Little Pearl, meanwhile, had quitted her mother's side, and was playing at her own will about the market-place. She made the sombre crowd cheerful by her erratic and glistening ray; even as a bird of bright plumage illuminates a whole tree of dusty foliage, by darting to and fro, half seen and half concealed amid the twilight of the clustering leaves. She had an undulating, but, oftentimes, a sharp and irregular movement. It indicated the restless vivacity of her spirit, which to-day was doubly indefatigable in its tiptoe dance, because it was played upon and vibrated with her mother's disquietude. Whenever Pearl saw anything to excite her ever active and wandering curiosity, she flew thitherward, and, as we might say, seized upon that man or thing as her own property, so far as she desired it; but without yielding the minutest degree of control over her motions in requital. The Puritans looked on, and, if they smiled, were none the less inclined to pronounce the child a demon offspring, from the indescribable charm of beauty and eccentricity that shone through her little figure, and sparkled with its activity. She ran and looked the wild Indian in the face; and he grew conscious of a nature wilder than his own. Thence, with native audacity, but still with a reserve as characteristic, she flew into the midst of a group of mariners, the swarthy-cheeked wild men of the ocean, as the Indians were of the land; and they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake of the sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time.
與此同時(shí)，小珠兒早已離開(kāi)了她母親的身邊，隨心所欲地在市場(chǎng)里到處玩耍。她以自己的閃爍不定的光輝，使憂(yōu)郁的人群歡快起來(lái)，就象是一只長(zhǎng)著光彩奪目的羽毛的鳥(niǎo)兒跳來(lái)跳去，在幽暗的時(shí)簇中時(shí)隱時(shí)現(xiàn)，把一棵樹(shù)的枝枝葉葉全都照亮了。她行蹤飄忽，時(shí)常會(huì)作出突然而意外的動(dòng)作。這表明了她那永不止歇的精神活力，而今天，由于受到她母親不平靜的心情的撥弄和挑動(dòng)，她那足尖舞跳得益發(fā)不知疲倦。珠兒只要看到有什么激勵(lì)她的永遠(yuǎn)活躍的好奇心，就會(huì)飛到那兒，只要她愿意，我們可以說(shuō)，她會(huì)把那個(gè)人或物當(dāng)作自己的財(cái)產(chǎn)一般抓到手里；而絕不因此而稍稍控制一下自己的行動(dòng)。那些看著她的清教徒們，只見(jiàn)到那小小的軀體發(fā)射著難以言狀的美麗和古怪的魅力，并且隨著她的動(dòng)作而閃著光芒，他們即使笑容滿(mǎn)面，依然不得不把這孩子說(shuō)成是妖魔的后裔。她跑去緊盯著野蠻的印第安人的面孔；那人便意識(shí)到一種比他自己還要狂野的天性。然后，她出于天生的放肆，但仍然帶著特有的冷漠，又飛進(jìn)了那伙水手中間，這些黑臉膛的漢子猶如陸地上的印第安人一樣，是海上的野蠻人，他們驚羨地瞅著珠兒，似乎她是變成小姑娘模樣的海水的泡沫，被賦予了海中發(fā)光生物的靈魂，于夜晚在船下閃爍。

One of these seafaring men- the shipmaster, indeed, who had spoken to Hester Prynne- was so smitten with Pearl's aspect, that he attempted to lay hands upon her, with purpose to snatch a kiss. Finding it as impossible to touch her as to catch a humming-bird in the air, he took from his hat the gold chain that was twisted about it, and threw it to the child. Pearl immediately twined it around her neck and waist, with such happy skill, that, once seen there, it became a part of her, and it was difficult to imagine her without it.
這些水手當(dāng)中有一個(gè)人就是同海絲特·白蘭談過(guò)話(huà)的那位船長(zhǎng)，他被珠兒的容貌深深吸引，試圖把一雙手放在她頭上，并且打算親親她。但他發(fā)現(xiàn)要想碰到她簡(jiǎn)直象抓住空中飛鳴而過(guò)的鳥(niǎo)兒一樣根本不可能，于是就從他的帽子上取下纏在上邊的金鏈，扔給了那孩子。珠兒立刻用巧妙的手法把金鏈繞在頸上和腰間，使人看上去覺(jué)得那金鏈本來(lái)就是她的一部分，難以想象她怎么能夠沒(méi)有它。

"Thy mother is yonder woman with the scarlet letter," said the seaman. "Wilt thou carry her a message from me?"
“你媽媽就是那邊那個(gè)戴紅字的女人嗎？”那船長(zhǎng)說(shuō)。“你替我給她捎個(gè)口信好嗎？”

"If the message pleases me, I will," answered Pearl.
“要是那口信討我喜歡，我就捎，”珠兒回答說(shuō)。

"Then tell her," rejoined he, "that I spake again with the black-a-visaged, hump-shouldered old doctor, and he engages to bring his friend, the gentleman she wots of, aboard with him. So let thy mother take no thought, save for herself and thee. Wilt thou tell her this, thou witch-baby?"
“那就告訴她，”他接著說(shuō)，“我又跟那個(gè)黑臉、駝背的老醫(yī)生談了，他保證要帶他的朋友，也就是你媽媽認(rèn)識(shí)的那位先生，隨他上船。所以嘛，你媽媽除去她和你，就不必操別的心了。你把這話(huà)告訴她好嗎，你這小妖精？”