THE FOREST was large and thickly overgrown with all kinds of leaf-bearing trees. Usually, it is cold this time of year and it even happens that it snow, but this November was relatively warm. You might have thought it was summer except that the whole forest was strewn with fallen leaves－some yellow as saffron, some red as wine, some the color of gold and some of mixed color. The leaves had been torn down by the rain, by the wind, some by day, some at night, and they now formed a deep carpet over the forest floor. Although their juices had run dry, the leaves still exuded a pleasant aroma. The sun shone down on them through the living branches, and worms and flies which had somehow survived the autumn storms crawled over them. The space beneath the leaves provided hiding places for crickets, field mice and many other creatures who sought protection in the earth.

在一棵其它葉子都落了的樹梢上，還有兩片掛在一根細枝上：這是奧立和特魯法。奧立和特魯法也不知道為什么他們在所有的雨、寒夜和風中幸存了下來。沒有人知道為什么有的樹葉會飄落下來而有的樹葉依舊長在樹上？可是奧立和特魯法認為答案在于他們深深地愛著對方。奧立比特魯法年長幾天，外形略大于特魯法，可是特魯法更漂亮精致。每當刮風下雨或開始下冰雹時，一片樹葉并不能為另一片做些什么。然而每到這個時候，奧立都鼓勵特魯法。在最惡劣的暴風雨里，雷鳴電閃，狂風不僅刮落樹葉，甚至刮斷整根樹枝，奧立央求著特魯法：“堅持，特魯法！盡你的全力堅持住！”

有時在寒冷的暴風雨之夜，特魯法會抱怨：“我的時間到了，奧立，可是你要堅持住！”

　　“為了什么理由呢？”奧立問。“沒有你我的生命毫無意義，如果你掉下去，我將跟你一起掉下去！”

　　“不，奧立，別這樣！一片樹葉只要能留在樹上就不應該松手往下掉。”

　　“這全得靠你是否留下來陪我。”奧立回答。“白天我看著你愛慕你的美麗，夜里感覺著你的芬芳。只我一片樹葉留在樹上？決不！”

　　特魯法說：“奧立，你的話真讓我高興，可是你說得不對。你很清楚我不漂亮了，看我多皺，變得多枯萎了啊！我唯一剩下的就是——我愛你。”

　　奧立說：“那不就夠了嗎？愛是所有力量中最高尚、最美好的。只要我們在這里彼此相愛，就沒有風，沒有雨或暴風雪能毀滅我們。告訴你，特魯法，我從來沒有像現在這么愛你。”
“為什么，奧立？為什么，我已經完全枯黃了。”

　　“誰說綠色漂亮黃色就不漂亮了？所有的色彩都同樣漂亮。”

At times during cold and stormy nights, Trufa would complain: “My time had come, Ole, but you hand on!”

“What for?” Ole asked. “Without you, my life is senseless. If you fall, I’ll fall with you.”

“NO, Ole, don’t do it! So long as a leaf can stay up it mustn’t let go.”

“It all depends if you stay with me,” Ole replied. “By day I look at you and admire your beauty. At night I sense your fragrance. Be the only leaf on a tree? No never!”

“Ole, your words are so sweet but they’re not true,” Trufa said. “You know very well that I’m no longer pretty. Look how wrinkled I am, how shriveled I’ve become! Only one thing is still left me－my love for you.”

“Isn’t that enough? Of all our powers love the highest, the finest,” Ole said. “So long as we love each other we remain here, and no wind, rain or storm can destroy us. I’ll tell you something, Trufa－I never loved you as much as I love you now.”

“Why, Ole? Why? I’m all yellow.”

“Who says green is pretty and yellow is not? All colors are equally handsome.”

奧立剛說完這些話，特魯法這幾個月里一直害怕的事發生了——一陣風刮來從細枝上拉扯松了奧立。特魯法開始顫抖、晃動，似乎她很快也要被刮落了，可是她牢牢抓住了。她看到奧立掉了下去在空中搖晃著，她用葉子的語言大聲喊：“奧立，回來！回來啊，奧立！”

　　可是她甚至話都沒能說完，奧立就從視野里消失了。他跟地上的其它落葉混合在一起，而特魯法孤伶伶地留在了樹上。

And just as Ole spoke these words, that which Trufa had feared all these months happened－a wind came up and tore Ole loose from the twig. Trufa began to tremble and flutter until it seemed that she, too, would soon be torn away, but she held fast. She saw Ole fall and sway in the air, and she called to him in leafy language: “Ole! Come back! Ole! Ole!”

