Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.
Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.
When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,
“Richness, can you take me with you?”
Richness answered, “No, I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you.”
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. “Vanity, please help me!”
“I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat”, Vanity answered.
Sadness was close by so Love asked, “Sadness, let me go with you.”
“Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!”
Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.
Suddenly, there was a voice, “Come, Love, I will take you”. It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder, Love asked Knowledge, another elder, “Who Helped me?”
“It was Time”, Knowledge answered.
“Time?” asked Love. “But why did Time help me?”
Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is”.
【中文译文】：
从前，情感们都居住在一座小岛上。他们中有喜悦、悲哀、博学……还有爱。一天，情感们接到通知，这座岛即将沉没。于是，他们纷纷造船逃离。除了爱。
爱是唯一留下来的。爱想要坚持到最后一刻。
岛就要沉了，爱决定求救。
财富驾着一艘大船驶过来。爱问道：
“财富，你能带我走吗？”
财富回答说：“不，我不能。我的船上满载着金银财宝，没有多余的地方了。”
虚荣乘的船驶过来了，那船美仑美奂。“虚荣，请救救我吧！”
“我帮不了你，爱。你浑身都湿透了，你会毁了我的船。”虚荣回答说。
这时，悲伤的船经过了，爱请求道：“悲伤，让我跟你走吧。”
“噢……爱，我忧伤极了，我想独自一个人。”
喜悦的船也经过了爱的身畔，但她太兴奋了，她没听到爱的呼唤。
突然，有个声音对爱说道：“来吧，爱，到我的船上来。”这是一位长者。爱如蒙圣恩，欣喜若狂，甚至忘了问他们要往哪儿去。抵达陆地后，长者径自离开了。怀着对长者的无限感激，爱问另一位长者博学：“救我的是谁？”
“是时间。”博学答道。
“时间？”爱问道：“时间为什么要救我呢？”
博学意味深长地笑了，答道：“因为只有时间懂得爱是多么珍贵。”
