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西班牙公主的生日
It was the birthday of the Infanta. She was just twelve years of age, and the sun was shining brightly in the gardens of the palace.
这天是西班牙公主的生日。她刚满12岁，这天御花园里阳光明媚。
Although she was a real Princess and the Infanta of Spain, she had only one birthday every year, just like the children of quite poor people, so it was naturally a matter of great importance to the whole country that she should have a really fine day for the occasion. And a really fine day it certainly was. The tall striped tulips stood straight up upon their stalks, like long rows of soldiers, and looked defiantly across the grass at the roses, and said: "We are quite as splendid as you are now. " The purple butterflies fluttered about with gold dust on their wings, visiting each flower in turn; the little lizards crept out of the crevices of the wall, and lay basking in the white glare; and the pomegranates split and cracked with the heat, and showed their bleeding red hearts. Even the pale yellow lemons, that hung in such profusion from the mouldering trellis and along the dim arcades, seemed to have caught a richer colour from the wonderful sunlight, and the magnolia trees opened their great globe—like blossoms of folded ivory, and filled the air with a sweet heavy perfume.
虽说她是一位真正的西班牙公主，但她也跟那些贫苦人家的孩子一样，一年只能过一次生日。理所当然地，全国上下都把庆祝她的生日看得很隆重，认为她生日那天应该有个好天气。刚好这天天气很好。纤长的有斑纹的郁金香亭亭玉立地开在茎端，齐整得好似一排卫兵。它们望着草地那边的玫瑰花，无不自豪地说： “现在，我们可跟你们一样绚烂啦！” 紫蝴蝶四处飞舞，翅膀上还带着金色的花粉，飞过一朵又一朵鲜花；小蚯蚓爬出墙缝，慵懒地躺在阳光下；石榴咧开了嘴，露出了红彤彤的石榴籽。沿着幽暗的拱廊，破烂的花架上挂满了淡黄色的柠檬，灿烂的阳光照在上面，柠檬似乎更加亮眼了；玉兰树绽开乳白色的球状大花蕾，空气中氤氲着浓郁的芳香。
The little Princess herself walked up and down the terrace with her companions, and played at hide and seek round the stone vases and the old moss—grown statues. On ordinary days she was only allowed to play with children of her own rank, so she had always to play alone, but her birthday was an exception, and the King had given orders that she was to invite any of her young friends whom she liked to come and amuse themselves with her. There was a stately grace about these slim Spanish children as they glided about, the boys with their large—plumed hats and short fluttering cloaks, the girls holding up the trains of their long brocaded gowns, and shielding the sun from their eyes with huge fans of black and silver. But the Infanta was the most graceful of all, and the most tastefully attired, after the somewhat cumbrous fashion of the day. Her robe was of grey satin, the skirt and the wide puffed sleeves heavily embroidered with silver, and the stiff corset studded with rows of fine pearls. Two tiny slippers with big pink rosettes peeped out beneath her dress as she walked. Pink and pearl was her great gauze fan, and in her hair, which like an aureole of faded gold stood out stiffly round her pale little face, she had a beautiful white rose.
小公主自在地同伙伴们在阳台上走来走去，又围绕着石花瓶和长满青苔的古雕像玩捉迷藏。要是在平时，公主只能够和与她同等地位的孩子玩耍，所以她总是孤零零地一个人玩。不过，她生日这天却是个例外。国王下令，她可以邀请她喜欢的任何小朋友来宫中陪她一起玩。这些西班牙孩子身材颀长，走起路来姿态很高贵优雅。男孩子身穿飘逸的短披风，头戴插着大羽毛的帽子；女孩子一手提着织锦长裙的裙裾，一手用银黑色的大扇子遮挡太阳，以防晃到眼睛。但最优雅的还数小公主，她那身打扮是当时相当繁琐的样式，显得格外雅致。公主的长袍是用灰白的锦缎裁剪而成，裙摆和宽松的袖口用银线密密麻麻地缝制，结实的紧身褡上缝着几排名贵的珍珠。她的脚上穿着一双小巧的舞鞋，鞋面上有大朵粉红色的玫瑰花饰；走路时，鞋子在裙裾下若隐若现。她的手里摇着一把粉红色和珍珠色相间的大纱扇。她的头发高高束起，仿若一圈淡金色的光晕一般映着她那苍白的小脸蛋，头发上还插着一枝美丽的白玫瑰。
From a window in the palace the sad melancholy King watched them. Behind him stood his brother, Don Pedro of Aragon, whom he hated, and his confessor, the Grand Inquisitor of Granada, sat by his side. Sadder even than usual was the King, for as he looked at the Infanta bowing with childish gravity to the assembling counters, or laughing behind her fan at the grim Duchess of Albuquerque who always accompanied her, he thought of the young Queen, her mother, who but a short time before—so it seemed to him—had come from the gay country of France, and had withered away in the sombre splendour of the Spanish court, dying just six months after the birth of her child, and before she had seen the almonds blossom twice in the orchard, or plucked the second year's fruit from the old gnarled fig—tree that stood in the centre of the now grass—grown courtyard. So great had been his love for her that he had not suffered even the grave to hide her from him. She had been embalmed by a Moorish physician, who in return for this service had been granted his life, which for heresy and suspicion of magical practices had been already forfeited, men said, to the Holy Office, and her body was still lying on its tapestried bier in the black marble chapel of the Palace, just as the monks had borne her in on that windy March day nearly twelve years before. Once every month the King, wrapped in a dark cloak and with a muffled lantern in his hand, went in and knelt by her side calling out, "MI REINA! MI REINA! " and sometimes breaking through the formal etiquette that in Spain governs every separate action of life, and sets limits even to the sorrow of a King, he would clutch at the pale jewelled hands in a wild agony of grief, and try to wake by his mad kisses the cold painted face.
