PART II

There she was, swimming like a swan. Nor would she come out for king or queen, chancellor or daughter. She was perfectly obstinate.

But at the same time she seemed more sedate than usual. Perhaps that was because a great pleasure spoils laughing. At all events, after this, the passion of her life was to get into the water, and she was always the better behaved and the more beautiful the more she had of it.

Summer and winter it was quite the same; only she could not stay so long in the water when they had to break the ice to let her in. Any day, from morning till evening in summer, she might be descried—a streak of white in the blue water—lying as still as the shadow of a cloud, or shooting along like a dolphin; disappearing, and coming up again far off, just where one did not expect her. She would have been in the lake of a night, too, if she could have had her way; for the balcony of her window overhung a deep pool in it;and through a shallowreedy passage she could have swum out into the wide wet water, and no one would have been any the wiser.

Indeed, when she happened to wake in the moonlight she could hardly resist the temptation. But there was the sad difficulty of getting into it. She had as great a dread of the air as some children have of the water. For the slightest gust of wind would blow her away; and a gust might arise in the stillest moment. And if she gave herself a push towards the water and just failed of reaching it, her situation would be dreadfully awkward, irrespective of the wind; for at best there she would have to remain, suspended in her nightgown, till she was seen and angled for by someone from the window.

"Oh! if I had my gravity," thought she, contemplating the water, "I would flash off this balcony like a long white sea-bird, headlong into the darling wetness. Heigh-ho!"

This was the only consideration that made her wish to be like other people.

Another reason for her being fond of the water was that in it alone she enjoyed any freedom. For she could not walk out without a cortege, consisting in part of a troop of light horse, for fear of the liberties which the wind might take with her.

And the king grew more apprehensive with increasing years, till at last he would not allow her to walk abroad at all without some twenty silken cords fastened to as many parts of her dress, and held by twenty noblemen. Of course horseback was out of the question. But she bade good-by to all this ceremony when she got into the water.

第2节

她在那里，游得像一只天鹅。她既不向国王和王后那里游，也不向大法官和他的女儿那里游。公主是相当任性的。

但是这时的公主看起来却要比平常显得更稳重。也许因为心情太好，反倒笑不出来了。无论如何，这件事情发生之后，每每跃入水中，她生命的激情就会全部迸发出来。她在水里越久，行为举止就越端庄，样子也越美丽动人。

夏天和冬天她都同样游兴不减，唯一的区别是冬天她不能在水里待太久，并且人们要不时地去把冰面砸开，让她跳进去。夏天的时候，从早到晚，都可以用这样的词语来形容公主——就仿佛蓝色湖面上的一条白飘带，或是躺在那里如同白云的倒影，或是像海豚一样在水中穿梭——一会儿消失不见，一会儿又从不可预料的地方冒出来。就连晚上都会待在湖里，只要她不迷路。她房间的阳台悬在一个很深的水池上方，穿过一个浅浅的芦苇丛生的通道，她就可以游进宽阔的湖里，没有人能想出这么聪明的办法。

确实，当她半夜在月光中醒来的时候，总是很难拒绝湖水的诱惑。不过跃入水中还是有些令人不快的麻烦。她对空气的恐惧，就好像孩子们对水的恐惧一样。就是最轻微的风都可以把她吹走，而即使是在最宁静的日子里，也随时会有一阵微风吹起。这时，要是她想往水里跳，处境就会相当尴尬了。最好的状况就是她留在原地，穿着睡裙悬在空中，直到有人正好看到并来解救她。

“哦！要是我有重力，”她凝视着湖水，暗自思忖，“我就可以像一只白色的海鸟从阳台上一下子跃出去，一头扎进那可爱的水中。唉！”

只有在这时候，她才希望自己和别的人一样。

公主喜欢待在水里的另一个原因是，在那里她可以独自享受一些自由。因为她平时必须带一队随从出行，包括一支轻骑兵队——为了防止一阵风吹来把她给卷走。

随着时间的推移，国王也越来越小心谨慎，最后发展到没有差不多二十根绞丝绳子系在她的衣服各个边角上，再加上二十个骑兵牢牢抓住，就决不让她出门的地步。骑马当然更是完全不可能的。但是只要她跳进水里，就能和这些繁文缛节说拜拜了。