English Original
Moths are very ugly creatures. At least that is what I always thought until a reliable source told me otherwise.
When I was about five or six years old, my brother Joseph and I stayed overnight at our Aunt Linda’s house, our favorite relative. She spoke to us like adults, and she always had the best stories.
Joseph was only four years old, and still afraid of the dark, so Aunt Linda left the door open and the hall light on when she tucked us in to bed. Joe couldn’t sleep, so he just lay there staring at the ceiling. Just as I dozed off to sleep, he woke me up and asked, “Jennie, what are those ugly things near the light?” (I had always liked that he asked me questions because I was older and supposed to know the answers. I didn’t always know the answers, of course, but I could always pretend I did.) He was pointing to the moths fluttering around the hall light. “They’re just moths, go to sleep,” I told him.
He wasn’t content with that answer, or the moths near his night light, so the next time my Aunt walked by the door he asked her to make the ugly moths go away. When she asked why, he said simply, “Because they’re ugly and scary, and I don’t like them!” She just laughed, rubbed his head, and said, “Joe, just because something is ugly outside doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful inside. Do you know why moths are brown?” Joe just shook his head.
“Moths are the most beautiful animals in the animal kingdom. At one time they were more colorful than the butterflies. They have always been helpful, kind, and generous creatures. One day the angels up in heaven were crying. They were sad because it was cloudy and they couldn’t look down upon the people on earth. Their tears fell down to the earth as rain. The sweet little moths hated to see everyone so sad. They decided to make a rainbow. The moths figured that if they asked their cousins, the butterflies, to help, they could all give up just a little bit of their colors and they could make a beautiful rainbow.
One of the littlest moths flew to ask the queen of the butterflies for help. The butterflies were too vain and selfish to give up any of their colors for neither the people nor the angels. So, the moths decided to try to make the rainbow themselves. They beat their wings very hard and the powder on them formed little clouds that the winds smoothed over like glass. Unfortunately, the rainbow wasn’t big enough so the moths kept giving a little more and a little more until the rainbow stretched all the way across the sky. They had given away all their color except brown, which didn’t fit into their beautiful rainbow.
Now the once colorful moths were plain and brown. The angels up in heaven saw the rainbow, and became joyous. They smiled and the warmth of their smiles shown down on the earth as sunshine. The warm sunshine made the people on earth happy and they smiled, too. Now every time it rains the baby moths, who still have their colors, spread them across the sky to make more rainbows.”
My brother sank off to sleep with that story and hasn’t feared moths since. The story my aunt told us had been gathering dust in the back corners of my brain for years, but recently came back to me.
I have a friend named Abigail who always wears gray clothes. She is also one of the most kind and generous people I’ve ever met. When people ask her why she doesn’t wear more colors she just smiles, that smile, and says, “Gray is my color.” She knows herself and she doesn’t compromise that to appease other people. Some may see her as plain like a moth, but I know that underneath the gray, Abigail is every color of the rainbow.
中文翻译
飞蛾是非常丑陋的生物。至少在我从一位可靠的消息来源那里得知真相之前，我一直是这么认为的。
在我大约五六岁的时候，我和弟弟约瑟夫在我们最喜欢的亲戚琳达阿姨家过夜。她像对成年人一样和我们交谈，而且她总是有最棒的故事。
约瑟夫只有四岁，仍然怕黑，所以琳达阿姨给我们掖好被子时，让门开着，走廊的灯也亮着。乔睡不着，就躺在那里盯着天花板。就在我打瞌睡快要睡着时，他叫醒我问道：“珍妮，灯旁边那些丑东西是什么？”（我一直很喜欢他问我问题，因为我年纪大，理应知道答案。当然，我并不总是知道答案，但我总能假装知道。）他指着在走廊灯周围扑腾的飞蛾。“只是些飞蛾，睡觉吧，”我告诉他。
他对这个答案不满意，也不喜欢夜灯旁的飞蛾，所以当阿姨再次经过门口时，他请她把那些丑飞蛾弄走。阿姨问他为什么，他简单地说：“因为它们又丑又吓人，我不喜欢它们！”她只是笑了笑，揉了揉他的头，说：“乔，仅仅因为外表丑陋，并不意味着内在不美。你知道飞蛾为什么是棕色的吗？”乔只是摇了摇头。
“飞蛾是动物王国里最美丽的动物。曾经，它们比蝴蝶还要色彩斑斓。它们一直是乐于助人、善良慷慨的生物。有一天，天堂里的天使们在哭泣。他们很伤心，因为天阴了，他们无法俯视地球上的人们。他们的眼泪化作雨水落到了地上。可爱的小飞蛾们不忍心看到大家如此悲伤。它们决定造一道彩虹。飞蛾们想，如果请它们的表亲蝴蝶帮忙，它们都可以贡献出一点点颜色，就能造出一道美丽的彩虹。
一只最小的飞蛾飞去向蝴蝶女王求助。蝴蝶们太虚荣自私了，既不愿为人类也不愿为天使放弃任何颜色。于是，飞蛾们决定自己尝试造彩虹。它们非常用力地拍打翅膀，翅膀上的粉末形成了小云朵，风把它们抚平得像玻璃一样。不幸的是，彩虹不够大，于是飞蛾们不断贡献出更多一点、更多一点的颜色，直到彩虹横跨了整个天空。它们献出了所有的颜色，只剩下棕色，这颜色不适合它们美丽的彩虹。
于是，曾经色彩斑斓的飞蛾变得朴素而灰褐。天堂里的天使们看到了彩虹，变得欣喜。他们笑了，他们微笑的温暖化作阳光照耀大地。温暖的阳光让地球上的人们也快乐起来，他们也笑了。现在，每次下雨时，那些仍保留着颜色的小飞蛾们，就把它们的颜色铺满天空，造出更多的彩虹。”
我弟弟听着这个故事沉沉睡去，从此再也没有害怕过飞蛾。阿姨讲给我们的这个故事，在我脑海的角落里积满灰尘多年，但最近又回到了我的记忆中。
我有一个叫阿比盖尔的朋友，她总是穿灰色的衣服。她也是我见过的最善良、最慷慨的人之一。当人们问她为什么不穿更多颜色的衣服时，她只是微笑着，那种微笑，然后说：“灰色是我的颜色。”她了解自己，并且不会为了取悦他人而妥协。有些人可能觉得她像飞蛾一样朴素，但我知道，在灰色的外表之下，阿比盖尔拥有彩虹的每一种颜色。