HERE was once an aëronaut with whom things went badly; the balloon burst, tumbled the man out, and broke into bits. His boy he had two minutes before sent down with a parachute,—that was the boy’s luck; he was unhurt and went about with knowledge enough to make him an aëronaut too, but he had no balloon and no means of acquiring one.

　　But live he must, and so he applied1 himself to the art of legerdemain2 and to talking in his stomach; in fact he became a ventriloquist, as they say. He was young, good-looking, and when he got a moustache and had his best clothes on, he could be taken for a nobleman’s son. The ladies seemed to think well of him; one young lady even was so taken with his charms and his great dexterity3 that she went off with him to foreign parts. There he called himself Professor—he could scarcely do less.

　　His constant thought was how to get himself a balloon and go up into the air with his little wife, but as yet they had no means.

　　“They’ll come yet,” said he.

　　“If only they would,” said she.

　　“We are young folks,” said he, “and now I am Professor.” She helped him faithfully, sat at the door and sold tickets to the exhibition, and it was a chilly4 sort of pleasure in winter time. She also helped him in the line of his art. He put his wife in a table-drawer, a large table-drawer; then she crawled into the back part of the drawer, and so was not in the front part,—quite an optical illusion to the audience. But one evening when he drew the drawer out, she was also out of sight to him: she was not in the front drawer, not in the back one either, not in the house itself—nowhere to be seen or heard— that was her feat5 of legerdemain, her entertainment. She never came back again; she was tired of it all, and he grew tired of it, lost his good-humor, could not laugh or make jokes;—and so the people stopped coming, his earnings6 became scanty7, his clothes gave out; and finally he only owned a great flea8, which his wife had left him, and so he thought highly of it. And he dressed the flea and taught it to perform, to present arms and to fire a cannon9 off,—but it was a little cannon.

　　The Professor was proud of the flea, and the flea was proud of himself; he had learned something, and had human blood, and had been besides to the largest cities, had been seen by princes and princesses, had received their high praise, and it was printed in the newspapers and on placards. Plainly it was a very famous flea and could support a Professor and his entire family.

　　The flea was proud and famous, and yet when he and the Professor traveled they took fourth-class carriages on the railway; they went just as quickly as the first class. They were betrothed10 to each other; it was a private engagement that would never come out; they never would marry, the flea would remain a bachelor and the Professor a widower11. That made it balance.

　　“Where one has the best luck,” said the Professor, “there one ought to go twice.” He was a good judge of character, and that is also a science of itself. At last he had traveled over all countries except the wild ones, and so he wanted to go there. They eat Christian12 men there, to be sure, the Professor knew, but then he was not properly Christian and the flea was not properly a man, so he thought they might venture to travel there and have good success.

　　They traveled hy steamship13 and by sailing vessel14 ; the flea performed his tricks, and so they got a free passage on the way and arrived at the wild country. Here reigned15 a little Princess. She was only eight years old, but she was reigning16. She had taken away the power from her father and mother, for she had a will, and then she was extraordinarily17 beautiful—and rude.

　　Just as soon as the flea had presented arms and fired off the cannon, she was so enraptured18 with him that she said, “Him or nobody!” She became quite wild with love and was already wild in other ways.

　　“Sweet, little, sensible child!” said her own father. “If one could only first make a man of him!”

　　“Leave that to me, old man,” said she, and that was not well said by a little Princess when talking with her father, but she was wild. She set the flea on her white hand. #p#

　　“Now you are a man, reigning with me, but you shall do what I want you to, or else i’ll kill you and eat the Professor.” The Professor had a great hall to live in. The walls were made of sugar-cane, and he could lick them, but he was not a sweet-tooth. He had a hammock to sleep in. It was as if he were lying in a balloon, such as he had always wished for himself—that was his constant thought.

　　The flea lived with the Princess, sat upon her delicate hand and upon her white neck. She had taken a hair from her head and made the Professor tie it to the flea’s leg, and so she kept him tied to the great red coral drop which she wore in her ear-tip. What a delightful19 time the Princess had, and the flea too, she thought, but the Professor was not very comfortable. He was a traveler; he liked to drive from town to town, and read about his perseverance20 and cleverness in teaching a flea to do what men do. But he got out of and into his hammock, lounged about and had good feeding, fresh bird’s-eggs, elephant’s eyes and roast giraffe. People that eat men do not live entirely21 on cooked men—no, that is a great delicacy22.

　　“ Shoulder of children with sharp sauce,” said the Princess’s mother, “is the most delicate.”

　　The Professor was tired of it all and would rather go away from the wild land, but he must have his flea with him, for that was his prodigy23, and his bread and butter. How was he to get hold of him? That was no easy matter. He strained all his wits, and then he said,

　　“Now I have it.”

