Three short years went by,and a day came when the man sat shivering in a mean garret;and he was gaunt and wan and hollow-eyed,and clothed in rags;and he was gnawing a dry crust and mumbling:"Curse all the world's gifts for mockeries and gilded lies!And miscalled,every one,They are not gifts,but merely lendings.Pleasure.Love,Fame.Riches:they are but temporary disguises for lasting realities Pain,Grief,Shame,Poverty.The fairy said true;in all her store there was but one gift which was precious,only one that was not valueless,How poor and cheap and mean i know those others now to be,Bring it!I am weary.I would rest."
短短的三年又過去了。到了這么一天,這個人蜷縮在一個簡陋的小閣樓里,古瘦如柴,蒼白無力,雙眼深陷,身上裹著碎布衣衫,渾身顫抖不停。他一邊啃著一塊干面包皮,一邊咕噥著:“該死的禮物,都是為了讓我受人嘲笑和欺詐!每一樣都叫錯了!它們都不是禮物,根本只是租借品!快樂,愛情,名聲還有財富-都只不過是長久現實的暫時偽裝-它們其實是永遠的痛苦,悲哀,恥辱和貧窮!那個仙女說的沒錯啊,她所有的東西里只有一樣是珍貴的,只有那么一樣不是毫無價值的。我現在才明白,其它禮物是多么低賤與卑劣!把它帶來吧-那真正寶貴的禮物!我累了,我想休息了。”
The fairy came,bringing again four of the gifts,but Death was wanting.She said:"I gave it to a mother's pet, a little child.It was ignorant,but trusted me,asking me to choose for it.You did not ask me to choose."
仙女出現了,帶著以前的那四件禮物,但惟獨沒有最后那一件——死亡。她說道:“我把它給了一位母親的寵兒子:一個小孩子。他什么也不懂,但他相信我,讓我來幫他挑選。而你并沒有這么做。”
"Oh,miserable me!What is left for me ?"
“啊,我多可悲啊!那還剩下什么給我呢?”
"What not even you have deserved: the wantoninsult of Old Age."
“一件你也不配得到的東西:接受年老體衰的折磨。”