大鼻子王子Enormous Nose
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Once a king made the unfortunate mistake of joking about the large nose of an enchantress who lived in the forest. Instantly the enchantress appeared before the King. Fixing her angry eyes on him and wagging her finger before his face, she said, "There will come a time when you shall have a son. This child shall be born with an enormous nose, a nose even bigger than your big mouth, a nose that will remain stuck upon your son's face until the moment he realizes what an ridiculous nose he indeed has." "If my son's nose is going to be as long as all that," the king thought to himself, "he would always see it or feel it; at least, if he is not blind or without hands. Certainly by the time he walks and talks he'll realize he has an unusually large nose. At that moment it will be gone. This is not a matter for much concern." Soon the Queen had a little son, who was named Andre. Little Prince Andre had large blue eyes, the prettiest eyes in the world, and a sweet little mouth, but, alas! His nose was so huge that it covered half his face. The Queen was inconsolable when she saw this great nose, but her ladies assured her that it was not really as large as it looked; that it was a Roman nose, and you had only to open any history to see that every hero has a large nose. The Queen, who was devoted to her baby, was pleased with what they told her, and when she looked at baby Andre again, his nose did not seem to her quite so large. The Prince was brought up with great care. As soon as he could speak, they told him all sorts of dreadful stories about people who had short noses. No one was allowed to come near him whose nose did not more or less resemble his own. The courtiers, to get into favor with the Queen, took to pulling their noses several times every day to make them grow longer. But, do what they would, their noses were nothing in comparison with the Prince's. When he grew older he learned history. Whenever any great prince or princess was spoken of, his teachers took care to tell him that they had very long noses. His room was hung with pictures, all of people with large noses. The Prince grew up convinced that a long nose was a feature of great beauty. When his twentieth birthday was past, the Queen thought it was time that he married. She commanded that the portraits of several princesses should be brought for him to see, and among the others was a picture of the Princess Rosebud. Now Princess Rosebud was the daughter of a great king, and would some day possess several kingdoms herself, but Prince Andre had not a thought to spare for anything of that sort, he was so much struck with her presence in the portrait. The Princess, whom he thought quite charming, had however, a saucy little nose, which in her face, was the prettiest thing possible, but it was a cause of great embarrassment to the courtiers, who had got into a habit of laughing at little noses. Sometimes they found themselves laughing at her nose before they had time to think. This did not do at all before the Prince, who quite failed to see the joke, and actually banished two of his courtiers who had dared to mention disrespectfully Princess Rosebud's tiny nose! The others, taking warning from this, learned to think twice before they spoke, much less laughed. One courtier even went so far as to tell the Prince that, though it was quite true that no man could be worth anything unless he had a long nose, still, on a woman's face a smaller nose could be most attractive. The Prince made that courtier a splendid present as a reward for this good news, and at once sent ambassadors to ask Princess Rosebud's hand in marriage. The King, her father, gave his consent. Prince Andre, in his anxiety to see the Princess, traveled many miles to meet her. At last, when the moment had arrived for him to kiss her hand, to the horror of all who stood by, the enchantress appeared as suddenly as a flash of lightning! Grabbing up Princess Rosebud, she whirled the princess