　　“Princess’s Father! grant me a favor. May I summon your subjects to present themselves before your Royal Highness? That is what is called a Ceremony in the high and mighty24 countries of the world.

　　“Can I, too, learn to do that?” asked the Princess’s father.

　　“That is not quite proper,” replied the Professor; “but I shall teach your wild Fathership to fire a cannon off. It goes off with a bang. One sits high up aloft, and then off it goes or down he comes.”

　　“Let me crack it off!” said the Princess’s father. But in all the land there was no cannon except the one the flea had brought, and that was so very small.

　　“I will cast a bigger one!” said the Professor. “Only give me the means. I must have fine silk stuff, needle and thread, rope and cord, together with cordial drops for the balloon, they blow one up so easily and give one the heaves; they are what make the report in the cannons25 s inside.”

　　“By all means,” said the Princess’s father, and gave him what he called for. All the court and the entire population came together to see the great cannon cast. The Professor did not summon them before he had the balloon entirely ready to be filled and go up: The flea sat on the Princess’s hand and looked on. The balloon was filled, it bulged26 out and could scarcely be held down, so violent did it become.

　　“I must have it up in the air before it can be cooled off,” said the Professor, and took his seat in the car which hung below. “But I cannot manage and steer27 it alone. I must have a skillful companion along to help me. There is no one here that can do that except the flea.”

　　“I am not very willing to let him,” said the Princess, but still she reached out and handed the flea to the Professor, who placed him on his hand.

　　“Let go the cords and ropes,” he shouted. “ Now the balloon’s going.” They thought he said “the cannon,” and so the balloon went higher and higher, up above the clouds, far away from the wild land. #p#

　　The little Princess, all the family and the people sat and waited—they are waiting still; and if you do not believe it, just take a journey to the wild land; every child there talks about the Professor and the flea, and believes that they are coming back when the cannon is cooled off; but they will not come, they are at home with us, they are in their native country, they travel on the railway, first class, not fourth; they have good success, a great balloon. Nobody asks how they got their balloon or where it came from: they are rich folks now, quite respectable folks, indeed—the flea and the Professor!

　　從前有一個(gè)氣球駕駛員；他很倒霉，他的輕氣球炸了，他落到地上來(lái)，跌成肉泥。兩分鐘以前，他把他的兒子用一張降落傘放下來(lái)了，這孩子真算是運(yùn)氣。他沒(méi)有受傷。他表現(xiàn)出相當(dāng)大的本領(lǐng)可以成為一個(gè)氣球駕駛員，但是他沒(méi)有氣球，而且也沒(méi)有辦法弄到一個(gè)。

　　他得生活下去，因此他就玩起一套魔術(shù)來(lái)：他能叫他的肚皮講話(huà)——這叫做“腹語(yǔ)術(shù)”。他很年輕，而且漂亮。當(dāng)他留起一撮小胡子和穿起一身整齊的衣服的時(shí)候，人們可能把他當(dāng)做一位伯爵的少爺。太太小姐們認(rèn)為他漂亮。有一個(gè)年輕女子被他的外表和法術(shù)迷到了這種地步，她甚至和他一同到外國(guó)和外國(guó)的城市里去。他在那些地方自稱(chēng)為教授——他不能有比教授更低的頭銜。

　　他唯一的思想是要獲得一個(gè)輕氣球，同他親愛(ài)的太太一起飛到天空中去。不過(guò)到目前為止，他還沒(méi)有辦法。

　　“辦法總會(huì)有的！”他說(shuō)。

　　“我希望有，”她說(shuō)。

　　“我們還年輕，何況我現(xiàn)在還是一個(gè)教授呢。面包屑也算面包呀！”

　　她忠心地幫助他。她坐在門(mén)口，為他的表演賣(mài)票。這種工作在冬天可是一種很冷的玩藝兒。她在一個(gè)節(jié)目中也幫了他的忙。他把太太放在一張桌子的抽屜里——一個(gè)大抽屜里。她從后面的一個(gè)抽屜爬進(jìn)去，在前面的抽屜里人們是看不見(jiàn)她的。這給人一種錯(cuò)覺(jué)。

　　不過(guò)有一天晚上，當(dāng)他把抽屜拉開(kāi)的時(shí)候，她卻不見(jiàn)了。她不在前面的一個(gè)抽屜里，也不在后面的一個(gè)抽屜里。整個(gè)的屋子里都找不著她，也聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)她。她有她的一套法術(shù)。她再也沒(méi)有回來(lái)。她對(duì)她的工作感到膩煩了。他也感到膩煩了，再也沒(méi)有心情來(lái)笑或講笑話(huà)，因此也就沒(méi)有誰(shuí)來(lái)看了。收入漸漸少了，他的衣服也漸漸變壞了。最后他只剩下一只大跳蚤——這是他從他太太那里繼承得來(lái)的一筆遺產(chǎn)，所以他非常愛(ài)它。他訓(xùn)練它，教給它魔術(shù)，教它舉槍敬禮，放炮——不過(guò)是一尊很小的炮。