此时国王正透过宫殿的一扇窗户，忧心忡忡地望着他们。国王所憎恨的兄弟——来自阿拉贡的唐佩德罗——站在他身后，而国王的告解神父——来自格拉纳达的宗教法庭大审判官——则坐在国王身边。国王比以往任何时候都更加忧郁。当他看到稚气的小公主一脸严肃地向朝中群臣行礼，或者看到她躲在扇子后面偷笑一直陪伴着她的冷酷的阿尔布奎布基公爵夫人时，他想起了年轻的王后，也就是小公主的母亲。国王对她记忆犹新，在他看来一切似乎就发生在不久前。公主的母亲离开快乐的法国，来到西班牙，但富丽堂皇却死气沉沉的西班牙宫廷很快就耗尽了她的青春活力。小公主出生六个月后，她就不幸去世了。她死得太早，甚至都没能赶得上果园里的扁桃树开第二次花，也没能赶上来年从长了木瘤的老无花果树上采摘果实。那棵无花果树栽在庭院中央，如今的庭院里杂草丛生。他太爱她了，不忍心把她埋在墓穴里，那样他就永远都看不到她了。于是国王请一位摩尔人的医生对王后的尸体用香料作了处理。有人说，这位医生因涉嫌信奉邪教和施行巫术，本已被宗教法庭判了极刑；但由于对保存王后尸体所做的贡献，国王保全了他的性命。因此，王后的尸体依然安放在铺着织锦的尸体架上，放置在宫中用黑色大理石筑成的礼拜堂中。十二年前，在一个狂风大作的三月天，修道士们把她安放在那里。十二年过去了，她容颜依旧。曾经，国王每个月都会穿着黑袍，手中提着一个遮光灯笼，走进礼拜堂，跪在她身旁呼唤着： “我的王后啊！我的王后啊！” 西班牙人生活中的任何行为都受到礼节的约束，就连国王的悲痛也要有所节制。而国王有时恰恰忘了应有的礼节，悲痛欲绝地抓住王后那戴着珠宝的苍白的手，疯狂地吻她那化了妆的冰冷的脸，试图将她唤醒。
To—day he seemed to see her again, as he had seen her first at the Castle of Fontainebleau, when he was but fifteen years of age, and she still younger. They had been formally betrothed on that occasion by the Papal Nuncio in the presence of the French King and all the Court, and he had returned to the Escurial bearing with him a little ringlet of yellow hair, and the memory of two childish lips bending down to kiss his hand as he stepped into his carriage. Later on had followed the marriage, hastily performed at Burgos, a small town on the frontier between the two countries, and the grand public entry into Madrid with the customary celebration of high mass at the Church of La Atocha, and a more than usually solemn AUTO—DA—FE, in which nearly three hundred heretics, amongst whom were many Englishmen, had been delivered over to the secular arm to be burned.
