第14章04 This Is Very Kind of You 你人真好！

PART IV

The water rose and rose. It touched his chin. It touched his lower lip. It touched between his lips. He shut them hard to keep it out. The princess began to feel strange. It touched his upper lip. He breathed through his nostrils. The princess looked wild. It covered his nostrils. Her eyes looked scared, and shone strange in the moonlight. His head fell back; the water closed over it, and the bubbles of his last breath bubbled up through the water. The princess gave a shriek, and sprang into the lake.

She laid hold first of one leg, and then of the other, and pulled and tugged, but she could not move either. She stopped to take breath, and that made her think that HE could not get any breath. She was frantic. She got hold of him, and held his head above the water, which was possible now his hands were no longer on the hole. But it was of no use, for he was past breathing.

Love and water brought back all her strength. She got under the water, and pulled and pulled with her whole might, till at last she got one leg out. The other easily followed. How she got him into the boat she never could tell; but when she did, she fainted away.

Coming to herself, she seized the oars, kept herself steady as best she could, and rowed and rowed, though she had never rowed before. Round rocks, and over shallows, and through mud she rowed, till she got to the landing-stairs of the palace. By this time her people were on the shore, for they had heard her shriek. She made them carry the prince to her own room, and lay him in her bed, and light a fire, and send for the doctors.

"But the lake, your Highness!" said the chamberlain, who, roused by the noise, came in, in his nightcap.

"Go and drown yourself in it!" she said.

This was the last rudeness of which the princess was ever guilty; and one must allow that she had good cause to feel provoked with the lord chamberlain.

Had it been the king himself, he would have fared no better. But both he and the queen were fast asleep. And the chamberlain went back to his bed. Somehow, the doctors never came. So the princess and her old nurse were left with the prince. But the old nurse was a wise woman, and knew what to do.

They tried everything for a long time without success. The princess was nearly distracted between hope and fear, but she tried on and on, one thing after another, and everything over and over again.

At last, when they had all but given it up, just as the sun rose, the prince opened his eyes.

第4节

湖水继续上涨，这次碰到王子的下巴……又碰到他的下嘴唇，现在碰到他的双唇之间了。他紧紧闭上双唇不让水流进去。公主心里有了些奇怪的感觉。片刻之后，湖水没过了王子的上嘴唇，他只能用鼻孔呼吸了。公主看上去有些焦躁不安。紧接着，湖水没过了王子的鼻孔。公主的眼睛露出恐惧，在月光下发出奇怪的光芒。王子的头向后仰去，湖水盖过了他的脸，他最后的气息化作串串水泡冒出水面。公主发出一声惊人的尖叫，跃入湖中。

她先是抱住王子的一条腿，然后又抱住另一条，连拔带拽，想把王子从洞眼中拉出来，但是她怎么也拉不动。她停下来换口气，马上就想到王子已经不能再呼吸了，简直要疯了。公主抓住王子，想把他的头往水面上托，他的手现在已经不再卡在洞眼中，所以她可以做到，但是一切都已经为时过晚，王子真的已经停止了呼吸。

爱和湖水让公主恢复了全部的气力。她潜入水中，用尽全身的力气使劲地推呀推，终于把王子的一条腿拔了出来，另外一条腿也就很容易地跟着被拖出来了。她是如何将王子推入船中的谁也不知道，但是当她做完这一切的时候，就昏了过去。

过了一会儿，公主苏醒过来。她抓住船桨，尽可能让自己保持平稳，划呀划，虽然在这之前她从来没有划过船。绕过岩石，越过浅滩，穿过泥沼，最后她终于把小船划到了岸上——王宫的台阶上。此刻，她的下人们已经都等在那里了，因为他们都听到了公主的叫声。公主让他们把王子抬到自己的房间去，把他放在自己的床上，生起壁炉，然后派人去找御医。

“可是湖怎么办，公主殿下？”王宫总管问道，他听到一阵喧哗就赶来了，头上还戴着睡帽。

“你可以去水里淹死你自己！”公主说道。

这是公主唯一一次因为内疚而大发脾气。不过我们都可以理解，她有足够的理由这么做，因为总管先生的话刺痛了她的心。

就是国王本人遇到这种事情，他也不会觉得很好受。不过他和王后都已经睡熟了。于是总管就回到自己床上睡觉去了。不知何故，御医一直都没有来。于是公主和她的老保姆一起留在王子身边。好在老保姆是一个聪明的女人，她知道该做些什么。

他们花了很长时间，试了各种办法都没有成功。公主在希望和恐惧的煎熬下，心乱如麻。不过她还是一遍又一遍地试着，一个办法不行就换下一个，所有的办法都一遍遍地翻来覆去，不停地试着。

最后，当她们准备放弃的时候，就在太阳升起来的一刹那，王子睁开了眼睛。