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现在，当然事情已经过去，过去六年之久了…… 我至今从未向任何人讲述过小王子这个故事。我后来从沙漠脱险后，同事们见我活着归来，都非常高兴。但从那以后，我长期郁郁不乐，我只告诉同事们说，是因为我太疲劳了…… 现在，我多少感到了欣慰。这就是说，虽然我并不完全满意，但毕竟知道了小王子确实回到了他自己的星球，因为最后那个夜晚一过，第二天清晨，我并没有找到他的遗体。他的躯体并不重，回自己的家不至于有困难。现在，我夜里爱听群星的笑声已成习惯，它们真像五亿只铃铛…… 但是，后来又发现了一件非同小可的事情，那就是我忘了给小王子画的嘴套上加上皮带，其后果是，他就会无法给他的绵羊戴牢嘴套啦。因此，我常常这样猜想："他那颗星球上情况怎样，那只没戴上嘴套的绵羊，也许早就把那朵花儿吃掉了…” 有时，我又想："肯定没事！小王子每天晚上都会把他那朵花儿用玻璃罩保护好，何况，他还会好好看管住自己的绵羊……”这么一想，我就心安了，天空中所有的星星也都温情脉脉地笑了。 有时，我又想："小王子只要疏忽大意一次，后果就不堪设想啦！或是他哪天夜晚忘了把花儿罩好，或是那只绵羊夜里偷偷溜了出来……”一想到这里，星空中所有铃铛顷刻就变成了泪雨！…… 这里存在着一个相当大的奥妙。对于你们这些与我一样也爱小王子的人来说，假如在某个说不清是何处的地方，有那么一只跟我们毫无关系的绵羊，把一朵攻瑰花吃掉了，那么，天地万物在我们眼里，就会全然不同了…… 请你们仰望天空，请你们发问吧：绵羊有没有把那朵玫瑰花吃掉？你们只要关心这样的问题，你们看万物时就会有全然不同的感受…… 然而，任何一个成年人永远都不会懂得这个问题有多么重要！ 在我看来，这张图画的是世界上最美好但又最凄凉的景色。这景色与上一张图的景色完全一样， 我再一次把它画出来，是为了使你看得更清楚。正是在这个地方，小王子降落在地球上，后来又从地球上消失。 请仔细观赏这一景致，为的是，如果有朝一日你们有机会去非洲旅行，来到了这一片沙漠时，就能够确凿无疑地认出这个地点。还有，如果你们恰好途经这里，那么我恳求你们千万别匆匆而过，请务必在星星下稍等片刻！万一有个男孩向你们走来， 向你们微笑，而他又有一头金黄色的头发，还有一个习惯，那就是别人问他什么，他从不回答。总之，只要是这么一个小男孩，你们准会猜出他是谁了, 如果你们真是碰上了他，那可要请你们想着我呀, 请你快快写信告诉我他回来了，别让我总是沉浸在悲苦的思念之中…… And now six years have already gone by... I have never yet told this story. The companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive. I was sad, but I told them: "I am tired." Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say—not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet, because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body... and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells... But there is one extraordinary thing... when I drew the muzzle for the little prince, I forgot to add the leather strap to it. He will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep. So now I keep wondering: what is happening on his planet? Perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower... At one time I say to myself: "Surely not! The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night, and he watches over his sheep very carefully..." Then 1 am happy. And there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars. But at another time I say to myself: "At some moment or other one is absent-minded, and that is enough! On some one evening he forgot the glass globe, or the sheep got out, without making any noise, in the night..." And then the little bells are changed to tears... Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has—yes or no?—eaten a rose... Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes... And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance! This is, to me, the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world. It is the same as that on the preceding page, but I have drawn it again to impress it on your memory. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth, and disappeared. Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise it in case you travel some day to the African desert. And, if you should come upon this spot, please do not hurry on. Wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair, and who refuses to answer questions, you will know who he is. If this should happen, please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back. |
