The Little Prince - Audiobook narrated by Peter Ustinov

once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book called true stories from nature about the primeval forest it was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal in the book it said boa constrictors swallow their prey whole without chewing it after that they are not able to move and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion I pondered deeply then over the adventures of the jungle and after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing my drawing number one I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups and asked them whether the drawing frightened them but they answered frightened why should anyone be frightened by a hat my drawing was not the picture of a hat it was a picture of a bur constrictor digesting an elephant but since the grown-ups were not able to understand it I made another drawing I drew the inside of the boa constrictor so the grownups could see it clearly they always need to have things explained my drawing number two at the grown-ups response this time was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of birkin strictest weather from the inside or the outside and devote myself instead to geography history arithmetic and grammar that is why at the age of six I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter I had been disheartened by the failure of my drawing number one and my drawing number two grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them so then I chose another profession and learn to pilot aeroplanes I've flown a little over all parts of the world and it is true that geography has been very useful to me at a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona if one gets lost in the night such knowledge is valuable in the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence I have lived a great deal among grownups I have seen them intimately close at hand and that hasn't much improved my opinion of them whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear sighted I tried the experiment of showing him my drawing number one which I have always kept I would try to find out so if this was a person of true understanding but whoever it was he or she would always say that's a hat then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors or primeval forests or stars I would bring myself down to his level I would talk to him about bridge and golf and politics and neckties and the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man so I lived my life alone without anyone that I could really talk to until I had an accident with my plane in the desert of Sahara six years ago something was broken in my engine and as I had with me neither mechanic nor any passengers I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone it was a question of life or death for me I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week the first night then I went to sleep on the sand a thousand miles from any human habitation I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean thus you can imagine my amazement at sunrise when I was awakened by an odd little voice it said if you please draw me a sheep what drew me a sheep I jumped to my feet completely thunderstruck I blinked my eyes hard I looked carefully all around me and I saw a most extraordinary small person who stood there examining me with great seriousness later I attempted to make a portrait of him but my drawing was certainly very much less charming than its model that however is not my fault the grown ups had discouraged me in my painters career when I was 6 years old and I never learned to draw anything except birds from the outside and Boas from the inside now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment remember I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region and yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or or fear nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert a thousand miles from any human habitation when at last I was able to speak I said to him but what are you doing here and in answer he repeated very slowly as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence if you please draw me sheep when a mystery is too overpowering when dare not disobey absurd as it might seem to me a thousand miles or any human habitation and in danger of death I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain pen but then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography history arithmetic and grammar and I told the little chap a little crossly to that I did not know how to draw he answered me that doesn't matter draw me a sheep but I had never drawn a sheep so I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often it was that of the boa constrictor from the outside and I was astounded to hear the little fellow greeted with no no no I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor a boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature and an elephant is very cumbersome where I live everything is very small what I need is a sheep draw me a sheep so then I made a drawing he looked at it carefully then he said no this sheep is already very sickly make me another so I made another drawing my friend smiled gently and indulgently you see yourself he said that this is not a sheep this is a ram it has horns so then I did my drawing over once more but it was rejected too just like the others this one is too old now I want a sheep that will live a long time by this time my patience was exhausted because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart so I I touched off another drawing and I threw out an explanation with it this is only his box the sheep you asked for is inside I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge that is exactly the way I wanted it but do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass why because where I live everything is very small well surely be enough grass for him I said it's a very small sheep that I've given you he bent his head over the drawing not so small that look he's gone to sleep and that is how I made the acquaintance of a little prince it took me a long time to learn where he came from a little prince who asked me so many questions never seemed to hear the ones I asked him it was from words dropped by chance that little by little everything was revealed to me the first time he saw my aeroplane for instance I could never draw an airplane that's much too complicated for me he asked me what is that object that is not an object it flies it is an aeroplane it is my aeroplane and I was proud to have him learn that I could fly he cried out then well you dropped down from the sky yes I answered modestly well daddy is funny and little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter which irritated me very much I liked my misfortunes to be taken seriously then he added ah so you do come from the sky but which is your planet at