　　教授因跳蚤而感到驕傲；它自己也感到驕傲。它學(xué)習(xí)到了一些東西，而且它身體里有人的血統(tǒng)。它到許多大城市去過(guò)，見(jiàn)過(guò)王子和公主，獲得過(guò)他們高度的贊賞。它在報(bào)紙和招貼上出現(xiàn)過(guò)。它知道自己是一個(gè)名角色，能養(yǎng)活一位教授，是的，甚至能養(yǎng)活整個(gè)家庭。

　　它很驕傲，又很出名，不過(guò)當(dāng)它跟這位教授在一起旅行的時(shí)候，在火車(chē)上總是坐第四等席位——這跟頭等相比，走起來(lái)當(dāng)然是一樣快。他們之間有一種默契：他們永遠(yuǎn)不分離，永遠(yuǎn)不結(jié)婚；跳蚤要做一個(gè)單身漢，教授仍然是一個(gè)鰥夫。這兩件事情是半斤八兩，沒(méi)有差別。

　　“一個(gè)人在一個(gè)地方獲得了極大的成功以后，”教授說(shuō)，“就不宜到那兒再去第二次！”他是一個(gè)會(huì)辨別人物性格的人，而這也是一種藝術(shù)。

　　最后他走遍了所有的國(guó)家；只有野人國(guó)沒(méi)有去過(guò)——因此他現(xiàn)在就決定到野人國(guó)去。在這些國(guó)家里，人們的確都把信仰基督教的人吃掉。教授知道這事情，但是他并不是一個(gè)真正的基督教徒，而跳蚤也不能算是一個(gè)真正的人。因此他就認(rèn)為他們可以到這些地方去發(fā)一筆財(cái)。

　　他們坐著汽船和帆船去。跳蚤把它所有的花樣都表演出來(lái)了，所以他們?cè)谡麄€(gè)航程中沒(méi)有花一個(gè)錢(qián)就到了野人國(guó)。

　　這兒的統(tǒng)治者是一位小小的公主。她只有六歲，但是卻統(tǒng)治著國(guó)家。這種權(quán)力是她從父母的手中拿過(guò)來(lái)的。因?yàn)樗苋涡?，但是分外地美麗和頑皮。

　　跳蚤馬上就舉槍敬禮，放了炮。她被跳蚤迷住了，她說(shuō)，“除了它以外，我什么人也不要！”她熱烈地愛(ài)上了它，而且她在沒(méi)有愛(ài)它以前就已經(jīng)瘋狂起來(lái)了。

　　“甜蜜的、可愛(ài)的、聰明的孩子！”她的父親說(shuō)，“只希望我們能先叫它變成一個(gè)人！”

　　“老頭子，這是我的事情！”她說(shuō)。作為一個(gè)小公主，這樣的話(huà)說(shuō)得并不好，特別是對(duì)自己的父親，但是她已經(jīng)瘋狂了。

　　她把跳蚤放在她的小手中。“現(xiàn)在你是一個(gè)人，和我一道來(lái)統(tǒng)治；不過(guò)你得聽(tīng)我的話(huà)辦事，否則我就要把你殺掉，把你的教授吃掉。”

　　教授得到了一間很大的住房。墻壁是用甜甘蔗編的——可以隨時(shí)去舔它，但是他并不喜歡吃甜東西。他睡在一張吊床上。這倒有些像是躺在他一直盼望著的那個(gè)輕氣球里面呢。這個(gè)輕氣球一直縈繞在他的思想之中。跳蚤跟公主在一起，不是坐在她的小手上，就是坐在她柔軟的脖頸上。她從頭上拔下一根頭發(fā)來(lái)。教授得用它綁住跳蚤的腿。這樣，她就可以把它系在她珊瑚的耳墜子上。

　　對(duì)公主說(shuō)來(lái)，這是一段快樂(lè)的時(shí)間。她想，跳蚤也該是同樣快樂(lè)吧?？墒沁@位教授頗有些不安。他是一個(gè)旅行家，他喜歡從這個(gè)城市旅行到那個(gè)城市去，喜歡在報(bào)紙上看到人們把他描寫(xiě)成為一個(gè)怎樣有毅力，怎樣聰明，怎樣能把一切人類(lèi)的行動(dòng)教給一個(gè)跳蚤的人。他日日夜夜躺在吊床上打盹，吃著豐美的飯食：新鮮鳥(niǎo)蛋，象眼睛，長(zhǎng)頸鹿肉排，因?yàn)槌匀说纳荒軆H靠人肉而生活——人肉不過(guò)是一樣好菜罷了。

