附原文（The Fall of Freddie the Leaf）

by [美]利奥.巴斯卡利亚 Leo Buscalgia

这是一篇以童话故事的形式 从一片叶子的角度 来诠释生命过程的文章.

    春天过去了，接着夏天也过去了，弗雷迪这片叶子已经长大，叶片又宽又厚实，五个角又尖又硬。他长在一棵高大的树上，可春天里，当他在靠近树梢的那根大树枝的时候他还是一个小小的叶芽。在弗雷迪的周围叶子真有成千上万，全都跟他一模一样，或者说看上去都跟他一模一样，很快他就明白了没有两片叶子一模一样的哪怕是长在同一棵树上，他左边的那片叶子叫埃尔弗雷德，他右边的叶子叫本，他头顶上那片叶子叫克莱尔。他们都是一块长大的，在春天的威风中学会了跳舞，在夏天里他们懒洋洋的晒太阳，让雨水给他们冲凉。可是弗雷迪最好的朋友是丹尼尔，丹尼尔这片叶子在这棵树上最大好像也最老，弗雷迪还觉的丹尼尔在他们大伙中是最聪明的一个。是丹尼尔告诉他们，他们是树的一份子；是丹尼尔向他们解释他们生长在一个公园里，这棵树有茁壮的根，埋藏在下面的泥土里；他还给她们讲那些停在他们这棵树枝上来唱晨曲的小鸟；他讲太阳，讲月亮，讲星星，讲一年四季。弗雷迪真高兴他是一片叶子，它爱他这根树枝，爱他这些轻盈的树叶朋友，爱他这高高在空中的地方，爱轻轻吹动他的风，爱温暖他的阳光，爱在他身上投下洁白柔和的影子的亮。    夏天特别好，有些漫长，有些炎热，但特别舒服，暖和的夏夜那么宁静，美妙。

    那个夏天公园的人多极了，他们经常走过来，坐在这棵树底下。丹尼尔告诉弗雷迪给他们遮荫是他的志愿之一。弗雷迪问过丹尼尔志愿是什么呀。丹尼尔回答说：就是活着的目的。我们活这就是要给别人过的快乐；我们活着就要给因为家里太热来这里避暑的老人遮荫；我们活着就要给孩子们一片阴凉的地方好让他们来玩；人们在树下来野餐，在格子台布上吃东西，我们活着就是要用叶片给他们扇风；我们活着就是要做这些好事情。弗雷迪特别喜欢老人，他们安静的作在凉爽的草地上谈论往事，难得走动。孩子们也好玩极了，有时它们会在树皮上挖窟窿，或者刻上自己的名字，看着他们跑得那么快，嘻嘻哈哈的欢笑，也是非常好玩的。

    可是弗雷迪的夏天很快就过去了，十月的一天夜里它一下子消失了。那天夜里，弗雷迪从来就没有觉的这么冷过，所有的叶子都冷的瑟瑟发抖，他们给披上了白白的东西过很快融化掉，留下的是露水，在早晨的阳光里闪烁。于是丹尼尔又告诉他们，他们这是经历了一场霜冻，这说明秋天已经来到，冬天也不远了。这时候，整棵树，其实应该说是整个公园几乎一下子变得五彩缤纷，树上几乎再没有一片绿叶子。而弗雷德变成了深黄色，本变成了闪亮的橙色，克莱尔变成了火红色，丹尼尔变成了深紫色，而弗雷迪呢红色当中带着金色又带着蓝色，他们看上去都是那样的漂亮，弗雷迪和他那些朋友让这棵树变成了一片红海。我们都在同一棵树上，为什么会我们变成不同的颜色呢？弗雷迪问。丹尼尔实事求是的说：我们每一篇叶子都是不同的，我们的体验各不相同，我们面对太阳的方式不同，我们投下的影子不同，我们为什么不能有不同的颜色呢?丹尼尔告诉他们这个了不起的季节叫秋天。

