One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water, that rose in the midst of it, she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favourite plaything; and she was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell. After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounded away, and rolled along upon the ground, till at last it fell down into the spring. The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. Then she began to bewail her loss, and said, ‘Alas! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.’
一个美好的傍晚，一位年轻的小公主戴上帽子，穿上木鞋，独自走进树林散步。当她来到林间一处清凉的泉水边时，便坐下来稍作休息。她手里拿着一个金球，那是她最心爱的玩具；她总是把金球抛向空中，再在它落下时接住。过了一会儿，她把球抛得太高，没接住，金球滚落在地上，一直滚到泉水里。小公主朝泉中望去寻找她的金球，可那泉水非常深，深得连底部都看不见。于是她开始为失去金球而哀叹，说道：‘唉！要是我能找回我的金球，我愿把我所有的华服和珠宝，以及世间一切所有都献出来。’
Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, ‘Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?’ ‘Alas!’ said she, ‘what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.’ The frog said, ‘I want not your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep upon your bed, I will bring you your ball again.’ ‘What nonsense,’ thought the princess, ‘this silly frog is talking! He can never even get out of the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks.’ So she said to the frog, ‘Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.’ Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring. As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could. The frog called after her, ‘Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said,’ But she did not stop to hear a word.
她正说着，一只青蛙把头伸出水面，问道：‘公主，您为何哭得如此伤心？’‘唉！’她说，‘你这讨厌的青蛙能帮我什么忙呢？我的金球掉进泉水里了。’青蛙说：‘我不想要你的珍珠、珠宝和华服；但如果你愿意爱我，让我与你同住，用你的金盘吃饭，睡在你的床上，我就帮你把金球捞上来。’‘这真是胡言乱语，’小公主心想，‘这只傻青蛙在说什么！它恐怕连从泉水里爬出来见我都做不到，虽然它或许能帮我找回金球，所以我还是答应它吧。’于是她对青蛙说：‘好吧，如果你能把我的金球捞上来，我就答应你所有的要求。’接着，青蛙把头低下，潜入水底深处；过了一会儿，它又浮了上来，嘴里衔着金球，把金球抛在泉边。小公主一看到自己的金球，便跑过去捡起来；她因重新拿到金球而欣喜若狂，竟完全忘了青蛙，拿着金球飞快地跑回了家。青蛙在后面喊道：‘停下吧，公主，按你所说带我一起走吧！’但她连一个字也没听就继续跑了。
The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise--tap, tap--plash, plash--as if something was coming up the marble staircase: and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:
第二天，小公主刚坐下准备吃晚饭，就听到一阵奇怪的声响——嗒、嗒，扑通、扑通，仿佛有什么东西正沿着大理石楼梯上来；不久之后，门上传来轻轻的敲门声，一个细小的声音喊道：
‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’
‘开门吧，我亲爱的公主，为你真爱之人打开这扇门！记得你我曾在清凉的泉边、绿荫之下许下的诺言。’
Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as she could came back to her seat. The king, her father, seeing that something had frightened her, asked her what was the matter. ‘There is a nasty frog,’ said she, ‘at the door, that lifted my ball for me out of the spring this morning: I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.’
于是公主跑向门口打开门，看见了她早已忘掉的青蛙。看到这情景，她吓得脸色发白，赶紧把门关上，迅速回到自己的座位上。国王见她父亲发现她似乎被什么吓到了，便问她出了什么事。她说：‘门口有个讨厌的青蛙，今天早上它帮我把球从井里捞了上来；我答应让它和我住在一起，以为它永远也出不来；可现在它就站在门口，想进来。’
While she was speaking the frog knocked again at the door, and said:
她正说着，青蛙又敲了敲门，说道：
‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’
‘公主啊，快开门，为你心爱的人打开门吧！别忘了你我曾在清凉的喷泉边、绿荫下许下的诺言。’
Then the king said to the young princess, ‘As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.’ She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on--tap, tap--plash, plash--from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat. ‘Pray lift me upon chair,’ said he to the princess, ‘and let me sit next to you.’ As soon as she had done this, the frog said, ‘Put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of it.’ This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, ‘Now I am tired; carry me upstairs, and put me into your bed.’ And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light he jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house. ‘Now, then,’ thought the princess, ‘at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.’
于是国王对年轻的公主说：‘既然你已许诺，就必须遵守；去开门让他进来吧。’她照做了，青蛙跳进房间，接着径直朝前——啪嗒、啪嗒，扑通、扑通，从房间底部一直跳到顶部，直到来到公主坐着的桌子旁。‘请把我抱到椅子上，’青蛙对公主说，‘让我坐在你旁边。’她照办后，青蛙又说：‘把你的盘子往我这边挪一挪，我好从里面吃东西。’她照做了，等青蛙吃饱后，它说：‘现在我也累了，请把我抱上楼，放进你的床上。’公主虽然极不情愿，还是用手把它抱起，放在自己床的枕头上，青蛙在那里睡了一整夜。天刚亮，它就跳起来，蹦下楼梯，离开了房子。‘这下好了，’公主心想，‘它终于走了，我再也不用被它烦扰了。’
But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said:
但她错了；因为当夜晚再次来临时，她听到了同样的敲门声；青蛙又来了，说道：
‘Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.’
‘公主啊，请开门，为你心爱之人打开门！别忘了你我曾在清凉的喷泉边、绿荫下许下的诺言。’
And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and standing at the head of her bed.
公主打开门后，青蛙走了进来，像从前一样睡在她的枕头上，直到天亮。第三天夜里，它依然如此。但当公主次日清晨醒来时，她惊讶地发现，床上不再是青蛙，而是一位英俊的王子，正用她从未见过的最美眼眸凝视着她，站在她的床尾。
He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights. ‘You,’ said the prince, ‘have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father’s kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.’
他告诉她，自己曾被一位恶毒的仙女施了魔法，变成了青蛙；并且注定要这样直到有一位公主将他从井中救出，让他从她的盘子里进食，并在她的床上睡上三个夜晚。‘你，’王子说，‘已经打破了他残酷的咒语，如今我唯一的愿望就是请你随我前往我父亲的王国，我将在那里娶你，并爱你直至生命尽头。’
The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying ‘Yes’ to all this; and as they spoke a gay coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince’s servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.
那位年轻的公主，可以肯定的是，她很快便对这一切欣然应允；与此同时，一辆装饰华丽的马车驶来，由八匹骏马牵引，马身上披着羽毛饰物，套着金色的挽具；马车后方骑着王子的忠实仆人海因里希，他在王子被施魔法期间悲痛不已，哀叹了许久，悲恸之深几乎令其心碎。
They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince’s kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years.
随后，他们向国王辞别，登上那辆由八匹骏马牵引的马车，满怀喜悦与欢愉地启程前往王子的王国，并平安抵达；此后，他们在那里幸福地生活了许多年。