向太陽揮揮手

The Princess lay a long time thinking before she finally slept. 

公主花了很長的時間沉思才進入夢鄉。

The next morning the Prince strode in more handsome and dashing than ever, although oddly enough, the Princess could have sworn he was getting shorter. 

隔天早上，王子比平常更瀟灑與迅捷的走進來；但奇怪的是，公主覺得他比以前更矮小了。

As he leaned down to kiss her, his smile disappeared. She frowned a question at him: What's the matter?  
"You've still got that thing," he said, pointing to the dog. The Princess grabbed her slate. 

"He is all I have," she wrote hastily. The lady-in-waiting read it to the Prince. 

當王子彎下腰去親公主時，笑容一下凝結。公主用皺起的眉頭代替語言，「發生了甚麼事？」

「妳還是把那個東西帶在身邊。」王子指著獵犬說。公主立刻拿起了紙板。

「它是我僅有的」公主不耐煩地寫下。侍女將這段話念給王子聽。

"You have me," the prince said, his chin high, "I believe you love that smelly thing more than you love me." 

He strode (he never walked any other way) to the door. 

「妳有我啊！」王子邊說邊將下顎抬高，「我認為，妳愛那隻臭東西比愛我多！」

王子大步的（王子也從不以其他的方式走路）走向門邊。

"I was going to talk to you about the wedding feast," he said, as he left. "But now, never mind!" 

「我本來要來討論婚宴的事」王子邊走邊說，「但，算了吧。」

The Princess wept softly and copiously, and the dog licked a tear from her trembling hand. 

坐在低聲啜泣的公主旁邊，獵犬舐去了她手上的淚珠。

"What does he want?" she asked the dog. 

「他到底想要甚麼？」她問獵犬。

"Roast dog for the wedding feast, I'd imagine," he said. The Princess cried out in horror. 

「在婚宴上擺烤獵犬吧，我想。」獵犬這麼說。公主驚嚇地叫了一聲。

"Oh, not literally," the dog said. "But it follows." And he would say no more. At last the Princess called the Wizard and wrote on her slate what the dog had said. 

「當然不是字面上的意思，但八九不離十了。」獵犬說完後就一陣寂靜。公主把巫師召來並將獵犬的話寫給巫師看。

The Wizard sighed. How awkward. Talking animals were always so frank. He hemmed and hawed until the Princess glared to remind him that Wizards are paid by royalty to advise and interpret - not to sigh. 

巫師嘆了口氣。太詭異了，會說話的動物總是一針見血。巫師支支吾吾地說不出話來，一直到公主狠狠的瞪了他一眼才想到自己拿國王的薪餉不是來嘆氣而是給予建議的。

"All right," he said at last. Things always come in threes. Everything." 

「好吧，」巫師說，「天下事莫不以三為和。天下事。」

The Princess looked at him blankly. 

公主看著巫師，完全無法理解。

"Wishes always come in threes," the Wizard said. "And sacrifices, too. So far, you've given up walking. You've given up speech. One more to go." 

「願望會有三個，」巫師接著說，「而犧牲也是。目前妳已經放棄了走路、放棄了說話，還剩一個。」

"Why does he want me to give up the dog?" she wrote. 

The Wizard looked sorrowfully at her from under his bushy brows. "Because you love it," he said. 

「為什麼他要我放棄獵犬？」公主寫道。

巫師憂戚的眼神透過垂下的眉毛看著公主，「因為妳愛它。」

"But that takes nothing from him!" she scribbled. The Wizard smiled, thinking that the same thing could be said of her height and her speech. 

「但這一點也不妨礙他啊！」公主潦草的寫下。巫師微微一笑，心想身高跟話語不也是這樣嗎。

"If you could convince him of that, my dear," he said, "you would be more skilled in magic than I." 

「如果妳可以說服他的話，親愛的，」巫師說，「那麼妳在魔法上的造詣就超越我了。」

When he was gone, the Princess reached for her cards and cast her own fortune, muttering to herself. The dog watched bright-eyed as the wands of growth were covered by the swords of discord. When the ace of swords fell, the Princess gasped. The dog put a delicate paw on the card. 

