I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Signed Virginia O'Hanlon
来自纽约太阳报的回信是这样的：
The answer as published in the New York Sun was:
弗吉尼娅，你的朋友说没有圣诞老人，那是错的。
在那个孩子的心中，肯定是染上了现时流行的什么都怀疑的习性。
什么都怀疑的人，只相信眼睛看得见的东西。
他们是心地狭窄的人。因为心地狭窄，不懂的东西就很多。虽然那样，还断定自己不懂的事情都是谎话。
不过，弗吉尼娅，人的心这个东西，大人也好，小孩也好，本来是非常小的啊。
在我们居住的这个无限广阔的宇宙里，我们人的智慧，就像一条小虫那样，是的，就像蚂蚁一样小。
要想推测广阔的，深奥的世界，就需要能够理解所有事物、了解所有事物巨大的、深邃的智慧。
Virginia, your little friends are wrong.
They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
是的，弗吉尼娅，圣诞老人是有的，这绝不是谎话。在这个世界上，如同有爱、有同情心、有诚实一样，圣诞老人也确确实实是有的。
你大概也懂得吧，正是充满这个世界的爱、诚实，才使你的生活变得美好了，快乐了。
假如没有圣诞老人，这个世界该是多么黑暗，多么寂寞!
就像没有你这样可爱的孩子，世界不可想象一样，没有圣诞老人的世界，也是不可想象的。
假如没有圣诞老人，也就不会有孩子般的信赖、诗、爱情故事，所有这一切让我们的存在变得可爱起来的东西。我们人类能体味得到的喜悦，大概只剩下眼睛能看到的、手能摸到的、身体能感觉到的东西了。并且，那伴随着童年时代充满世界的光明，说不定也会全都消失了。
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
怎么能说没有圣诞老人呢?
不相信有圣诞老人，和不相信有仙女是一样的。
试试看，在圣诞节的前夜，让爸爸给你雇一个侦探，让他监视一下全纽约的烟囱怎么样?也许能抓住圣诞老人噢！
但是，即使看不到从烟囱里出来的圣诞老人的身影，那能证明什么呢?
没有人看见圣诞老人。可是，那不能证明没有圣诞老人。
因为，这个世界上最真实的东西，是孩子的眼睛、大人的眼睛都看不见的东西。
弗吉尼娅，你看到过仙女在草地上跳舞吗?肯定没有吧。虽然如此，也不能说仙女是胡编的瞎话。
这个世界上某些看不见的东西，不能看到的东西，绝不是人们在头脑中创造出来的，想象出来的。
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
我们能分解婴儿的哗啷棒，看它的声音是怎样出来的，里面是怎样组装的；但是，眼睛看不见那遮盖着世界的大幕，不管有多大力气的人，不，即使全世界的大力士一起上，也是拉不开的。
只有信念、诗句、爱和梦想，才能在某一个时刻，把它拉开，看到大幕后面的、无法形容的、美好的、闪闪发光的东西。
那样美好、闪光的东西，难道是人们编造的瞎话吗?
不，弗吉尼娅，那么确实，那么永恒的东西，就存在于这个世界之上。
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
说没有圣诞老人?
哪儿的话！让我们高兴的是，圣诞老人的确存在。不止如此，他大概永远不会死亡。
一千年以后，一百万年以后，圣诞老人也会同现在一样，让孩子们的心高兴起来。”
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.