But before she could even finish, Ole vanished from sight. He blended in with the other leaves on the ground, and Trufa was left all alone on the tree.

只要天還沒黑，特魯法不管怎樣還能設法忍受悲痛。可是天漸漸黑冷下來，并開始下起刺骨的雨，她絕望了。不知怎么地她覺得所有樹葉不幸的責任要怪樹，要怪長有巨大樹枝的樹干。樹葉掉了，而樹干仍舊高大牢固地扎根在大地上，沒有風雨或冰雹能掀翻它。這些對樹有什么要緊呢，它有可能永遠存活下去，可是成為一片樹葉呢？在特魯法看來，樹干就像上帝，它用樹葉覆蓋自己幾個月，然后又抖落它們；在樹干高興的時候就用樹的汁液滋養樹葉，而后又渴死它們。特魯法請求樹把奧立還給她，讓夏天再一次來臨，可是樹沒有注意到它的祈求。

So long as it was still day, Trufa managed somehow to endure her grief. But when it grew dark and cold and a piercing rain began to fall, she sank into despair. Somehow she felt that the blame for all the leafy misfortunes lay with the tree, the trunk with all its mighty limbs. Leaves fell, but the trunk stood tall, thick and firmly rooted in the ground. No wind, rain or hail could upset it. What did it matter to a tree, which probably lived forever, what become of a leaf? To Trufa, the trunk was a kind of god. It covered itself with leaves for a few months, then it shook them off. It nourished them with its sap for as long as it pleased, then it let them die of thirst. Trufa pleaded with the tree to give her back her Ole, to make it summer again, but the tree didn’t heed her prayers.

特魯法從沒想到一個夜晚能像今晚這么長——這么黑暗，這么嚴寒。她呼喚著奧立，希望能聽到一聲回答，可是奧立沉默著，沒有給出一點他存在的跡象。

　　特魯法對樹說道：“既然你從我身邊帶走了奧立，把我也一起帶走吧。”

　　可是甚至這個祈求樹也沒有注意。

Trufa didn’t think a night could be so long as this one—so dark, so frosty. She spoke to Ole and hoped for an answer, but Ole was silent and gave no sign of his presence.

Trufa said to the tree: “Since you’ve taken Ole from me, take me too.”

But even this prayer the tree didn’t acknowledge.


片刻后，特魯法打瞌睡了。這不是睡，而是讓人不適的衰弱無力。醒來后，她吃驚地發現她不掛在樹上了，睡著時風已把她刮了下來。這給了她不同于伴著日出醒來的感覺，她所有的害怕和焦慮此刻都消失了。這次醒來給了她前所未有的意識。她知道現在她不只是一片依賴于風的一時興致的樹葉了，她成為宇宙的一部分。通過某些神秘的力量，特魯法了解了自身分子，原子，質子和電子的奇跡，她所代表的巨大能量以及她是其中一部分的神圣計劃。

After a while, Trufa dozed off. This wasn’t sleep but a strange languor. Trufa awoke and to her amazement found that she was no longer handing on the tree. The wind had blown her down while she was asleep. This was different from the way she used to feel when she awoke on the tree with the sunrise. All her fears and anxieties had now vanished. The awakening also brought with it an awareness she had never felt before. She knew now that she wasn’t just a leaf that depended on every whim of the wind, but that she was part of the universe. Through some mysterious force, Trufa understood the miracle of her molecules, atoms, protons and electrons－the enormous energy she represented and the divine plan of which she was a part.

奧立就躺在她身旁，他們懷著前所未有的愛問候對方。這不是依賴機會或反復無常的愛，這愛跟宇宙本身一樣巨大和永恒。在四月至十一月間他們日日夜夜恐懼的結果卻不是死亡而是解救。一陣和風把奧立和特魯法帶到空中，他們在只有解放自己進入永恒才能領悟到的無限幸福里沖入云宵。

Next to her lay Ole, and they greeted each other with a love they hadn’t been aware of before. This wasn’t a love that depended on chance or caprice, but a love as mighty and eternal as the universe itself. That which they had feared all the days and nights between April and November turned out to be not death but redemption. A breeze came and lifted Ole and Trufa in the air and they soared with the bliss known only by those who have freed themselves and have joined with eternity.