Once in a while, especially on windy days or before a thunderstorm, a vague longing, like a dim homesickness, might awaken in the bosom of the captive prince of the air. Then it would sit for days with its beak buried in the dirty plumage（鸟类之羽毛）, of its breast and would refuse to stir or eat.

有时，特别是在大风天或暴风雨到来之前，这位被俘获的空中王子的内心会产生一种如朦胧的思乡病那样的茫然渴望。于是它就把嘴埋在胸脯下的脏羽毛里一连几天不愿动，不愿吃。

Then suddenly it would spread its wings as if embracing the air and start boldly toward the sky, but its flight was always brief. Its wings were well clipped, and after fluttering clumsily for a moment it would fall to the ground, where, perplexed, it would take a few sidewise hops（跳跃） and with craned neck run and hide in some dark corner, as if ashamed.

继之，又突然张开双翅好似拥抱天空，开始大胆地飞向空中，但它的飞翔总很短暂。它的翅膀已被完全剪短，笨拙地飞行片刻便落到地面上。接着，它茫然不知所措地向一旁跳跃几下，害羞似地伸着脖子跑着藏到一个黑暗的角落里。

When it had lived in this way for a couple of years, it happened that the old minister was taken ill and died. In the following confusion the royal bird, which had been given the plebeians（粗俗的，平民的） name of Claus, was for a while forgotten. As usual it waggled around peacefully and a little timidly among the other birds of the poultry yard, being used to cuffings（击掌；拍打） from the minister's daughters, when once in a while it resolved to assert its innate（天生的，固有的）superiority over the small fry.

它这样生活了两年后，老牧师生病去世了。在随之而来的混乱中，这只取了个下等人名字克劳斯的大鸟暂时被遗忘了。它像往常一样，平静而有些胆怯地在家禽栏里混在其它家禽中东游西逛。由于已习惯了牧师的女儿们的拍打，偶尔也决意表现一下自己内在的优越感。

But when one day a fresh south wind blew spring and warmth over the country, a strange thing happened that the eagle suddenly found itself upon the ridge of the big barn, without any idea of how this had come to pass. As so often before, it had been perched on the fence, dreaming dejectedly（沮丧地）, and then in a sudden vague yearning for liberty had spread its wings for flight. But instead of dropping down on the pavement as usual, it had been lifted into the air so swiftly that, frightened, it had hurried to the nearest foothold（立足点）.