The man reflected long,then chose Fame;and the fairy,sighing,went her way.Years went by and she came again,and stood behind the man where he sat solitary in the fading day,thinking.And she knew his thought:"My name filled the world,and its praiss were on every tongue,and it seemed well with me for a littlewhile.How little a while it was!Then came envy;then detraction;then hate;then persecution.Then derision,which is the begining of the end.And last of all came pity,which is the funeral of fame.Oh ,the bitterness and misery of renown!"
他想了很久，然而選擇了名聲。仙女嘆了口氣，徑自離開(kāi)了。歲月流轉(zhuǎn)，仙女又回來(lái)了，站到他的身旁。已邁入遲暮之年的他孑然一身，心情重重。他在想些什么，她都了然于心。“我的名字傳遍世界，每個(gè)人都爭(zhēng)相贊頌，有一陣子好像讓我心滿(mǎn)足。可那是多么短暫的一陣子啊！隨之而來(lái)的是妒忌；然后是詆毀；然后是憎惡；然后是迫害。之后是嘲諷，從一切開(kāi)始步入完結(jié)。最后便是憐憫，這也是我的名聲的葬禮。啊，名聲原來(lái)是這般苦澀和痛苦！”

"Choose yet again."It was the fairy's voice.
“不過(guò)你還可以重新現(xiàn)挑一次。”仙女的聲音再度響起。

"Two gifts remain.And do not despair .In the begining there was but one that was precious, and it is still here.
“還剩下兩份禮物。不要灰心喪氣，從一開(kāi)始就只有一份是寶貴的，而現(xiàn)在它還在那里啊。”

"Wealth-which is power! How blind i was!" Said the man, "Now,at last,life will be worth the living.I will spend.squander.These mockers and despisers will crawl in the dirt before me,and i will feed my hungry heart with their envy,I will have all luxuries,all joys,all enchant-times of the spirit I will buy,buy,buy!I have lost much time,and chosen badly heretofore,but let that pass;I was ignorant then,and could but take for best what seemed so."
“財(cái)富——財(cái)富就是力量！我過(guò)去多盲目啊！”他說(shuō)，“現(xiàn)在，終于，我的生命將要變得有意義。我要縱情歡度此生，我要揮霍我的人生。那些對(duì)我冷嘲熱諷，輕蔑詆毀我的人將要在我面前的泥土里掙扎，而我空乏的心也將因?yàn)樗麄兊亩始啥玫綕M(mǎn)足。我將要享盡榮華富貴，所有歡樂(lè)和所有銷(xiāo)魂的時(shí)光。我要買(mǎi)，買(mǎi)！以前我做錯(cuò)了選擇，失去了許多時(shí)間，就讓它過(guò)去吧；當(dāng)時(shí)我很無(wú)知，我只能選我覺(jué)得最好的東西。”