There was once a princess locked away in a tall tower. Kept away from all who might claim her beauty, covet her loveliness, take her virtue. And then one day there was a prince, fair and tall and from whose tongue slipped silvered words, who climbed the tower to rescue his prize. His white palfrey waiting patiently at the foot of the tower, back broad and legs strong enough for two. At last, nails cracked and hands blistered, he hauled himself over the crumbling ledge of the window, rolling inside and ending on his knees before the feet of his bride. “Princess! I am here to rescue you!”
从前，有一个公主被锁在一座高塔里。 远离所有可能声称她的美貌、�覦�她的可爱、夺走她的美德的人。 然后有一天，有一个王子，他漂亮又高大，从他的舌头上说出了银色的话，他爬上塔来拯救他的奖品。 他的白色帕弗雷在塔脚下耐心地等待着，背部宽阔，双腿强壮，足以容纳两个人。 最后，指甲裂开了，手起了水泡，他拖过摇摇欲坠的窗台，在里面打滚，跪在新娘的脚前。 “公主！ 我是來救你的！」
“Now then”, said his bride. The prince looked her over, noting the lines at her eyes, the grey in her hair, the broadness of her waist. “Who sed I need rescuin’?” She pointed to a dirty mat by him. “Wipe tha bloody feet.” The golden crown shining on top of shining golden curls didn’t give her a minute of pause, and after a lengthy pause he did as she said.
“现在，那么，”他的新娘说。 王子看了看她，留意了她眼中的皱纹，她头发上的灰色，她腰部的宽阔。 “谁说我需要救援？” 她指着他旁边的脏垫子。 “擦擦血淋淋的脚。” 闪耀在闪亮的金色卷发上的金色皇冠没有让她停顿一分钟，在停顿了很久之后，他照她说的做了。
She still moved with grace, though slowed by clear age, and the prince felt his heart sink as he watched the woman he’d been dreaming of take slow steps away from him. She looked back at him, those eyes still sharp and clear as they met his own.
她仍然优雅地移动着，尽管随着年龄的增长而放慢了脚步，王子看着他一直梦寐以求的女人慢慢远离他，感到心潮澎湃。 她回头看了看他，那双眼睛仍然锐利而清晰，因为他们与他的眼睛对视。
“D’ye want a cup o’ tea?” She gestured to a table, marked with scratches and worn down with lines, as if she had spent countless hours sat on the single rickety chair, tracing a pattern into the wood over and over again. He took a cautious seat, feeling the chair shift and give as his weight settled into it. Her hands shook a little as she set the small kettle going, silence broken only by the clattering of ceramic until the kettle began to sing, filling the small space with a thin whistle. She set his cup down in front of him, before wandering over to the window, staring out at the world she was so set aside from. The quiet resumed, and the prince noticed just how empty it was. Silence in his world was the wind, and the creak of windows, and the chatter of his subjects as they bowed before him. The low conversation of courtiers slowing as he came closer. Here, it was like even the wind had been bespelled away, not a single breeze stirring a single curl on her head, every stone brick of the cracked tower bound to secrecy.
“你想喝杯茶吗？” 她向一张桌子示意，桌子上有划痕，线条磨损，仿佛她花了无数个小时坐在一把摇摇欲定的椅子上，一遍又一遍地在木头上画着图案。 他小心翼翼地坐下，感觉到椅子在移动，随着他的体重稳定下来。 当她启动小水壶时，她的手微微颤抖，只有陶瓷的咔嗒声打破了沉默，直到水壶开始唱歌，用细细的口哨声填满了这个小空间。 她把他的杯子放在他面前，然后徘徊在窗户上，凝视着她如此被搁置的世界。 安静又恢复了，王子注意到它是多么的空旷。 他世界的寂静是風，是窗戶的吱吱聲，以及他的臣民在他面前鞠躬時的喋喋不休。 当他走近时，朝臣们低沉的谈话变慢了。 在这里，好像连风都被吹走了，没有一股微风在她的头上搅动，裂开的塔的每一块石砖都变得保密。
It was silent.