out of sight! The Prince declared that he would not return to his kingdom until he had found her again. Refusing to allow any of his courtiers to follow him, he mounted his horse and rode away. As the Prince journeyed from town to town, he thought all the people he passed must be mad, for all they talked about was the size of his nose. He couldn't understand why they thought his nose so big, and assumed they were jealous because they suffered with such terribly small noses. Thus passed several years. The enchantress had shut Princess Rosebud up in a palace of crystal, and had hidden this palace in a remote corner of the woods. Still, the Prince eventually stumbled upon that remote corner. One day, in the reflection of the crystal walls he caught the image of his bride, and felt joy extreme. The Prince set to work with all his might to try to break her prison; but in spite of all his efforts he failed utterly. In despair, he thought at least that he would try to get near enough to speak to Princess Rosebud. On her part, the Princess stretched out her hand through a crack in the crystal walls that he might kiss it. But turn which way he might, he never could raise her hand to his lips, for his long nose always prevented it. For the first time he realized how long his nose really was, and exclaimed: "Well, it must be admitted that my nose really is quite big!" That instant the crystal prison flew into a thousand splinters. "Foolish prince!" cried the angry enchantress. "It took all these years for you to realize what a ridiculous nose sits on your face! You've been so anxious to believe yourself perfect, you've refused to believe anything at all to the contrary, no matter how many people tried to tell you the truth! Not till the moment your nose stood in the way of your own interests did you reckon with it at all!" She laughed long and loud. "You foolish humans never cease to amaze me!" Then she vanished. The Prince's nose had now returned to a normal size, the size it would have been if not for the enchantress'spell before he was born. He and Princess Rosebud were married as quickly as a grand wedding could be arranged. And in the years that followed, the Prince listened with but one ear to the flatteries of court attendants and kept his other ear open for honest remark. The Prince became known as a wise, thoughtful and admired King, and he ruled happily alongside his beloved wife, the Queen Rosebud. 从前有位国王，犯了个倒霉的错误——拿森林里女巫的大鼻子开玩笑。女巫立刻出现在他的面前，双目怒视，指着国王的脸说：“你儿子快要降生了，一出生就长着大鼻子，比你的大嘴巴还要大，一直长在脸上，直到他真正认识到自己的鼻子有多可笑。” 国王心想：“如果我的儿子鼻子有那么长，只要他不瞎，长着双手，他总能看到或摸到的。等到会走路和说话的时候，他就会意识到自己的鼻子大得不寻常。到那个时候，魔法也就解除了。没什么好担心的。” 不久王后生下一个小男孩，取名安德烈。小王子安德烈有一双大大的蓝眼睛，是世界上最好看的眼睛；嘴巴也是小巧玲珑，惹人喜爱。可是，天啊！他的鼻子居然大到脸的一半！这让王后很伤心。侍女安慰说，那是鹰勾鼻，其实没有看起来的那么大，并且随便翻开历史，就会发现所有的英雄人物都长着大鼻子。王后把王子看得比自己生命还重要，听了很高兴，再看看孩子，觉得鼻子也没那么大了。 王子受到了精心照顾。在他能开口说话的时候，人们就告诉他小鼻子的人怎样可笑。并且小鼻子的人是不得接近王子的。侍臣们为了讨好王后，每天都要扯几次鼻子，希望变得更长些。可不管他们怎么费力，都远不能与王子的鼻子相比。 王子长大后开始学习历史。在讲到伟大的王子和公主时，老师总要特意告诉他，那些英雄人物都长着大鼻子。在王子的房间里，挂的画像也全是大鼻子的人。在这样的熏陶下，王子对大鼻子是美的象征深信无疑。 在王子20岁生日过后，王后觉得他该结婚了，就命人找来几位公主的画像给他看，其中就有玫瑰公主的画像。 玫瑰公主是一位伟大国王的女儿，将来几个王国都归她统治。不过安德烈王子在乎的不是这些，他一心迷上了画像里的玫瑰公主。玫瑰公主美丽动人，但是长着滑稽的小鼻子，不过在她的脸上，却显得精致无比。然而，这可把侍臣们难住了，因为他们已经习惯了嘲笑小鼻子。有时，他们情不自禁地就笑话起公主的小鼻子。王子可容忍不下这样的玩笑，一怒之下赶走了两位侍臣，因为他们提到玫瑰公主的小鼻子时有失尊敬。 其他人受了这个教训，说话前都要掂量掂量，不敢再随便开玩笑了。有位侍臣甚至这样讨好王子说，虽然男人没有大鼻子，就一无是处，但是，女人脸上的小鼻子也可能美丽绝伦。 王子听了很高兴，大大地奖赏了他，然后立刻派使者去求婚。玫瑰公主的父亲同意了这桩婚事。心情急切的安德烈王子，不远万里来见玫瑰公主。然而，在王子和公主举行婚礼时，令每位在场的人感到震惊的是，女巫像闪电一样从天而降，抓起玫瑰公主，像一阵风消失了! 王子发誓，不找回公主，就决不回国。他没有让侍臣随行，一个人骑上马出发了。 王子从一个镇找到另一个镇，发现人们总在谈论他的大鼻子。这些人肯定疯了，他想，他们是因为自己的鼻子小，因而嫉妒他的鼻子。王子不断地寻找公主，几年就这样过去了。 玫瑰公主被女巫关进树林中偏僻的水晶宫殿里。然而王子历尽千辛万苦，最终找到了这个地方。一天，透过水晶墙，他看见了自己的新娘，顿时欣喜若狂。王子用尽全力，试图砸开水晶墙。然而，一切努力都无济于事。绝望的他想，至少可以靠公主近一些，能够说些话。同时公主也透过墙上的裂缝伸出手来，让王子亲吻。可是，王子费尽了周折，也无法吻到公主的手，因为他的长鼻子总碍事。他平生第一次意识到，自己的鼻子真是太长了，抱怨道： “唉，我必须承认自己的鼻子太大了！” 话一出口，水晶宫殿就消失了。 “愚蠢的王子！”女巫生气地嚷道，“过了这么多年，你才认识到自己的鼻子有多可笑。你一心觉得自己是完美的，不管人们怎样把真相告诉你，你也不愿相信自己有缺陷。直到鼻子碍了你的事，你才会反省。”女巫放声大笑，“你们愚蠢的人类，总会做些稀奇古怪的事情。”说完，她就消失了。 王子的鼻子恢复了正常。他和玫瑰公主很快举行了盛大的婚礼。随后的日子里，面对大臣们的奉承，王子始终保持清醒，注意倾听真话。就这样，他成了远近闻名、受人尊敬的英明国王，和玫瑰王后一起幸福地管理着自己的王国。 |
