《祖母》，1845 年

Grandmother, 1845

祖母年紀很大了，她滿臉皺紋，頭髮全白了；但她的眼睛就像兩顆星星，當她看著你時，眼神裡透著溫和、慈祥的神情，這讓你感覺很舒服。

Grandmother is very old, her face is wrinkled, and her hair is quite white; but her eyes are like two stars, and they have a mild, gentle expression in them when they look at you, which does you good.

她穿著一件質地厚重、華麗的絲綢連衣裙，上面繡著大朵的花；她走動時，裙子會沙沙作響。

She wears a dress of heavy, rich silk, with large flowers worked on it; and it rustles when she moves.

而且她能講出最精彩的故事。

And then she can tell the most wonderful stories.

祖母懂得很多事情，因為她比父親和母親的年紀都大 —— 這是肯定的。

Grandmother knows a great deal, for she was alive before father and mother — that’s quite certain.

她有一本帶大銀扣的讚美詩集，她經常在裡面閱讀；在書頁間，夾著一朵玫瑰，已經完全扁平且乾枯了；它不像插在花瓶裡的那些玫瑰那麼漂亮，但她卻對著它笑得非常開心，甚至眼裡還湧出了淚水。

She has a hymn-book with large silver clasps, in which she often reads; and in the book, between the leaves, lies a rose, quite flat and dry; it is not so pretty as the roses which are standing in the glass, and yet she smiles at it most pleasantly, and tears even e into her eyes.

“我不明白祖母為什麼要那樣看著舊書裡的那朵枯萎的花？

你知道嗎？”

“I wonder why grandmother looks at the withered flower in the old book that way?

do you know?”

哎呀，當祖母的淚水滴落在玫瑰上，她正看著它的時候，玫瑰復活了，它的芬芳瀰漫了整個房間；牆壁像在霧中一樣消失了，她周圍全是一片鬱鬱蔥蔥的樹林，夏天的時候，陽光透過茂密的枝葉灑下來；而祖母呢，她又變年輕了，成了一位迷人的少女，像玫瑰一樣清新，有著圓圓的、紅潤的臉頰，一頭金黃、光亮的捲髮，身材美麗又優雅；但那雙眼睛，那溫和、聖潔的眼睛，還是原來的樣子 —— 它們一直留在祖母身上。

why, when grandmother’s tears fall upon the rose, an