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现在，是我的飞机被困沙漠的第八天，我喝完了最后一滴饮用水，正在这时，我听见小王子讲述那个卖解渴丸的商人。 "啊，你这些回忆都挺好听，"我对小王子说，"不过，我还没有把飞机修好，我的饮用水就喝光了，如果我能如你所想象的那样，慢慢走向一口水井，那该多么幸福呀！” "我的狐狸朋友……"小王子又准备回忆别的事情。 "我的小家伙，现在的问题不是什么狐狸不狐狸的啦。" "怎么啦？” "我都快要渴死啦……” 他不理解我的顾虑，回答说："即便是快死了，曾经有过一个朋友也是件好事。就说我吧,我就很高兴自己曾经有过一个狐狸朋友……” 我听了他这话，心想："他哪里懂得什么叫生存危机呢，他自己从来就不渴不饿，只要有一点点阳光，他就能活下去……” 但是，他看了我一眼，对我心里的想法作了一个回答："我也渴啦……我们去找口水井吧……” 我做了个懒得答理的手势。要想碰碰运气，在漫无边际的沙漠里找到一口水井，那简直是荒唐可笑。然而，我还是跟他一道出发了。我们闷声地步行了好几个小时，夜幕降临了，星星开始在夜空中闪烁。我望着星星，有如在梦境之中，由于口渴难耐，我有点发烧了。小王子所讲的那些话，一句句在我脑子里蹦蹦跳跳。 "你也会口渴？你渴了吗？”我问他。他并没有直接回答我的问题，而是诚恳地对我说: "对心灵来说，水也是必要的，有益的呀……” 我不懂得他这答话是什么意思，但我不再吱声了……我这时明白了，我不该再去向他提问。小王子累了。他坐了下来。我也在他身边坐下。 在片刻沉默之后，他说："天空里的星星真美丽，因为那儿有一株我看不见的花儿……” 我回答说："当然啦。"下面我没有接着说，我无言地望着月光下的沙漠像波浪似的向远方扩展。 "沙漠真美！”他又补充了一句。 沙漠的确很美。我一直喜爱沙漠。你如果坐在一个沙丘上，你会什么也看不见，什么也听不见，但在这一大片静寂无声之中，却有某种东西在熠熠生辉。 小王子说："使得沙漠显得美丽的，正是它的某个地方藏着一口水井……” 突然之间，我惊奇地发现自己茅塞顿开，明白了沙漠的神秘光辉何在。当我还是个小男孩的时候，我曾经住在一个古老的宅子里。那时，传说这个宅子里某个地方埋藏着一大笔财宝。当然，这笔财宝从没有被人发现，甚至可能压根就没有人去找过。但是，这个传说却使得这所古宅平添魅力。我的住宅深处竟藏着这样一个秘密呀…… "是的，"我对小王子说，"正是某种看不见、摸不着的东西，使得住宅、星星或沙漠，似乎具有了神秘的美！” "我真高兴，"小王子说，"你的意见与我的狐狸朋友完全一致。" 因为小王子睡着了，我便把他抱在怀里，仍继续往前走。一路上，我一直很激动，我觉得自己是抱着一件娇嫩易碎的宝物。我甚至觉得他要算世界上最最娇嫩的宝贝了。我借着月光，端详他苍白的额头，紧闭的双目，微风吹拂的发梢，我心想："眼前我看到的只是一个小小的躯体，但他还有我肉眼看不见的东西， 那才是最最重要的东西……” 这时，他微微张开的双唇流露出一丝微笑，我心想： "这个熟睡的小王子最使我大为感动的，是他对一朵花儿的忠心耿耿，在他心里，那朵玫瑰花一直像盏长明灯那样永放光芒，即便在他酣睡的时候也是如此……” 想到这里，我觉得他比我想象的更要娇嫩。他像一盏临风的油灯，一股风就足以将他吹灭，我必须格外小心翼翼地保护好他。 就这样，我抱着他走着，走着，一直走到拂晓。这时，我终于发现了一口水井。 It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I had listened to the story of the merchant as 1 was drinking the last drop of my water supply. "Ah," I said to the little prince, "these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!" "My friend the fox—" the little prince said to me. "My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!" "Why not?" "Because I am about to die of thirst..." He did not follow my reasoning, and he answered me: "It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend..." "He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..." But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought: "I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well..." I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking. When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory. "Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded. But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me: "Water may also be good for the heart..." I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him. He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again: "The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen." I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight. "The desert is beautiful," the little prince added. And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams... "What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..." I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart... "Yes," I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert— what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!" "I am glad," he said, "that you agree with my fox." As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is the most important is invisible..." As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile, I said to myself, again: "What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower—the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep..." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind... And, as I walked on so, I found the well, at daybreak. |
