第一百四十七章 一 顽童
巴黎有孩子，森林有鸟；鸟叫麻雀，孩子叫顽童。
将这两个概念——一个包含所有熔炉，另一个包含所有曙光——结合起来；让这两颗火星相撞，巴黎与童年；于是从中跃出一个小生灵。普劳图斯会称他为"小人儿"。
这个小生灵是快乐的。他并非每日有食，但若有好戏，他每晚都去看。他身上没有衬衫，脚上没有鞋，头顶没有屋檐；他就像天上的飞虫，什么都没有。他年约七至十三岁，结伙成帮，游荡街头，露天栖身，穿着父亲的一条旧裤子，裤腿拖到脚后跟，又戴着不知哪位父亲的旧帽子，帽檐遮住耳朵，只有一根黄色斜纹布吊带；他奔跑、潜伏、翻找、虚度光阴、熏黑烟斗、像苦役犯般咒骂、出没于酒馆、认识小偷、对妓女称"你"、说黑话、唱淫歌，心中却无半点邪念。因为他心中藏着一颗珍珠——天真；而珍珠是不溶于污泥的。只要人还处在童年，上帝便愿他保持纯真。
若有人问那座庞大城市："这是什么？"她会回答："这是我的小淘气。"
Paris has a child, and the forest has a bird; the bird is called the sparrow; the child is called the gamin.
Couple these two ideas which contain, the one all the furnace, the other all the dawn; strike these two sparks together, Paris, childhood; there leaps out from them a little being. _Homuncio_, Plautus would say.
This little being is joyous. He has not food every day, and he goes to the play every evening, if he sees good. He has no shirt on his body, no shoes on his feet, no roof over his head; he is like the flies of heaven, who have none of these things. He is from seven to thirteen years of age, he lives in bands, roams the streets, lodges in the open air, wears an old pair of trousers of his father’s, which descend below his heels, an old hat of some other father, which descends below his ears, a single suspender of yellow listing; he runs, lies in wait, rummages about, wastes time, blackens pipes, swears like a convict, haunts the wine-shop, knows thieves, calls gay women _thou_, talks slang, sings obscene songs, and has no evil in his heart. This is because he has in his heart a pearl, innocence; and pearls are not to be dissolved in mud. So long as man is in his childhood, God wills that he shall be innocent.
If one were to ask that enormous city: “What is this?” she would reply: “It is my little one.”
