But the sailors could not understand the words, they thought it was the voice of the storm;

然而这些人类却听不懂她们的歌词。他们以为这是巨风的声息。

nor could it be theirs to see this Elysium of the deep, for when the ship sank they were drowned,

他们也想不到他们会在海底看到什么美好的东西，因为如果船沉了的话，船上的人也就淹死了，

and only reached the Merman's palace in death.

他们只有作为死人才能到达海王的宫殿。

When the elder sisters rose up in this manner, arm-in-arm, in the evening,

有一天晚上，当姐妹们手挽着手地浮出海面的时候，

the youngest remained behind quite alone, looking after them as if she must weep;

最小的那位妹妹只能孤单地呆在后面，瞧着她们。看样子她好像是想要哭一场似的，

but mermaids have no tears, and so they suffer all the more.

不过人鱼是没有眼泪的，因此她更感到难受。

''Oh! if I were only fifteen!'' she said, ''I know how fond I shall be of the world above, and of the mortals who dwell there.''

“啊，我多么希望我已经有十五岁啊！”她说。“我知道我将会喜欢上面的世界，喜欢住在那个世界里的人们。”

At last her fifteenth birthday came.

最后她真的到了十五岁了。

''Now we shall have you off our hands,'' said her grandmother, the old queen-dowager.

“你知道，你现在可以自己做主了，”她的祖母老皇太后说。

''Come now, let me adorn you like your other sisters!''

“来吧，让我把你打扮得像你的那些姐姐一样吧。”

and she put a wreath of white lilies round her hair, but every petal of the flowers was half a pearl;

于是她在这小姑娘的头发上戴上一个百合花编的花环，不过这花的每一个花瓣是半颗珍珠。

then the old queen had eight oysters fixed on to the princess's tail to show her high rank.

老太太又叫八个大牡蛎紧紧地附贴在公主的尾上，来表示她高贵的地位。

''But it hurts so!'' said the little mermaid.

“这叫我真难受！”小人鱼说。

''You must endure the pain for the sake of the finery!'' said her grandmother.

“当然喽，为了漂亮，一个人是应该吃点苦头的。”老祖母说。

But oh! how gladly would she have shaken off all this splendour, and laid aside the heavy wreath.

哎，她多么想摆脱这些装饰品，把这沉重的花环扔向一边！

Her red flowers in her garden suited her much better, but she did not dare to make any alteration.

她戴着花园里的那些红花要漂亮得多，但是她不敢这样办。

''Good-bye,'' she said, and mounted as lightly and airily as a bubble through the water.

“再会吧！”她说。于是她像一个水泡似的，轻盈而又明朗的冒出水面了。