泰西50轶事(四十九)皮丘拉 江铭辉五梦网
泰西50轶事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恒的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚历史的著名英雄和他们的罗曼史，故事内容有勇气、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破仑、罗宾汉，乔治华盛顿、成吉思汗等人。这些故事都是老少咸宜的故事，我将它逐篇翻译，并配合图画，供大家欣赏。
泰西50轶事(四十九)皮丘拉
原文及翻译如下：
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.
许多年前，有一个可怜的绅士被关进了法国的一个大监狱。他的名字叫卡内。他非常伤心和难过。他是被冤枉入狱的，似乎这世上没有任何人关心他。
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.
他不能阅读，因为监狱里没有书。他也不允许拥有笔和纸，所以也不能写。时间过得很慢，没有什么事可以做，使时间尽快过去。他唯一消遣的就是在监狱的铺设院子里走来走去。没有事可做，也没有人可以说话。
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?
一个阳光明媚的春天早晨，卡内在院子里散步(图1)。像以前曾做过千百次的那样，他数着铺在地上的石头(图1)。突然，他停了下来，
那两块石头之间的小土堆里长出了什么？
图1：卡内在监狱院子里散步。像以前曾做过千百次的那样，他数着地上铺着的石头。
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.
他弯下腰去看。一粒不知是什么植物的种子落在了石头中间。它已经发芽了，一片细小的绿叶正破土而出。卡内差点就要用脚去踩它了，可是他看到叶子上覆盖着一层柔软的薄膜。
“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！”他说，“这层膜是保护它的安全的，我不能伤害它。”于
是他又继续散步。
第二天，当他想起来时，他几乎已经踩到那株植物了。他弯下腰去看它，它现在有两片叶子了，也比昨天更茁壮、油绿。他站在旁边看了很久，仔细观察它的各个部分(图2)。
图2：卡内弯下腰去看，它现在有两片叶子了，比昨天更茁壮。
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.
从此以后，每天早上卡内都要去一次看他的小植物，去看它有没有被寒冷的天气冻伤；或是被太阳晒焦；也去看它又长大多少。
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，他正从窗户里看出去，看到狱卒穿过院子。他是那么近地擦过那株小植物，看上去就好像踩着了它似的。卡内浑身都颤抖了。
“啊，我的比丘拉！”他叫了起来。
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.
当狱卒给他送饭来到的时候，他恳求那个冷酷的人饶了那小植物。他以为那个人会嘲笑他，但是虽然他是个狱卒，却也有一颗善良的心。
“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.
“你认为我会伤害你的那株小植物吗？”他说，“当然不会！如果我没有看到你那么呵护它，它早就被踩死了。”
“你真好啊！”卡内说。他对自己误以为狱卒是残忍，感到有点羞愧。
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，比丘拉是他为那棵植物取的名字。每天它都越长越高，越长越漂亮。但是有一次它差点被狱卒那条狗的脚踩死了。卡内的心都沉了下去。
“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.
“比丘拉必须要有一所房子，”他说，“我看我能不能做一个。”
因此，虽然这几天夜里非常冷，他还是一天天地把发给他的烧火木材积累积一些下来，用这些烧火木材给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态。他注意它经常如何微微弯腰的对着太阳，他也看它在暴风雨来临之前如何合拢它的花瓣。
虽然他以前也曾见过满园盛开的鲜花，但从来没注意过这些事。
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，摊开首手帕当作纸，用一支削尖的树枝当作笔，他做这些，要干什么呢？他觉得必须把那小宝贝的种种事情写下来。他把所有的时间都花在了这株植物上。
“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！”每当狱卒看到他和那株植物时都会这样说。
当夏天过去了，比丘拉每天都越长越可爱了。在它的茎上长了不下三十朵的花(图3)。
图3：比丘拉的茎上长了不下三十朵的花。
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.
但是在一个悲伤的早晨，它开始凋谢了。卡内不知道该怎么办，他给它浇水，但它还是继续凋谢，叶子也开始枯萎了。监狱院子里的石头阻止了它的生长。
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.
卡内知道只有一个办法能拯救他的宝贝，唉！这个办法怎么能实现呢？那就是立刻把石头拿走。
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.
这件事狱卒也不敢做。监狱的规定非常严格，任何一块石头也不能移动。只有当地的最高长官才能做这样的事。
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.
可怜的卡内连觉也睡不着。比丘拉一定会死的。那些花已经枯萎了，叶子很快就会从茎上落下来。
突然，卡内有了一个新的想法。他将要请求伟大的拿破仑皇帝拯救他的植物。
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.
这对卡内来说是一件很难的事，去求一个他所恨的人，这个人是把他关进了监狱的人。但是为了比丘拉，他愿意那么做。
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!
他把他的小故事写在手绢上，然后交给了一个少女，她答应把它交给拿破仑。啊！这可怜的植物，要是能再多活几天该多好啊！
对那少女来说，这是一段多么漫长的路程啊！对卡内和比秋拉来说，这又是一段多么漫长而苦闷的等待啊！
但是后来，消息终于传到了监狱。石头被拿开了，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.
皇帝的仁慈妻子听说了卡内照顾那株植物的故事。她看到手帕上写的比丘拉千姿百态的美丽样子。
“是的，”她说，“把这样一个人关进监狱，对我们是没有好处的。”
于是，卡内被释放了。当然，他也不再悲伤和难过了。他知道上帝是怎样地爱护着他和他的小植物；即使是粗鲁的人，他心地也是如何的善良和真诚。他像对一个亲爱的朋友那样照顾着比丘拉，永远也不会忘记它。
皮丘拉简介
泽维尔‧博尼法斯‧参丁尼(Xavier Boniface Saintine： 1798 年 7 月 10 日至 1865 1798 年1 月21 日)是法国剧作家，小说家。他1798年出生巴黎的约瑟夫·泽维尔博尼法斯(Joseph Xavier Boniface)。 1836年他写了出皮丘拉(Picciola )，一部关于一个在皮埃蒙特的政治犯「卡内伯爵(Charney)」的故事，故事内容是卡内伯爵所培养的监狱院子里所铺的石头之间的一株小花，快活不了。他为拯救它的故事，这是一种多愁善感的文学杰作，并已被翻译成多种欧洲语言。
小说为他赢得了声誉，并逐渐被视为法国文学的经典之作。他也写许多其他小说，但是除了1857年的“瑟（Seul）”之外，都是没有醒目的个性，“瑟”是写亚历山大‧塞尔柯克(Alexander Selkirk)在他的荒岛上的真实记录。参丁尼(Saintine)是一位多产的剧作家，与尤金‧史克利伯(Eugène Scribe)和其他人有200多件合作，通常是用泽维尔的名字。他1865年在巴黎于去世。