今天他好像又见到她了，就跟当年在枫丹白露宫中第一次见到她时一样。当时他才十五岁，而她年纪更小。他俩就在那个时候正式订婚。订婚仪式由罗马教廷大使主持。法国国王及全体朝臣均出席了仪式。之后他就带着一小束金发返回西班牙王宫。从踏上自己的马车那刻起，他就一直回味着分别时的情景：他上马车时，她低下头用稚气的嘴唇亲吻他的手。接下来的婚礼是在布尔戈斯匆匆举行的，那是两国边境上的一座小城。随后在马德里城内举行的公开庆典场面盛大，还照例在拉•阿托卡大教堂里举行了一次大弥撒。此外，还举行了一次比平日更庄严的判处异教徒的火刑仪式。将近三百名异教徒被交由世俗权烧死，其中不少是英国人。
Certainly he had loved her madly, and to the ruin, many thought, of his country, then at war with England for the possession of the empire of the New World. He had hardly ever permitted her to be out of his sight; for her, he had forgotten, or seemed to have forgotten, all grave affairs of State; and, with that terrible blindness that passion brings upon its servants, he had failed to notice that the elaborate ceremonies by which he sought to please her did but aggravate the strange malady from which she suffered. When she died he was, for a time, like one bereft of reason. Indeed, there is no doubt but that he would have formally abdicated and retired to the great Trappist monastery at Granada, of which he was already titular Prior, had he not been afraid to leave the little Infanta at the mercy of his brother, whose cruelty, even in Spain, was notorious, and who was suspected by many of having caused the Queen's death by means of a pair of poisoned gloves that he had presented to her on the occasion of her visiting his castle in Aragon. Even after the expiration of the three years of public mourning that he had ordained throughout his whole dominions by royal edict, he would never suffer his ministers to speak about any new alliance, and when the Emperor himself sent to him, and offered him the hand of the lovely Archduchess of Bohemia, his niece, in marriage, he bade the ambassadors tell their master that the King of Spain was already wedded to Sorrow, and that though she was but a barren bride he loved her better than Beauty; an answer that cost his crown the rich provinces of the Netherlands, which soon after, at the Emperor's instigation, revolted against him under the leadership of some fanatics of the Reformed Church.
他爱她真是爱得发疯，很多人据此认为是他把王国毁了，因为当时他们正与英格兰为争夺新世界的霸主地位而争战。他甚至一刻也不能离开她。为了她，他已经忘记了或者近乎忘记了王国的一切大事。这种激情使他变得极度盲目。他甚至没有意识到，为讨她欢心而绞尽脑汁想出的种种繁文缛节反而加重了一直困扰她的怪病。她死后的一段时间里，他也变得神志不清。若不是担心离去后小公主会受到自己兄弟的残害，国王一定会正式退位并隐居在格拉纳达的特拉卜教大寺院里。他已经是该院的名誉副院长了。他兄弟的残酷无情在西班牙是出了名的，很多人怀疑是他害死了王后。传说王后走访他所在的阿拉贡城堡时，他送了一双有毒的手套给王后。国王曾以皇家法令宣布举国上下为死去的王后哀悼三年，即便三年期满之后，他仍然忌讳大臣们跟他提起再娶妻的事。当罗马帝国皇帝亲自来向他提出把自己的侄女——一位美丽可爱的波西米亚女大公嫁给他时，他仍吩咐使臣去告诉罗马皇帝，说西班牙国王已经和悲伤联姻，尽管她只是一个不能生育的新娘，可他爱她超过了任何佳丽。这个回复的代价是使他的王国失去了尼德兰的许多富饶的省份。这些省份不久便在罗马皇帝的煽动下，在一些狂热的改革教派信徒的领导下，发起了叛乱。
His whole married life, with its fierce, fiery—coloured joys and the terrible agony of its sudden ending, seemed to come back to him to—day as he watched the Infanta playing on the terrace. She had all the Queen's pretty petulance of manner, the same wilful way of tossing her head, the same proud curved beautiful mouth, the same wonderful smile—VRAI SOURIRE DE FRANCE indeed—as she glanced up now and then at the window, or stretched out her little hand for the stately Spanish gentlemen to kiss. But the shrill laughter of the children grated on his ears, and the bright pitiless sunlight mocked his sorrow, and a dull odour of strange spices, spices such as embalmers use, seemed to taint—or was it fancy? —the clear morning air. He buried his face in his hands, and when the Infanta looked up again the curtains had been drawn, and the King had retired.
