老橡树的最后一梦
这篇童话最初收进1858年出版的《新的童话和故事集》第一卷第一部里。安徒生在他的手记中说：“《老橡树的最后一梦》完全出自我个人的想像，一个忽然来临的灵感使我立刻写下了它。”这的确是安徒生的“想像”和“灵感”的结晶，但不一定是“忽然来临”的，而是源于长期萦回在他脑际的一种理想——如果说不是“幻想”的话：“我现在可以飞了，可以在灿烂的阳光中向最高的地方飞了！而且一切大大小小的心爱的东西都和我在一起！大家都和我在一起！”普天同乐，大家一起进入最高的、幸福的境界！
IN the forest，high up on the steep shore，and not far from the open seacoast，stood a very old oaktree.It was just three hundred and sixtyfive years old，but that long time was to the tree as the same number of days might be to us，we wake by day and sleep by night，and then we have our dreams.It is different with the tree，it is obliged to keep awake through three seasons of the year，and does not get any sleep till winter comes.Winter is its time for rest，its night after the long day of spring，summer，and autumn.On many a warm summer，the Ephemera (ephemera n.［动］生命极短促之物，蜉蝣)，the flies that exist for only a day，had fluttered about the old oak，enjoyed life and felt happy and if，for a moment，one of the tiny creatures rested on one of his large fresh leaves，the tree would always say，“Poor little creature！your whole life consists only of a single day.How very short.It must be quite melancholy (melancholy adj.忧郁的n.忧郁).”
在一个树林里，靠近敞露的海滩边的陡坡上，有一棵真正很老的橡树，它正好三百六十五岁。但是，对树来说，这样漫长的时间，也不过就像我们人经历那么多个昼夜罢了；我们白天醒着，夜里睡觉，并且做梦。树木不同，它们在三个季度里是醒着的，直到冬天来临的时候才开始睡眠。冬天是它入睡的时间，是它的漫长的白昼以后的夜；这漫长的白昼被人称作春天、夏天和收获的秋天。在无数个温暖的夏日里，只有一天生命的蜉蝣围绕着树的顶冠飞来飞去地舞蹈，觉得很幸福。接着那小小的生灵就在一片宽大清新的橡树叶子上安静幸福地休息片刻。这时，树老是说：“小可怜虫！你的整个生命也不过只是一天！太可悲了，多么的短暂啊！”
“Melancholy！what do you mean？”the little creature would always reply.“Everything around me is so wonderfully bright and warm，and beautiful，that it makes me joyous.”
“可悲！你这是什么意思？”蜉蝣总是回答说，“要知道这一切是好得不得了，这么美好，这么暖和，我简直高兴极了！”
“But only for one day，and then it is all over.”
“可是只有一天，然后一切都结束了！”
“Over！”repeated the fly，“what is the meaning of all over？Are you all over too？”
“结束了！”蜉蝣说道：“什么是都结束了！你不是也结束了？”
“No，I shall very likely live for thousands of your days，and my day is whole seasons long，indeed it is so long that you could never reckon(reckon vt.计算，总计，估计，猜想vi.数，计算，估计，依赖，料想)it out.”
“没有，我也许活上你的那成千上万的天；我的一天是很长的时间，是四个季，这时间长得你根本算不出来的！”
“No？Then I dont understand you.You may have thousands of my days，but I have thousands of moments in which I can be merry and happy.Does all the beauty of the world cease when you die？”
“可不是，我真是不理解你！你比我多成千上万天，可我有成千上万的眼前的一刻供我快乐幸福！在你死的时候，难道世上的一切美好的事物都停止了？”
“No，”replied the tree，“it will certainly last much longer，—infinitely(infinitely adv.无限地，无穷地)longer than I can even think of.”“Well，then，”said the little fly，“we have the same time to live，only we reckon differently.”And the little creature danced and floated in the air，rejoicing in her delicate wings of gauze(gauze n.薄纱，［医］纱布，薄雾)and velvet，rejoicing in the balmy breezes，laden with the fragrance of cloverfields and wild roses，elderblossoms and honeysuckle，from the garden hedges，wild thyme，primroses，and mint，and the scent of all these was so strong that the perfume almost intoxicated(intoxicate vt.使陶醉，醉人)the little fly.The long and beautiful day had been so full of joy and sweet delights，that when the sun sank low it felt tired of all its happiness and enjoyment.Its wings could sustain it no longer，and gently and slowly it glided down upon the soft waving blades of grass，nodded its little head as well as it could nod，and slept peacefully and sweetly.The fly was dead.
