eat and small, swam past the crystal walls;

有些魚的鱗片閃耀著紫色的光輝，而另一些則像金銀一樣閃亮。

on some of them the scales glowed with a purple brilliancy, and on others they shone like silver and gold.

一條寬闊的溪流穿過大廳，男美人魚和女美人魚隨著自己甜美歌聲的韻律在溪流中跳舞。

through the halls flowed a broad stream, and in it danced the mermen and the mermaids to the music of their own sweet singing.

陸地上沒有人有他們那樣可愛的嗓音。

No one on earth has such a lovely voice as theirs.

小美人魚比他們所有人唱得都更甜美。

the little mermaid sang more sweetly than them all.

整個宮廷都用手和尾巴為她鼓掌；

the whole court applauded her with hands and tails;

有那麼一瞬間，她的心裡感到十分歡快，因為她知道自己有著世上或海里最美妙的嗓音。

and for a moment her heart felt quite gay, for she knew she had the loveliest voice of any on earth or in the sea.

但她很快又想起了上面的世界，因為她無法忘記迷人的王子，也無法忘記自己沒有像他那樣不朽的靈魂的悲傷；

but she soon thought again of the world above her, for she could not forget the charming prince, nor her sorrow that she had not an immortal soul like his;

因此她悄悄地從父親的宮殿溜了出去，當宮殿裡一切都是歡樂和歌聲的時候，她卻獨自悲傷地坐在自己的小花園裡。

therefore she crept away silently out of her father’s palace, and while everything within was gladness and song, she sat in her own little garden sorrowful and alone.

然後她聽到號角聲在水中迴盪，心想 ——“他肯定正在海面上航行呢，他就是我願望所繫之人，我願意將自己一生的幸福交託到他手中。

then she heard the bugle sounding through the water, and thought— “he is certainly sailing above, he on whom my wishes depend, and in whose hands I should like to place the happi