当今天他凝望着在阳台上玩耍的小公主时，他整个的婚姻生活，那曾给他带来了火一般热烈的欢愉，同时也因突如其来的终结而导致了难以承受的痛苦，如今似乎又历历在目。小公主拥有王后一切可爱而又傲慢的举止特征，一样任性的摆头动作，一样秀丽而又饱满的美丽嘴唇，一样美丽可人的微笑——的确是法国式的微笑——她时不时地翘首望望窗户，或伸出她的小手让高贵的西班牙绅士亲吻。然而，他觉得孩子们的笑声很刺耳，明媚的阳光也像是在无情地嘲弄他的悲伤。某种像是防腐香料的怪异而沉闷的气味似乎将早晨清新的空气都给弄浊了——抑或眼前这一切都只是幻觉？他双手掩面。等小公主再次抬头时，窗帘已经拉下，国王也离开了。
She made a little MOUE of disappointment, and shrugged her shoulders. Surely he might have stayed with her on her birthday. What did the stupid State—affairs matter? Or had he gone to that gloomy chapel, where the candles were always burning, and where she was never allowed to enter? How silly of him, when the sun was shining so brightly, and everybody was so happy! Besides, he would miss the sham bull—fight for which the trumpet was already sounding, to say nothing of the puppet—show and the other wonderful things. Her uncle and the Grand Inquisitor were much more sensible. They had come out on the terrace, and paid her nice compliments. So she tossed her pretty head, and taking Don Pedro by the hand, she walked slowly down the steps towards a long pavilion of purple silk that had been erected at the end of the garden, the other children following in strict order of precedence, those who had the longest names going first.
小公主有些失望地撅了撅嘴，耸了耸肩。按理说，他应该陪她一起过生日的。那些无聊的政务又有什么要紧？还是他又去了那个一直点着蜡烛的阴森森的礼拜堂，那个他从来都不容许她进去的地方？阳光如此明媚，所有人都笑逐颜开，他可真是太傻了！再说，他还会错过一场由人假扮的斗牛比赛，比赛的号角已经吹响了。另外还有木偶戏和其他精彩的表演。她的叔叔和宗教法庭大审判官倒是更近人情。他们都来到阳台上，并向她道贺。小公主摇摇可爱的脑袋，拉着唐佩德罗的手，缓缓走下台阶，朝搭在花园尽头的紫绸长看台走去。其他孩子都井井有序地跟在她身后——谁的名字最长，谁就走在最前头。
A procession of noble boys, fantastically dressed as TOREADORS, came out to meet her, and the young Count of Tierra—Nueva, a wonderfully handsome lad of about fourteen years of age, uncovering his head with all the grace of a born hidalgo and grandee of Spain, led her solemnly in to a little gilt and ivory chair that was placed on a raised dais above the arena. The children grouped themselves all round, fluttering their big fans and whispering to each other, and Don Pedro and the Grand Inquisitor stood laughing at the entrance. Even the Duchess—the Camerera—Mayor as she was called—a thin, hard—featured woman with a yellow ruff, did not look quite so bad—tempered as usual, and something like a chill smile flitted across her wrinkled face and twitched her thin bloodless lips.
一列由贵族男孩子精心装扮的斗牛士队伍走出来欢迎她。年少的努埃瓦伯爵，一位约莫十四岁的美少年，尽显西班牙贵族世家的温文尔雅，向小公主脱帽致敬，并庄重地把她引到竞技场。场内搭了一个看台，上面有一把镶金的象牙小椅子，小公主就坐在上面。其他孩子有序地环绕在她身边，他们一边摇着手中的大扇子，一边交头接耳。唐佩德罗和宗教法庭大审判官面带微笑地站在入口处。就连那位女公爵——人称女市长——一个瘦小、面貌凶恶、戴着黄色轮状皱领的女人，也一改平日凶巴巴的神情。仿佛有一丝冷冷的笑意拂过她那皱巴巴的脸庞，连苍白干瘪的嘴唇也抽动了一下。
It certainly was a marvellous bull—fight, and much nicer, the Infanta thought, than the real bull—fight that she had been brought to see at Seville, on the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Parma to her father. Some of the boys pranced about on richly—caparisoned hobby—horses brandishing long javelins with gay streamers of bright ribands attached to them; others went on foot waving their scarlet cloaks before the bull, and vaulting lightly over the barrier when he charged them; and as for the bull himself, he was just like a live bull, though he was only made of wicker—work and stretched hide, and sometimes insisted on running round the arena on his hind legs, which no live bull ever dreams of doing. He made a splendid fight of it too, and the children got so excited that they stood up upon the benches, and waved their lace handkerchiefs and cried out: BRAVO TORO! BRAVO TORO! just as sensibly as if they had been grown—up people. At last, however, after a prolonged combat, during which several of the hobby—horses were gored through and through, and, their riders dismounted, the young Count of Tierra—Nueva brought the bull to his knees, and having obtained permission from the Infanta to give the COUP DE GRACE, he plunged his wooden sword into the neck of the animal with such violence that the head came right off, and disclosed the laughing face of little Monsieur de Lorraine, the son of the French Ambassador at Madrid.
