這篇小故事最初發表于１８４０年１０月在哥本哈根出版的《沙龍》雜志上。安徒生在他的手記中說，這是一個在民間口頭上流傳的故事，他記得很清楚。于是，就寫成一篇童話，把這個故事的這樣內涵意義表達出來：一個貌似兇猛、不可一世的暴君——即現代所謂的獨裁者——往往會在一些渺小的人物手上栽跟頭，導致他的“偉大事業徹底失敗”。這個故事中的王子做夢也沒有想到，他會被一個鉆進他的耳朵里去的小蚊蚋弄得最后發了瘋。

HERE lived once upon a time a wicked prince whose heart and mind were to set upon conquering all the countries of the world, and on frightening the people; he devastated their countries with fire and sword, and his soldiers trod down the crops in the fields and destroyed the peasants' huts by fire, so that the flames licked the green leaves off the branches, and the fruit hung dried up on the singed black trees. Many a poor mother fled, her naked baby in her arms, behind the still smoking walls of her cottage; but also there the soldiers followed her, and when they found her, she served as new nourishment to their diabolical enjoyments; demons could not possibly have done worse things than these soldiers! The prince was of opinion that all this was right, and that it was only the natural course which things ought to take. His power increased day by day, his name was feared by all, and fortune favoured his deeds.

He brought enormous wealth home from the conquered towns, and gradually accumulated in his residence riches which could nowhere be equalled. He erected magnificent palaces, churches, and halls, and all who saw these splendid buildings and great treasures exclaimed admiringly: “What a mighty prince!” But they did not know what endless misery he had brought upon other countries, nor did they hear the sighs and lamentations which rose up from the débris of the destroyed cities.

The prince often looked with delight upon his gold and his magnificent edifices, and thought, like the crowd: “What a mighty prince! But I must have more—much more. No power on earth must equal mine, far less exceed it.”

He made war with all his neighbours, and defeated them. The conquered kings were chained up with golden fetters to his chariot when he drove through the streets of his city. These kings had to kneel at his and his courtiers' feet when they sat at table, and live on the morsels which they left. At last the prince had his own statue erected on the public places and fixed on the royal palaces; nay, he even wished it to be placed in the churches, on the altars, but in this the priests opposed him, saying: “Prince, you are mighty indeed, but God's power is much greater than yours; we dare not obey your orders.”

“Well,” said the prince. “Then I will conquer God too.” And in his haughtiness and foolish presumption he ordered a magnificent ship to be constructed, with which he could sail through the air; it was gorgeously fitted out and of many colours; like the tail of a peacock, it was covered with

 

thousands of eyes, but each eye was the barrel of a gun. The prince sat in the centre of the ship, and had only to touch a spring in order to make thousands of bullets fly out in all directions, while the guns were at once loaded again. Hundreds of eagles were attached to this ship, and it rose with the swiftness of an arrow up towards the sun. The earth was soon left far below, and looked, with its mountains and woods, like a cornfield where the plough had made furrows which separated green meadows; soon it looked only like a map with indistinct lines upon it; and at last it entirely disappeared in mist and clouds. Higher and higher rose the eagles up into the air; then God sent one of his numberless angels against the ship. The wicked prince showered thousands of bullets upon him, but they rebounded from his shining wings and fell down like ordinary hailstones. One drop of blood, one single drop, came out of the white feathers of the angel's wings and fell upon the ship in which the prince sat, burnt into it, and weighed upon it like thousands of hundredweights, dragging it rapidly down to the earth again; the strong wings of the eagles gave way, the wind roared round the prince's head, and the clouds around—were they formed by the smoke rising up from the burnt cities?—took strange shapes, like crabs many, many miles long, which stretched their claws out after him, and rose up like enormous rocks, from which rolling masses dashed down, and became fire-spitting dragons.

The prince was lying half-dead in his ship, when it sank at last with a terrible shock into the branches of a large tree in the wood.

“I will conquer God!” said the prince. “I have sworn it: my will must be done!”

