我就用鉛筆勾畫了一個嘴套。當我把它遞給小王子時，我心裏很難受：

"Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you."

[ Chapter 25 ] - finding a well, the narrator and the little prince discuss his return to his planet

我不知為什麼，又感到一陣莫名其妙的心酸。這時，我產生了一個問題：

He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.

And the little prince added:

「讓我來干吧。這活對你太重了。」

And he laughed again.

「他們是找不到的。」我回答道。

"Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening..."

「你這裏的人在同一個花園中種植著五千朵玫瑰。」小王子說：「可是，他們卻不能從中找到自己所要尋找的東西……」

我們終於找到的這口井，不同於撒哈拉的那些井。撒哈拉的井只是沙漠中挖的洞。這口井則很象村子中的井。可是，那裡又沒有任何村莊，我還以為是在做夢呢。

"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope..."

我從口袋中拿出我的畫稿。小王子瞅見了，笑著說：

「那些人們，他們往快車裡擁擠，但是他們卻不知道要尋找什麼。於是，他們就忙忙碌碌，來迴轉圈子……」小王子說道。

「啊！」我對他說：「我有點怕……」

「一點不錯。」我回答道。

"Then it was not by chance that on the morning when 九九藏書I first met you-- a week ago-- you were strolling along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?"

「我正需要喝這種水。」小王子說：「給我喝點……」

And I added, with some hesitancy:

我喝了水。我痛快地呼吸著空氣。沙漠在晨曦中泛出蜂蜜的光澤。這蜂蜜般的光澤也使我感到幸福。為什麼我要難過……

And he added:

The little prince flushed again.

「可能是因為周年紀念吧？……」

他笑了，拿著繩子，轉動著轆轤。轆轤就象是一個長期沒有風來吹動的舊風標一樣，吱吱作響。

"Your fox-- his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long."

"Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?"

小王子又加了一句：

「然而，他們所尋找的東西卻是可以從一朵玫瑰花或一點兒水中找到的……」

The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming...

「你聽，」小王子說：「我們喚醒了這口井，它現在唱起歌來了……」我不願讓他費勁。我對他說：

"I came down very near here."

"Oh!"

And I understood what he had been looking for.

但他卻回答我說：

"Ah," I said to him, "I am a lit九九藏書tle frightened--"

「這沒有必要……」

「真怪，」我對小王子說：「一切都是現成的：轆轤、水桶、繩子……」

我還為我畫的猴麵包樹感到驕傲呢！

「你畫的狐狸……它那雙耳朵……有點象犄角……而且又太長了！」

And once again, without understanding why, I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me:

「什麼諾言？」

"They do not find it," I replied.

XXV

I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.

"You know-- my descent to the earth... Tomorrow will be its anniversary."

他接著又說：

"You know-- a muzzle for my sheep... I am responsible for this flower..."

「你的打算，我一點也不知道……」

「啊！」

"Yes, that is true," I said.

我慢慢地把水桶提到井欄上。我把它穩穩地放在那裡。我的耳朵里還響著轆轤的歌聲。依然還在晃蕩的水面上，我看見太陽的影子在跳動。

「你知道，我落在地球上……到明天就一周年了……」

「小傢伙，你太不公正了。我過去只會畫開著肚皮和閉著肚皮的巨蟒。」

And he flushed.

"It is not worth the trouble..."

「一星期以前，我認識你的那天早上，你單獨一個人在這曠無人煙的地方走著；這麼說，這並不是偶然的了？你是要回到你降落的地方去是嗎！」

「你知道……給我的小羊一個嘴套子……我要對我的花負責的呀！」

"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing..."

But he did not九_九_藏_書 answer me. He said to me, instead:

"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water."

但是，他不回答我，他對我說：

小王子又重新在我的身邊坐下。他溫柔地對我說：「你應該實踐你的諾言。」

我把水桶提到他的嘴邊。他閉著眼睛喝水。就象節日一般舒適愉快。這水遠不只是一種飲料，它是披星戴月走了許多路才找到的，是在轆轤的歌聲中，經過我雙臂的努力得來的。它象是一件禮品慰藉著心田。在我小的時候，聖誕樹的燈光，午夜的彌撒的音樂，甜蜜的微笑，這一切都使聖誕節時我收到的禮品輝映著幸福的光彩。

"You are not fair, little prince," I said. "I dont know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."

I had been so proud of my baobabs!

「你畫的猴麵包樹，有點象白菜……」

"You have plans that I do not know about," I said.

這時我才明白了他所要尋找的是什麼！

這時，他又笑了。

"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round..."

「你現在該工作了。你應該回到你的機器那裡去。我在這裏等你。你明天晚上再來……」

I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was inde九*九*藏*書ed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received.

But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed...

"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..."

"I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..."

But he interrupted me.

「我就落在這附近……」

The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-- but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?

"Your baobabs-- they look a little like cabbages."

"You must keep your promise," said the little prince, softly, as he sat down beside me once more.

「啊！這就行了。」他說：「孩子們認得出來。」

但是，我放心不下。我想起了狐狸的話。如果被人馴rｅａｄ.９９ｃsw•ｃoｍ服了，就可能會要哭的……

"The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden-- and they do not find in it what they are looking for."

I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over, and laughed as he said:

「眼睛是什麼也看不見的。應該用心去尋找。」

Then, after a silence, he went on:

So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.

此時，他的面頰緋紅。

接著，沉默了一會兒，他又說道：

我猶豫不定地又說了一句：

I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me, then, this sense of grief?

I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there-- happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.

小王子的臉又紅了。

"Oh, that will be all right," he said, "children understand."

小王子臉又紅了。他從來也不回答這些問題，但是，臉紅，就等於說「是的」，是吧？

"What promise?"