A Tiny Drop of Magic一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)魔法

There were once two young wizard1 apprentices2 called IPlant and IEat， whotrained for years to go and charge3 their wands4 in the mysterious fountain5 ofmagic. When they were finally ready， they travelled by sea to the island of AThousand Deserts， crossed its endless sand dunes6， climbed the great rock mountainand finally found the fountain.

從前，有兩個(gè)年輕的巫師學(xué)徒，他們叫伊普蘭特和伊阿特。他們訓(xùn)練多年，為了在神秘的魔法噴泉中為自己的魔杖充能。他們最終準(zhǔn)備好了，乘船來(lái)到了千漠之島，穿過(guò)了一望無(wú)際的沙丘，爬上了巨大的巖石山，終于找到了噴泉。

But the fountain was dry. It was so dry that they could only fill their wands witha tiny drop of magic from the fountain. And when the magic of the fountain was drained7， the island was turned into an immense8 desert that no one could cross.Only two small oases9 remained and， to give themselves the best chance at survival10，IPlant and IEat decided to go their separate ways， each to their own tiny oasis.

但是噴泉是干涸的，干涸到他們只能在魔杖里注入一小滴來(lái)自噴泉的魔法。當(dāng)噴泉的魔力消失后，這座島就變成了一片無(wú)人能穿過(guò)的大沙漠。由于只剩下兩個(gè)小綠洲，為了給他們自己最佳的生存機(jī)會(huì)，伊普蘭特和伊阿特決定分道揚(yáng)鑣，去往各自的小綠洲。

Life then became very hard for both of them. Although the small oasis providedthem with plenty of water， their only food were the dates11 from the few palm treesthat had grown at the water’s edge12. Although they waved their wands to try to getfood， they had so little magic that nothing ever happened.

他們倆之后的生活都非常艱難。雖然小綠洲為他們提供了充足的水，但他們唯一的食物是生長(zhǎng)在水邊的幾棵棕櫚樹(shù)上的椰棗。雖然他們揮動(dòng)魔杖想要得到食物，但他們的魔力實(shí)在太少了，所以什么也沒(méi)有發(fā)生。

Several weeks later， however， IEat waved his wand and a huge， tasty tomatoappeared before him.

然而，幾個(gè)星期后，伊阿特一揮魔杖，一個(gè)又大又好吃的西紅柿出現(xiàn)在他面前。

“Lucky me！ If I eat it now， it will make me happy today.”

“我真走運(yùn)！如果我現(xiàn)在把它吃了，它會(huì)讓我今天開(kāi)開(kāi)心心的?！?/p>

And that day was IEat’s best since he had gone to live in the oasis.

這一天是伊阿特去綠洲生活以來(lái)最美好的一天。

A few days later， something similar happened to IPlant， when his wandproduced a small potato.

幾天后，伊普蘭特也發(fā)生了類(lèi)似的事情，他的魔杖變出了一個(gè)小土豆。

“Lucky me！ If I plant the potato and take care of it， it will make me happy formany days.”

“我真走運(yùn)！如果我種下土豆，好好照顧它，它會(huì)讓我快樂(lè)許多天?！?/p>

That day， IPlant was just as hungry as before but he also had to work to preparethe soil and plant the potato. Sometime later the wand gave IEat a chubby13 songbird.

那天，伊普蘭特和以前一樣餓，但他還得準(zhǔn)備土壤種土豆。過(guò)了一段時(shí)間，魔杖給了伊阿特一只胖乎乎的會(huì)唱歌的小鳥(niǎo)。

“Lucky me！ If I eat it now， it will make me happy today.”

“我真走運(yùn)！如果我現(xiàn)在把它吃了，它會(huì)讓我今天開(kāi)開(kāi)心心的?！?/p>

The bird tasted so good that the day turned out to be his best in the oasis.Around that time also， IPlant’s wand gave him a thin songbird.

這只鳥(niǎo)很美味，以至于這一天成了他在綠洲中最美好的一天。大約在那個(gè)時(shí)候，伊普蘭特的魔杖給了他一只瘦小的會(huì)唱歌的小鳥(niǎo)。

“Lucky me！ If I feed the bird and take care of it， it will make me happy formany days.”

“我真走運(yùn)！如果我喂它，照顧它，它會(huì)讓我快樂(lè)很多天?！?/p>

For many days after that， IPlant shared the little food he had with the bird， toget the bird to return and wake him up every morning with beautiful songs.