And he spent seven years in the construction of wonderful ships to sail through the air, and had darts cast from the hardest steel to break the walls of heaven with. He gathered warriors from all countries, so many that when they were placed side by side they covered the space of several miles. They entered the ships and the prince was approaching his own, when God sent a swarm of gnats—one swarm of little gnats. They buzzed round the prince and stung his face and hands; angrily he drew his sword and brandished it, but he only touched the air and did not hit the gnats. Then he ordered his servants to bring costly coverings and wrap him in them, that the gnats might no longer be able to reach him. The servants carried out his orders, but one single gnat had placed itself inside one of the coverings, crept into the prince's ear and stung him. The place burnt like fire, and the poison entered into his blood. Mad with pain, he tore off the coverings and his clothes too, flinging them far away, and danced about before the eyes of his ferocious soldiers, who now mocked at him, the mad prince, who wished to make war with God, and was overcome by a single little gnat.

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Reference Version

 

 

(參考譯文)

從前有一個惡毒而傲慢的王子，他的全部野心是想要征服世界上所有的國家，使人一聽到他的名字就害怕。他帶著火和劍出征；他的兵士踐踏著田野里的麥子，放火焚燒農民的房屋。鮮紅的火焰燎著樹上的葉子，把果子燒毀，掛在焦黑的樹枝上。許多可憐的母親，抱著赤裸的、仍然在吃奶的孩子藏到那些冒著煙的墻后面去。兵士搜尋著她們。如果找到了她們和孩子，那么他們的惡作劇就開始了。惡魔都做不出像他們那樣壞的事情，但是這位王子卻認為他們的行為很好。他的威力一天一天地增大；他的名字大家一提起來就害怕；他做什么事情都得到成功。

他從被征服了的城市中搜刮來許多金子和大量財富。他在京城里積蓄的財富，比什么地方都多。他下令建立起許多輝煌的宮殿、教堂和拱廊。凡是見過這些華麗場面的人都說：“多么偉大的王子啊！”他們沒有想到他在別的國家里造成的災難，他們沒有聽到從那些燒毀了的城市的廢墟中發出的呻吟和嘆息聲。

這位王子瞧瞧他的金子，瞧瞧他那些雄偉的建筑物，也不禁有與眾人同樣的想法：“多么偉大的王子??！不過，我還要有更多、更多的東西！我不準世上有任何其他的威力趕上我，更不用說超過我！”

于是他對所有的鄰國掀起戰爭，并且征服了它們。當他乘著車子在街道上走過的時候，他就把那些俘虜來的國王套上金鏈條，系在他的車上。吃飯的時候，他強迫這些國王跪在他和他的朝臣們的腳下，同時從餐桌上扔下面包屑，要他們吃。現在王子下令要把他的雕像豎在所有的廣場上和宮殿里，甚至還想豎在教堂神龕面前呢。不過祭司們說：“你的確威力不小，不過上帝的威力比你的要大得多。我們不敢做這樣的事情。”

“那么好吧，”惡毒的王子說，“我要征服上帝！”他心里充滿了傲慢和愚蠢，他下令要建造一只巧妙的船。他要坐上這條船在空中航行。這條船必須像孔雀尾巴一樣色彩鮮艷，必須像是嵌著幾千只眼睛——但是每只眼睛卻是一個炮孔。王子只須坐在船的中央，按一下羽毛就有一千顆子彈向四面射出，同時這些槍就立刻又自動地裝上子彈。船的前面套著幾百只大鷹——他就這樣向太陽飛去。大地低低地橫在下面。地上的大山和森林，第一眼看來就像加過工的田野；綠苗從它犁過了的草皮里冒出來。不一會兒就像一張平整的地圖；最后它就完全在云霧中不見了。這些鷹在空中越飛越高。這時上帝從他無數的安琪兒當中，先派遣了一位安琪兒。這個邪惡的王子就馬上向他射出幾千發子彈；不過子彈像冰雹一樣，都被安琪兒光耀的翅膀撞回來了。有一滴血——唯一的一滴血——從那雪白的翅膀上的羽毛上落下來，落在這位王子乘坐的船上。血在船里燒起來，像５００多噸重的鉛，擊碎了這條船，同時把這條船沉沉地壓下來。那些鷹的堅強的羽毛都斷了。風在王子的頭上呼嘯。那焚燒著的船發出的煙霧在他周圍集結成駭人的形狀，像一些向他伸著尖銳前爪的龐大的螃蟹，也像一些滾動著的石堆和噴火的巨龍。

