The Crystal Ball

There was once an enchantress, who had three sons who loved each other as brothers, but the old woman did not trust them, and thought they wanted to steal her power from her. So she changed the eldest into an eagle, which was forced to dwell in the rocky mountains, and was often seen sweeping in great circles in the sky. The second, she changed into a whale, which lived in the deep sea, and all that was seen of it was that it sometimes spouted up a great jet of water in the air. Each of them only bore his human form for two hours daily.

从前有一位女巫，她有三个儿子，彼此相亲相爱，情同手足，可这老妇人却并不信任他们，总以为他们想从她手里夺走她的法力。于是她把大儿子变成了一只鹰，只能栖息在崎岖的山岩间，常常能看见他在天上盘旋飞翔。她把二儿子变成了一头鲸鱼，生活在深海里，人们只能偶尔看见它喷出一道巨大的水柱冲上天空。他们两个每天都只能有两个钟头恢复人形。

The third son, who was afraid she might change him into a raging wild beast—a bear perhaps, or a wolf, went secretly away. He had heard that a King’s daughter who was bewitched, was imprisoned in the Castle of the Golden Sun, and was waiting for deliverance. Those, however, who tried to free her risked their lives; three-and-twenty youths had already died a miserable death, and now only one other might make the attempt, after which no more must come. And as his heart was without fear, he caught at the idea of seeking out the Castle of the Golden Sun.

三儿子生怕自己也会被变成一头凶猛的野兽——说不定是熊，或是狼——便悄悄逃走了。他听说有一位遭了魔法的公主，被囚禁在金太阳城堡里，正等着有人来解救她。可是想去救她的人，无不冒着生命危险；已经有二十三个青年惨死在那里，如今只剩最后一次尝试的机会，之后便再也不许有人前去了。可是他心中毫无惧意，一心想去寻访金太阳城堡。

He had already travelled about for a long time without being able to find it, when he came by chance into a great forest, and did not know the way out of it. All at once he saw in the distance two giants, who made a sign to him with their hands, and when he came to them they said, “We are quarrelling about a cap, and which of us it is to belong to, and as we are equally strong, neither of us can get the better of the other. The small men are cleverer than we are, so we will leave the decision to thee.”

他已经这样漫游了许久，却始终找不到那座城堡，直到有一天，他偶然走进了一片茂密的森林，迷了路，找不到出去的方向。忽然，他远远望见两个巨人正朝他打手势，等他走近，他们说道：“我们正为一顶帽子争执不下，不知它究竟该归谁，我们俩力气相当，谁也压不过谁。矮小的人比我们聪明，我们就把这事交给你来裁决吧。”

“How can you dispute about an old cap?” said the youth. “Thou dost not know what properties it has! It is a wishing-cap; whosoever puts it on, can wish himself away wherever he likes, and in an instant he will be there.” “Give me the cap,” said the youth, “I will go a short distance off, and when I call you, you must run a race, and the cap shall belong to the one who gets first to me.”

“你们怎么会为一顶旧帽子争成这样呢？”青年说道。“你们不知道它有什么本领吧！这是一顶如愿帽；谁戴上它，想去哪儿就能许愿去哪儿，眨眼工夫就能到达。”“把帽子给我，”青年说道，“我先走开一小段路，等我一喊，你们俩就赛跑过来，谁先跑到我跟前，这顶帽子就归谁。”

He put it on and went away, and thought of the King’s daughter, forgot the giants, and walked continually onward. At length he sighed from the very bottom of his heart, and cried, “Ah, if I were but at the Castle of the Golden Sun,” and hardly had the words passed his lips than he was standing on a high mountain before the gate of the castle.

他戴上帽子走开了，心里想着那位公主，把两个巨人忘得一干二净，只顾一直往前走。终于，他从心底深深叹了一口气，喊道：“唉，我要是能到金太阳城堡就好了！”这话音刚落，他便已站在一座高山上，就在城堡大门前了。

He entered and went through all the rooms, until in the last he found the King’s daughter. But how shocked he was when he saw her. She had an ashen-gray face full of wrinkles, blear eyes, and red hair. “Are you the King’s daughter, whose beauty the whole world praises?” cried he.

他走进城堡，穿过一间又一间的房间，直到最后一间，才找到了那位公主。可是他一见到她，顿时大吃一惊。只见她面色灰败，满脸皱纹，眼睛浑浊，一头红发。“你就是那位美名传遍天下的公主吗？”他叫道。

“Ah,” she answered, “this is not my form; human eyes can only see me in this state of ugliness, but that thou mayst know what I am like, look in the mirror—it does not let itself be misled—it will show thee my image as it is in truth.” She gave him the mirror in his hand, and he saw therein the likeness of the most beautiful maiden on earth, and saw, too, how the tears were rolling down her cheeks with grief.