that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence and I demanded abruptly do you come from another planet but he did not reply he tossed his head gently without taking his eyes from my plane it is true that on that you can't have come from very far away and he sank into a reverie which lasted a long time then taking my sheep out of his pocket he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure you can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half confidence about the other planets I made a great effort therefore to find out more on this subject and my little man hmm where do you come from what is this where I live of which you speak where do you want to take your sheep after a reflective silence he answered hmm the thing that is so good about the Box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house hey that is so and if you are good I will give you a string too so you can tie him during the day and a post to tie him to but the little prince seemed shocked by this offer tie him what a queer idea but if you don't tie him I said he'll wander off somewhere and get lost my friend broke into another peal of laughter but where do you think he would go anywhere straight ahead of him then the little prince said earnestly that doesn't matter where I live everything is so small and with perhaps a hint of sadness he added straight ahead of him nobody can go very far I had thus learned a second fact of great importance this was that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger than a house but that did not really surprise me much I knew very well at in addition to the great planets such as the earth Jupiter Mars Venus to which we have given names there are also hundreds of others some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope when an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name but only a number he might call it for example asteroid three to five and I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as b612 this asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope that was by a Turkish astronomer in nineteen nine on making his discovery the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress in a great demonstration but he was in Turkish costume and so nobody would believe what he said grown-ups are like that fortunately however for the reputation of asteroid b612 a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects and a pain of death should change to European costume so in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again dressed with impressive style and elegance this time everybody accepted his report if I have told you these details about the asteroid and made a note of its number for you it is on account of the grown ups and their ways grown-ups love figures when you tell them that you have made a new friend they never ask you any question about essential matters they never say to you what does his voice sound like what games does he love best does he collect butterflies instead they demand how old is he how many brothers has he how much does he weigh how much money does his father make only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him if you were to say to the grown-ups I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick with geraniums and the windows and doves on the roof they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all you would have to say to them I saw a house that cost four thousand pounds then they would exclaim oh what a pretty house that is just so you might say to them the proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming that he laughed and that he was looking for a sheep if anybody wants a sheep that is a proof that he exists and what good would it do to tell them that they would shrug their shoulders and treat you like a child but if you said to them the planet he came from his asteroid b612 then they would be convinced and leaves you in peace from their questions they are like that one must not hold it against them children should always show great forbearance towards grown-up people but certainly for us who understand life figures are a matter of indifference I should have liked to begin this story in the fashion of the fairy tales I should have liked to say once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was scarcely any bigger than himself and who had need of a friend - those who understand life that would have given a much greater air of truth to my story for I do not want want to listen to my story carelessly I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories six years have already passed since my friend went away from me with his sheep if I try to describe him here it is to make sure that I shall not forget him to forget a friend is sad not everyone has had a friend and if I forget him I may become like the grownups who are no longer interested in anything but figures it is for that purpose again that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils it is hard to take up drawing again at my age when I've never made any pictures except those of a boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside since I was six I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible but I am not at all sure of success one drawing goes along alright and another has no resemblance to its subject I make some errors too in the little princess height in one place he's too tall in another too short and I feel some doubts about the color of his costume so I fumble along as best I can now good now bad and I hope generally fair-to-middling in certain more important details I shall make mistakes also but that is something that will not be my fault my friend never explained anything to me he thought perhaps that I was like himself but ILS do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes perhaps I am a little like the grown ups I have had to grow old as each day passed I would learn in our talk something about the little princes planet his departure from it his journey the information would come very slowly as it might chance to fall from his thoughts it was in this way that I heard on the third day about the catastrophe of the bail Babs this time once more I had the Sheep to thank for it for the little prince asked me abruptly as if seized by a grave doubt it is true isn't it that sheep eat little bushes yes that is true huh I'm glad I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes but the little prince added then it follows that they also eat baobabs I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes but on the contrary trees as big as castles and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him the herd would not eat up one single baobab the idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh we would have to put them one on top of the other he said but he made a wise comment before they grow so big the baobab start out by being little that is strictly correct I said but why do you want the Sheep to eat the little baobabs he