这真是一场令人叫绝的斗牛赛，小公主心想，它比货真价实的斗牛还要好看。记得还是在帕马公爵来拜访她的父亲时，她曾被带到塞维尔观赏过一场真正的斗牛赛。一群男孩子骑着盛装打扮的木马，在场子里神气十足地挥舞着系着艳丽丝带的长矛；另外一些男孩子徒步走着，在假牛面前舞动着猩红披风。当假牛冲过来时，他们就轻快地跳过栅栏，躲过袭击。至于那 “牛” ，别看它只是用柳条和有韧性的兽皮做的，可跟真的牛一样生龙活虎。不过连真牛做梦也想不到的是，它可以一直用后腿绕着场子跑。它的表现非常出色，孩子们兴奋极了，纷纷起身站在长凳上，挥动手中的丝帕，大声欢呼：太棒了！太棒了！那评头论足的派头俨然像大人一般。然而，随着比赛的愈战愈烈，好几匹木马最后都给戳倒了。那位年轻的努埃尔伯爵用膝盖把牛压住，在得到公主的许可后用木剑狠狠地朝牛的脖子刺去，给了牛致命一击。他用劲过猛，一下子就戳掉了牛头。这逗得法国驻马德里大使的儿子小洛兰先生笑逐颜开。
The arena was then cleared amidst much applause, and the dead hobbyhorses dragged solemnly away by two Moorish pages in yellow and black liveries, and after a short interlude, during which a French posture—master performed upon the tightrope, some Italian puppets appeared in the semi—classical tragedy of Sophonisba on the stage of a small theatre that had been built up for the purpose. They acted so well, and their gestures were so extremely natural, that at the close of the play the eyes of the Infanta were quite dim with tears. Indeed some of the children really cried, and had to be comforted with sweetmeats, and the Grand Inquisitor himself was so affected that he could not help saying to Don Pedro that it seemed to him intolerable that things made simply out of wood and coloured wax, and worked mechanically by wires, should be so unhappy and meet with such terrible misfortunes.
接下来，在大家的掌声中，竞技场被收拾干净了。两个身穿黄黑制服的摩尔人侍从郑重地拖走了倒地的木马。接着是一个幕间节目，一位来自法国的柔软体操教师在一根绷紧的绳子上进行了表演。紧接着，一些意大利木偶戏演员出现在小戏院里一个特意为他们准备的舞台上，上演了半古典悲剧《莎福尼士巴》。木偶们表演得活灵活现，简直是太棒了。演出结束时，小公主感动得泪眼朦胧。确实有不少孩子感动得哭了，因此人们不得不去拿糖果安慰他们。就连宗教法庭大审判官也深受感动，他忍不住对唐佩德罗说，这些不过是用木头和彩色蜡做成、又机械地任由丝线摆布的东西，竟能演绎出如此悲伤和不幸的故事，这在他看来似乎非常难以接受。
An African juggler followed, who brought in a large flat basket covered with a red cloth, and having placed it in the centre of the arena, he took from his turban a curious reed pipe, and blew through it. In a few moments the cloth began to move, and as the pipe grew shriller and shriller two green and gold snakes put out their strange wedge—shaped heads and rose slowly up, swaying to and fro with the music as a plant sways in the water. The children, however, were rather frightened at their spotted hoods and quick darting tongues, and were much more pleased when the juggler made a tiny orange—tree grow out of the sand and bear pretty white blossoms and clusters of real fruit; and when he took the fan of the little daughter of the Marquess de Las—Torres, and changed it into a blue bird that flew all round the pavilion and sang, their delight and amazement knew no bounds. The solemn minuet, too, performed by the dancing boys from the church of Nuestra Senora Del Pilar, was charming. The Infanta had never before seen this wonderful ceremony which takes place every year at Maytime in front of the high altar of the Virgin, and in her honour; and indeed none of the royal family of Spain had entered the great cathedral of Saragossa since a mad priest, supposed by many to have been in the pay of Elizabeth of England, had tried to administer a poisoned wafer to the Prince of the Asturias. So she had known only by hearsay of "Our Lady's Dance, " as it was called, and it certainly was a beautiful sight. The boys wore old—fashioned court dresses of white velvet, and their curious three—cornered hats were fringed with silver and surmounted with huge plumes of ostrich feathers, the dazzling whiteness of their costumes, as they moved about in the sunlight, being still more accentuated by their swarthy faces and long black hair. Everybody was fascinated by the grave dignity with which they moved through the intricate figures of the dance, and by the elaborate grace of their slow gestures, and stately bows, and when they had finished their performance and doffed their great plumed hats to the Infanta, she acknowledged their reverence with much courtesy, and made a vow that she would send a large wax candle to the shrine of Our Lady of Pilar in return for the pleasure that she had given her.