王子在船里，嚇得半死。這條船最后落在一個濃密的森林上面。

“我要戰勝上帝！”他說。“我既起了這個誓言，我的意志必須實現！”

他花了七年工夫制造出一些能在空中航行的、精巧的船。他用最堅固的鋼制造出閃電來，因為他希望攻破天上的堡壘。他在他的領土里招募了一支強大的軍隊。當這些軍隊排列成隊形的時候，他們可以鋪滿許多里地的面積。他們爬上這些船，王子也走進他的那條船，這時上帝送來一群蚊蚋——只是一小群蚊蚋。這些小蟲子在王子的周圍嗡嗡地叫，刺著他的臉和手。他一生氣就抽出劍來，但是他只刺著不可捉摸的空氣，刺不著蚊蚋。于是他命令他的部下拿最貴重的帷幔把他包起來，使得蚊蚋刺不著他。他的下人執行了他的命令。不過帷幔里面貼著一只小蚊蚋。它鉆進王子的耳朵里，在那里面刺他。它刺得像火燒一樣，它的毒穿進他的腦子。他把帷幔從他的身上撕掉，把衣服也撕掉。他在那些粗魯、野蠻的兵士面前一絲不掛地跳起舞來。這些兵士現在都譏笑著這個瘋了的王子——這個想向上帝進攻、而自己卻被一個小蚊蚋征服了的王子。

　

II. Exercise Choose the correct answer to the following questions.

1. In which way the wicked prince made his dream become true?



A. He devastated their countries with fire and sword.



B. He lead his soldiers to trod down the crops in the fields and destroyed the peasants' huts by fire.



C. Treat mothers as new nourishment to their diabolical enjoyments.



D. All the above.

2. What did the prince think of his own behavior?



A. All this was wrong.



B. All this was right.



C. Some of this was wrong, but most of this was right.



D. All this was reasonable.

3. In which case the priests opposed him?



A. He made war with all his neighbours, and defeated them.



B. These conquered kings had to kneel at his and his courtiers' feet when they sat at table, and live on the morsels which they left.



C. the prince had his own statue erected on the public places and fixed on the royal palaces.



D. He wished

 

 

his own statue to be placed in the churches.

4. How can the war ship fly in the sky?



A. By engines.



B. By using hundreds of eagles.



C. By balloons.



D. By rockets.

5. By what the wicked prince was finally overcome?



A. The God himself.



B. Angels.



C. A single little gnat.



D. His own soldiers.

　

III. New Words and Expressions 生詞和詞組

1. devastate v. 劫掠，蹂躪

2. naked a. 裸體的，無遮蔽的

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3. nourishment n. 食物，滋補品

4. diabolical a. 惡魔似的，兇暴的

5. erect v. 建立，使豎立

6. lamentation n. 傷心，慟哭

7. edifice n.

大建筑物，大廈

8. fetter n. 桎梏，（常用復）腳鐐

9. chariot n. 輕便四輪馬車，（詩）漂亮的車

10.morsel n. (食物）一小份，少量，這里解釋為殘余物

11.haughtiness n. 傲慢，目中無人

12.meadow n. 草地

13.hailstone n. 冰雹

14.gnat n. 小昆蟲，（英）蚊子

15.ferocious a. 兇惡的，殘忍的

　

Key to Exercise(練習答案)

1.D

2.B

3.D

4.B

5.C

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