Chapter 9 / 临行话别

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes. He possessed two active volcanoes, and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning. He also has one volcano that was extinct. But, as he said," One never knows!" So he cleaned out the extinct volcano, too. If they were well cleaned out, volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.

我想，他的出走，一定是利用了野生候鸟迁徙的机会。在他临走的那天早晨，他把他的星球收拾得整整齐齐，并小心翼翼地打扫了活火山。他有两座活火山，早上加热早餐很方便。他还有一座死火山。但就像他说的，”谁也说不准什么时候就爆发了！” 于是，他也把这座死火山也彻底打扫了一遍。如果火山被打扫得干干净净，它们就会缓慢而平稳地燃烧，不会突然喷发。火山喷发就像烟囱里的火焰一样。

On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.

在我们地球，我们对清理火山显然是无能为力，我们太小了。这就是为什么火山总是给我们带来麻烦。

The little prince also pulled up, with a certain of dejection, the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believe that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him. And when he watered the flower for the last time, and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe, he realized that he was very close to tears.

小王子还拔了几棵刚刚长出的猴面包树苗，这次有点沮丧，他感到自己再也不会回来了。在临行的最后一个早晨，所有这些熟悉的工作都变得珍贵起来。当他给花儿最后一次浇水，并准备把她放进玻璃罩里时，他感到自己快要哭出来了。

"Goodbye," he said to the flower.

“再见了，” 他对花儿说。

But she made no answer.

但她没有回答。

"Goodbye," he said again.

“再见，” 他又说了一遍。

The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.

花儿咳嗽了几声，但不是因为着凉了。

"I have been silly,"she said to him, at last,"I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy..."

“我一直很傻，” 她终于对小王子开口了，“请你原谅我。一定要开心啊 ..."

He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered, the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.

小王子对花儿没有怨他而感到吃惊。他站在那儿，傻了，手里还捧着玻璃罩。这种恬静、温柔让他一时摸不着头脑。

"Of course I love you," the flower said to him,"It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance.But you ... you have been just as foolish  as I. Try to be happy ... Let the glass globe be. I don't want it any more."

“我的确是爱你的，”花儿对他说到，“ 你一直没感到我的爱，是因为我的错。现在变得无关紧要了。但你... 你和我一样傻。让自己开心起来吧 ...别管什么玻璃罩了，我不再需要它了”

"But the wind ...?"

“可是，风 ... 怎么办？”

"My cold is not so bad as all that ...The cool night air will do me good. I am a flower."

“我的感冒没那么严重...夜晚的凉风对我也有好处。我是一棵花儿啊。”

"But the animals ..?"

“还有那些野兽 ... ?”

"Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies ... and the caterpillars ... who will call upon me? You will be far away ... As for the large animals ... I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws."

“这个嘛，如果我想认识那些蝴蝶的话，就得忍受几只毛毛虫的存在。蝴蝶很漂亮，不是吗？！况且，没有蝴蝶 ... 没有毛毛虫 ... 还有谁会来看望我呢？！你就要远走他方了 ... 至于大的野兽 ... 我一点儿也不怕，我也有爪子。”

And, naively, she showed her four thorns. Then she added:

接着，她天真地露出她的四根刺。又补充道：

"Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!"

“别这么婆婆妈妈的。既然去意已决，现在就动身吧！”

For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower ...

她是不想让小王子看到自己流泪。这是一颗多么高傲的花儿啊 ...