之后上场的是一名来自非洲的魔法师。他提来一只又大又平的篮子，上面盖着一块红布。把篮子放在场地中央后，他从自己的包头巾里取出一根奇特的芦笛，开始吹起来。不一会儿，布开始动起来。随着芦笛声越来越尖，一黄一绿两条蛇探出了它们古怪的楔形头，并且慢慢越伸越长。它们的脑袋还随着笛声摇来晃去，就跟植物在水中摇动一样。孩子们看见它们那有斑点的颈部皮褶和快速吐出的舌头时反而害怕起来，而看见魔术师在沙地上变出一棵小橘树，树上开着十分洁白的花朵，还当真结了一串串橘子后，他们又开心起来。后来魔术师拿起拉斯托雷斯侯爵小女儿手中的扇子，把它变成了一只蓝色的小鸟，小鸟唱着歌，在场内飞来飞去。那会儿孩子们真是无比地兴奋和惊讶。毕拉尔圣母院礼拜堂跳舞班的男孩们也表演了庄严的小步舞曲，同样引人入胜。小公主以前从未见过如此盛大的庆典。这种庆典每年五月在圣母大祭坛前举办一次，是专为纪念圣母而举行的。其实，自从一位疯教士 (据许多人讲他被英国女王伊丽莎白收买) 企图用一块有毒的薄饼毒害西班牙太子阿斯图里亚斯以后，就没有哪位西班牙王储敢再次踏入萨拉戈萨大教堂了。所以小公主以前仅仅是听人说过《圣母之舞》，今天见识了才知道确实很精彩。男孩们穿着白色天鹅绒做的老式宫廷服装，他们那奇特的三角帽上缀着银饰物，帽顶插着大片的鸵鸟毛。他们在阳光下翩翩起舞，耀眼的白色服饰在他们黝黑面容和长长黑发的衬托下显得更加夺目。所有的人都被他们的一举一动给迷住了，只见他们在繁杂的舞蹈动作中一直都显得很庄重，舒缓的舞姿得体而优雅，连鞠躬的动作也气度不凡。舞曲一结束，他们立即脱下大羽毛帽子向小公主致敬，她很有礼貌地进行了回礼，并许诺送一只大蜡烛给皮拉尔圣母的神坛，以回报圣母给她带来的快乐。
A troop of handsome Egyptians—as the gipsies were termed in those days—then advanced into the arena, and sitting down cross—legs, in a circle, began to play softly upon their zithers, moving their bodies to the tune, and humming, almost below their breath, a low dreamy air. When they caught sight of Don Pedro they scowled at him, and some of them looked terrified, for only a few weeks before he had had two of their tribe hanged for sorcery in the market—place at Seville, but the pretty Infanta charmed them as she leaned back peeping over her fan with her great blue eyes, and they felt sure that one so lovely as she was could never be cruel to anybody. So they played on very gently and just touching the cords of the zithers with their long pointed nails, and their heads began to nod as though they were falling asleep. Suddenly, with a cry so shrill that all the children were startled and Don Pedro's hand clutched at the agate pommel of his dagger, they leapt to their feet and whirled madly round the enclosure beating their tambourines, and chaunting some wild love—song in their strange guttural language. Then at another signal they all flung themselves again to the ground and lay there quite still, the dull strumming of the zithers being the only sound that broke the silence. After that they had done this several times, they disappeared for a moment and came back leading a brown shaggy bear by a chain, and carrying on their shoulders some little Barbary apes. The bear stood upon his head with the utmost gravity, and the wizened apes played all kinds of amusing tricks with two gipsy boys who seemed to be their masters, and fought with tiny swords, and fired off guns, and went through a regular soldier's drill just like the King's own bodyguard. In fact the gipsies were a great success.
