第31章 What the Leaf Said 树叶之语

Once or twice a little leaf was heard to cry and sigh, as leaves often do, when a gentle wind is blowing. And the twig said, "What is the matter, little leaf?"

"The wind," said the leaf, "just told me that one day it would pull me off, and throw me on the ground to die."

The twig told it to the branch, and the branch told it to the tree. When the tree heard it, it rustled all over, and sent word back to the trembling leaf.

"Do not be afraid," it said; "hold on tight, and you shall not go off till you are ready."

So the leaf stopped sighing, and went on singing and rustling. It grew all the summer long till October. And when the bright days of autumn came, the leaf saw all the leaves around growing very beautiful.

Some were yellow, some were brown, and many were striped with different colors. Then the leaf asked the tree what this meant.

The tree said, "All these leaves are getting ready to fly away, and they have put on these colors because of their joy."

Then the little leaf began to want to go, and grew very beautiful in thinking of it. When it was gay in colors, it saw that the branches of the tree had no bright colors on them.

So the leaf said, "O branch! why are you lead-colored while we are all beautiful and golden?"

"We must keep on our working clothes," said the tree, "for our work is not yet done; but your clothes are for holidays, because your task is now over."

Just then a little puff of wind came, and the leaf let go without thinking, and the wind took it up and turned it over and over.

Then it fell gently down under the edge of the fence, among hundreds of leaves, and has never waked to tell us what it dreamed about.

一片小树叶隐隐约约地发出叹息哭泣的声音，就像风轻柔地吹过时一样。细枝问道：“小树叶，发生了什么事？”

“是风儿，”小树叶答道，“它刚刚告诉我，有一天它会把我拉下来丢在地上摔死。”

细枝告诉了树枝，树枝告诉了树干。大树听到这些话，全身发出沙沙的响声，然后告诉瑟瑟发抖的小树叶。

“不要害怕，”它说，“紧紧地抱住我，没准备好之前就不要离开。”

于是小树叶停止了叹息，继续沙沙作响地唱起歌来。漫长的整个夏天都在成长，直到十月份。秋高气爽，小树叶看到周围所有的树叶都长得非常漂亮。

有的是黄色的，有的是棕色的，大多数都褪变成不同的颜色。然后小树叶便问大树这些意味着什么。

大树说：“这些树叶都已做好了准备飞走，它们穿的五颜六色，那是因为感到高兴。”

小树叶听后也开始想要飞走了，想着想着它自己也开始变漂亮起来。可是当它为自己的颜色而感到高兴时，却发现大树的树枝颜色变得越来越黯淡。

于是小树叶问：“哦，树枝！为什么我们都变得如此漂亮和金黄，而你却变得灰蒙蒙的？”

“我们必须继续穿着自己的工作服，”大树回答，“因为我们的工作还没有完成；但是你们的任务现在已经完成了，所以可以穿上漂亮的衣服去享受你们的假期了。”

就在这时，一阵微风吹过，小树叶还没来得及思考大树的话就被带走了。风儿把它吹了起来，让它在空中自由的舞蹈。

然后它轻柔地飘落在篱笆旁边的草地上，落在成百上千片的树叶当中，再也没有醒来告诉我们它梦到了什么。