I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes.
He possessed two active volcanoes; and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning. He also had one volcano that was extinct. But, as he said, "One never knows!" So he cleaned out the extinct volcano, too. If they are well cleaned out, volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.
On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes. That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.
我猜小王子离家出走的时候应该正赶上一群候鸟迁徙。那天早上，他在出发前将星球上的一切收拾得井井有条，甚至还小心翼翼地将他的活火山也打扫得干干净净。
小王子拥有两座活火山，于是每到清晨他都可以轻而易举地加热早饭。他还拥有一座死火山，但他却说“谁都知道是死是活呢！”所以他同样会将那座死火山清理干净。将火山好好地疏导之后，它们就会缓慢而平稳地燃烧着，不会突然喷发。火山爆发的景象就跟烟囱里喷出火龙一样。
而在地球上呢？我们人类实在太过于渺小了，根本就没有能力去清理火山。这就是为什么火山爆发会隔三差五地给我们造成麻烦。
清理火山
The little prince also pulled up, with a certain sense of dejection, the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him. And when he watered the flower for the last time, and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe, he realized that he was very close to tears.
"Goodbye," he said to the flower.
But she made no answer.
"Goodbye," he said again.
小王子怀着沮丧的心情将最后剩下的几棵小猴面包树也都拔除了，他已经下定决心不再回来。在这最后一个早晨，一切熟悉的家常对他来说都倍显珍贵。而当他最后一次给花儿浇完水之后，正准备将她用玻璃圆罩保护起来，那一刻他已红了眼眶，泪水险些决堤。
“珍重！”他对花儿告别道。
但是花儿没有任何回应。
“珍重！”他再一次说道。
The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.
"I have been silly," she said to him, at last. "I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy…"
He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered, the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.
花儿咳嗽起来，但这并非感冒的缘故。
“我一直以来都太傻了，”终于，她对小王子说道，“我请求你的原谅，希望你能幸福。”
这有些出乎小王子的意料，花儿竟然没有任何责备的言辞。他手里还举着那个玻璃圆罩，有些手足无措地伫立着，他不懂花儿为何会如此温柔体贴。
"Of course I love you," the flower said to him. "It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. But you-- you have been just as foolish as I. Try to be happy… let the glass globe be. I don't want it any more."
"But the wind--"
"My cold is not so bad as all that… the cool night air will do me good. I am a flower."
“的确，我是爱你的。”花儿告诉他说，“由于我的所作所为，你从来都不曾发觉。不过，这些都已不再重要。可是你——你却和我一样蠢，希望你能幸福……把玻璃罩子丢在一旁吧，我不再需要它了。”
“那凉风来袭……”
“我的感冒不值一提……何况夜里吹点凉风还对我有益无害呢，我可是一朵花儿！”
"But the animals--"
"Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies-- and the caterpillars-- who will call upon me? You will be far away… as for the large animals-- I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws."
And, naively, she showed her four thorns. Then she added:
"Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!"
For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower…
“那蛇虫鼠蚁……”
“这个呀，我听说蝴蝶长得很漂亮呢，倒挺想结识一下它们，在这之前就必须得先忍受三两只毛虫的侵扰。何况，你即将出走他乡，除了蝴蝶和毛虫以外——谁还会来拜访我呢？……至于野兽之类——我一点都不惧怕它们，我有爪子傍身。”
花儿一脸天真地将身上的四根刺展露出来，接着说道：
“别婆婆妈妈了。既然选择了远方，便只顾风雨兼程！”
实际上，花儿只是不想让小王子看到她的眼泪。这是一朵多么骄傲的花儿啊……
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