She bound her long flowing hair tightly round her head,

她把长长的飘逸的发束紧紧地束在头上，

so that the polyps should not seize her by it, folded her hands over her breast, and darted like a fish through the water,

以免珊瑚虫抓住它，她将手放在胸前上，像鱼一样快速穿过这片水域，

in between the hideous polyps, which stretched out their sensitive arms and tentacles towards her.

丑陋的珊瑚虫向她伸出舞动的的手臂和触手。

She could see that every one of them had something or other, which they had grasped with their hundred arms, and which they held as if in iron bands.

她看到每个珊瑚虫都用数百只触手死死抓着些什么东西。

The bleached bones of men who had perished at sea and sunk below peeped forth from the arms of some,

有些珊瑚虫的触手间露出来死人的白骨，

while others clutched rudders and sea-chests, or the skeleton of some land animal;

有些触手则紧紧缠绕着舵，或是什么动物的骨骼。

and most horrible of all, a little mermaid whom they had caught and suffocated.

最可怕的是他们紧紧抓住了小美人鱼，她几乎要窒息了。

Then she came to a large opening in the wood where the ground was all slimy,

然后她来到树林中的一个大洞口，那里的地面全都是黏糊糊的，

and where some huge fat water snakes were gambolling about.

还有一些巨大的水蛇在嬉戏。

In the middle of this opening was a house built of the bones of the wrecked;

在这开洞口的中间是一幢用骸骨建造的房子。

there sat the witch, letting a toad eat out of her mouth, just as mortals let a little canary eat sugar.

女巫坐在那里，让蟾蜍从她的嘴里吃东西，就像凡人让金丝雀从自己口中叼走糖一样。

She called the hideous water snakes her little chickens, and allowed them to crawl about on her unsightly bosom.

她把可怕的水蛇称作小家伙，然后让它们在她难看的怀里爬行。