THE children stood under an archway. Behind them was the blue sky; in front of them the clear, still lake that wandered and wound about the garden; above their heads the leaves of a tree whispered and told strange stories to the breeze.
孩子们站在拱门下。他们身后是蓝天；在他们面前，是一片清澈静谧的湖水，在花园里蜿蜒流淌；在他们头顶上，一棵树的叶子在微风中低语，讲述着奇怪的故事。
“Poor tree! It is sighing for the blossoms the wind has carried away," they said to each other, and they looked back at the garden. "And, poor flowers, too," they said, "all your bright colours are gone, and your petals lie scattered on the ground; tomorrow they will be dead." "Ah, no," the flowers sighed, "the rainbow-maker will gather them up, and once more they will see the sun."
“可怜的树！“它在为风吹散的花朵叹息，”他们彼此说，然后回头看了看花园“还有，可怜的花，”他们说，“你所有鲜艳的颜色都消失了，你的花瓣散落在地上；“啊，不，”花儿们叹息道，“彩虹制造者会把它们收集起来，让它们再一次看到太阳。”
Before the children could answer, a tall fair maiden came down the pathway. They could see her plainly in the twilight. Her eyes were dim with gathering tears, but on her lips there was a smile that came and went and flickered round her mouth. All down her back hung her pale golden hair; round her neck was a kerchief of many colours ; her dress was soft and white, and her snowy apron was gathered up in one hand. She looked neither to the right nor to the left. She did not utter a single word; and the children could hear no sound of her footstep, no rustling from her dress. She stooped, and picking up the fading petals, looked at them tenderly for a moment, while the tears fell slowly down her cheeks ; but the smile hovered round her mouth; for she knew that they would shine again in the sight of their beloved sun.
孩子们还没来得及回答，一个高大美丽的少女就从小路上走了下来。他们可以在暮色中清楚地看见她。她泪流满面，两眼朦胧，但嘴角却挂着一个忽隐忽现的微笑。她一头淡金色的头发垂在背上；她脖子上围着一块五颜六色的头巾；她的衣服柔软洁白，雪白的围裙一只手搭在一起。她既不向右看，也不向左看。她一句话也没说；孩子们听不到她的脚步声，也听不到她衣服上的沙沙声。她弯下腰，拾起凋谢的花瓣，温柔地看了一会儿，泪水慢慢地从脸颊上滑落；但她的嘴角挂着微笑；因为她知道他们会在他们心爱的太阳面前再次发光。
When her apron was quite full, she turned round and left the garden. Hand-in-hand the children followed. She went slowly on by the side of the lake, far, far away across the meadows and up the farthest hill, until at last she found her home behind a cloud just opposite the sun. There she sat all through the summer days making rainbows. When the children had watched her for a long long time, they went softly back to their own home. The rainbowmaker had not even seen them.
当她的围裙满了的时候，她转过身离开了花园。孩子们手拉手地跟着。她慢慢地走在湖边，远远地，远远地穿过草地，爬上最远的山，直到最后她在太阳对面的一片云层后面找到了自己的家。整个夏天她都坐在那里做彩虹。当孩子们看着她很长时间后，他们轻轻地回到了自己的家。彩虹制造者甚至没有看到他们。
"Mother," they said one day, "we know now where the colours go from the flowers. See, they are there," and as they spoke they thought of the maiden sitting silently at work in her cloud-home. They knew that she was weeping at sending forth her most beautiful one, and yet smiling as she watched the soft archway she had made. “See, they are all there, dear mother," the children repeated, looking at the falling rain and the shining sun, and pointing to the rainbow that spanned the river.
“妈妈，”有一天他们说，“我们现在知道花的颜色从哪里来了。看，他们就在那里。”当他们说话的时候，他们想起了少女静静地坐在云端的家里工作。他们知道，她送出她最美丽的一座拱门时在哭泣，但当她注视着自己建造的柔软拱门时，却在微笑。”看，他们都在那里，亲爱的妈妈，”孩子们重复着，看着落下的雨和灿烂的太阳，指着横跨河流的彩虹。
