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“You have conquered, my friends,” he said in broken accents.
“我的朋友们，你们赢了，”他断断续续地说。
“It was, to be sure, but a small thing that I asked--merely leave to blossom and expand for yet one more evening, to let myself go and hear the tumultuous applause that always seems to me--somehow--to bring out my best qualities.”
“其实，我的要求很小很小，只不过是让我再尽情表现和发挥一个晚上，让我放手表演一番，听听那雷鸣般的掌声，因为我觉得，那掌声似乎体现了我最好的品德。”
“However, you are right, I know, and I am wrong. Hence forth I will be a very different Toad. My friends, you shall never have occasion to blush for me again. But, O dear, O dear, this is a hard world!”
不过，你们是对的，而我错了。从今以后，我一定要重新做人。朋友们，你们再也不会为我脸红了。唉，老天爷，做人真难哪！”
And, pressing his handkerchief to his face, he left the room, with faltering footsteps.
说完，他用手帕捂住脸，踉踉跄跄地走出房间。
“Badger,” said the Rat, “I feel like a brute; I wonder what you feel like?”
“獾，”河鼠说，“我觉得自己简直是个狠心狼；不知道你感觉怎样？”
“O, I know, I know,” said the Badger gloomily. “But the thing had to be done. This good fellow has got to live here, and hold his own, and be respected. Would you have him a common laughing-stock, mocked and jeered at by stoats and weasels?”
“是啊，我明白，我明白，”獾忧郁地说。“可我们非这样做不可。这位好好先生必须在这儿住下去，站稳脚跟，受人尊敬。难道你愿意看着他成为大伙儿的笑柄，被白鼬和黄鼠狼奚落吗？”
“Of course not,” said the Rat. “And, talking of weasels, it’s lucky we came upon that little weasel, just as he was setting out with Toad’s invitations. I suspected something from what you told me, and had a look at one or two; they were simply disgraceful.
“当然不，”河鼠说。“说到黄鼠狼；那只给蟾蜍送信的小黄鼠狼，碰巧被咱们遇上了，真够运气的。我从你的话里，猜到这里准有文章，就抽查了一两封信。果然，那些信简直写得活现眼。
I confiscated the lot, and the good Mole is now sitting in the blue boudoir, filling up plain, simple invitation cards.”
我把它们全没收了，好鼹鼠这会儿正坐在梳妆室里，填写简单明了的请帖哩。”
At last the hour for the banquet began to draw near, and Toad, who on leaving the others had retired to his bedroom, was still sitting there, melancholy and thoughtful.
举行宴会的时间快到了。蟾蜍一直离开朋友们，独自躲到他的卧室里，这时还坐在那儿，闷闷不乐，苦苦思索。
His brow resting on his paw, he pondered long and deeply. Gradually his countenance cleared, and he began to smile long, slow smiles. Then he took to giggling in a shy, self-conscious manner.
他用爪子撑住额头，久久地凝想。渐渐地，他面色开朗起来，脸上缓缓露出笑意。然后，他有点害羞地、难为情地格格笑了起来。
At last he got up, locked the door, drew the curtains across the windows, collected all the chairs in the room and arranged them in a semicircle, and took up his position in front of them, swelling visibly.
末了，他站起来，锁上房门，拉上窗帘，把房里所有的椅子摆成一个半圆形，自己立在正前方，身子涨得鼓鼓的。
Then he bowed, coughed twice, and, letting himself go, with uplifted voice he sang, to the enraptured audience that his imagination so clearly saw.
然后，他鞠了一躬，咳了两声，对着想象中的兴高采烈的观众，放开嗓子唱起来。
TOAD’S LAST LITTLE SONG!
《蟾蜍的最后一支小歌》
The Toad--came--home!
“蟾蜍回来啦！
There was panic in the parlours and howling in the halls,
客厅里，惊慌万状，门厅里，哀号成片，
There was crying in the cow-sheds and shrieking in the stalls,
牛棚里；哭声不绝，马厩里，尖叫震天。
When the Toad--came--home! When the Toad--came--home!
蟾蜍回来啦，蟾蜍归来的时候，
There was smashing in of window and crashing in of door,
碎窗破门而入，
There was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor,
黄鼠狼遭追击，纷纷晕倒在地。
When the Toad--came--home! Bang! go the drums!
当蟾蜍回来的时候！鼓声响咚咚！
The trumpeters are tooting and the soldiers are saluting,
号角齐鸣，士兵欢呼，
And the cannon they are shooting and the motor-cars are hooting,
炮弹横飞，汽车嘟嘟，
As the--Hero--comes! Shout--Hoo-ray!
当——英雄——归来！欢呼呀——乌啦！
And let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud,
让人人高声欢呼，
In honour of an animal of whom you’re justly proud,
向备受尊崇的动物致敬，
For it’s Toad’s--great--day!
因为这是蟾蜍——盛大的——节日！”
He sang this very loud, with great unction and expression; and when he had done, he sang it all over again.
蟾蜍歌声嘹亮，唱得热情洋溢，感情充沛。一遍唱完，又从头唱了一遍。
Then he heaved a deep sigh; a long, long, long sigh.
然后，他深深叹了口气，很长很长很长的一口气。
Then he dipped his hairbrush in the water-jug, parted his hair in the middle, and plastered it down very straight and sleek on each side of his face;
然后，他把发刷浸在水里打湿，把头发从中分开，垂在面颊两边，用刷子刷得平塌塌、光溜溜的。
And, unlocking the door, went quietly down the stairs to greet his guests, who he knew must be assembling in the drawing room.
他开了门锁，静静地走下楼，去迎接宾客们。他知道，他们一定都聚集在客厅里了。
All the animals cheered when he entered, and crowded round to congratulate him and say nice things about his courage, and his cleverness, and his fighting qualities;
他进来的时候，所有的动物都高声欢呼，围拢来祝贺他，说许多好话赞美他的勇敢、聪明和战斗精神。
But Toad only smiled faintly, and murmured, “Not at all!”
蟾蜍只是淡淡地笑笑，低声道：“没什么！”
Or, sometimes, for a change, “On the contrary!”
或者换个说法：“哪里，正相反！”
Otter, who was standing on the hearthrug, describing to an admiring circle of friends exactly how he would have managed things had he been there, came forward with a shout, threw his arm round Toad’s neck, and tried to take him round the room in triumphal progress;
水獭正站在炉毯上，对一群贵客描述，假如他当时在场，会怎样做。看到蟾蜍，他大叫一声跑过来，甩开两臂，一把搂住他的脖子，要拉他在屋里英雄式地绕场一周。
But Toad, in a mild way, was rather snubby to him, remarking gently, as he disengaged himself, “Badger’s was the mastermind; the Mole and the Water Rat bore the brunt of the fighting; I merely served in the ranks and did little or nothing.”
可是蟾蜍温和地表示不屑。挣脱了他的双臂，婉转地说：“獾才是出谋划策的主帅，鼹鼠和河鼠是战斗的主力军，而我，只不过是行伍里的一名小卒子，干得很少，可以说没干什么。”
