Chapter 27 A Concert for the Rose
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…
现在我的悲伤减轻了一些，但也可以说是没有完全平复。单我知道他已经回到了他的星球，因为在黎明时分我没有发现他的躯壳。那不是一件很重的躯壳……在夜晚我爱上了听星星，那就像五百万颗小铃铛……
还有一件非同寻常的事……当我给小王子画口套时，我忘记给口套画皮带了。没有皮带的口套无法固定在小羊嘴上。我在想：“他的星球上发生了什么？可能他的小羊已经吃了他的花儿……”
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!
有时我想：“当然不是！小王子每晚都把他的花儿放在玻璃罩子下，而且他仔细照看着他的花儿……”然后我遍很开心。所有的星星上充满了甜蜜的笑。
但是有时我又想：“人总会有粗心大意的时候！可能某天晚上他忘记罩上玻璃罩子，或者小羊在夜里悄无声息的出逃了……”然后所有小铃铛将会变成眼泪……
这件事始终是解不开的迷。对于同样爱着小王子的你我来说，没有什么能与那等同，在我们不知道的某处，绵羊是否已经吃掉了玫瑰花……
看着天空，问问你自己：“吃还是没吃？小羊吃掉了玫瑰花了吗？你将会看到这件事如何改变一切……并且大人们永远不会明白这是一个多么重要的问题！”
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.
仔细的看看这幅画，如果下次你在非洲沙漠里旅游的时候看到这个地方，请别匆匆赶路。在星星下等一等。然后如果一个金发的小男孩带着一阵笑声出现，并且他拒绝回答任何问题，你会知道他是谁。假如这件事发生了，请你们行行好。快点写信告诉我，他回来了……
