chapter 9
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 had one volcano that was extinct.But,as he said,"One never knows!" So he cleaned out the extinct volcano,too. If they are well cleaned out ,volcanoes burn slowly and steadily,without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.
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.
The little prince also pulled up,with a certain sense of dejection,the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed 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 realised that he was very close to tears.
"Goodbye," he said to the flower.
But she made no answer.
"Goodbye," she said again.
The flower coughed.But it was not because she had a cold.
"I have been silly," she said to him, at last."I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy..."
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.
"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."
"But the wind - "
"My cold is not so bad as all that... The cold night air will do me good. I am a flower."
"But the animals - "
"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."
And,natively, she showed her four thorns. Then she added:
"Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away.Now go!"
For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower...
第九章
我想，小王子一定是随着候鸟的迁徙离开的。临走的那天早上，他把自己的星球收拾得井井有条。他仔细地打扫了他的活火山。他有两座活火山；早上用来热早餐非常方便。他还有一座死火山。但就像他说的，“也许以后会喷发呢！”，因此他把死火山也清理了一遍。如果清理干净了，火山就会缓缓地、稳稳地燃烧，不会突然爆发。火山喷发的时候就像烟囱中的火焰一样。
很显然，在地球上，我们的个子太小了，没法把火山清理干净。所以它们带来了那么多麻烦。
小王子带着淡淡的伤感，拔掉了最后几颗猴面包树幼苗。他以为自己永远也不想再回来了。但这些熟悉的家常活儿在那个早晨显得更加温馨亲切。他给花浇了最后一次水，准备为她盖上玻璃罩，这时他发现自己很想哭。
“再见。”他对花说。
但花没有回答。
“再见。”他又说。
花咳了咳。但这并不是因为着了凉。
“我以前很傻，”她终于开了口，“请原谅我吧。祝你幸福。”
小王子很惊讶花居然没有责怪他。他呆呆地愣在那里，手里的玻璃罩也停在半空。花的恬静温柔让他无法理解。
“是的，我是爱你的，”花对他说，“你却始终不知道，这是我的错。这些都不重要。但你和我一样傻。祝你幸福。把玻璃罩拿走吧。我再也不想用它了。”
“可如果风。。。”
“我的感冒没那么严重。。。夜晚凉爽的空气对我有好处。我可是一朵花啊。”
“可如果昆虫和野兽。。。”
“既然我想结识蝴蝶，就必须忍受两三条毛毛虫。听说蝴蝶很漂亮。除了蝴蝶。。。和毛毛虫。。。谁还会来探望我呢？你就要去远方了。。。至于大的野兽，我一点也不怕，我也有我的爪子呢。”
她天真地露出四根刺，接着又说道：
“别这么磨磨蹭蹭的。既然你已经决定了要走，现在就走吧！”
因为她不想让小王子看见自己流泪。她真是朵骄傲的花啊。。。