I had been in Boston only a short time when it was discovered that a story similar to "The Frost King," called "The Frost Fairies" by Miss Margaret T. Canby, had appeared before I was born in a book called "Birdie and His Friends." The two stories were so much alike in thought and language that it was evident Miss Canby's story had been read to me, and that mine was—a plagiarism. It was difficult to make me understand this; but when I did understand I was astonished and grieved. No child ever drank deeper of the cup of bitterness than I did. I had disgraced myself; I had brought suspicion upon those I loved best. And yet how could it possibly have happened? I racked my brain until I was weary to recall anything about the frost that I had read before I wrote "The Frost King"; but I could remember nothing, except the common reference to Jack Frost, and a poem for children, "The Freaks of the Frost," and I knew I had not used that in my composition.
我剛回到波士頓不久，就有人發現了一篇同《冰雪之王》類似的故事，那個故事名叫《冰雪仙子》，作者是瑪格利特·T.肯拜小姐。這篇故事出自一本叫做《布萊迪和他的伙伴們》的書，而這本書早在我出生之前就出版了。無論在思路還是語言上，這兩篇故事是如此相似，令人不得不相信我曾看到過肯拜小姐的書，這就是說，我的故事是一篇剽竊之作。起初我感到難以理解，但是搞明白后，我感到既震驚又傷心。沒有一個孩子像我這樣飲下了這么多的苦水。我感到顏面盡失。我令我最愛的那些人疑慮重重。可是，這一切怎么可能發生呢？我搜索枯腸左思右想，直到厭倦了回憶我讀到過的任何有關森林的故事。事實上，在寫《冰雪之王》之前，我不記得看到過這類故事。也許杰克·弗羅斯特為孩子們寫的一首叫做《寒冬奇想》的詩和冰雪有關，可是我絕對沒有在我的故事中使用到詩里的內容。
At first Mr. Anagnos, though deeply troubled, seemed to believe me. He was unusually tender and kind to me, and for a brief space the shadow lifted. To please him I tried not to be unhappy, and to make myself as pretty as possible for the celebration of Washington's birthday, which took place very soon after I received the sad news.
雖然阿納戈諾斯先生深受困擾，但是他似乎相信我的清白。很快，這段短暫的陰霾消散了，他變得對我更加和藹可親了。為了讓他高興，我盡量掩飾自己的不快，我以最優雅的舉止參加了華盛頓誕辰的慶典活動，這件事就發生在我得到那個壞消息之后不久。
I was to be Ceres in a kind of masque given by the blind girls. How well I remember the graceful draperies that enfolded me, the bright autumn leaves that wreathed my head, and the fruit and grain at my feet and in my hands,
在伙伴們組織的假面舞會中，我扮演了谷物女神色瑞斯。我的身上圍裹著華麗的織物，頭上纏繞著亮閃閃的秋葉，手腳周圍布滿了果實和谷物；
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