泰西50軼事(四十九)皮丘拉 江銘輝五夢網
泰西50軼事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恆的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚歷史的著名英雄和他們的羅曼史，故事內容有勇氣、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破崙、羅賓漢，喬治華盛頓、成吉思汗等人。這些故事都是老少咸宜的故事，我將它逐篇翻譯，並配合圖畫，供大家欣賞。
泰西50軼事(四十九)皮丘拉
原文及翻譯如下：
Picciola
皮丘拉
MANY years ago there was a poor gentleman shut up in one of the great prisons of France. His name was Charney, and he was very sad and unhappy. He had been put into prison wrongfully, and it seemed to him as though there was no one in the world who cared for him.
許多年前，有一個可憐的紳士被關進了法國的一個大監獄。他的名字叫卡內。他非常傷心和難過。他是被冤枉入獄的，似乎這世上沒有任何人關心他。
He could not read, for there were no books in the prison. He was not allowed to have pens or paper, and so he could not write. The time dragged slowly by. There was nothing that he could do to make the days seem shorter. His only pastime was walking back and forth in the paved prison yard. There was no work to be done, no one to talk with.
他不能閱讀，因為監獄裡沒有書。他也不允許擁有筆和紙，所以也不能寫。時間過得很慢，沒有什麼事可以做，使時間儘快過去。他唯一消遣的就是在監獄的鋪設院子裡走來走去。沒有事可做，也沒有人可以說話。
One fine morning in spring, Charney was taking his walk in the yard.
He was counting the paving stones, as he had done a thousand times before. All at once he stopped. What had made that little mound of earth between two of the stones?
一個陽光明媚的春天早晨，卡內在院子裡散步(圖1)。像以前曾做過千百次的那樣，他數著鋪在地上的石頭(圖1)。突然，他停了下來，
那兩塊石頭之間的小土堆裡長出了什麼？
圖1：卡內在監獄院子裡散步。像以前曾做過千百次的那樣，他數著地上鋪著的石頭。
He stooped down to see. A seed of some kind had fallen between the stones. It had sprouted; and now a tiny green leaf was pushing its way up out of the ground, Charney was about to crush it with his foot, when he saw that there was a kind of soft coating over the leaf.
他彎下腰去看。一粒不知是什麼植物的種子落在了石頭中間。它已經發芽了，一片細小的綠葉正破土而出。卡內差點就要用腳去踩它了，可是他看到葉子上覆蓋著一層柔軟的薄膜。
“Ah! ”said he. “This coating is to keep it safe. I must not harm it.”
And he went on with his walk.
The next day he almost stepped upon the plant before he thought of it.
He stooped to look at it. There were two leaves now, and the plant was much stronger and greener than it was the day before. He stayed by it a long time, looking at all its parts.
“啊！”他說，“這層膜是保護它的安全的，我不能傷害它。”於
是他又繼續散步。
第二天，當他想起來時，他幾乎已經踩到那株植物了。他彎下腰去看它，它現在有兩片葉子了，也比昨天更茁壯、油綠。他站在旁邊看了很久，仔細觀察它的各個部分(圖2)。
圖2：卡內彎下腰去看，它現在有兩片葉子了，比昨天更茁壯。
Every morning after that, Charney went at once to his little plant. He wanted to see if it had been chilled by the cold, or scorched by the sun. He wanted to see how much it had grown.
從此以後，每天早上卡內都要去一次看他的小植物，去看它有沒有被寒冷的天氣凍傷；或是被太陽曬焦；也去看它又長大多少。
One day as he was looking from his window, he saw the jailer go across the yard. The man brushed so close to the little plant, that it seemed as though he would crush it. Charney trembled from head to foot. “O my Picciola! ”he cried.
一天，他正從窗戶裡看出去，看到獄卒穿過院子。他是那麼近地擦過那株小植物，看上去就好像踩著了它似的。卡內渾身都顫抖了。
“啊，我的比丘拉！”他叫了起來。
When the jailer came to bring his food, he begged the grim fellow to spare his little plant. He expected that the man would laugh at him; but although a jailer, he had a kind heart.
當獄卒給他送飯來到的時候，他懇求那個冷酷的人饒了那小植物。他以為那個人會嘲笑他，但是雖然他是個獄卒，卻也有一顆善良的心。
“Do you think that I would hurt your little plant?”he said.“No, indeed! It would have been dead long ago, if I had not seen that you thought so much of it.”
“That is very good of you, indeed.”said Charney. He felt half ashamed at having thought the jailer unkind.
“你認為我會傷害你的那株小植物嗎？”他說，“當然不會！如果我沒有看到你那麼呵護它，它早就被踩死了。”
“你真好啊！”卡內說。他對自己誤以為獄卒是殘忍，感到有點羞愧。
Every day he watched Picciola, as he had named the plant. Every day it grew larger and more beautiful. But once it was almost broken by the feet of the jailer’s dog. Charney’s heart sank within him.
每天他都去看比丘拉，比丘拉是他為那棵植物取的名字。每天它都越長越高，越長越漂亮。但是有一次它差點被獄卒那條狗的腳踩死了。卡內的心都沉了下去。
“Picciola must have a house,”he said.“I will see if I can make one.”
So, though the nights were chilly, he took, day by day, some part of the firewood that was allowed him, and with this he built a little house around the plant.
The plant had a thousand pretty ways which he noticed. He saw how it always bent a little towards the sun; he saw how the flowers folded their petals before a storm.
He had never thought of such things before, and yet he had often seen whole gardens of flowers in bloom.
