XIX

小王子爬上一座高山。过去他所见过的山就是那三座只有他膝盖那么高的火山,并且他把那座熄灭了的火山就当作凳子。小王子自言自语地说道:“从这么高的山上,我一眼可以看到整个星球,以及所有的人。”可是,他所看到的只是一些非常锋利的悬崖峭壁。

“你好。”小王子试探地问道。

“你好……你好……你好……”回音在回答道。

“你们是什么人?”小王子问。

“你们是什么人……你们是什么人……你们是什么人……”回音又回答道。

“请你们做我的朋友吧,我很孤独。”他说。

“我很孤独……我很孤独……我很孤独……”回音又回答着。

小王子想道:“这颗行星真奇怪!它上面全是干巴巴的,而且又尖利又咸涩,人们一点想象力都没有。他们只是重复别人对他们说的话……在我的家乡,我有一朵花。她总是自己先说话……”

[ Chapter 19 ] - the little prince climbs a mountain range

After that, the little prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes, which came up to his knees. And he used the extinct volcano as a footstool. "From a mountain as high as this one," he said to himself, "I shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance, and all the people..."

But he saw nothing, save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles.

"Good morning," he said courteously.

"Good morning--Good morning--Good morning," answered the echo.

"Who are you?" said the little prince.

"Who are you--Who are you--Who are you?" answered the echo.

"Be my friends. I am all alone," he said.

"I am all alone--all alone--all alone," answered the echo.

"What a queer planet!" he thought. "It is altogether dry, and altogether pointed, and altogether harsh and forbidding. And the people have no imagination. They repeat whatever one says to them... On my planet I had a flower; she always was the first to speak..."