The grown-ups, to be sure, will not believe you when you tell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You should advise them, then, to make their own calculations. They adore fig ures, and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extra task. It is unnecessary. You have, I know, confidence in me.

「你並不那麼有威力…………你連腳都沒有…………你甚至都不能旅行……」

「啊！我很明白你的意思。」小王子說，「但是你為什麼說話總是象讓人猜謎語似的？」

「在地球上，在非洲。」蛇回答道。

小王子坐在一塊石頭上，抬眼望著天空，說道：

"I solve them all," said the snake.

"Where are the men?" the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert..."

"But I am more powerful than th九*九*藏*書e finger of a king," said the snake.

「晚安。」蛇說道。

"You move me to pity-- you are so weak on this Earth made of granite," the snake said. "I can help you, some day, if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can--"

"It is beautiful," the snake said. "What has brought you here?"

"What planet is this on which I have come down?" asked the little prince.

He twined himself around the little princes ankle, like a golden bracelet.

"Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?"

小王子毫無把握地隨便說了聲：「晚安。」

"I can carry you farther than any ship could take you," said the snake.

XVII

"I wonder," he said, "whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may fihttps://read.99csw.comnd his own again... Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!"

"Good evening," said the snake.

「這些謎語我都能解開的。」蛇說。

"You are a funny animal," he said at last. "You are no thicker than a finger..."

蛇就盤結在小王子的腳腕子上，象一隻金鐲子。

"You are not very powerful. You havent even any feet. You cannot even travel..."

當然，大人們是不會相信你們的。他們自以為要佔很大地方，他們把自己看得象猴麵包樹那樣大得了不起。你們可以建議他們計算一下。這樣會使他們很高興，因為他們非常喜歡數目字。可是你們無須浪費時間去做這種乏味的連篇累牘的演算。這沒有必要。你們可以完全相信我。

「但我比一個國王的手指更有威力。」蛇說道。

When the little prince arrived on the Earth, he was very much surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet, when a coil of gold, the color of theread.99csw.com moonlight, flashed across the sand.

「它很美。」蛇說，「你到這裏來幹什麼呢？」

「你是個奇怪的動物，細得象個手指頭……。」小王子終於說道。

"This is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large," said the snake.

"Ah!" said the snake.

The little prince smiled.

The little prince sat down on a stone, and raised his eyes toward the sky.

於是他們又都沉默起來。

"I have been having some trouble with a flower," said the little prince.

「我捉摸這些星星閃閃發亮是否為了讓每個人將來有一天都能重新找到自己的星球。看，我那顆行星。它恰好在我們頭頂上……可是，它離我們好遠喲！」

「啊！……怎麼，難道說地球上沒有人嗎？」

「這裡是沙漠，沙漠中沒有人。地球是很大的。」蛇說。

小王子到了地球上感到非常奇怪，他一個人也沒有看到，他正擔心自己跑錯了星球。這時，在沙地上有一個月光色的圓環在蠕動。

於是他們都沉默下來。

"Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came," the snake spoke again. "But you are innocent and true, and you come from a starｈtｔｐs://ｒｅａd.99csｗ•ｃｏm..."

"Good evening," said the little prince courteously.

"This is the Earth; this is Africa," the snake answered.

"Oh! I understand you very well," said the little prince. "But why do you always speak in riddles?"

And they were both silent.

「啊！」蛇說道。

And they were both silent.

「我和一朵花鬧了彆扭。」小王子說。

小王子微笑著說：

「人在什麼地方？」小王子終於又開了腔。「在沙漠上，真有點孤獨……」

The little prince made no reply.

「被我碰觸的人，我就把他送回老家去。」蛇還說，「可是你是純潔的，而且是從另一個星球上來的……」

「到了有人的地方，也一樣孤獨。」蛇說。

小王子什麼也沒有回答。

[ Chapter 17 ] - the little prince makes the acquaintance of the snake

小王子長時間地看著蛇。

「在這個花崗石的地球上，你這麼弱小，我很可憐你。如果你非常懷念你的星球，那時我可以幫助你。我可以……」

「我落在什麼行星上？」小王子問道。

當人們想要說得俏皮些的時候，說話就可能會不大實在。在給你們講點燈人的時候，我就不那麼忠實，很可能給不了解我們這個星球的人們造成一個錯誤的概念。在地球上，人們所佔的位置非常小。如果住在地球上的二十億居民全站著，並且象開大會一樣靠得緊些九九藏書，那麼就可以從容地站在一個二十海里見方的廣場上。也就是說可以把整個人類集中在太平洋中一個最小的島嶼上。

"It is also lonely among men," the snake said.

The little prince gazed at him for a long time.

When one wishes to play the wit, he sometimes wanders a little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters. And I realize that I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not k now it. Men occupy a very small place upon the Earth. If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together, as they do for some big public assembly, they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet.

「我可以把你帶到很遠的地方去，比一隻船能去的地方還要遠。」蛇說道。