这时一队气宇轩昂的埃及人——当时也被称为吉卜赛人——进场了。他们盘腿席地而坐，围成一圈，开始轻轻地弹起齐特琴，身子还和着曲子动起来。他们很轻很轻地哼着一支低沉、轻柔的曲子。这些人一看到唐佩德罗就皱起了眉头，有的人还露出了惊恐的表情。因为就在几周之前，唐佩德罗在塞维尔集市里绞死了他们的两个族人，说他们施行妖术。不过美丽的小公主使他们着了迷。她向后斜靠着，把姣好的脸庞藏在扇子后面，一双蓝色的大眼睛从扇子上边望着他们。他们相信像她这样可爱的人绝不会残忍地对待别人的。于是，他们继续轻轻地弹着琴。他们长长的尖指甲一触到琴弦，头便朝前点，仿佛要入睡似的。突然传来了一声尖叫，孩子们全都大吃一惊，而唐佩德罗立马抓住了短剑的玛瑙柄部圆头。只见弹琴的人跳起来，围着场地疯狂地转圈，并不停地敲打手鼓，同时用他们那带喉音的古怪语言唱起了狂放的情歌。接着，在另一个暗号之后，他们立刻扑倒在地上，静静地躺着不动，全场一片寂静，只能听到单调的弦琴声。他们这样来回表演了几次之后，又退出了一会儿；等再回来时，他们用链条牵出来了一只毛茸茸的棕色大熊，他们肩上还蹲着几只瘦小的无尾猴。大熊有模有样地表演倒立，干瘦的猴子跟着两个像是它们主人的吉卜赛小男孩表演了各种各样搞笑的把戏。它们还会挥动小剑和开枪，并且会像国王的卫队那样完成一整套正规军的操练。吉卜赛人的表演确实大获成功。
But the funniest part of the whole morning's entertainment, was undoubtedly the dancing of the little Dwarf. When he stumbled into the arena, waddling on his crooked legs and wagging his huge misshapen head from side to side, the children went off into a loud shout of delight, and the Infanta herself laughed so much that the Camerera was obliged to remind her that although there were many precedents in Spain for a King's daughter weeping before her equals, there were none for a Princess of the blood royal making so merry before those who were her inferiors in birth. The Dwarf, however, was really quite irresistible, and even at the Spanish Court, always noted for its cultivated passion for the horrible, so fantastic a little monster had never been seen. It was his first appearance, too. He had been discovered only the day before, running wild through the forest, by two of the nobles who happened to have been hunting in a remote part of the great cork—wood that surrounded the town, and had been carried off by them to the Palace as a surprise for the Infanta; his father, who was a poor charcoal—burner, being but too well pleased to get rid of so ugly and useless a child. Perhaps the most amusing thing about him was his complete unconsciousness of his own grotesque appearance. Indeed he seemed quite happy and full of the highest spirits. When the children laughed, he laughed as freely and as joyously as any of them, and at the close of each dance he made them each the funniest of bows, smiling and nodding at them just as if he was really one of themselves, and not a little misshapen thing that Nature, in some humourous mood, had fashioned for others to mock at. As for the Infanta, she absolutely fascinated him. He could not keep his eyes off her, and seemed to dance for her alone, and when at the close of the performance, remembering how she had seen the great ladies of the Court throw bouquets to Caffarelli, the famous Italian treble, whom the Pope had sent from his own chapel to Madrid that he might cure the King's melancholy by the sweetness of his voice, she took out of her hair the beautiful white rose, and partly for a jest and partly to tease the Camerera, threw it to him across the arena with her sweetest smile, he took the whole matter quite seriously, and pressing the flower to his rough coarse lips he put his hand upon his heart, and sank on one knee before her, grinning from ear to ear, and with his little bright eyes sparkling with pleasure.