    有一天，一件非常奇怪的事情发生了，同样是那些风，过去让他们在树枝上轻轻的舞动，如今却把他们在树枝上狠狠地吹过来吹过去，好像在大发脾气。这样一来有些叶子在树枝上被风吹走，随风打转，最后轻轻的落到了下面的地上。这下子所有的叶子都吓坏了，他们悄悄的你问我我问你：到底出什么事了？丹尼尔告诉大家说：秋天就是这样的。到了叶子离开树枝落下去的时候了，有些人把这个叫做死。弗雷迪问道：我们全都会死吗？是的，丹尼尔回答说：万物都会死，不管是大是小，是强是弱。我们先完成我们的任务，我们经历日晒、月照、风吹、雨打，我们学会跳舞、欢笑，最后我们死去。我不想死，弗雷迪斩钉截铁的说：你也要死吗？是的，丹尼尔回答说：到时候我就得死。到什么时候呢？这谁也说不准，丹尼尔回答说。弗雷迪看到别的叶子在陆续飘落，他想一定是他们的时候了，他看到有些叶子跟风对抗，有些叶子乖乖的让风吹走，安安静静的飘落到地上，没多久这棵树就几乎变得光秃秃的了。我怕死? 弗雷迪坦白的告诉丹尼而说；我不知道下面是什么。对于我们不知道的事，我们都会害怕，弗雷迪，这很自然。 丹尼尔说：不过，春天变成夏天你不害怕，夏天变成秋天你不害怕，这些都是自然的变化，那么你为什么会害怕这个死的季节呢?那么这棵树也会死吗？有一天他也要死，不过有一种东西比树更强，这就是生命，他将永存，我们大家全都是生命的一部分。我们死了会到什么地方去呢？谁也说不准，这是个大秘密。我们会回到春天去吗？可能回不去，可是生命一定会回去。这都是怎么回事呢？既然我们会落下去，我们干嘛生长在这里呢？丹尼尔继续实事求是的回答：这是为了享受太阳和月亮，这是为了一起过那么长的日子，这是为了把影子投给老人和孩子，这是为了为了让秋天变得五彩缤纷，这是为了看到四季，难道这些还不够吗?

    那天下午，在金灿灿的黄昏日光中，丹尼尔落下去了，他安详的落下去了，他落下去的时候好像还在安详的微笑。丹尼尔说；再见了，弗雷迪。于是就剩下了弗雷迪一个，他那根树枝上就剩下了他这片叶子。

    第二天早晨下了第一场雪，雪白白的，松松软软，可是冷的厉害。那一天没有什么太阳，白天非常短。弗雷迪发现他颜色也没有了，很脆，一碰就会碎掉似的。天越来越冷，雪重重的压在身上。天亮时来了一阵风，把它从树枝上吹了下来，一点也不痛。他觉得自己安静的轻飘飘的往下掉，他往下掉的时候，他有生以来第一次看到了整棵大树，它是多么壮实啊，他断定这棵大树会活很久，他知道他自己曾经是这棵大树生命的一部分，这让弗雷迪感到自豪。弗雷迪落到一堆雪上，雪又松又软，甚至有些暖和，在这个新地方他甚至感到比原来还舒服。他闭上眼睛一下子睡着了，他再也不知道春天将要到来，雪将要化成水，他再也不知道他这片无用的干枯叶子将跟水混合起来，让这棵树长的更强壮，他睡在树下的土里更不知道春天来时新的叶子将要长出来。

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf:
A Story of Life for All Ages,
by Leo Buscalgia
Spring had passed. So had Summer. Freddie, the leaf, had grown large. His mid section was wide and strong, and his five extensions were firm and pointed. He had first appeared in Spring as a small sprout on a rather large branch near the top of a tall tree.

Freddie was surrounded by hundreds of other leaves just like himself, or so it seemed. Soon he discovered that no two leaves were alike, even though they were on the same tree. Alfred was the leaf next to him. Ben was the leaf on his right side, and Clare was the lovely leaf overhead. They had all grown up together. They had learned to dance in the Spring breezes, bask lazily in the Summer sun and wash off in the cooling rains.

But it was Daniel who was Freddie's best friend. He was the largest leaf on the limb and seemed to have been there before anyone else. It appeared to Freddie that Daniel was also the wisest among them. It was Daniel who told them that they were part of a tree. It was Daniel who explained that they were growing in a public park. It was Daniel who told them that the tree had strong roots which were hidden in the ground below. He explained about the birds who came to sit on their branch and sing morning songs. He explained about the sun, the moon, the stars, and the seasons.

Freddie loved being a leaf. He loved his branch, his light leafy friends, his place high in the sky, the wind that jostled him about, the sun rays that warmed him, the moon that covered him with soft, white shadows. Summer had been especially nice. The long hot days felt good and the warm nights were peaceful and dreamy. There were many people in the park that Summer. They often came and sat under Freddie's tree. Daniel told him that giving shade was part of his purpose.

"What's a purpose?" Freddie had asked.

