English Original
There was once a mother who had a little boy of seven years old. He was so handsome and lovable that no one could look at him without liking him, and she herself worshipped him above everything in the world.
Now it so happened that he suddenly became ill, and God took him to himself. The mother could not be comforted and wept both day and night. Soon after the child was buried, he began to appear at night in the places where he had sat and played during his life. If the mother wept, he wept also, and when morning came, he disappeared.
However, the mother would not stop crying. One night, the child came in the little white shroud in which he had been laid in his coffin, with a wreath of flowers round his head. He stood on the bed at her feet and said, "Oh, mother, do stop crying, or I shall never fall asleep in my coffin. My shroud will not dry because of all your tears which fall upon it." The mother was afraid when she heard that and wept no more.
The next night the child came again, holding a little light in his hand. He said, "Look, mother, my shroud is nearly dry, and I can rest in my grave." Then the mother gave her sorrow into God's keeping and bore it quietly and patiently. The child came no more but slept in his little bed beneath the earth.
中文翻译
从前，有一位母亲，她有一个七岁的小男孩。他英俊可爱，人见人爱，母亲更是将他视作世上最珍贵的宝贝。
然而，男孩突然病倒了，上帝将他带走了。母亲悲痛欲绝，日夜哭泣。孩子下葬后不久，夜晚便开始出现在他生前常坐和玩耍的地方。如果母亲哭泣，他也跟着哭泣，而一到清晨，他便消失了。
可是，母亲依然无法停止哭泣。一天晚上，孩子来了，穿着下葬时裹在棺材里的白色小寿衣，头上戴着花花环。他站在床尾，对母亲说：“哦，妈妈，请别再哭了，否则我在棺材里永远无法安眠。因为你的泪水落在上面，我的寿衣总也干不了。”母亲听了这话，心中害怕，便不再哭泣。
第二天晚上，孩子又来了，手里拿着一盏小灯。他说：“看，妈妈，我的寿衣快干了，我可以在我的坟墓里安息了。”于是，母亲将她的悲伤交托给上帝，开始安静而耐心地承受这份痛苦。孩子再也没有出现，长眠于地下的小床之中。