巫師離開後，公主拿出紙牌開始算自己的命運，嘴中念念有詞。獵犬睜大眼看著「成長的權杖」被「亂序的劍」蓋過去。當「劍中之王」掉落時，公主倒抽了口氣。獵犬將腳掌放在這張牌上。

"You poor dumb thing," she said, for it is hard to think of a dog any other way, whether it talks or not. "You don't understand. That is death on a horse. Death to my love." 

「小傻瓜，」公主說，儘管它會講話，但還是很難找到其他形容詞。「你不了解的，這張是「馬背上的死亡」，代表我的愛將要逝去。」

"His banner is the white rose," said the dog, looking at the card intently. "He is also rebirth." They heard the Prince's striding step outside the door. 

「他帶著白玫瑰的旗幟，」獵犬看著卡片若有深意的說，「這也是重生。」此時，王子的快步聲從門外出現。

"Quick," the Princess said. "Under the bed." The dog's large brown eyes spoke volumes, but he flattened and slid under the bed. And the Prince's visit was surprisingly jolly. 

「趕快，」公主說，「床底下。」獵犬圓睜的雙眼透漏了它的訝異，但仍然迅速的滑進了床底。意外的是，王子的心情十分的開心。

After some time the Prince looked around with imitation surprise. "Something's missing," he said. "I know. It's that creature of yours. You know, I think I was allergic to it. I feel much better now that it's gone." 

過了好一會兒，王子訝異地看著四周，「有東西消失了，我知道是那隻玩意兒。我覺得我對它過敏。現在我覺得好多了。」

He thumped his chest to show how dear it was. The Princess grabbed her slate, wrote furiously, and thrust it at the Royal Physician. "He loved me," the Royal Physician read aloud. 

王子捶了捶胸前表示他的滿意。公主抓起了紙板，快速的寫了字後丟給御醫，「它愛我。」御醫大聲道。

"Not as I love you," the Prince said earnestly. The Princess gestured impatiently for the reading to continue. 

「不像我這麼愛」王子認真的回答。公主不耐煩的打手勢要御醫繼續唸。

"That's not all she wrote," the Royal Physician said. It says, ,"The dog loved me then." 

「我還沒念完，」御醫解釋道，「在我還沒改變前它就愛我了。」

When everyone was gone, the dog crept out to find the Princess installed at her window seat thinking furiously. 

大家都離去後，獵犬從床底下爬出來，發現公主坐在窗邊的椅子上，看起來滿懷愁緒。

"If I am to keep you," she said to him, "we shall have to disenchant you with the spells book." 

「如果我還想要留住你的話，」公主對著獵犬說，「我們必須將你身上的咒語給解除。」

The dog smiled, or seemed to. She cast dice, she drew pentagrams, she crossed rowan twigs and chanted every incantation in the index. Nothing worked. The dog was still a dog, silken, elegant, and seeming to grin in the heat. Finally the Princess clapped shut the last book and sank back. 

獵犬笑了，或者是說，看起來笑了。公主丟了骰子、畫了五角星、把山梨枝打結甚至試了書裡的每一道咒語，完全無效。獵犬還是獵犬，毛同樣的滑順、姿態同樣的高雅，在混亂中仍未抹去微笑。公主闔起了最後一本魔法書並躺回椅子內。

"Nothing works," she said. "I don't know what we shall do. Meanwhile, when you hear anyone coming, hide in the cupboard or beneath the bed." 

「完全無效，」公主說，「我完全不知道該怎麼辦了。假如你聽到任何人靠近的話，躲進壁櫥裡或是床底下吧。」

"You're putting off the inevitable," the dog told her sadly. 

"I'll think of something," she said. But she couldn't. 

「妳只是在延宕不可避免的事。」獵犬悠悠的說。

「我會想出辦法的。」公主說。但她心裡知道，已經沒有辦法了。

At last it was the eve of her wedding day. While the rest of the castle buzzed with excitement, the Princess sat mute in her despair. "I can't give you up and I can't take you!" she wailed. And the dog saw that she was feeling grave pain. 

婚宴的前夕終於來臨。正當整座城堡都充滿的興奮，公主卻絕望的不發一語。「我不能放棄你卻也無法帶你走！」公主哭喊。獵犬感受的到公主正承受著莫大的痛苦。

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