天上落下來的一片葉子
A Leaf from Heaven
Hans Christian Andersen
A Leaf from Heaven背景知識
(1855年)
這篇作品首先發表在1855年出版的新版《故事集》裡。它是安徒生有所感而寫的，而且主要牽涉到他自己：他的作品一直被某些人忽視，沒有能得到應當的評價，正如「天上落下的一片葉子」。但這片葉子卻得到了一個女孩的喜愛，珍藏在《聖經》裡，死時還帶進她的棺材，但是「誰也不知道」。這裡安徒生是在諷刺當時的一些「評論家」——他們並不懂得真正藝術作品的價值。
HIGH up in the clear, pure air flew an angel, with a flower plucked from the garden of heaven. As he was kissing the flower a very little leaf fell from it and sunk down into the soft earth in the middle of a wood. It immediately took root, sprouted, and sent out shoots among the other plants.
「What a ridiculous little shoot!」 said one. 「No one will recognize it; not even the thistle nor the stinging-nettle.」
「It must be a kind of garden plant,」 said another; and so they sneered and despised the plant as a thing from a garden.
「Where are you coming?」 said the tall thistles whose leaves were all armed with thorns. 「It is stupid nonsense to allow yourself to shoot out in this way; we are not here to support you.」
Winter came, and the plant was covered with snow, but the snow glittered over it as if it had sunshine beneath as well as above.
When spring came, the plant appeared in full bloom: a more beautiful object than any other plant in the forest. And now the professor of botany presented himself, one who could explain his knowledge in black and white. He examined and tested the plant, but it did not belong to his system of botany, nor could he possibly find out to what class it did belong. 「It must be some degenerate species,」 said he; 「I do not know it, and it is not mentioned in any system.」
「Not known in any system!」 repeated the thistles and the nettles.
The large trees which grew round it saw the plant and heard the remarks, but they said not a word either good or bad, which is the wisest plan for those who are ignorant.
There passed through the forest a poor innocent girl; her heart was pure, and her understanding increased by her faith. Her chief inheritance had been an old Bible, which she read and valued. From its pages she heard the voice of God speaking to her, and telling her to remember what was said of Joseph's brethren when persons wished to injure her. 「They imagined evil in their hearts, but God turned it to good.」 If we suffer wrongfully, if we are misunderstood or despised, we must think of Him who was pure and holy, and who prayed for those who nailed Him to the cross, 「Fath