小王子 第57期:一條黃蛇

Beside the well there was the ruin of an old stone wall.

在井旁邊有一堵殘缺的石墻。

When I came back from my work, the next evening, I saw from some distance away my little price sitting on top of a wall, with his feet dangling.

第二天晚上我工作回來(lái)的時(shí)候，我遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地看見(jiàn)了小王子耷拉著雙腿坐在墻上。

And I heard him say:"Then you don't remember. This is not the exact spot."

我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)他在說(shuō)話(huà)：“你怎么不記得了呢?”他說(shuō)，“絕不是在這兒。”

Another voice must have answered him, for he replied to it: "Yes, yes! It is the right day, but this is not the place."

大概還有另一個(gè)聲音在回答他，因?yàn)樗鹬徽f(shuō)道：“沒(méi)錯(cuò)，沒(méi)錯(cuò)，日子是對(duì)的;但地點(diǎn)不是這里…”

I continued my walk toward the wall. At no time did I see or hear anyone.

我繼續(xù)朝墻走去。我還是看不到，也聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)任何別人。

The little prince, however, replied once again,

可是小王子又回答道：

Exactly. You will see where my track begins, in the sand.

那當(dāng)然。你會(huì)在沙上看到我的腳印是從什么地方開(kāi)始的。

You have nothing to do but wait for me there. I shall be there tonight.

你在那里等著我就行了。今天夜里我去那里。

I was only twenty metres from the wall, and I still saw nothing.

我離墻約有二十米遠(yuǎn)，可我依然什么也沒(méi)有看見(jiàn)。

After a silence the little prince spoke again: "You have good poison? You are sure that it will not make me suffer too long?"

小王子沉默了一會(huì)又說(shuō)：“你的毒液管用嗎?你保證不會(huì)使我長(zhǎng)時(shí)間地痛苦嗎?”

I stopped in my tracks, my heart torn asunder; but still I did not understand.

我焦慮地趕上前去，但我仍然不明白是怎么回事。

"Now go away," said the little prince. "I want to get down from the wall."

“現(xiàn)在你去吧，我要下來(lái)了!…”小王子說(shuō)。

I dropped my eyes, then, to the foot of the wall, and I leaped into the air.

于是，我也朝墻腳下看去，我嚇了一跳。

There before me, facing the little prince, was one of those yellow snakes that take just thirty seconds to bring your life to an end.

就在那里，一條黃蛇直起身子沖著小王子。這種黃蛇半分鐘就能結(jié)果你的性命。

Even as I was digging into my pocked to get out my revolver I made a running step back.

我一面趕緊掏口袋，拔出手槍?zhuān)幻媾苓^(guò)去。

But, at the noise I made, the snake let himself flow easily across the sand like the dying spray of a fountain,

可是一聽(tīng)到我的腳步聲，蛇卻象一股干涸了的水柱一樣，慢慢鉆進(jìn)沙里去。

and, in no apparent hurry, disappeared, with a light metallic sound,among the stones.

它不慌不忙地在石頭的縫隙中鉆動(dòng)著，發(fā)出輕輕的金屬般的響聲。

I reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms; his face was white as snow.

我到達(dá)墻邊的時(shí)候，正好把我的這位小王子接在我的懷抱中。他的臉色雪一樣慘白。

"What does this mean?" I demanded. "Why are you talking with snakes?"

這是搞的什么名堂!你怎么竟然和蛇也談起心來(lái)了!