很安静。
The prince didn’t think he’d ever been so uncomfortable in his life. The tea had come from a cardboard package, the water straight from the tap and into a mug stained indelibly with past drinks and patterned with half a faded love heart too bright for the subdued room. He pushed it away from him, breaking the rules of hospitality drilled into him, and looking around the room, sectioned away with bedsheets and blankets, kept clean but cluttered. And everything as a single. The salt shaker without the pepper. A pot without the plant. A lonely couple’s mug. Somewhere in the rest of the world, the other half of her heart. He wondered if she had a single pair of matching socks.
王子从未想过他这辈子会如此不舒服。 茶是从纸板包装里出来的，水直接从水龙头里出来，放在一个杯子里，杯子上沾满了过去的饮料，上面有半颗褪色的爱心，对于这个低沉的房间来说太亮了。 他把它从他身边推开，打破了灌输给他的招待规则，环顧房间，用床单和毯子隔开，保持清洁但凌乱。 一切都是单一的。 没有胡椒的盐瓶。 一个没有植物的花盆。 一对孤独的情侣的杯子。 在世界其他地方的某个地方，她心的另一半。 他想知道她是否有一双相配的袜子。
“Ah’m not what yer expectin’, huh.” She softened the “r”, stretched it like taffy around her tongue, playing with the sound as if she’d forgotten exactly what it should sound like. “Yer no’ the ferst t’come through mah window, and yer no’ the ferst t’be disappointed.”
“啊，我不是你所期望的，嗯。” 她软化了“r”，像太妃糖一样把它拉在舌头上，玩弄着声音，好像她已经忘记了它到底应该是什么声音。 “Yer no’ ferst t’从mah window进来，yer’ no’ferst t t’失望了。”
“It is true, princess”, he saw her wince, “that you are not the lovely creature I’d heard rumours of. Perhaps I am at the wrong tower. Would you be able to point me in the direction of the trapped bride?”.
“这是真的，公主，”他看到她畏縮，“你不是我听说过的可爱的生物。 也许我走错塔了。 你能给我指明被困的新娘的方向吗？”。
She snorted, and it was his turn to wince. “Bi’ presumptuous o’ yeh. I were lovely wunce, had mah dreams an’ mah ambitions.” She lifted her arms and slowly span for him, the old grace lingering in the lines of her body as she moved, eyes closed and a small smile on her lips as she pictured the old days. The sharpness in her eyes had softened, though as she looked upon him it came back into the focus, wrinkles around her eyes deepening as her eyes narrowed. “Yeh eva disappointed yer family?”
她哼了一哼，轮到他畏縮了。 “Bi’自以为是的。 我很可愛，有我的梦想和野心。」 她抬起双臂，慢慢地向他伸展，当她移动时，古老的优雅在她身体的线条中挥之不去，闭上眼睛，嘴唇上带着一丝微笑，她想象着过去的日子。 她眼睛的锐利已经缓和了，尽管当她看着他时，眼睛又回到了焦点上，随着她的眼睛眯起，她眼睛周围的皱纹加深了。 “你让你的家人失望了吗？”
The prince didn’t let himself think of his father, of his people, of the women who warmed his bed, a different lady for every day of the week. “No.”
王子沒有讓自己想到他的父親，他的人民，那些為他取暖的女人，一週中的每一天都是不同的女士。 “不。”
“Then yer lucky. Ah’ve bin ‘ere decades now, jus’ cos I didn’ want t’get married.” She took his mug from him, pouring it down the sink and for a mad moment, the prince found himself wondering what the plumbing must look like in her tall tower. “Ah didn’ wan’ the other half o’ mah hear’, didn’ wan’ t’live for someone other than mahself.” She stared down at the half heart, thumb tracing the lines. “A’ least, no’ like they wanted.”
“那你真幸运。 啊，我已经几十年了，只是因为我不想结婚。” 她从他手中接下他的杯子，把它倒进水槽里，在疯狂的一瞬间，王子发现自己想知道她高塔里的管道一定是什么样子的。 “啊，我不想听到另一半，不想为自己以外的人而活。” 她低头盯着半颗心，用拇指划过线条。 “至少，不，就像他们想要的那样。”
The prince saw his future, high up and cold and alone in the shining reflection of the mug, and he felt the cloth and stone and clutter close around him like it was trying to trap him there. He staggered from the chair, striding to the window and looking at a ground that seemed to be receding, the white speck of his horse sinking away from him.
