In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket,and said:"Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others,And be wary,choose wisely!For only one of them is valuable."
在生命之初，一位仙女带着篮子走来，对一位年轻人说道：“这里有几份礼物，你可以从中选一份，留下其它的。你要小心，做一个明智的选择；啊，你要明智地进行选择！因为这里面只有一份礼物是珍贵的。”

The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death.The youth, said, eagerly:"There is no need to consider"; and he chose Pleasure.
一共有五份礼物：名声，爱情，财富，快乐，还有死亡。年轻人迫不及待地说：“没有必要多想。”他选了快乐。

He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in . But each in its turn was short-liyed and disappointing, vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him .In the end he said:"These years i have wasted.If i could but choose again, I would choose wisely."
此后他就开始步入世界，追逐年轻人所喜爱的快乐。然而每一种快乐都是如此短暂，令人感到空虚和失望。每当一种快乐弃他而去时，还要把他嘲弄一番。最后，年轻人感叹道：“这些年我都浪费了。如果我可以再选一次，我一定会做一个明智的选择。”　

The fairy appeared, and said:"Four of the gifts remain.choose once more: and oh, remember--time is flying, and only one of them is precious."
这时仙女又出现了，她说：“这里还有四份礼物。再选一次吧。噢，记住时间飞逝，而其中只有一件是珍贵的。”

The man considered long,then chose Love;and did not mark the tears that rose in the fairy's eyes.After many,many years the man sat by a coffin,in an empty home.And he communed with himself,saying:"One by one they have gone away and leftme;and now she lies here,the dearest and the last.Desolation after desolation has swept over me;but each hour of happiness the treacherous trader,Love,sold me i have paid a thousand hours of grief!Out of my heart of hearts i curse him!"
他思考了很久，最终选择了爱情；他没有注意到仙女眼里泛起的泪光。许多许多年之后，这个人坐在一口棺材旁边，屋子里空荡荡的。他自言自语道：“他们一个一个地走了，只剩下我。现在，她就躺在这儿，我最亲爱的人儿，我最后的亲人。孤独一次又一次把我包围。都是因为爱情这个阴狡诈的商人，他出售给我的每个甜蜜的小时，我现在都要用数千个小时的悲伤来偿还！我从心底里诅咒他！”