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"Then there's no good waiting for him to come back?" said Jill. "No, no good," said the Owl. "Oh, what a to-do! If only you two had known and spoken to him at once! He'd have arranged everything—probably given you an army to go with you in search of the Prince."
“所以我们不能等国王回来再行动了？”吉尔说。“不，不行。”猫头鹰说，“哦，简直乱套了！如果你俩当时能立刻向国王提起此事就好了！他会把一切都安排好，也许还会派军队协助你们寻找王子。”
Jill kept quiet at this and hoped Scrubb would be sporting enough not to tell all the owls why this hadn't happened. He was, or very nearly.
吉尔沉默了，她希望斯库波沉住气一些，不要当着猫头鹰的面把错过国王的事说出来。实际上，斯库波差点就公之于众了。
That is, he only muttered under his breath, "Well, it wasn't my fault," before saying out loud: "Very well. We'll have to manage without it. But there's just one thing more I want to know.
不过他只小声嘟囔了句：“哼，这又不是我的错。”然后，他大声说道：“很好，我们也只能擅自行动了。但还有件事我想知道。
If this owls' parliament, as you call it, is all fair and above board and means no mischief, why does it have to be so jolly secret—meeting in a ruin in dead of night, and all that?"
如果像你们所说，猫头鹰议会是公正的，光明正大的，没有一丝掺假，那你们为何非要在深夜秘密碰头，而且还挑了这么个破地方？”
"Tu-whoo!Tu-whoo!" hooted several owls. "Where should we meet? When would anyone meet except at night?"
“呜咕！呜咕！”几只猫头鹰叫着，“那你说我们应该在哪集合？除了半夜，还有什么时间更适合开会？”
"You see," explained Glimfeather, "most of the creatures in Narnia have such unnatural habits. They do things by day, in broad blazing sunlight (ugh!) when everyone ought to be asleep.
“你瞧。”高林羽解释道，“纳尼亚的大部分居民都不太正常。他们白天工作，顶着大太阳，哼！白天明明是睡觉的时候。
And, as a result, at night they're so blind and stupid that you can't get a word out of them. So we owls have got into the habit of meeting at sensible hours, on our own, when we want to talk about things."
所以到了晚上，他们一个个变得又瞎又蠢，你根本别想从他们嘴里问出什么东西来。我们猫头鹰就喜欢在脑筋清楚的时候开会，讨论我们想说的事情。”
"I see," said Scrubb. "Well now, let's get on. Tell us all about the lost Prince."Then an old owl, not Glimfeather, related the story.
“我知道了。”斯库波说，“现在会议继续。告诉我们关于王子失踪的事吧。”这回不是高林羽，而是另一只猫头鹰给他俩讲了下面的故事。
About ten years ago, it appeared, when Rilian, the son of Caspian, was a very young knight, he rode with the Queen his mother on a May morning in the north parts of Narnia.
大约十年前，凯斯宾国王的儿子瑞廉还是一位非常年轻的骑士。五月的一个清晨，他和王后，也就是他妈妈，一起在纳尼亚的北部骑马。
They had many squires and ladies with them and all wore garlands of fresh leaves on their heads, and horns at their sides; but they had no hounds with them, for they were maying, not hunting.
跟随他俩去的还有很多乡绅和女士，所有人头上都戴着新鲜叶子编成的花环，身边系着号角，但他们一行没带猎犬，因为他们是在庆祝五月节，并非打猎。
In the warm part of the day they came to a pleasant glade where a fountain flowed freshly out of the earth, and there they dismounted and ate and drank and were merry.
天气渐暖时，他们来到一块风景秀丽的林间空地，这里的喷泉水流汩汩，从地里不断地涌出。他们下马开始野餐，有吃有喝，快乐无比。
After a time the Queen felt sleepy, and they spread cloaks for her on the grassy bank, and Prince Rilian with the rest of the party went a little way from her, that their tales and laughter might not wake her.
