双语·少年维特的烦恼 五月二十七日
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MAY 27.
I find I have fallen into raptures, declamation, and similes, and have forgotten, in consequence, to tell you what became of the children. Absorbed in my artistic contemplations, which I briefly described in my letter of yesterday, I continued sitting on the plough for two hours. Toward evening a young woman, with a basket on her arm, came running toward the children, who had not moved all that time. She exclaimed from a distance, “You are a good boy, Philip!” She gave me greeting: I returned it, rose, and approached her. I inquired if she were the mother of those pretty children. “Yes,” she said; and, giving the eldest a piece of bread, she took the little one in her arms and kissed it with a mother’s tenderness. “I left my child in Philip’s care,” she said, “whilst I went into the town with my eldest boy to buy some wheaten bread, some sugar, and an earthen pot.” I saw the various articles in the basket, from which the cover had fallen. “I shall make some broth tonight for my little Hans (which was the name of the youngest): that wild fellow, the big one, broke my pot yesterday, whilst he was scrambling with Philip for what remained of the contents.” I inquired for the eldest; and she bad scarcely time to tell me that he was driving a couple of geese home from the meadow, when he ran up, and handed Philip an osier-twig. I talked a little longer with the woman, and found that she was the daughter of the schoolmaster, and that her husband was gone on a journey into Switzerland for some money a relation had left him. “They wanted to cheat him,” she said, “and would not answer his letters; so he is gone there himself. I hope he has met with no accident, as I have heard nothing of him since his departure.” I left the woman, with regret, giving each of the children a kreutzer, with an additional one for the youngest, to buy some wheaten bread for his broth when she went to town next; and so we parted.
I assure you, my dear friend, when my thoughts are all in tumult, the sight of such a creature as this tranquillizes my disturbed mind. She moves in a happy thoughtlessness within the confined circle of her existence; she supplies her wants from day to day; and, when she sees the leaves fall, they raise no other idea in her mind than that winter is approaching. Since that time I have gone out there frequently. The children have become quite familiar with me; and each gets a lump of sugar when I drink my coffee, and they share my milk and bread and butter in the evening. They always receive their kreutzer on Sundays, for the good woman has orders to give it to them when I do not go there after evening service. They are quite at home with me, tell me everything; and I am particularly amused with observing their tempers, and the simplicity of their behaviour, when some of the other village children are assembled with them.
It has given me a deal of trouble to satisfy the anxiety of the mother, lest (as she says) “they should inconvenience the gentleman.”
五月二十七日
我看我讲得高兴，只顾打比方，发议论，竟忘了把那两个孩子后来的情况告诉你。我在犁头上坐了将近两个小时，完全沉醉在作画里；关于当时的心情，昨天我已零零碎碎向你谈了一些。傍晚，一位青年女子手腕挎着个小篮子，向着一直坐在坝子上没动的小孩子走过来，老远就嚷着：“菲利普斯，真乖啊！”——她向我问好，我说了谢谢，随后站起来，走过去，问她是不是孩子的妈妈。她回答“是”，一边给大孩子半个白面包，一边抱起小孩子，满怀母爱地亲吻着。——“我把小弟弟交给我的菲利普斯带，”她说，“自己跟老大一块儿进城买面包、糖和熬粥的砂锅去了。”——在她那掀开了盖子的提篮中，我看见了这些东西。——“我打算晚上给咱汉斯（这是最小那个孩子的名字）熬点粥。我那老大是个淘气鬼，昨儿个跟菲利普斯争粥脚子吃，把锅给砸啦。”——我问她老大现在何处，她回答在草地上放鹅；然而话音未了，他已一蹦一跳地跑来，给他大弟弟带来了一根榛树鞭子。我继续和妇人闲聊，得知她是一位教员的闺女，丈夫为着承继一位堂兄的遗产，出门上瑞士去了。——“人家想骗他，”她说，“连信都不给他回，所以只好亲自跑一趟。他一点消息也没有，但愿别出什么事才好呵。”——和妇人分别时，我心情颇沉重，便给了小孩儿们一人一枚银毫子，此外再给了一枚给他们的妈妈，请她下次进城时买个白面包回来，拿给最小的孩子和粥一块儿吃。随后便分了手。
告诉你，好朋友，每当我心烦意乱的时候，只要看见这样一个心平气和的人，我便可安定下来。这种人乐天知命，过一天是一天，看见树叶落时，只会想“冬天快到啦”，除此就别无思虑。从那次以后，我常常出去。小孩子们都和我混熟了，在我喝咖啡时得到糖吃，傍晚与我一块儿分享黄油面包和酸牛奶。每逢礼拜天，我总给他们银毫子，即使做完弥撒我没回家，我也请房东太太代为分发给他们。他们都信赖我，什么话都对我讲。每逢村里有更多小孩聚到我这儿来，玩得高兴，有什么愿望都径直表露的时候，我更是快活得什么似的。
孩子的母亲总担心“他们会打搅少爷”；我费了老大的劲，才打消了她的疑虑。
