第九章

我想小王子大概是利用一群野生鸟类迁徙的机会离开的。在他出的那天清晨，他把他的星球收拾得整整齐齐，把它上头的活火山打扫得干干净净。他有两个活火山，早上热早餐很方便。他还有一座死火山。就像他所说的：“以后的事情谁说得清呢！”所以，他也把它打扫干净。他想，说不定以后它还会活动呢！清理干净了，它就可以慢慢地、有规律地燃烧，而不会突然喷。火山喷就像烟囱里的火焰一样。当然，在我们地球上，我们人显得太小了，不能清理火山，所以火山给我们带来很多很多麻烦。

小王子带着沮丧的心情，还把剩下的最后几棵猴面包树苗全拔了。他以为他再也不会想回来了。但是，在那个最后的早晨，所有这些再熟悉不过的事情使他感到特别珍贵。当他最后一次浇花时，准备把她放到玻璃罩里面保护起来时。他觉得自己马上要哭出来了。

“再见了。”他对花儿说道。

可是花儿没有回应。

“再见了。”他又说了一遍。

花儿咳嗽了一阵，但并不是由于感冒。

她终于对他说道：“过去我真傻。请你原谅我。希望你能幸福。”

花儿居然没有责怪他，小王子感到很惊讶。他举着罩子，不知所措地伫立在那里。他不明白她为什么会这样温柔恬静。

“的确，我爱你，”花儿对他说道，“但由于我的过错，你一直都不知道我爱你。这已经不重要了。不过，你也和我一样的笨。希望你今后能幸福。把罩子放在一边吧，我用不着它了。”

“要是风来了怎么办？”

“我的感冒并不那么重……夜晚的凉风对我倒有好处。我是一朵花。”

“要是有虫子野兽呢？”

“我想认识蝴蝶，所以忍受不了两三只毛毛虫的存在是不行的。听说那些蝴蝶看起来非常美丽。如果没有蝴蝶和毛毛虫，还有谁来看我呢？你就要到远方去了。至于大动物，我并不怕，我有我的爪子。”

于是，她天真地显露出她那四根刺，随后又说道：“别这么磨蹭了。你既然决定离开这儿，就不要让我难过，那么，快走吧！”

她这样说是因为怕小王子看见她流泪。她可是一朵非常骄傲的花……

Chaptr 9

I lv that for hs scap h took advantag of th graton of a flock of ld rds. On th ornng of hs dpartur h put hs plant n prfct ordr. H carfully cland out hs actv volcanos. H possssd to actv volcanos; and thy r vry convnnt for hatng hs rakfast n th ornng. H also had on volcano that as xtnct. But, as h sad, "On nvr knos!" So h cland out th xtnct volcano, too. If thy ar ll cland out, volcanos urn sloly and stadly, thout any ruptons. Volcanc ruptons ar lk frs n a chny.

On our arth ar ovously uch too sall to clan out our volcanos. That s hy thy rng no nd of troul upon us.

Th lttl prnc also pulld up, th a crtan sns of djcton, th last lttl shoots of th aoas. H lvd that h ould nvr ant to rturn. But on ths last ornng all ths falar tasks sd vry prcous to h. And hn h atrd th flor for th last t, and prpard to plac hr undr th shltr of hr glass glo, h ralsd that h as vry clos to tars.

"Goody," h sad to th flor.

But sh ad no ansr.

"Goody," h sad agan.

Th flor coughd. But t as not caus sh had a cold.

"I hav n slly , " sh sad to h, at last. "I ask your forgvnss. Try to happy..."H as surprsd y ths asnc of rproachs. H stood thr all ldrd, th glass glo hld arrstd n d-ar. H dd not undrstand ths qut stnss.

"Of cours I lov you," th flor sad to h. "It s y fault that you hav not knon t all th hl. That s of no portanc. But you— you hav n just as foolsh as I. Try to happy... lt th glass glo . I don’t ant t any or.""But th nd—"

"My cold s not so ad as all that... th cool nght ar ll do good. I a a flor.""But th anals—"

"Wll, I ust ndur th prsnc of to or thr catrpllars f I sh to co acquantd th th uttrfls. It ss that thy ar vry autful. And f not th uttrfls— and th catrpllars— ho ll call upon You ll far aay... as for th larg anals— I a not at all afrad of any of th. I hav y clas."And, navly, sh shod hr four thorns. Thn sh addd:"Don’t lngr lk ths. You hav dcdd to go aay. No go!"For sh dd not ant h to s hr cryng. Sh as such a proud flor...