不过整个上午的娱乐活动中，最有趣的还数小矮人的舞蹈。当他一颠一簸地挪动扭曲的腿，左右摇晃着畸形的大脑袋，跌跌撞撞地走进场子时，孩子们都不约而同地欢呼起来。小公主本人更是大笑不止，以致于那位女侍从市长不得不提醒她说，虽然过去西班牙国王的女儿在同等身份的人面前哭过几回，可从没有哪位皇室公主在比她地位低下的人跟前如此开怀大笑过。可是小矮人的表演确实滑稽得让人忍不住想笑。哪怕是西班牙宫廷这样一个任何刺激都能唾手可得的地方，以前也从未出现过如此吸引人的一个小怪物。这也是他头一回抛头露面。他是在公主生日的前一天才被发现的。当时他正在森林里尽情地跑着，两个贵族恰好在环城一带的软木林里某个偏僻的地方打猎，于是他们就把他带到宫中，作为一个生日惊喜献给小公主。小矮人的父亲是个穷苦的烧炭翁，能够摆脱这个又丑又没用的孩子对他来说真是求之不得。最滑稽的恐怕是小矮人本人一点儿也不知道自己的相貌有多么怪异。他反而看上去非常开心且精神饱满。孩子们都笑了，他也跟他们一样笑得无拘无束。每支舞曲结束时，他都以最滑稽的方式向他们一一鞠躬，并点头微笑，俨如他们中的一员，而不像是造化用滑稽的方式刻意创造出来让别人戏弄的一个不幸的小怪物。至于公主，小矮人完全被她迷住了。小矮人一刻也不能把眼睛从她身上移开，好像他是专为小公主一人跳舞似的。演出结束时，小公主想起了自己曾见过宫廷贵妇们向意大利著名男高音加法奈里抛掷花束的情景。当时罗马教皇把加法奈里从自己的礼拜堂派往马德里，试图用他那无比甜美的歌声去医治国王的忧愁。于是小公主取下自己头发上那朵美丽的白玫瑰，半是开玩笑半是戏弄女侍从市长似的，把花抛向场中的小矮人，还献上了最甜美的笑容。不过小矮人当真了，他将白玫瑰按在自己粗糙的嘴唇上，又把手放在胸口，单膝跪在小公主面前，咧嘴大笑，亮晶晶的小眼睛里放出快乐的光芒。
This so upset the gravity of the Infanta that she kept on laughing long after the little Dwarf had ran out of the arena, and expressed a desire to her uncle that the dance should be immediately repeated. The Camerera, however, on the plea that the sun was too hot, decided that it would be better that her Highness should return without delay to the Palace, where a wonderful feast had been already prepared for her, including a real birthday cake with her own initials worked all over it in painted sugar and a lovely silver flag waving from the top. The Infanta accordingly rose up with much dignity, and having given orders that the little dwarf was to dance again for her after the hour of siesta, and conveyed her thanks to the young Count of Tierra—Nueva for his charming reception, she went back to her apartments, the children following in the same order in which they had entered.
这使小公主不再保持庄严，等小矮人跑出场子好一阵子后她还在一个劲地笑，并对她的叔叔表示还想马上看小矮人表演舞蹈。然而那位女侍从市长恳求说太阳照得太热了，公主殿下应该马上回到宫里；那里已经为她备好了丰盛的宴席和一个生日大蛋糕，蛋糕上用各色糖汁拼写出了她名字的大写字母，上面还飘扬着一面小银旗。于是小公主非常庄重地站起来，命令小矮人在她午睡后再表演一次，还表示将她的谢意转达给年轻的努埃瓦伯爵，感谢他的盛情款待。接着她就回宫了，其他孩子又按来时的次序跟在她后面。
Now when the little Dwarf heard that he was to dance a second time before the Infanta, and by her own express command, he was so proud that he ran out into the garden, kissing the white rose in an absurd ecstasy of pleasure, and making the most uncouth and clumsy gestures of delight.
当得知有第二次机会到小公主面前表演，而且这还是小公主亲自下令的消息时，小矮人得意万分。他跑进花园，欣喜若狂地亲吻着那朵白玫瑰，忘乎所以地做出了很多笨拙而难看的动作。
The Flowers were quite indignant at his daring to intrude into their beautiful home, and when they saw him capering up and down the walks, and waving his arms above his head in such a ridiculous manner, they could not restrain their feelings any longer.
花儿们对小矮人如此莽撞地闯进她们美丽家园的行为感到非常愤怒。看见他在花廊里跳来跳去，还十分可笑地举着双手挥舞着，她们实在是忍无可忍。
"He is really far too ugly to be allowed to play in any place where we are, " cried the Tulips.
“他真是太难看了，根本不配到我们这里来。” 郁金香嚷道。
"He should drink poppy—juice, and go to sleep for a thousand years, " said the great scarlet Lilies, and they grew quite hot and angry.
“他应该去喝罂粟汁，然后睡上一千年。” 红色的大百合花说，它们也变得恼怒万分。
"He is a perfect horror! " screamed the Cactus. "Why, he is twisted and stumpy, and his head is completely out of proportion with his legs. Really he makes me feel prickly all over, and if he comes near me I will sting him with my thorns. " "And he has actually got one of my best blooms, " exclaimed the White Rose—Tree. "I gave it to the Infanta this morning myself, as a birthday present, and he has stolen it from her. " And she called out: "Thief, thief, thief! " at the top of her voice.