“不会的，”大树说道，“在比我想像还要长的时间中，无休止地继续存在！”“那么这对咱们都是一样的，只是我们的计算方法不同罢了！”蜉蝣在空中舞着，飞翔着，对它们那细致精美的翅膀，对它们那薄纱和细绒非常喜欢，在温暖的天空中很是高兴；空气里也充满了从篱栏上的野玫瑰、车轴草覆盖的田野、接骨木树和忍冬花那里传来的令人陶醉的香味，更不用说车叶草、报春花和皱叶留兰的香了；这香气浓郁极了，蜉蝣都有些醉了。这漫长而美好的白昼，充满了欢乐和甜蜜。待到夕阳西沉，那小小的蜉蝣总是觉得有一种被这一切幸福陶醉的舒适的疲倦感。翅膀再也不能扇动；它非常轻柔地滑到了那柔软、轻摇的草秆上，点着头，点到不能再点，就很愉快地睡过去，死来临了。
“Poor little Ephemera！”said the oak.“What a terribly short life！”And so，on every summer day the dance was repeated，the same questions asked，and the same answers given.The same thing was continued through many generations of Ephemera，all of them felt equally merry and equally happy.
“可怜的小蜉蝣！”橡树说道，“这生命太短暂了！”每个夏天都是同样的话语，同样的舞蹈嬉戏、回答和睡去；蜉蝣的世世代代，这一幕幕全在重复着，它们全都同样的幸福，同样的高兴。
The oak remained awake through the morning of spring，the noon of summer，and the evening of autumn，its time of rest，its night drew nigh—winter was coming.Already the storms were singing，“Goodnight，goodnight.”Here fell a leaf and there fell a leaf.“We will rock you and lull you.Go to sleep，go to sleep.We will sing you to sleep，and shake you to sleep，and it will do your old twigs good，they will even crackle with pleasure.Sleep sweetly，sleep sweetly，it is your threehundredandsixtyfifth night.Correctly speaking，you are but a youngster in the world.Sleep sweetly，the clouds will drop snow upon you，which will be quite a coverlid，warm and sheltering to your feet.Sweet sleep to you，and pleasant dreams.”And there stood the oak，stripped of all its leaves，left to rest during the whole of a long winter，and to dream many dreams of events that had happened in its life，as in the dreams of men.
橡树在春天、夏天和秋天总是醒着，接着很快便到了它睡眠的时刻——冬天要到了，这是它的夜晚。风暴已经唱了：“晚上好，晚上好！”一片又一片的叶掉落了！“我们要摘掉它，我们要摘掉它，让你好好睡觉！我们轻摇你送你入睡，我们用歌声送你入睡，可是这对老枝子很有益，不是吗！这样它们就高兴得裂了开来！甜甜地睡，甜甜地睡！这是你的第三百六十五个夜，可准确地说你才是个一岁大的婴孩！甜甜地睡！云彩撒下雪花来，雪花堆成了一大层，是你脚下四周的暖和的床褥！做上一个美梦，甜甜的睡！”橡树脱光了自己的叶子以便安安稳稳地度过那漫长的冬天，在冬天多做一些梦，就像人梦中的那些一样，尽是那些都是自己经历过的事。