　　“孩子的肩肉，加上最辣的醬油，”母后說(shuō)，“是最好吃的東西。”教授感到有些厭倦。他希望離開(kāi)這個(gè)野人國(guó)，但是他得把跳蚤帶走，因?yàn)樗撬囊患鎸毢蜕€(xiàn)。他怎樣才能達(dá)到目的呢？這倒不太容易。

　　他集中一切智慧來(lái)想辦法，于是他說(shuō)：“有辦法了！”#p#

　　“公主的父王，請(qǐng)讓我做點(diǎn)事情吧！我想訓(xùn)練全國(guó)人民學(xué)會(huì)舉槍敬禮。這在世界上一些大國(guó)里叫做文化。”

　　“你有什么可以教給我呢？”公主的父親說(shuō)。

　　“我最大的藝術(shù)是放炮，”教授說(shuō)，“使整個(gè)地球都震動(dòng)起來(lái)，使一切最好的鳥(niǎo)兒落下來(lái)時(shí)已經(jīng)被烤得很香了！這只須轟一聲就成了！”

　　“把你的大炮拿來(lái)吧！”公主的父親說(shuō)。

　　可是在這里全國(guó)都沒(méi)有一尊大炮，只有跳蚤帶來(lái)的那一尊，但是這尊炮未免太小了。

　　“我來(lái)制造一門(mén)大炮吧！”教授說(shuō)，“你只須供給我材料，我需要做輕氣球用的綢子、針和線(xiàn)，粗繩和細(xì)繩，以及氣球所需的靈水——這可以使氣球膨脹起來(lái)，變得很輕，能向上升。氣球在大炮的腹中就會(huì)發(fā)出轟聲來(lái)。”

　　他所要求的東西都得到了。

　　全國(guó)的人都來(lái)看這尊大炮。這位教授在他沒(méi)有把輕氣球吹足氣和準(zhǔn)備上升以前，不喊他們。

　　跳蚤坐在公主的手上，在旁觀看。氣球現(xiàn)在裝滿(mǎn)氣了。它鼓了起來(lái)，控制不住；它是那么狂暴。

　　“我得把它放到空中去，好使它冷卻一下，”教授說(shuō)，同時(shí)坐進(jìn)吊在它下面的那個(gè)籃子里去。

　　“不過(guò)我單獨(dú)一個(gè)人無(wú)法駕御它。我需要一個(gè)有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的助手來(lái)幫我的忙。這兒除了跳蚤以外，誰(shuí)也不成！”

　　“我不同意！”公主說(shuō)，但是她卻把跳蚤交給教授了。它坐在教授的手中。

　　“請(qǐng)放掉繩子和線(xiàn)吧！”他說(shuō)。“現(xiàn)在輕氣球要上升了！”

　　大家以為他在說(shuō)：“發(fā)炮！”

　　氣球越升越高，升到云層中去，離開(kāi)了野人國(guó)。

　　那位小公主和她的父親、母親以及所有的人群都在站著等待。他們現(xiàn)在還在等待哩。如果你不相信，你可以到野人國(guó)去看看。那兒每個(gè)小孩子還在談?wù)撝P(guān)于跳蚤和教授的事情。他們相信，等大炮冷了以后，這兩個(gè)人就會(huì)回來(lái)的。但是他們卻沒(méi)有回來(lái)，他們現(xiàn)在和我們一起坐在家里。他們?cè)谧约旱膰?guó)家里，坐著火車(chē)的頭等席位——不是四等席位。他們走了運(yùn)，有一個(gè)巨大的氣球。誰(shuí)也沒(méi)有問(wèn)他們是怎樣和從什么地方得到這個(gè)氣球的。跳蚤和教授現(xiàn)在都是有地位的富人了。 （１８７３年）

　　這篇小品，最初發(fā)表在美國(guó)的《斯克利布納爾月刊》１８７３年４月號(hào)上，接著又在同年《丹麥大眾歷書(shū)》上發(fā)表了。這個(gè)小故事與安徒生的另一起童話(huà)《飛箱》有相像之處，不過(guò)在那篇故事里失望的是一個(gè)想僥幸得到幸福的男子，這里則是把幸福已經(jīng)得到了手里而最后落了空的公主。蒙騙和僥幸在兩個(gè)故事中最初都起了作用，但最后都變成了一場(chǎng)空?？墒?，在這個(gè)故事中，騙術(shù)最終產(chǎn)生了實(shí)惠，受惠者是“教授”和“跳蚤”。他們走了運(yùn)，有一個(gè)巨大的氣球。“跳蚤和教授現(xiàn)在都是有地位的富人了。”由于他們是“有地位的富人”，人們也就認(rèn)為他們是正人君子，把他們的騙術(shù)忘掉了。