“唉，”她答道，“这并不是我真正的模样；世人的肉眼只能看到我这副丑陋的样子，可要想知道我本来的模样，你且照照这面镜子——它绝不会骗人——它会照出我真实的模样。”她把镜子递到他手中，他从镜中看见了世上最美丽的姑娘的模样，也看见泪水正顺着她的脸颊滚落下来，满是悲伤。

Then said he, “How canst thou be set free? I fear no danger.” She said, “He who gets the crystal ball, and holds it before the enchanter, will destroy his power with it, and I shall resume my true shape. Ah,” she added, “so many have already gone to meet death for this, and thou art so young; I grieve that thou shouldst encounter such great danger.” “Nothing can keep me from doing it,” said he, “but tell me what I must do.”

于是他说道：“怎样才能救出你来呢？我不惧怕任何危险。”她说道：“谁能得到那颗水晶球，把它举到那魔法师面前，就能摧毁他的法力，我也就能恢复本来的模样了。唉，”她又说道，“已经有那么多人为此送了性命，你又这样年轻；我实在为你即将面临的巨大危险感到难过。”“什么都阻挡不了我去做这件事，”他说道，“只求你告诉我该怎么做。”

“Thou shalt know everything,” said the King’s daughter; “when thou descendest the mountain on which the castle stands, a wild bull will stand below by a spring, and thou must fight with it, and if thou hast the luck to kill it, a fiery bird will spring out of it, which bears in its body a burning egg, and in the egg the crystal ball lies like a yolk.

“你会知道一切的，”公主说道；“当你走下城堡所在的那座山时，山脚下的泉水边会有一头野公牛，你必须和它搏斗，倘若你有幸将它杀死，就会有一只火鸟从它体内跃出，鸟身里藏着一枚燃烧的蛋，蛋里像蛋黄一样藏着那颗水晶球。

The bird will not, however, let the egg fall until forced to do so, and if it falls on the ground, it will flame up and burn everything that is near, and melt even ice itself, and with it the crystal ball, and then all thy trouble will have been in vain.”

不过，这只鸟不到万不得已，绝不会让这枚蛋掉落；一旦掉到地上，便会燃起熊熊烈焰，把附近的一切都烧尽，甚至连冰都能融化，连同那颗水晶球也一并融毁，那样一来，你所有的辛苦就都白费了。”

The youth went down to the spring, where the bull snorted and bellowed at him. After a long struggle he plunged his sword in the animal’s body, and it fell down. Instantly a fiery bird arose from it, and was about to fly away, but the young man’s brother, the eagle, who was passing between the clouds, swooped down, hunted it away to the sea, and struck it with his beak until, in its extremity, it let the egg fall.

青年来到泉水边，那头公牛朝他喷着鼻息、怒吼咆哮。经过一番苦战，他终于把剑刺进了那野兽的身体，公牛应声倒地。刹那间，一只火鸟从中腾空而起，正要飞走，恰巧他那变成鹰的哥哥正从云间飞过，猛地俯冲下来，把火鸟一路追赶到海边，用鸟喙不停啄它，直到它走投无路，才终于让那枚蛋掉落下来。

The egg did not, however, fall into the sea, but on a fisherman’s hut which stood on the shore and the hut began at once to smoke and was about to break out in flames. Then arose in the sea waves as high as a house, they streamed over the hut, and subdued the fire. The other brother, the whale, had come swimming to them, and had driven the water up on high. When the fire was extinguished, the youth sought for the egg and happily found it; it was not yet melted, but the shell was broken by being so suddenly cooled with the water, and he could take out the crystal ball unhurt.

不过那枚蛋并没有落进海里，而是落在了岸边一间渔夫的小屋上，小屋顿时冒起烟来，眼看就要燃起大火。这时海中掀起了一人多高的巨浪，漫过了小屋，把火扑灭了。原来是他那变成鲸鱼的另一个哥哥游了过来，把海水掀得老高。火灭了以后，青年便去寻找那枚蛋，幸运地找到了它；蛋还没有融化，只是外壳因为骤然被水浇凉而碎裂开来，他便安然无恙地从中取出了那颗水晶球。

When the youth went to the enchanter and held it before him, the latter said, “My power is destroyed, and from this time forth thou art the King of the Castle of the Golden Sun. With this canst thou likewise give back to thy brothers their human form.” Then the youth hastened to the King’s daughter, and when he entered the room, she was standing there in the full splendour of her beauty, and joyfully they exchanged rings with each other.

青年来到那魔法师面前，把水晶球举在他面前，魔法师说道：“我的法力已经被摧毁了，从今往后，你就是金太阳城堡的国王了。有了这颗水晶球，你也同样能让你的两个哥哥恢复人形。”于是青年急忙赶去见公主，他走进房间时，只见她正光彩照人地站在那里，美丽得无与伦比，两人满心欢喜地交换了戒指。