在那之后的許多天里，伊普蘭特和小鳥(niǎo)分享他僅有的一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)食物，讓小鳥(niǎo)每天早上用動(dòng)聽(tīng)的歌聲叫醒他來(lái)作為回報(bào)。

Every now and again， the two wizards received new little gifts from theirwands. IEat used them at once to enjoy a special day， while IPlant put up withhunger and tiredness to turn each gift into something that might be useful infuture. That way， it didn’t take him long to grow a small garden with fruit，which he shared with more and more animals who provided him with assistance14， food and company. Eventually he felt very happy and comfortable，and had so many things that he finally was able to go out and find IEat to tryand cross the desert and run away.

兩個(gè)巫師時(shí)不時(shí)地從他們的魔杖那里收到新的小禮物。伊阿特立刻用它們來(lái)享受特別的一天，而伊普蘭特則忍受饑餓和疲勞，把每一份禮物變成未來(lái)可能有用的東西。這樣，沒(méi)過(guò)多久，他就種成了一個(gè)有水果樹(shù)的小花園，他與越來(lái)越多的動(dòng)物分享水果，這些動(dòng)物為他提供幫助、食物和陪伴。最后，他感到很快樂(lè)和舒適，有了這么多的東西，他終于能出去找伊阿特，試著穿越沙漠離開(kāi)。

However， IEat wanted nothing to do with him. Hearing how IPlant hadachieved so much and thinking that he could have done the same， he was filledwith anger and jealousy15. Convinced that everything was because of the littlemagic in his own wand， he changed it with IPlant’s when he wasn’t looking.Impatient to try his new wand， he ordered his old friend to leave. But the wand hadeven less magic than the one he already had， and the jealous and impatientmagician was stuck16 in his oasis for years and years， unable to run away.

然而，伊阿特不想和他有任何關(guān)系。聽(tīng)到伊普蘭特收獲滿(mǎn)滿(mǎn)，想到自己也可以做到，他心中充滿(mǎn)了憤怒和嫉妒。他深信一切都是因?yàn)樗约耗д壤锏男∧Хǎ谑浅靡疗仗m特不注意的時(shí)候，把自己的魔杖和他的調(diào)換了。他迫不及待地想試試他的新魔杖，并把他的老朋友趕走了。但是這根魔杖的魔力比他已經(jīng)擁有的那根還要小，這個(gè)嫉妒心強(qiáng)又心急的魔法師被困在他的綠洲里，年復(fù)一年，無(wú)法逃脫。

IPlant left IEat’s oasis and decided to cross the desert. He had only beentravelling for a few hours when a strong wind dragged17 his friend， the little bird，away. IPlant ran after it to save it， but the wind turned into a tornado that lifted thelittle bird， the wizard and all his things， up into the air. They flew and flew for so manyhours that they crossed the desert and then crossed the sea. Finally， the wind droppedand IPlant landed softly in a peaceful green valley， next to a beautiful fountain. Thebird then took Iplant’s wand in its beak18 and carried it to the fountain.

伊普蘭特離開(kāi)了伊阿特的綠洲，決定穿越沙漠。他剛走了幾個(gè)小時(shí)，一陣狂風(fēng)就把他的朋友小鳥(niǎo)吹走了。伊普蘭特追上去救它，但大風(fēng)變成了龍卷風(fēng)，把小鳥(niǎo)、巫師和他所有的東西都拋到了空中。他們飛啊飛，飛了好幾個(gè)小時(shí)，飛過(guò)了沙漠，又飛過(guò)了大海。最后，風(fēng)停了，伊普蘭特輕輕地落在了一個(gè)寧?kù)o的綠色山谷里，旁邊是一個(gè)美麗的噴泉。然后那只鳥(niǎo)叼住了伊普蘭特的魔杖，把它帶到噴泉邊。

The young wizard felt the wand and himself filled with the purest magic andthe deepest wisdom. He realised that this was the true fountain of magic and thatthe bird was its faithful19 guardian， entrusted20 with the job of saving such greatpowers for wizards who had sufficient21 wisdom， patience and willpower to achievebig things with just a tiny drop of magic.

年輕的巫師感到魔杖和自己身上都充滿(mǎn)了最純凈的魔法和最深刻的智慧。他意識(shí)到這才是真正的魔法之泉，而這只鳥(niǎo)是它忠實(shí)的守護(hù)者，負(fù)責(zé)為那些有著足夠智慧、耐心和毅力的巫師們保存如此強(qiáng)大的力量，而這些巫師們只需一滴魔法就能成就大事。

（英語(yǔ)原文選自：freestoriesforkids.com）