◎ Mark Twain

In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said: “Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others, and be wary, choose wisely! For only one of them is valuable.”

The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death. The youth, said, eagerly: “There is no need to consider”; and he chose Pleasure.

He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in. But each in its turn was short-liyed and disappointing, vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him .In the end he said: “These years I have wasted. If I could but choose again, I would choose wisely.”

The fairy appeared, and said: “Four of the gifts remain. Choose once more, and oh, remember—time is flying, and only one of them is precious.”

The man considered long, then chose Love; and did not mark the tears that rose in the fairy’s eyes. After many, many years the man sat by a coffin, in an empty home. And he communed with himself, saying: “One by one they have gone away and left me; and now she lies here, the dearest and the last. Desolation after desolation has swept over me; but each hour of happiness the treacherous trader, Love, sold me I have paid a thousand hours of grief! Out of my heart of hearts I curse him!”

“Choose again.” It was the fairy speaking. “The years have you wisdom—surely it must be so. There gifts remain. Only one of them has any worth—remember it, and choose warily.”

The man reflected long, and then chose Fame; and the fairy, sighing, went her way. Years went by and she came again, and stood behind the man where he sat solitary in the fading day, thinking. And she knew his thought: “My name filled the world, and its praise were on every tongue, and it seemed well with me for a little while. How little a while it was! Then came envy; then detraction; then hate; then persecution. Then derision, which is the beginning of the end. And last of all came pity, which is the funeral of fame. Oh, the bitterness and misery of renown!”

“Choose yet again.” It was the fairy’s voice.

“Two gifts remain. And do not despair .In the beginning there was but one that was precious, and it is still here.

“Wealth—which is power! How blind I was!” Said the man, “Now, at last, life will be worth the living. I will spend, squander. These mockers and despisers will crawl in the dirt before me, and I will feed my hungry heart with their envy, I will have all luxuries, all joys, all enchant times of the spirit I will buy, buy, buy! I have lost much time, and chosen badly heretofore, but let that pass; I was ignorant then, and could but take for best what seemed so.”

Three short years went by, and a day came when the man sat shivering in a mean garret; and he was gaunt and wan and hollow-eyed, and clothed in rags; and he was gnawing a dry crust and mumbling: “Curse all the world’s gifts for mockeries and gilded lies! And miscalled, every one, they are not gifts, but merely lendings, Pleasure, Love, Fame, Riches: they are but temporary disguises for lasting realities Pain, Grief, Shame, Poverty. The fairy said true; in all her store there was but one gift which was precious, only one that was not valueless. How poor and cheap and mean I know those others now to be, Bring it! I am weary. I would rest.”

The fairy came, bringing again four of the gifts, but Death was wanting. She said: “I gave it to a mother’s pet, a little child. It was ignorant, but trusted me, asking me to choose for it. You did not ask me to choose.”

“Oh, miserable me! What is left for me?”

“What not even you have deserved: the wanton insult of Old Age.”

在生命之初，一位仙女带着篮子走来，对一位年轻人说道：“这里有几份礼物。你可以从中拿一份，留下其他的。你要小心，作出明智的选择！这里面只有一份礼物是珍贵的。”

一共有五份礼物：名声，爱情，财富，快乐，死亡。年轻人迫不及待地说：“没有必要考虑。”他选了快乐。

此后，他就开始步入世界，追寻年轻人所喜爱的快乐。但每一种快乐都是如此短暂，令人失望、徒劳和空虚，每当一种快乐弃他而去时，都要嘲弄他一番。最后，年轻人感叹道：“这些年我都浪费了。如果我能再选一次的话，我一定会作出明智的选择。”

这时仙女又出现了，她说：“四份礼物依然还在。再选一次吧。噢，记住——时光飞逝，而其中只有一件是珍贵的。”

这个人思考了很长时间，最终选择了爱情；他没有注意到仙女眼里泛起的泪光。经过许多年，这人坐在一口棺材旁边，屋子里空荡荡的。他自言自语道：“他们一个一个地离开了，只剩下我。现在，她就躺在这儿，我最亲爱的人，我最后的亲人。孤独荒凉一次次地漫过我全身。都是因为爱情这个奸诈的商人，它出售给我的每一个小时的甜蜜，我现在都要用数千个小时的悲伤来偿还！我从心底诅咒它！”

“你再选一次吧。”仙女又一次说道，“这些年已经给予你智慧——也理当如此。这里还有三份礼物，其中只有一份是有价值的——切记，好好选择。”

他想了很长时间，然后选择了名声。仙女叹了口气，径自离开了。时光流逝，仙女又回来了，站到他的身旁。已迈入迟暮之年的他孤身一人，心事重重。她知道他所有的想法：“我的名字传遍了整个世界，每个人都争相赞颂，似乎有一阵子我心满意足。可那是多么短暂的一阵子啊！随后来的就是嫉妒，然后是诋毁，然后是憎恶，然后是迫害，之后是嘲讽，从一切开始步入完结。最后，都是怜悯，也是我的名声的葬礼。啊，名声原来是这般苦涩和痛苦！”

“重新再来选择。”仙女的声音再度响起。

“还剩下两份礼物。不要绝望，从一开始就只有一份是宝贵的，而现在它还在这里。”

“财富——财富就是力量！我过去多盲目啊！”他说，“现在，最后，我的人生将要变得有意义了。我要纵情欢度此生，我要挥霍我的人生。那些对我冷嘲热讽、轻蔑诋毁我的人，将要在我面前的泥土里挣扎，而我空乏的心也将因为他们的妒忌而得到满足。我将要享尽荣华富贵，所有欢乐和所有销魂的时光。我要买，买，买！以前我作错了选择，失去了多少时间，不过算了吧；当时我很无知，我只能选看起来最好的东西。”

短短三年后。到了这么一天，这个人蜷缩在一个简陋的小阁楼里，骨瘦如柴，憔悴不已，双眼深陷，衣衫褴褛，浑身颤抖不停。他一边啃着干面包皮，一边说：“该死的礼物，都是为了让我受全世界的嘲笑和欺诈！每一样都叫错了！它们都不是礼物，根本只是租借品！快乐，爱情，名声，财富——都只不过是长久现实的临时伪装——它们其实是永远的痛苦、不幸、耻辱和贫穷！那个仙女说的没错啊，她所有的东西里只有一件礼物是珍贵的，只有那么一样不是毫无价值的。我现在才明白，其他礼物是多么低贱与廉价！把它拿过来吧——那真正宝贵的礼物！我累了，我想休息了。”

仙女出现了，带着以前的那四件礼物，但唯独没有最后那一件——死亡。她说：“我把它给了一位母亲的宠儿——一个孩子。他什么也不懂，但他信任我，让我来帮他挑选。而你并没有这么做。”

“啊，我多可悲啊！那还剩下什么给我吗？”

“一件你也不配得到的东西：接受年老体衰的无尽折磨。”