It was hewn out of the purest white marble and had gone to the bottom from some wreck.

它是用一整块洁白的花岗岩雕出来的，跟一条遇难的船一同沉到海底。

By the statue she planted a rosy red weeping willow which grew splendidly,

她在这石像旁边种了一株像玫瑰花那样红的垂柳。这树长得非常茂盛。

and the fresh delicate branches hung round and over it,

它秀嫩的枝叶垂向这个石像，

till they almost touched the blue sand where the shadows showed violet, and were ever moving like the branches.

一直垂到蓝色的砂底。它的倒影带有一种紫蓝的色调。像它的枝条一样，

It looked as if the leaves and the roots were playfully interchanging kisses.

这影子也随着水流摇动，树根和树顶看起来好像在做着互相亲吻的游戏。

Nothing gave her greater pleasure than to hear about the world of human beings up above;

她最喜欢听些关于海上的人类世界的故事。

she made her old grandmother tell her all that she knew about ships and towns, people and animals.

她的老祖母不得不把自己所有知道的一切关于船只和城市、人类和动物的知识讲给她听。

But above all it seemed strangely beautiful to her that up on the earth the flowers were scented,

最让她感到新奇的是是：地上的花儿能散发出香气来，

for they were not so at the bottom of the sea;also that the woods were green,

而海底里的花儿却不能;地上的森林还是绿色的，

and that the fish which were to be seen among the branches could sing so loudly and sweetly that it was a delight to listen to them.

而且人们所看到的在树枝间游来游去的鱼儿会唱出清脆好听的歌，叫人感到无比愉快。

You see the grandmother called little birds fish, or the mermaids would not have understood her, as they had never seen a bird.

老祖母所说的“鱼儿”其实就是小鸟，但是假如老祖母不这样讲的话，小公主就听不懂她的故事了，因为她从未见过一只小鸟。

''When you are fifteen,'' said the grandmother,

“等你满了十五岁的时候，”老祖母说，

''you will be allowed to rise up from the sea and sit on the rocks in the moonlight,

“我就准许你浮到海面上去。那时你可以坐在月光下的石头上面，

and look at the big ships sailing by, and you will also see woods and towns.''

巨大的船只将会在你身边驶过，你也可以看到树林和城市。

One of the sisters would be fifteen in the following year,

第二年，这些姐妹中有一位到了十五岁;

but the others,--well, they were each one year younger than the other,

可是其余的小公主们呢——唔，她们一个比一个小一岁。

so that the youngest had five whole years to wait before she would be allowed to come up from the bottom, to see what things were like on earth.

因此最年幼的那位公主还要足足地等五个年头才能够从海底浮上来，来看看我们的这个世界。

But each one promised the others to give a full account of all that she had seen, and found most wonderful on the first day.

不过每一位公主都答应下一位要过生日的妹妹，把她第一天所看到和发现的东西讲给大家听，