王子看到了他的未来，高高在上，寒冷，孤独地在杯子的闪亮倒影中，他感觉到布、石头和杂乱的东西靠近他，就像它试图把他困在那里一样。 他踉踉跄跄地从椅子上站起来，大步走向窗户，看着似乎正在退去的地面，他的马的白色斑点从他身边沉了下去。
It was only when he felt the gentle pressure on his back that he realised how hard he’d been breathing, gasping for each breath. She touched him like she was remembering how, figuring out the position of her hand, how much force to use, what movements to soothe. He turned around, sobbing into her chest, her arms enfolding him as he clung onto the rough material of her dress like a life line.
只有当他感受到背部的轻轻压力时，他才意识到自己呼吸有多用力，每一次呼吸都在喘气。 她摸着他，就像她在回忆一样，弄清楚她手的位置，要用多少力量，要用什么动作来抚慰。 他转过身来，在她的胸前抽泣，她的手臂环抱着他，他像生命线一样紧紧抓住她连衣裙的粗糙材料。
He was embarrassed when it was over, stepping back and looking away as his face flushed brighter than the tears. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry.”
事情结束后，他很尴尬，退后一步，看向外看去，他的脸比眼泪更红。 他清了清嗓子。 “我很抱歉。”
She waved the apology away. “Nae worries, son.” The term brought another lump to his throat. “Yeh don’ have t’try so hard. Yeh can be yerself.” She stepped into a curtained off section, the brief opening revealing yet more clutter, a neatly made bed almost hidden behind a stack of books. When she came back through, she held a rope ladder in her hands. He helped her tie it to iron posts embedded deep into the stone, and he tried not to show apprehension as he looked at the flimsiness of the materials and the vastness of the drop. The rope seemed to be made of separate strands, each shining and golden, so the ladder looked like it was formed from strands of spun gold, and he thought back to the rumours he’d heard of this trapped princess, of the legends surrounding her. He gave it a tug experimentally, and she gave a short laugh. “Don’ worry ‘bout it. Ah’ve bin down tha’ more times than yeh’ve had hot dinners. Yeh’ll be reet.”
她挥了挥道歉。 “Nae担心，儿子。” 这个词又让他喉咙发痒了。 “你不用这么努力。 是的，你可以做你自己。” 她走进一个拉开窗帘的区域，简短的开口露出了更多的杂乱，一张整齐的床几乎隐藏在一堆书后面。 当她回来时，她手里拿着一个绳梯。 他帮她把它绑在深深嵌入石头中的铁柱上，当他看着材料的脆弱和巨大的水滴时，他尽量不表现出忧虑。 绳子似乎是由单独的股制成的，每股都闪闪发光，是金色的，所以梯子看起来像是由纺金线形成的，他回想起他听到的关于这个被困公主的谣言，关于她周围的传说。 他实验性地拉了拉，她笑了一下。 “别担心它。 啊，我们把垃圾箱倒掉的次数比你吃过热腾腾的晚餐还多。 是的，会的。”
“But you still come back here? To your prison?”
“但你还是会回到这里吗？ 去你的监狱？”
She shrugged. “Gotta mek the best o’ what yeh’ve bin given. Besides, it’s mah home now. Though ah am thinkin’ o’ getting’ a pulley pu’ in, mekin’ an elevator. What d’yeh think?” She gave a low laugh, the sound almost alien to the prince as he contemplated a life where he made the best of what he had been given.
她耸了耸肩。 “必须得到你最好的东西。 此外，现在是我家。 虽然啊，我在考虑把滑轮pu’弄进去，但是要开电梯。 D’yeh怎么想的？” 她低声笑了，对王子来说，这种声音几乎是陌生的，因为他思考着他充分利用自己所拥有的生活。
He nodded. “If you do, can I come back to visit?”
他点了点头。 “如果你这样做了，我可以回来拜访吗？”
The princess beamed, the loveliness of yore back as her face lit up. “Yeh’ll always be welcome. Yeh know where t’find me.” She gave him a light push towards the ladder and his life. “Do me a favour, eh? Keep spreadin’ the rumour. It’d be nice t’ have some more company, an’ more come back than yeh’d think.”
公主容光焕发出光芒，脸上亮了起来，昔日的可爱又回来了。 “永远欢迎你。 你知道在哪里可以找到我。」 她向他的梯子和他的生命轻推了一下。 “帮我个忙，嗯？ 继续散布谣言。 如果能有更多的陪伴，比你想象的更多回来，那就太好了。”