PART II

Before he had finished his song, the princess was just under the place where he sat, and looking up to find him. Her ears had led her truly.

"Would you like a fall, princess?" said the prince, looking down.

"Ah! there you are! Yes, if you please, prince," said the princess, looking up.

"How do you know I am a prince, princess?" said the prince.

"Because you are a very nice young man, prince," said the princess.

"Come up then, princess."

"Fetch me, prince."

The prince took off his scarf, then his sword-belt, then his tunic, and tied them all together, and let them down. But the line was far too short. He unwound his turban, and added it to the rest, when it was all but long enough; and his purse completed it. The princess just managed to lay hold of the knot of money, and was beside him in a moment. This rock was much higher than the other, and the splash and the dive were tremendous. The princess was in ecstasies of delight, and their swim was delicious.

Night after night they met, and swam about in the dark clear lake; where such was the prince's gladness, that (whether the princess's way of looking at things infected him, or he was actually getting light-headed) he often fancied that he was swimming in the sky instead of the lake. But when he talked about being in heaven, the princess laughed at him dreadfully.

When the moon came, she brought them fresh pleasure. Everything looked strange and new in her light, with an old, withered, yet unfading newness. When the moon was nearly full, one of their great delights was, to dive deep in the water, and then, turning round, look up through it at the great blot of light close above them, shimmering and trembling and wavering, spreading and contracting, seeming to melt away, and again grow solid. Then they would shoot up through the blot; and lo! there was the moon, far off, clear and steady and cold, and very lovely, at the bottom of a deeper and bluer lake than theirs, as the princess said.

The prince soon found out that while in the water the princess was very like other people. And besides this, she was not so forward in her questions or pert in her replies at sea as on shore. Neither did she laugh so much; and when she did laugh, it was more gently. She seemed altogether more modest and maidenly in the water than out of it.

But when the prince, who had really fallen in love when he fell in the lake, began to talk to her about love, she always turned her head towards him and laughed. After a while she began to look puzzled, as if she were trying to understand what he meant, but could not—revealing a notion that he meant something. But as soon as ever she left the lake, she was so altered, that the prince said to himself, "If I marry her, I see no help for it: we must turn merman and mermaid, and go out to sea at once."

第2节

在他唱完以前，公主已经游到他的脚下了，她浮出水面抬起头来发现了他。她是顺着歌声游过来的。

“你想不想再坠落一次，公主？”王子说道，向下看去。

“啊，你在这儿！是的，要是你愿意的话，王子。”公主说道，抬着脸望着他。

“你怎么知道我是一个王子的，公主？”

“因为你是一个长得特别帅的小伙子，王子。”

“那么上来吧，公主。”

“拉我一把，王子。”

王子脱下围巾，然后是剑带，接着是上衣，他把它们系在一起，慢慢放下去。不过这根绳子还是太短了。他又解开头巾，把它接在后面，最后长度还是差了一点，多亏又接上他的褡裢，这回总算够长了。公主几经努力总算是抓住绳子的一端爬了上来，站到了王子的身边。这次他们所站的位置要比别的地方高许多，跳下去的速度和溅起来的水花都是惊人的。公主这次可算是过足了瘾，他们一起游了个痛快。

接下来的每一个夜晚他们都在湖中相会，在夜色笼罩下的明净湖水中游水嬉戏，这成为王子最大的快乐。不知道是公主看世界的 方式感染了他，还是他已经变得轻飘飘的，他经常想象自己不是在水里而是在天上游啊游。不过，当他告诉公主，说自己像是在天堂的时候，公主就会大声地笑话他。

当月亮出来时，它给一切带来了新的生气。月光下，所有的一切看起来都变得新鲜而又奇特，带着一点古老、陈旧却又不会褪色的清新感。当满月的时候，他们最高兴做的事情就是潜到水底，然后返身向上看，看那紧挨着头顶的一大块光斑，闪烁着、颤抖着、摇曳着……一会儿大，一会儿小；像要溶化开来，又变得坚不可破。然后，他们会一下子冲向那个光斑，冲出水面。瞧！那是月亮，遥挂夜空，皎洁而静谧，冷冷的却又十分可爱。它也在一个湖中，比他们身处的这个湖还要深、还要蓝，正像公主所形容的那样 。

王子很快就发现，在水里的时候，公主和其他人没有什么两样。除此之外，她的问题也不像在岸上那样极端，回答也不那么偏激了。她的笑声也没有那么频繁，甚至笑的时候也变得柔和了许多。总之，在水里的她看起来比在岸上要温柔贤淑得多了。

但是每次，当这个落入湖中同时也落入了爱河的小伙子想要对公主表白的时候，她总是转身过来看着他大笑。过了一会儿，她好像变得迷惑不解，似乎想弄明白他在说什么，却没办法弄明白。他所说的对她而言，只是一个空洞的概念。只要一离开湖面，她就变成了另一副样子。王子暗自寻思：“要是我娶了她，恐怕别无选择，只能和她立刻跳到海里变成美人鱼了。”