第七章 (第2/2页)

小王子气得脸色白。

“几百万年以来花儿都有刺，几百万年以来绵羊都在吃带刺的花。要搞清楚为什么花儿费那么大劲给自己长了没有什么用的刺，这难道不是正经事？难道绵羊和花之间的战争不重要？这难道不比那个大胖子红脸先生的账目更重要？如果我认识一朵人世间唯一的花，只有我的星球上有它，别的地方都不存在，而一只小绵羊在某个早上一口就能把它毁掉，这难道不重要？”

他的脸变红了，接着说道：

“如果有人爱上了在这亿万颗星星中独一无二的一株花，当他看着这些星星的时候，这就足以使他感到幸福。他可以对自己说：‘我的那朵花就在其中的一颗星星上……’但是如果羊吃掉了这朵花，对他来说，好像所有的星星一下子全都熄灭了一样！这难道也不重要吗？”

他无法再说下去了，突然泣不成声。

夜幕已经降临。我放下手中的工具。我把锤子、螺钉、饥渴、死亡全都抛在脑后。在一颗星球上，在一颗行星上，在我的行星上，在地球上有一个小王子需要安慰！我把他抱在怀里。我摇着他，对他说：“你爱的那朵花没有危险……我会给你的小绵羊画一个口套……我会给你的花画一圈护栏……我会……”

我也不太知道该说些什么。我觉得自己太笨拙，并且犯了大错。我不知道应该如何接近他，如何理解他的话，如何重新和他手拉手，走在一起。

泪水的世界是多么神秘啊！

Chaptr 7

On th ffth day— agan, as alays, t as thanks to th shp— th scrt of th lttl prnc’s lf as rvald to . Aruptly, thout anythng to lad up to t, and as f th quston had n orn of long and slnt dtaton on hs prol, h dandd:"A shp— f t ats lttl ushs, dos t at flors, too""A shp," I ansrd, "ats anythng t fnds n ts rach.""Evn flors that hav thorns""Ys, vn flors that hav thorns.""Thn th thorns— hat us ar thy"I dd not kno. At that ont I as vry usy tryng to unscr a olt that had got stuck n y ngn. I as vry uch orrd, for t as cong clar to that th rakdon of y plan as xtrly srous. And I had so lttl drnkng-atr lft that I had to far for th orst.

"Th thorns— hat us ar thy"Th lttl prnc nvr lt go of a quston, onc h had askd t. As for , I as upst ovr that olt. And I ansrd th th frst thng that ca nto y had:"Th thorns ar of no us at all. Flors hav thorns just for spt!""Oh!"

Thr as a ont of coplt slnc. Thn th lttl prnc flashd ack at , th a knd of rsntfulnss:"I don’t lv you! Flors ar ak craturs. Thy ar na. Thy rassur thslvs as st thy can. Thy lv that thr thorns ar trrl apons..."I dd not ansr. At that nstant I as sayng to yslf: "If ths olt stll on’t turn, I a gong to knock t out th th har." Agan th lttl prnc dsturd y thoughts.

"And you actually lv that th flors--""Oh, no!" I crd. "No, no no! I don’t lv anythng. I ansrd you th th frst thng that ca nto y had. Don’t you s— I a vry usy th attrs of consqunc!"H stard at , thundrstruck.

"Mattrs of consqunc!"

H lookd at thr, th y har n y hand, y fngrs lack th ngn-gras, ndng don ovr an ojct hch sd to h xtrly ugly...

"You talk just lk th gron-ups!"That ad a lttl ashad. But h nt on, rlntlssly:"You x vrythng up togthr... You confus vrythng..."H as rally vry angry. H tossd hs goldn curls n th rz.

"I kno a plant hr thr s a crtan rd-facd gntlan. H has nvr slld a flor. H has nvr lookd at a star. H has nvr lovd any on. H has nvr don anythng n hs lf ut add up fgurs. And all day h says ovr and ovr, just lk you: ‘I a usy th attrs of consqunc!‘ And that aks h sll up th prd. But h s not a an— h s a ushroo!""A hat"

"A ushroo!"

Th lttl prnc as no ht th rag.

"Th flors hav n grong thorns for llons of yars. For llons of yars th shp hav n atng th just th sa. And s t not a attr of consqunc to try to undrstand hy th flors go to so uch troul to gro thorns hch ar nvr of any us to th Is th arfar tn th shp and th flors not portant Is ths not of or consqunc than a fat rd-facd gntlan’s sus And f I kno— I, yslf— on flor hch s unqu n th orld, hch gros nohr ut on y plant, ut hch on lttl shp can dstroy n a sngl t so ornng, thout vn notcng hat h s dong— Oh! You thnk that s not portant!"Hs fac turnd fro ht to rd as h contnud:“If so on lovs a flor, of hch just on sngl losso gros n all th llons and llons of stars, t s nough to ak h happy just to look at th stars. H can say to hslf, ’Sohr, y flor s thr... ’ But f th shp ats th flor, n on ont all hs stars ll darknd... And you thnk that s not portant!” H could not say anythng or. Hs ords r chokd y song.

Th nght had falln. I had lt y tools drop fro y hands. Of hat ont no as y har, y olt, or thrst, or dath On on star, on plant, y plant, th Earth, thr as a lttl prnc to cofortd. I took h n y ars, and rockd h. I sad to h:"Th flor that you lov s not n dangr. I ll dra you a uzzl for your shp. I ll dra you a ralng to put around your flor. I ll—"I dd not kno hat to say to h. I flt akard and lundrng. I dd not kno ho I could rach h, hr I could ovrtak h and go on hand n hand th h onc or.

It s such a scrt plac, th land of tars.