小靈魂與地球（中英雙語版）

《小靈魂與地球》（中文版）

很久很久以前，有個小靈魂對神說：「我不想離開你。」

「好啊！」神開心地笑，「你永遠也不必離開我。」

小靈魂不明白他的話，因為這一天正是小靈魂出生的日子，小靈魂以為人一出生就離開天堂了。事實上，小靈魂已經在排隊，離「地球之門」只剩幾步路了。

「我應該感到害怕嗎？」小靈魂問。

「不、不、不！」神再次微笑著說，「這是個應該感到快樂的日子，今天是你的生日！」

「我知道，」小靈魂叫道，「可是今天也是我離開你的日子。我必須跟天堂告別了，這讓我覺得好難過喔！」

神給小靈魂一個溫暖的擁抱。「我會永遠陪著你。你不可能離開我，因為不管你到哪裡，我都會一直陪著你。」

「真的嗎？」小靈魂張大充滿希望的眼睛問。

神立即回答：「當然是真的！如果你需要我，你只要呼喚我，就會發現我永遠陪在你身旁。」

「要是事情不順利呢？」小靈魂問，他開始發抖。「我的意思是，『永遠』是好長好長的時間，要是我把事情搞砸了呢？你還會陪著我嗎？或是你會生氣地走開？」

「我當然不會走開，」神微笑著回答，「我絕對不會生你的氣。我為什麼要生你的氣？只因為你做錯事情嗎？每個人都會做錯事情啊！」

「連你也會嗎？」小靈魂很想知道。

「喔，」神笑道，「偷偷告訴你，我有點偏食，不喜歡吃蘆筍⋯⋯」

連神也不是完美的，小靈魂因此覺得好多了。

「好耶！你會一直陪著我，讓我好放心。這樣到地球去幾乎就像還在天堂。」

神微笑，「的確是在天堂！你不可能離開天堂，因為天堂是我唯一創造過的東西，不管你去哪裡都是天堂。」

（英文版）

ONCE UPON NO TIME there was a Little Soul who said to God, “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Good!” God said with a big smile, “because you don’t ever have to.”

But the Little Soul did not understand, because this was the very day on which the Little Soul was going to be born, and the Little Soul thought that when you are born, you leave Heaven. In fact, the Little Soul was already standing in line, only a few steps away from the Doorway to Earth.

“Should I be afraid?” the Little Soul asked.

“No, no, no,” God said, smiling again. “In fact, this is a day to be happy! This is your birthday!”

“I know,” the Little Soul cried, “but it’s also the day that I’ll be leaving you, and saying goodbye to Heaven, and that makes me sad.”

God gave the Little Soul a big hug. “I’ll be with you always. It’s impossible to leave me because I’m with you wherever you go.”

“You are?” asked the Little Soul, eyes wide with hope.

And God answered immediately, “Yes, I am! All you have to do if you want me is call out to me, and you’ll see that I’ll always be there.”

“Uh, what if things don’t go right?” the Little Soul asked, starting to tremble. “I mean, ‘Always’ is a long time. What if I mess up? Will you still be there, or will you be mad and stay away?”

“Of course not,” God answered, smiling. “I will never be mad at you. Why would I be mad just because you made a mistake? Everybody makes mistakes.”

“Even you?” the Little Soul wanted to know.

“Well,” God laughed, “there is asparagus...”

The Little Soul was feeling better already. “Okaay! So you’ll be around all the time. That’s good to know. That’s almost like being in Heaven.”

God smiled. “It IS being in heaven! You can’t LEAVE Heaven because Heaven is the only thing I ever created! Heaven is everywhere you go.”