9. Put Me in Again.

It must have been about this time that the son of a king, who lived a thousand miles from Lagobel set out to look for the daughter of a queen. He travelled far and wide, but as sure as he found a princess, he found some fault in her. Of course he could not marry a mere woman, however beautiful; and there was no princess to be found worthy of him. Whether the prince was so near perfection that he had a right to demand perfection itself, I cannot pretend to say. All I know is, that he was a fine, handsome, brave, generous, well-bred, and well-behaved youth, as all princes are.

In his wanderings he had come across some reports about our princess; but as everybody said she was bewitched, he never dreamed that she could bewitch him. For what indeed could a prince do with a princess that had lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might not lose next? She might lose her visibility, or her tangibility; or, in short, the power of making impressions upon the radical sensorium; so that he should never be able to tell whether she was dead or alive. Of course he made no further inquiries about her.

 One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes. In this way they have the advantage of the princesses, who are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our princesses got lost in a forest sometimes.

One lovely evening, after wandering about for many days, he found that he was approaching the outskirts of this forest; for the trees had got so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he soon came upon a kind of heath. Next he came upon signs of human neighbourhood; but by this time it was getting late, and there was nobody in the fields to direct him.

After travelling for another hour, his horse, quite worn out with long labour and lack of food, fell, and was unable to rise again. So he continued his journey on foot. At length he entered another wood—not a wild forest, but a civilized wood, through which a footpath led him to the side of a lake. Along this path the prince pursued his way through the gathering darkness. Suddenly he paused, and listened. Strange sounds came across the water. It was, in fact, the princess laughing. Now there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted; for the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires the incubation of gravity; and perhaps this was how the prince mistook the laughter for screaming.

9.你把我放回去

现在我们必须要说到，这时候正有另一位国王的儿子，住在距离纳格贝尔一千英里的地方，正四处寻找一位国王的女儿。他长途跋涉，但是每次找到一位公主，他总能发现有这样或那样的毛病。更何况他也不能见一个女人就娶，不管她漂亮到什么程度。结果，他一个称心如意的公主也没找到。王子实在是近乎完美，所以他完全有资格要求他寻找的公主也十全十美。此话一点不假,据我所知，他是一个杰出的、英俊的、勇敢的、大方的、有教养的和举止优雅的年轻人，就像所有优秀的王子那样。

在游历的途中，王子听说了一些关于我们这位公主的消息，大家都说她是被施了魔法的，所以我们的王子做梦也没想到自己会为这位公主着魔。一个王子对一个丢失了重力的公主又能怎么样呢？天晓得她接下来会失去什么，或许会失去视觉，或者失去触觉……一句话，她可能会失去来自基本神经中枢的任何一种感觉能力。到时候，他连她是生是死都分辨不出来。这么一想，王子自然也就没什么兴趣去打听公主的消息了。

有一天，王子在一片大森林中和侍卫走散了。这片森林把王子和侍卫完全隔开了，就像是一个筛子把麦粒从麦麸中剔出来一样。就这样，王子不必跟着他们到处碰运气。他们带他去找的，都是一些不要求愉快地相处就先结婚的公主。有时我倒希望那些公主们也能在森林中迷一迷路。

一个迷人的傍晚，流浪了许多天的王子发现自己终于走出了这片森林，树木变得稀疏起来，他可以透过它们看到夕阳。很快他就来到一 片灌木丛生的开阔地，还看到一些人们经过这里留下的痕迹。不过天色已晚，所以他没有遇到什么人。

又颠簸了一个钟头之后，他的马儿实在是精疲力竭，又因为缺食少饮，倒了下去，再也爬不起来。

王子只好步行继续他的旅程，最后他终于走到了另一片树林里……这回不是野生林了，而是一片人工林，中间有一条小路领着他走到一个大湖的岸边。沿着这条小路，王子一路急行，冲破重重黑暗……突然，他停下脚步，侧耳聆听，湖中传来一丝奇怪的声音。那实际上是公主的笑声。她的笑声是有些奇怪的，我前面其实也已经暗示过，因为公主真正要迸发出开心的笑声是需要有重力来帮助的。此刻，王子把公主的笑声误以为是尖叫了。