And now such a sad thing happened.
In through the broken window-pane hopped a big toad, oh! such an ugly big toad. She hopped right on to the table, where Thumbelina lay dreaming in her tiny cradle, under the pale pink rose leaf.
湖裡漂著一片大鬱金香葉子,這是拇指姑娘的小船。她靈巧的用兩根白馬尾做漿,把小船從湖的這頭劃到那頭。她來來回回划船時輕輕地哼著歌兒,女人豎著耳朵聽著,她覺得從來沒聽過這么一首甜美的歌。
可是就在這時發生了一件令人傷心的事。
一隻大癩蛤蟆從破窗格子裡跳了進來。天啊,多么醜陋的一隻癩蛤蟆,她一下子跳到桌上,拇指姑娘此刻正蓋著粉紅的玫瑰花瓣,躺在小搖籃里做著美夢呢。
She peeped at her, this ugly toad.
"How beautiful the little maiden is," she croaked. "She will make a lovely bride for my handsome son." And she lifted the little cradle, with Thumbelina in it, and hopped out through the broken window-pane, down into the garden.
At the foot of the garden was a broad stream. Here, under the muddy banks lived the old toad with her son.
這隻醜蛤蟆偷窺著她,
“呱呱,這姑娘真漂亮!正好做我那漂亮兒子的新娘!”於是她抓起拇指姑娘正睡著的小搖籃,從破窗格子跳了出去,跳進了花園。
花園底下有一條寬寬的小溪,癩蛤蟆和她兒子就住在這泥濘的岸邊。
How handsome she thought him! But he was really very ugly. Indeed, he was exactly like his mother.
When he saw little Thumbelina in her tiny cradle, he croaked with delight.
"Do not make so much noise," said his mother, "or you will wake the tiny creature. We may lose her if we are not careful. The slightest breeze would waft her far away. She is as light as gossamer."
癩蛤蟆覺得她兒子長的好看極了,但事實上他非常醜。他和他媽簡直就是一個模子裡鑄出來的!
當他看見小床里的拇指姑娘時,興奮的呱呱大叫起來。
“別吵”!他媽說,“你會把這小可愛吵醒的!我們不小心點的話會讓她跑掉的!微風都能把她吹走,她就像紗一樣輕啊。”
Then the old toad carried Thumbelina out into the middle of the stream. "She will be safe here," she said, as she laid her gently on one of the leaves of a large water lily, and paddled back to her son.
"We will make ready the best rooms under the mud," she told him, "and then you and the little maiden will be married."
Poor little Thumbelina! She had not seen the ugly big toad yet, nor her ugly son.
When she woke up early in the morning, how she wept! Water all around her! How could she reach the shore? Poor little Thumbelina!
老蛤蟆把拇指姑娘背到河中央,“她在這裡會很安全”,她說,把她輕輕地放在一片大睡蓮的葉子上,然後游回到兒子身邊。
我們要在泥巴下建幾間最好的屋子,老蛤蟆說,這樣你和她就可以結婚啦!
可憐的拇指姑娘!她還從沒見過這兩隻醜癩蛤蟆啊。
拇指姑娘一早醒來發現自己的處境後,傷心的哭泣起來,她的四周都是水!怎么回到岸上呢?可憐的拇指姑娘啊!
Down under the mud the old toad was very busy, decking the best room with buttercups and buds of water-lilies to make it gay for her little daughter-in-law, Thumbelina.
"Now we will go to bring her little bed and place it ready," said the old toad, and together she and her son swam out to the leaf where little Thumbelina sat.