not bend my head,” said the buckwheat.

“合上你們的花朵，低下你們的葉子。” 老柳樹說。

“close your flowers and bend your leaves,” said the old willow-tree.

“當雲層破裂時不要看閃電；連人都做不到這一點。

“do not look at the lightning when the cloud bursts; even men cannot do that.

在一道閃電中，天堂敞開了，我們可以往裡看；但那景象甚至會讓人類失明。

In a flash of lightning heaven opens, and we can look in; but the sight will strike even human beings blind.

如果我們膽敢這樣做，那我們這些只是從土裡長出來的、比人類低等得多的東西，又會怎樣呢？”

what then must happen to us, who only grow out of the earth, and are so inferior to them, if we venture to do so?”

“低等，真是的！” 蕎麥說。

“Inferior, indeed!” said the buckwheat.

“現在我打算窺視一下天堂。”

“Now I intend to have a peep into heaven.”

它驕傲而大膽地抬起頭來，這時閃電劃過天空，彷彿整個世界都著了火。

proudly and boldly he looked up, while the lightning flashed across the sky as if the whole world were in flames.

當可怕的暴風雨過去後，花兒和穀物在清新的寧靜空氣中抬起了它們低垂的腦袋，被雨水滋潤得精神煥發，但蕎麥卻像田裡的野草一樣躺著，被閃電燒得漆黑。

when the dreadful storm had passed, the flowers and the corn raised their drooping heads in the pure still air, refreshed by the rain, but the buckwheat lay like a weed in the field, burnt to blackness by the lightning.

老柳樹的樹枝在風中沙沙作響，大顆的水珠從它的綠葉上掉落下來，彷彿老柳樹在哭泣。

the branches of the old willow-tree rustled in the wind, and large water-drops fell from his green leaves as if the old willow were weeping.

於是麻雀們問它，周圍一切似乎都那麼歡快，它為什麼要哭泣呢。

then the sparrows asked why he was weeping, when all around