第二十七章

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    到现在，已经有六年过去了……

    我还从未讲过这个故事。同伴们得知我返航，都为我活着回来而高兴。我很悲伤。但是，我告诉他们：“我只是有点累。”

    现在，我得到了稍许安慰，就是说……还没有完全平静下来。我知道他已经返回了他的星球上。因为那天黎明，我没有找到他的身躯。其实他的身躯并不那么重……从此，我就喜欢在夜间倾听星星的笑声，好像是能听到五亿个铃铛的响声……有件事情很重要。我给小王子画的羊嘴套上，忘了加上皮带！他不可能把它套在羊嘴上。有时，我会想：“他的星球会发生什么事呢？大概小绵羊把花吃掉了吧……”

    每想到这时，我对自己说：“绝对不会的！小王子每天夜里都用玻璃罩子罩住他的花，而且他会把羊看管好的……”想到这种情况，我就非常高兴。天上所有的星星也都轻柔地笑着。

    有时，我也很忐忑：“人有时难免会疏忽的，有一次后果就很难预料！如果某一天晚上他忘了罩玻璃罩子，或者小绵羊夜里不声不响地跑出来……”想到这里，小铃铛都变成泪珠了！

    这真是非常神奇。对你们这些也喜欢小王子的人来说，就像我一样，无论在宇宙的什么地方，在某处我们不知道的地方，有一只我们永远也见不到的绵羊，吃掉了，或者没有吃掉一朵玫瑰，一切都会截然不同。

    望着天空，问问你们自己：绵羊究竟是吃了还是没有吃掉花？那么你们就会发现所看到的一切都变了样……任何一个大人将永远不会明白这个问题竟如此重要！

    对我来说，这是世界上最美也是最凄凉的风景。它与前面某页的插画一样。但我还是在这里重画一次，以便加深你们的记忆。就是在这里，小王子出现在地球上，后来，也正是在这里消失了的。

    请你们仔细看看这个地方，以便你们有一天去非洲沙漠上旅行的时候，能够准确地辨认出这个地方。如果你们到达这个地方，我请求你们不要匆匆而过，请你们就在那颗星星底下等一等！如果这时有个小孩子出现，他笑着，他有金黄色的头发，他拒绝回答问题，你一定会猜得出他是谁。如果这些发生了，请给我些安慰。不要让我如此悲伤：给我写封信，告诉我他回来了。

    「全文完」

    Chapter 27

    It was then that the fox appeared.

    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 I 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.