"A reason for being," Daniel had answered. "To make things more pleasant for others is a reason for being. To make shade for old people who come to escape the heat of their homes is a reason for being. To provide a cool place for children to come and play. To fan with our leaves the picnickers who come to eat on checkered tablecloths. These are all the reasons for being."

Freddie especially liked the old people. They sat so quietly on the cool grass and hardly ever moved. They talked in whispers of times past. The children were fun, too, even though they sometimes tore holes in the bark of the tree or carved their names into it. Still, it was fun to watch them move so fast and to laugh so much.

But Freddie's Summer soon passed. It vanished on an October night. He had never felt it so cold. All the leaves shivered with the cold. They were coated with a thin layer of white which quickly melted and left them dew drenched and sparkling in the morning sun. Again, it was Daniel who explained that they had experienced their first frost, the sign that it was Fall and that Winter would come soon.

Almost at once, the whole tree, in fact, the whole park was transformed into a blaze of color. There was hardly a green leaf left. Alfred had turned a deep yellow. Ben had become a bright orange. Clare had become a blazing red, Daniel a deep purple and Freddie was red and gold and blue. How beautiful they all looked. Freddie and his friends had made their tree a rainbow.

"Why did we turn different colors," Freddie asked, "when we are on the same tree?"

"Each of us is different. We have had different experiences. We have faced the sun differently. We have cast shade differently. Why should we not have different colors?" Daniel said matter-of-factly. Daniel told Freddie that this wonderful season was called Fall.

One day a very strange thing happened. The same breezes that, in the past, had made them dance began to push and pull at their stems, almost as if they were angry. This caused some of the leaves to be torn from their branches and swept up in the wind, tossed about and dropped softly to the ground. All the leaves became frightened.

"What's happening?" they asked each other in whispers.

"It's what happens in Fall," Daniel told them. "It's the time for leaves to change their home. Some people call it to die."

"Will we all die?" Freddie asked.

"Yes," Daniel answered. "Everything dies. No matter how big or small, how weak or strong. We first do our job. We experience the sun and the moon, the wind and the rain. We learn to dance and to laugh. Then we die."

"I won't die!" said Freddie with determination. "Will you, Daniel?"

"Yes," answered Daniel, "when it's my time."

"When is that?" asked Freddie.

"No one knows for sure," Daniel responded.

Freddie noticed that the other leaves continued to fall. He thought, "It must be their time." He saw that some of the leaves lashed back at the wind before they fell, others simply let go and dropped quietly. Soon the tree was almost bare.

"I'm afraid to die," Freddie told Daniel. "I don't know what's down there."

"We all fear what we don't know, Freddie. It's natural," Daniel reassured him. "Yet, you were not afraid when Summer became Fall. They were natural changes. Why should you be afraid of the season of death?"

"Does the tree die, too?" Freddie asked.

"Someday. But there is something stronger than the tree. It is Life. That lasts forever and we are all a part of Life."

"Where will we go when we die?"

"No one knows for sure. That's the great mystery!"

"Will we return in the Spring?"

"We may not, but Life will."

"Then what has been the reason for all of this?" Freddie continued to question. "Why were we here at all if we only have to fall and die?"

Daniel answered in his matter-of-fact way, "It's been about the sun and the moon. It's been about happy times together. It's been about the shade and the old people and the children. It's been about colors in Fall. It's been about seasons. Isn't that enough?"

"That afternoon, in the golden light of dusk, Daniel let go. He fell effortlessly. He seemed to smile peacefully as he fell. "Goodbye for now, Freddie," he said.

Then, Freddie was all alone, the only leaf on his branch. The first snow fell the following morning. It was soft, white, and gentle; but it was bitter cold. There was hardly any sun that day, and the day was very short. Freddie found himself losing his color, becoming brittle. It was constantly cold and the snow weighed heavily upon him.

At dawn the wind came that took Freddie from his branch. It didn't hurt at all. He felt himself float quietly, gently and softly downward. As he fell, he saw the whole tree for the first time. How strong and firm it was! He was sure that it would live for a long time and he knew that he had been part of its life and made him proud.

Freddie landed on a clump of snow. It somehow felt soft and even warm. In this new position he was more comfortable than he had ever been. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. He did not know that Spring would follow Winter and that the snow would melt into water. He did not know that what appeared to be his useless dried self would join with the water and serve to make the tree stronger. Most of all, he did not know that there, asleep in the tree and the ground, were already plans for new leaves in the Spring.