English
we are warned as to the dangers of the baobabs
As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince’s planet, his departure from it, his journey. The information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.
This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly– as if seized by a grave doubt– “It is true, isn’t it, that sheep eat little bushes?”
Yes, that is true.”
“Ah! I am glad!”
I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:
“Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?”
I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.
The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
“We would have to put them one on top of the other,” he said.
But he made a wise comment:
“Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little.”
“That is strictly correct,” I said. “But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?”
He answered me at once, “Oh, come, come!”, as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.
Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived– as on all planets– good plants and bad plants. In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth’s darkness, until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin– timidly at first– to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces…
“It is a question of discipline,” the little prince said to me later on. “When you’ve finished your own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet, just so, with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rose bushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work,” the little prince added, “but very easy.”
And one day he said to me: “You ought to make a beautiful drawing, so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes,” he added, “there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs, that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes…”
So, as the little prince described it to me, I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood, and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid, that for once I am breaking through my reserve. “Children,” I say plainly, “watch out for the baobabs!”
My friends, like myself, have been skirting this danger for a long time, without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.
Perhaps you will ask me, “Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs?”
The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.
中文
叙述者提醒我们要警惕猴面包树的危险
日子一天天过去，在我们的交谈中，我逐渐了解到一些关于小王子星球的事情——关于他的离开，以及他的旅程。这些信息总是零零散散、慢慢地透露出来，仿佛是不经意间从他的思绪中流露的。就是这样，在第三天，我听他说起了关于猴面包树的那场灾难。
这一次，又得感谢那只小羊。突然小王子好像是非常担心地问我道：“ 羊会吃小灌木，对吗？”
“是的，是真的。”
“啊！那我就放心了！”
我不明白羊吃小灌木这件事为什么如此重要。可小王子又说道：
“因此，它们也吃猴面包树咯？”
我向小王子指出，猴面包树可不是小灌木，相反，它们大得像城堡一样；即使他带走一整群大象，这群大象也吃不掉一棵猴面包树。
一群大象这种想法使小王子发笑：
“那可得把这些大象一只叠一只地垒起来。”
他很有见识地说：
“猴面包树在长大之前，也是从小树苗开始的。”
“不错。可是为什么你想叫你的羊去吃小猴面包树呢？”
他回答我道：“唉！这还用说！”似乎这是不言而喻的。可是我自己要费很大的心劲才能弄懂这个问题。
的确，正如我所了解到的，小王子所住的星球——就像所有星球一样——有好植物，也有坏植物。因此，好植物会结出好种子，坏植物会结出坏种子。但种子是看不见的。它们沉睡在泥土里，直到其中的一粒忽然想要苏醒过来……于是它就伸展开身子，开始腼腆地朝着太阳长出一棵秀丽可爱的小嫩苗。如果是小萝卜或是玫瑰的嫩苗，就让它去自由地生长。如果是一棵坏苗，一旦被辨认出来，就应该马上把它拔掉。
在小王子所住的星球上，确实有一些可怕的种子，那就是猴面包树的种子。在那里的泥土里，这种种子多得成灾。而一棵猴面包树苗，假如你拔得太迟，就再也无法把它清除掉。它就会盘踞整个星球。它的树根能把星球钻透，如果星球很小，而猴面包树很多，它就把整个星球搞得支离破碎。
“这是个纪律问题。”小王子后来向我解释道。“当你早上梳洗完毕以后， 必须仔细地给星球梳洗，必须规定自己按时去拔掉猴面包树苗。这种树苗小的时候与玫瑰苗差不多，一旦可以把它们区别开的时候，就要把它拔掉。这是一件非常乏味的工作，但很容易。”
有一天，他劝我用心地画一副漂亮的图画，好叫我家乡的孩子们对这件事有一个深刻的印象。他还对我说：“如果将来有一天他们外出旅行，这对他们是很有用的。有时候，人们把自己的工作推到以后去做，并没有什么妨害，但要遇到拔猴面包树苗这种事，那就总意味着灾难。 我曾知道一个星球，上面住着一个懒惰的人 ，他忽视了三棵小树苗……”
因此，正如小王子向我描述的那样，我画出了那颗星球。我并不太喜欢以说教者的口吻说话，但猴面包树的危险几乎无人理解，而一旦有人在小行星上迷路，所面临的风险又极其严重，所以这一次，我打破了我的这种不喜欢教训人的惯例。我说：“孩子们，要当心那些猴面包树呀！”
为了叫我的朋友们警惕这种危险，他们同我一样长期以来和这种危险接触，却没有意识到它的危险性；所以我才在这幅画上费尽心思。通过这幅画传递的教训，值得我付出这一切辛苦。
也许你会问我：“为什么这本书里没有其他画像这幅猴面包树的画一样宏伟、令人印象深刻呢？”
答案很简单。我尝试过，但其他的都没有成功。当我画猴面包树的时候，是那迫切的必要性激发了我，使我超越了自己。
一部分内容摘录自《小王子》。 如有侵权， 请联系作者删除