“比丘拉必須要有一所房子，”他說，“我看我能不能做一個。”
因此，雖然這幾天夜裡非常冷，他還是一天天地把發給他的燒火木材積累積一些下來，用這些燒火木材給那株植物造了一座小房子。
他注意到那株植物具有的千姿百態。他注意它經常如何微微彎腰的對著太陽，他也看它在暴風雨來臨之前如何合攏它的花瓣。
雖然他以前也曾見過滿園盛開的鮮花，但從來沒注意過這些事。
One day, with soot and water he made some ink; he spread out his handkerchief for paper; he used a sharpened stick for a pen — and all for what? He felt that he must write down the doings of his little pet. He spent all his time with the plant.
一天，他用煤灰和水做成墨水，攤開首手帕當作紙，用一支削尖的樹枝當作筆，他做這些，要幹什麼呢？他覺得必須把那小寶貝的種種事情寫下來。他把所有的時間都花在了這株植物上。
“See my lord and my lady! ”the jailer would say when he saw them.
As the summer passed by, Picciola grew more lovely every day. There were no fewer than thirty blossoms on its stem.
“看我的主人和夫人！”每當獄卒看到他和那株植物時都會這樣說。
當夏天過去了，比丘拉每天都越長越可愛了。在它的莖上長了不下三十朵的花(圖3)。
圖3：比丘拉的莖上長了不下三十朵的花。
But one sad morning it began to droop. Charney did not know what to do. He gave it water, but still it drooped. The leaves were withering. The stones of the prison yard would not let the plant live.
但是在一個悲傷的早晨，它開始凋謝了。卡內不知道該怎麼辦，他給它澆水，但它還是繼續凋謝，葉子也開始枯萎了。監獄院子裡的石頭阻止了它的生長。
Charney knew that there was but one way to save his treasure. Alas! how could he hope that it might be done? The stones must be taken up at once.
卡內知道只有一個辦法能拯救他的寶貝，唉！這個辦法怎麼能實現呢？那就是立刻把石頭拿走。
But this was a thing which the jailer dared not do. The rules of the prison were strict, and no stone must be moved. Only the highest officers in the land could have such a thing done.
這件事獄卒也不敢做。監獄的規定非常嚴格，任何一塊石頭也不能移動。只有當地的最高長官才能做這樣的事。
Poor Charney could not sleep. Picciola must die. Already the flowers had withered; the leaves would soon fall from the stem.
Then a new thought came to Charney. He would ask the great Napoleon, the emperor himself, to save his plant.
可憐的卡內連覺也睡不著。比丘拉一定會死的。那些花已經枯萎了，葉子很快就會從莖上落下來。
突然，卡內有了一個新的想法。他將要請求偉大的拿破崙皇帝拯救他的植物。
It was a hard thing for Charney to do, — to ask a favour of the man whom he hated, the man who had shut him up in this very prison. But for the sake of Picciola he would do it.
這對卡內來說是一件很難的事，去求一個他所恨的人，這個人是把他關進了監獄的人。但是為了比丘拉，他願意那麼做。
He wrote his little story on his handkerchief. Then he gave it into the care of a young girl, who promised to carry it to Napoleon. Ah! If the poor plant would only live a few days longer!
What a long journey that was for the young girl! What a long, drearywaiting it was for Charney and Picciola!
But at last news came to the prison. The stones were to be taken up.
Picciola was saved!
他把他的小故事寫在手絹上，然後交給了一個少女，她答應把它交給拿破崙。啊！這可憐的植物，要是能再多活幾天該多好啊！
對那少女來說，這是一段多麼漫長的路程啊！對卡內和比秋拉來說，這又是一段多麼漫長而苦悶的等待啊！
但是後來，消息終於傳到了監獄。石頭被拿開了，比丘拉得救了！
The emperor’s kind wife had heard the story of Charney’s care for the plant. She saw the handkerchief on which he had written of its pretty ways.
“Surely,”she said, “it can do us no good to keep such a man in prison.”
And so, at last, Charney was set free. Of course he was no longer sad and unloving. He saw how God had cared for him and the little plant, and how kind and true are the hearts of even rough men. And he cherished Picciola as a dear, loved friend whom he could never forget.
皇帝的仁慈妻子聽說了卡內照顧那株植物的故事。她看到手帕上寫的比丘拉千姿百態的美麗樣子。
“是的，”她說，“把這樣一個人關進監獄，對我們是沒有好處的。”
於是，卡內被釋放了。當然，他也不再悲傷和難過了。他知道上帝是怎樣地愛護著他和他的小植物；即使是粗魯的人，他心地也是如何的善良和真誠。他像對一個親愛的朋友那樣照顧著比丘拉，永遠也不會忘記它。
皮丘拉簡介
賽維爾‧博尼法斯‧參丁尼(Xavier Boniface Saintine： 1798 年 7 月 10 日至 1865 1798 年 1 月 21 日)是法國劇作家，小說家。他1798年出生巴黎的約瑟夫·賽維爾博尼法斯(Joseph Xavier Boniface)。 1836年他寫了出皮丘拉(Picciola )，一部關於一個在皮埃蒙特的政治犯「卡內伯爵(Charney)」的故事，故事內容是卡內伯爵所培養的監獄院子裡所鋪的石頭之間的一株小花，快活不了。他為拯救它的故事，這是一種多愁善感的文學傑作，並已被翻譯成多種歐洲語言。
小說為他贏得了聲譽，並逐漸被視為法國文學的經典之作。他也寫許多其他小說，但是除了1857年的“瑟（Seul）”之外，都是沒有醒目的個性，“瑟”是寫亞歷山大‧塞爾柯克(Alexander Selkirk)在他的荒島上的真實記錄。參丁尼(Saintine)是一位多產的劇作家，與尤金‧史克利伯(Eugène Scribe)和其他人有200多件合作，通常是用賽維爾的名字。他1865年在巴黎於去世。