过了一会儿，王后困了，他们把斗篷铺在草地上，瑞廉王子为不打扰母亲休息，便带领人们往远一点的地方去了。
And so, presently, a great serpent came out of the thick wood and stung the Queen in her hand.
不一会儿，一条大蛇从树丛中钻出，它咬了王后的手。
All heard her cry out and rushed towards her, and Rilian was first at her side. He saw the worm gliding away from her and made after it with his sword drawn.
他们听到王后的喊声，便立刻赶来救援，瑞廉王子跑在最前面。他看见蛇正从王后身边溜走，就立刻提剑去追。
It was great, shining, and as green as poison, so that he could see it well: but it glided away into thick bushes and he could not come at it.
这条蛇非常大，油光闪亮，泛着青绿色。然而，蛇最后躲进了树丛，王子别无他法，只好放弃。
So he returned to his mother, and found them all busy about her. But they were busy in vain, for at the first glance of her face Rilian knew that no physic in the world would do her good.
他回到母亲身边，发现所有人都在忙着救治王后。但一切都是徒劳。第一次看她的脸，瑞廉就知道世上已经没有东西可以挽回母亲的生命了。
As long as the life was in her she seemed to be trying hard to tell him something. But she could not speak clearly and, whatever her message was, she died without delivering it.
弥留之际，王后好像要告诉王子什么，但她已经说不清楚话了，无论如何，她都没能把话说出口。
It was then hardly ten minutes since they had first heard her cry. They carried the dead Queen back to Cair Paravel, and she was bitterly mourned by Rilian and by the King, and by all Narnia.
从听到王后的呼救声到王后死仅仅过了不到十分钟。他们把王后的遗体运回凯尔帕拉维尔城堡，国王、王子和纳尼亚的全体臣民都为失去王后而感到悲伤。
She had been a great lady, wise and gracious and happy, King Caspian's bride whom he had brought home from the eastern end of the world.
她是个好女人，聪明、友善、快乐。想当初，凯斯宾是把她从纳尼亚的东部边境娶回家的。
And men said that the blood of the stars flowed in her veins. The Prince took his mother's death very hardly, as well he might.
人们都说她的身体里流淌的是星星的血。王子无法接受母亲的死。
After that, he was always riding on the northern marches of Narnia, hunting for that venomous worm, to kill it and be avenged.
从此，他总是一个人到纳尼亚的北部骑马，寻找那条毒蛇，想为母亲报仇。
No one remarked much on this, though the Prince came home from these wanderings looking tired and distraught. But about a month after the Queen's death, some said they could see a change in him.
虽然王子每次从北部回来都筋疲力尽，心里难过得不得了，但却没人在意这件事。然而，王后去世一个月后，有人发现王子变了。
There was a look in his eyes as of a man who has seen visions, and though he would be out all day, his horse did not bear signs of hard riding.
他目光迷离，好像总处在幻觉之中，虽然他一整天都在外面，但那匹马却不像经历过长途跋涉的样子。
His chief friend among the older courtiers was the Lord Drinian, he who had been his father's captain on that great voyage to the east parts of the world.
王子有个侍臣，也是他的好友，名叫德里曼，他已经在宫廷当差很久了。当初王子的父亲东巡时，他还是船长呢。
One evening Drinian said to the Prince, "Your Highness must soon give over seeking the worm. There is no true vengeance on a witless brute as there might be on a man. You weary yourself in vain."
一天傍晚，德里曼对王子说：“殿下必须立刻停止寻找那条毒蛇的行动。人不能永远伴着仇恨过日子。你这是成心累自己，到头来什么都得不到。”
The Prince answered him, "My Lord, I have almost forgotten the worm this seven days." Drinian asked him why, if that were so, he rode so continually in the northern woods.
王子回答说：“这七天我已经忘了那条蛇的事了。”德里曼问他既然如此，那为什么还天天往北部的丛林里跑。
