本集演播：槑贰 

后期：荆溪

英文对照文本在最底下，请往下拉到底。

第3节

“可是你得承认，”国王有点儿抱怨，“至少这不是赫尔利普突发奇想，而是国策。你很清楚，他会为了大家的利益自我牺牲，并且以此为乐。对吗，赫尔利普？”

“是的，父王，当然如此。要是能让她哭的话，那就更好了。我要把她脚趾头当中的皮肤割破，然后系在一起，直到它们长在一块儿为止。那样一来，她的脚就和其他人一样，也不需要再穿鞋了。”

“你这个卑鄙的小兔崽子，你是在暗讽我有脚趾头吗？”王后叫了起来，怒气冲冲地朝赫尔利普走去。国务大臣正好站在他们两个中间，他倾身向前，装出一副对王子说话的模样，以免王后伤到王子。

“王子殿下，”他说，“老臣可能也需要提醒您一下，您自己也有三个脚趾头——一只脚上有一个，另一只脚上有两个。”

“哈！哈！哈！”王后得意洋洋地大笑起来。

国务大臣见王后喜欢，大受鼓舞，于是继续说了下去。.

“王子殿下，依老臣之见，这会让您的子民将来更加爱您，虽然您的生母是太阳底下的人类，但您证明了自己仍是地精的一员。若是您自己也能在大家面前做一做这个小小的手术，那么对将来选妃一事可是明智之举。”

“哈！哈！哈！”王后比刚刚笑得更响了，国王和首相也笑了起来。赫尔利普怒气冲冲，相当狼狈，大家为此取笑了他好一会儿。

在科迪看来，只有王后长得与众不同。她侧对科迪坐在那儿，脸庞被火光照得亮堂堂的。她鼻翼宽大，比整只鼻子还要长；她的两只眼睛不是横着的，而是像两枚竖着的鸡蛋，一头大、一头小；她的嘴巴只有扣眼那么丁点儿大，笑起来的时候会从一只耳朵那里咧到另一只耳朵——不过，她的两只耳朵都快长到脸颊上了。科迪可不觉得她有多漂亮。

科迪急着想听清楚他们说的一切，于是又冒着风险从一块光滑的岩石上滑到下面一块突起的地方，他以为能在那儿歇一歇。但是不知道是他不够小心，还是这块突起的地方塌了下去，他一下子摔到了山洞底下，石块咕隆咕隆地都滚了下来。

地精们纷纷从座位上跳了起来，他们倒不是惊慌失措，而是相当生气。他们从来没在这座宫殿里见到过什么能害怕的东西。不过，他们一瞧见科迪手里的镐，愤怒之余也有那么点儿害怕，因为这是第一个闯进来的矿工。

PART III

'You must acknowledge, however,' the king said, with a little groan, 'that this at least is no whim of Harelip's, but a matter of State policy. You are well aware that his gratification comes purely from the pleasure of sacrificing himself to the public good.

Does it not, Harelip?'

'Yes, father; of course it does. Only it will be nice to make her cry. I'll have the skin taken off between her toes, and tie them up till they grow together. Then her feet will be like other people's, and there will be no occasion for her to wear shoes.'

'Do you mean to insinuate I've got toes, you unnatural wretch?' cried the queen; and she moved angrily towards Harelip. The councillor, however, who was betwixt them, leaned forward so as to prevent her touching him, but only as if to address the prince.

'Your Royal Highness,' he said, 'possibly requires to be reminded that you have got three toes yourself—one on one foot, two on the other.'

'Ha! ha! ha!' shouted the queen triumphantly.

The councillor, encouraged by this mark of favour, went on.

'It seems to me, Your Royal Highness, it would greatly endear you to your future people, proving to them that you are not the less one of themselves that you had the misfortune to be born of a sun-mother, if you were to command upon yourself the comparatively slight operation which, in a more extended form, you so wisely meditate with regard to your future princess.'

'Ha! ha! ha!' laughed the queen louder than before, and the king and the minister joined in the laugh. Harelip growled, and for a few moments the others continued to express their enjoyment of his discomfiture.

The queen was the only one Curdie could see with any distinctness. She sat sideways to him, and the light of the fire shone full upon her face. He could not consider her handsome. Her nose was certainly broader at the end than its extreme length, and her eyes, instead of being horizontal, were set up like two perpendicular eggs, one on the broad, the other on the small end. Her mouth was no bigger than a small buttonhole until she laughed, when it stretched from ear to ear—only, to be sure, her ears were very nearly in the middle of her cheeks.

Anxious to hear everything they might say, Curdie ventured to slide down a smooth part of the rock just under him, to a projection below, upon which he thought to rest. But whether he was not careful enough, or the projection gave way, down he came with a rush on the floor of the cavern, bringing with him a great rumbling shower of stones.

The goblins jumped from their seats in more anger than consternation, for they had never yet seen anything to be afraid of in the palace. But when they saw Curdie with his pick in his hand their rage was mingled with fear, for they took him for the first of an invasion of miners.