A Tiny Drop of Magic一点点魔法

There were once two young wizard1 apprentices2 called IPlant and IEat， whotrained for years to go and charge3 their wands4 in the mysterious fountain5 ofmagic. When they were finally ready， they travelled by sea to the island of AThousand Deserts， crossed its endless sand dunes6， climbed the great rock mountainand finally found the fountain.

从前，有两个年轻的巫师学徒，他们叫伊普兰特和伊阿特。他们训练多年，为了在神秘的魔法喷泉中为自己的魔杖充能。他们最终准备好了，乘船来到了千漠之岛，穿过了一望无际的沙丘，爬上了巨大的岩石山，终于找到了喷泉。

But the fountain was dry. It was so dry that they could only fill their wands witha tiny drop of magic from the fountain. And when the magic of the fountain was drained7， the island was turned into an immense8 desert that no one could cross.Only two small oases9 remained and， to give themselves the best chance at survival10，IPlant and IEat decided to go their separate ways， each to their own tiny oasis.

但是喷泉是干涸的，干涸到他们只能在魔杖里注入一小滴来自喷泉的魔法。当喷泉的魔力消失后，这座岛就变成了一片无人能穿过的大沙漠。由于只剩下两个小绿洲，为了给他们自己最佳的生存机会，伊普兰特和伊阿特决定分道扬镳，去往各自的小绿洲。

Life then became very hard for both of them. Although the small oasis providedthem with plenty of water， their only food were the dates11 from the few palm treesthat had grown at the water’s edge12. Although they waved their wands to try to getfood， they had so little magic that nothing ever happened.

他们俩之后的生活都非常艰难。虽然小绿洲为他们提供了充足的水，但他们唯一的食物是生长在水边的几棵棕榈树上的椰枣。虽然他们挥动魔杖想要得到食物，但他们的魔力实在太少了，所以什么也没有发生。

Several weeks later， however， IEat waved his wand and a huge， tasty tomatoappeared before him.

然而，几个星期后，伊阿特一挥魔杖，一个又大又好吃的西红柿出现在他面前。

“Lucky me！ If I eat it now， it will make me happy today.”

“我真走运！如果我现在把它吃了，它会让我今天开开心心的。”

And that day was IEat’s best since he had gone to live in the oasis.

这一天是伊阿特去绿洲生活以来最美好的一天。

A few days later， something similar happened to IPlant， when his wandproduced a small potato.

几天后，伊普兰特也发生了类似的事情，他的魔杖变出了一个小土豆。

“Lucky me！ If I plant the potato and take care of it， it will make me happy formany days.”

“我真走运！如果我种下土豆，好好照顾它，它会让我快乐许多天。”

That day， IPlant was just as hungry as before but he also had to work to preparethe soil and plant the potato. Sometime later the wand gave IEat a chubby13 songbird.

那天，伊普兰特和以前一样饿，但他还得准备土壤种土豆。过了一段时间，魔杖给了伊阿特一只胖乎乎的会唱歌的小鸟。

“Lucky me！ If I eat it now， it will make me happy today.”

“我真走运！如果我现在把它吃了，它会让我今天开开心心的。”

The bird tasted so good that the day turned out to be his best in the oasis.Around that time also， IPlant’s wand gave him a thin songbird.

这只鸟很美味，以至于这一天成了他在绿洲中最美好的一天。大约在那个时候，伊普兰特的魔杖给了他一只瘦小的会唱歌的小鸟。

“Lucky me！ If I feed the bird and take care of it， it will make me happy formany days.”

“我真走运！如果我喂它，照顾它，它会让我快乐很多天。”

For many days after that， IPlant shared the little food he had with the bird， toget the bird to return and wake him up every morning with beautiful songs.

在那之后的许多天里，伊普兰特和小鸟分享他仅有的一点点食物，让小鸟每天早上用动听的歌声叫醒他来作为回报。

Every now and again， the two wizards received new little gifts from theirwands. IEat used them at once to enjoy a special day， while IPlant put up withhunger and tiredness to turn each gift into something that might be useful infuture. That way， it didn’t take him long to grow a small garden with fruit，which he shared with more and more animals who provided him with assistance14， food and company. Eventually he felt very happy and comfortable，and had so many things that he finally was able to go out and find IEat to tryand cross the desert and run away.

两个巫师时不时地从他们的魔杖那里收到新的小礼物。伊阿特立刻用它们来享受特别的一天，而伊普兰特则忍受饥饿和疲劳，把每一份礼物变成未来可能有用的东西。这样，没过多久，他就种成了一个有水果树的小花园，他与越来越多的动物分享水果，这些动物为他提供帮助、食物和陪伴。最后，他感到很快乐和舒适，有了这么多的东西，他终于能出去找伊阿特，试着穿越沙漠离开。

However， IEat wanted nothing to do with him. Hearing how IPlant hadachieved so much and thinking that he could have done the same， he was filledwith anger and jealousy15. Convinced that everything was because of the littlemagic in his own wand， he changed it with IPlant’s when he wasn’t looking.Impatient to try his new wand， he ordered his old friend to leave. But the wand hadeven less magic than the one he already had， and the jealous and impatientmagician was stuck16 in his oasis for years and years， unable to run away.

然而，伊阿特不想和他有任何关系。听到伊普兰特收获满满，想到自己也可以做到，他心中充满了愤怒和嫉妒。他深信一切都是因为他自己魔杖里的小魔法，于是趁伊普兰特不注意的时候，把自己的魔杖和他的调换了。他迫不及待地想试试他的新魔杖，并把他的老朋友赶走了。但是这根魔杖的魔力比他已经拥有的那根还要小，这个嫉妒心强又心急的魔法师被困在他的绿洲里，年复一年，无法逃脱。

IPlant left IEat’s oasis and decided to cross the desert. He had only beentravelling for a few hours when a strong wind dragged17 his friend， the little bird，away. IPlant ran after it to save it， but the wind turned into a tornado that lifted thelittle bird， the wizard and all his things， up into the air. They flew and flew for so manyhours that they crossed the desert and then crossed the sea. Finally， the wind droppedand IPlant landed softly in a peaceful green valley， next to a beautiful fountain. Thebird then took Iplant’s wand in its beak18 and carried it to the fountain.

伊普兰特离开了伊阿特的绿洲，决定穿越沙漠。他刚走了几个小时，一阵狂风就把他的朋友小鸟吹走了。伊普兰特追上去救它，但大风变成了龙卷风，把小鸟、巫师和他所有的东西都抛到了空中。他们飞啊飞，飞了好几个小时，飞过了沙漠，又飞过了大海。最后，风停了，伊普兰特轻轻地落在了一个宁静的绿色山谷里，旁边是一个美丽的喷泉。然后那只鸟叼住了伊普兰特的魔杖，把它带到喷泉边。

The young wizard felt the wand and himself filled with the purest magic andthe deepest wisdom. He realised that this was the true fountain of magic and thatthe bird was its faithful19 guardian， entrusted20 with the job of saving such greatpowers for wizards who had sufficient21 wisdom， patience and willpower to achievebig things with just a tiny drop of magic.

年轻的巫师感到魔杖和自己身上都充满了最纯净的魔法和最深刻的智慧。他意识到这才是真正的魔法之泉，而这只鸟是它忠实的守护者，负责为那些有着足够智慧、耐心和毅力的巫师们保存如此强大的力量，而这些巫师们只需一滴魔法就能成就大事。

（英语原文选自：freestoriesforkids.com）