少年维特的烦恼 英文版 The Sorrows of Young Werther
歌德 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
MAY 9.
I have paid my visit to my native place with all the devotion ofa pilgrim, and have experienced many unexpected emotions. Nearthe great elm tree, which is a quarter of a league from the village,I got out of the carriage, and sent it on before, that alone, andon foot, I might enjoy vividly and heartily all the pleasure ofmy recollections. I stood there under that same elm which wasformerly the term and object of my walks. How things have sincechanged! Then, in happy ignorance, I sighed for a world I did notknow, where I hoped to find every pleasure and enjoyment which myheart could desire; and now, on my return from that wide world, Omy friend, how many disappointed hopes and unsuccessful plans haveI brought back!
As I contemplated the mountains which lay stretched out before me,I thought how often they had been the object of my dearest desires.Here used I to sit for hours together with my eyes bent upon them,ardently longing to wander in the shade of those woods, to losemyself in those valleys, which form so delightful an object in thedistance. With what reluctance did I leave this charming spot;when my hour of recreation was over, and my leave of absenceexpired! I drew near to the village: all the well-known oldsummerhouses and gardens were recognised again; I disliked the newones, and all other alterations which had taken place. I enteredthe village, and all my former feelings returned. I cannot, mydear friend, enter into details, charming as were my sensations:they would be dull in the narration. I had intended to lodge inthe market-place, near our old house. As soon as I entered, Iperceived that the schoolroom, where our childhood had been taughtby that good old woman, was converted into a shop. I called tomind the sorrow, the heaviness, the tears, and oppression of heart,which I experienced in that confinement. Every step produced someparticular impression. A pilgrim in the Holy Land does not meetso many spots pregnant with tender recollections, and his soul ishardly moved with greater devotion. One incident will serve forillustration. I followed the course of a stream to a farm, formerlya delightful walk of mine, and paused at the spot, where, whenboys, we used to amuse ourselves making ducks and drakes upon thewater. I recollected so well how I used formerly to watch thecourse of that same stream, following it with inquiring eagerness,forming romantic ideas of the countries it was to pass through;but my imagination was soon exhausted: while the water continuedflowing farther and farther on, till my fancy became bewilderedby the contemplation of an invisible distance. Exactly such, mydear friend, so happy and so confined, were the thoughts of ourgood ancestors. Their feelings and their poetry were fresh aschildhood. And, when Ulysses talks of the immeasurable sea andboundless earth, his epithets are true, natural, deeply felt, andmysterious. Of what importance is it that I have learned, withevery schoolboy, that the world is round? Man needs but littleearth for enjoyment, and still less for his final repose.
I am at present with the prince at his hunting lodge. He is a manwith whom one can live happily. He is honest and unaffected. Thereare, however, some strange characters about him, whom I cannot atall understand. They do not seem vicious, and yet they do notcarry the appearance of thoroughly honest men. Sometimes I amdisposed to believe them honest, and yet I cannot persuade myselfto confide in them. It grieves me to hear the prince occasionallytalk of things which he has only read or heard of, and always withthe same view in which they have been represented by others.
He values my understanding and talents more highly than my heart,but I am proud of the latter only. It is the sole source ofeverything of our strength, happiness, and misery. All the knowledgeI possess every one else can acquire, but my heart is exclusivelymy own.