。国王闷闷不乐地回来了。王后想要安慰他一下：

“我们可以再等她长大一点。那时候她就能意识到自己身上发生了什么。至少会知道她自己的感觉是什么样，还可以解释给我们听。”

“要是她长大以后结婚了怎么办？”国王惊呼道，这个念头一闪而过，他顿时大惊失色。

“好了，那又怎么样啊？”王后问道。

“想一想，如果她有了孩子！一百年过后，天上飘的全是孩子，就像是秋天里的蛛网。”国王说。

“那不关我们的事，”王后回答道，“而且，那个时候，他们应该能学会好好照顾自己。”

叹息是国王唯一的回答。

他本来想询问那些御医，但是又害怕他们会拿小公主做试验。