和大家分享這本我自己覺得很值得收藏的繪本，本書原文為德文。
附上德文版的影片連結
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M0A60dVdqY
Duck, Death and the Tulip
By Wolf Erlbruch
中文版：當鴨子遇見死神
大穎文化出版
http://www.olbook.com.tw/books/view.php?id=401
For a while now, Duck had had a feeling.
"Who are you? What are you up to, creeping along behind me?"
"Good," said Death, "you finally noticed me. I am Death."
Duck was scared stiff, and who could blame her?
"You've come to fecth me?"
"Oh, I've been close by all your life──just in case."
"In case of what?" asked Duck.
"In case something happens to you. A nasty cold, an accident──you never know."
"Are you going to make something happen?"
"Life takes care of that: the coughs and colds and all other things that happen to you ducks. Fox, for example."
Duck tried not to think about that. It gave her goosebumps.
為了尊重原創者以下的內容沒有附上圖片喔！想要買這本書的朋友可以上網購買
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=duck+death+and+the+tulip
http://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=duck+death+and+the+tulip&search=Find+book
Death gave her a friendly smile. Actually he was nice (if you forgot for a moment who he was) .
Really quite nice.
"Shall we go down to the pond?" she asked.
Death had been dreading that.
Before long, Death decided that had his limits.
"Forgive me," he said. "I really must get away from this damp."
"Are you cold?" Duck asked. "Shall I warm you a little?"
Nobody had ever offered to do that for Death.
Duck woke first, very early in the morning.
"I'm not dead," she thought to herself.
She poked Death in the ribs. "I'm not dead!" She quacked, utterly delighted.
"I'm pleased for you," Death said, stretching.
"And if I'd died?"
"Then I wouldn't have been able to sleep in," Death yawned.
That wasn't a nice thing to say, thought Duck.
For a while she refused to speak, but soon she was chattering again.
"Some ducks say you become an angel and sit on a cloud, looking for the earth."
"Quite possibly." Death rose to his feet. "You have the wings already."
"Some ducks say that deep in the earth there's a place where you'll be roasted if you haven't been good."
"You ducks come up with some amazing stories, but who knows?"
"So you don't know either," Duck snapped.
Death just looked at her.
"What shall we do today?" Death asked.
"Well, let's not go back to the pond. Let's do something really exciting."
Death was relieved. "Shall we climb a tree?" he teased.
They could see the pond far below.
There it lay. So still. And so lonely.
"That's what it will be like when I'm dead," Duck thought.
"The pond alone, without me."
Death could sometimes read minds. "When you're dead, the pond will be gone, too── at least for."
"Are you sure?" Duck was astonished.
"That's a comfort. I won't have to mourn over it when ..."
"...when you're dead." Death finished the sentence. He wasn't coy about the subject.
"Let's climb down," Duck pleaded after a bit. "You can start having strange thoughts in trees."
Summer was ending and they went less and less often to the pond.
They sat together in the grass, saying little. When a cool wind ruffled her feathers, Duck felt its chil for the first time.
"I'm cold," she said one evening. "Will you warm me a little?"
Snowflakes drifted down.
Something had happened. Death looked at the duck.
She'd stopped breathing. She lay quite still.
Death stroked a few rumpled feathers back into place, then he carried her to the great river.
He laid her gently on the water and nudged her on her way.
For a long time he watched her.
When she was lost to sight, he was almost a little moved.
"But that's life," thought Death.
終極禁忌
或許我們所有的問題－亦即人類所有的問題－的根源就在於，我們寧可犧牲生命中所有的美好事物，將自己囚禁於圖騰、禁忌、十字架、血祭、教堂、清真寺、種族、軍隊、意識型態與國家等範疇中，只為了逃避死亡的事實，但死亡是人生唯一的事實。──詹姆斯‧鮑德溫
死亡是生命的關鍵。死亡定義了生命，賦予生命形狀、意義與脈絡。若無法與死亡建立一種清楚又誠實的關係，就會活在無止盡的靈性掙扎狀態中，使生命墮入地獄幻象的迷霧，朝四面八方無限擴散。
我們藏起自己恐懼的那些部份，使生命被同化，如此便移除了生命的各種急迫感。我們將死亡從生命中抽走，好讓自己無意識地活著。當然，死神從未真正離開，我們不過是轉身逃避，假裝它不在那裡。如果希望自己能覺醒──這可是很大的願望──那就必須歡迎死亡回到我們的生活裡。死神是我們私人的禪修老師，我們的力量來源，也是通往清明的途徑，但首先‧我們必須停止盲目而驚慌地逃避。只要停下來、轉過身，我們就會發現死神在那裡，數寸之遙，眼也不眨地凝視我們，時時刻刻舉著手指。那根指頭是夢境狀態中唯一真實的東西，而且，總有一天會指向我們。
覺知死亡是世界通用的靈性修煉，在各類書籍與雜誌、老師與教義，或是古老文化與遙遠異地中，時時都可以聽到這個教誨。這不是什麼營造氣氛的靈修技巧，讓你隨興嘗試幾星期後，發現沒什麼效果，只好怪自己。死亡永遠有效。死神是你唯一真實的朋友，唯一絕對不會離棄你的朋友，沒有人能從你身邊搶走。它拆穿所有謊言，嘲弄一切信仰，恥笑所有的虛榮，讓自我淪為荒謬的笑話。它現在就坐在你旁邊，有任何問題，儘管問吧，死神不會說謊。
僅以此繪本以及這段摘自靈性的自我開戰 傑德‧麥肯納著的文章獻給我的小弟，謝謝你在這一世所帶給我的關於生命的學習，祝福你自在飛翔。
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