answered me at once oh can come as if he was speaking of something that was self-evident and I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem without any assistance indeed as I learnt there where on the planet where the little prince lived as on all planets good plants and bad plants in consequence there were good seeds from good plants and bad seeds from bad plants but seeds are invisible they sleep deep in the heart of the Earth's darkness until someone among them is seized with a desire to waken then this little seed will stretch itself and begin timidly at first to push a charming little sprig in offensively upward towards the Sun if it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rosebush one would let it grow wherever it might wish but when it is a bad plant one must destroy it as soon as possible the very first instant that one recognizes it now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince and these were the seeds of the baobab the soil of that planet was infested with them a baobab is something you will never never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late it spreads over the entire planet it bores clear through it with its roots and if the planet is too small and the baobabs too many they split it in pieces it is a question of discipline the little prince said to me later on when you finished your own toilet in the morning then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet just so with the greatest care you must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rose bushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth it is very tedious work the little prince added but very easy and one day he said to me you ought to make a beautiful drawing so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is that would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day sometimes he added there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day but when it is a matter of the baobabs that always means a catastrophe I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man he neglected three little bushes so as the little prince described it to me I made a drawing of that planet I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist but the danger of the baobabs is so little understood and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid that for once I am breaking through my reserve children I say plainly watch out for the baobabs my friends like myself have been skirting this danger for a long time without ever knowing it and so it is for them that I've worked so hard over this drawing the lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me perhaps you will ask me why are there no other drawings in the book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs the reply is simple I have tried but with the others I have not been successful when I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity o little prince bit by bit I came to understand the secrets of your sad little life for a long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset I learned that new detail on the morning of the fourth day when you said to me I'm very fond of sunsets come let us go look at a sunset now but we must wait I said wait for what for the sunset we must wait until it is time at first you seemed to be very much surprised and then you laugh to yourself you said to me I'm always thinking that I'm at home just so everybody knows that when it is noon in the United States the Sun is setting over France if you could fly to France in one minute you could go straight into the sunset right from noon unfortunately France is too far away for that but on your tiny planet my little prince all you need do is move your chair a few steps you can see the day and the twilight falling whenever you like one day you said to me I saw the sunset 44 times and a little later you added you no one loves the sunset when one is so sad were you so sad then I asked on the day of the forty-four sunsets but the little prince made no reply on the fifth day again as always it was thanks to the Sheep the secret of the little princes life was revealed to me abruptly without saying anything to lead up to it and is if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem he demanded a sheep if it eats little bushes does it eat flowers to a I answered eats anything it finds in its reach hmm even flowers that have thorns yes yes even flowers that have thorns then the thorns what do you saw they I did not know at that moment I was really busy trying to unscrew a boat that had got stuck in my engine I was very much worried for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious and I had so little drinking water left that I had to fear the worst the thorns what youth are they the little prince never let go of a question once he'd asked it as for me I was upset over that bolt and I answered but the first thing that came into my head Oh the thorns no use at all flowers have thorns just for spite oh there was a moment of complete silence then the little prince flashed back at me with a kind of resentment I don't believe you flowers are weak creatures they are naive they reassure themselves as best they can they believe that their thorns are terrible weapons I did not answer at that instant I was saying to myself and if this boat still won't turn I'm going to knock it out with a hammer again the little prince disturbed my thoughts and you actually believe that the flowers oh no I cried no no no I don't believe anything I I answered you with the first thing that came into my head don't you see I'm very busy with matters of consequence he stared at me thunderstruck matters of consequence he looked at me there with my hammer in my hand my fingers black with engine grease bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly you talk just like the grown-ups that made me a little ashamed but he went on relentlessly you mix everything up together you confuse everything he really was very angry he tossed his golden curls in the breeze I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman he has never smelled a flower he has never looked at a star he has never loved anyone he has never done anything in his life but add up figures and all day he says over and over just like you I am busy with matters of consequence and that makes him swell up with pride but he's not a man he's a mushroom a what a mushroom the little prince was now white with rage the flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years for millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same and is it not a matter of consequence to try and understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which I never have any use to them is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important is it not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman sons and if I know I myself one flower which is unique in the world which grows nowhere but on my planet but which one little sheep can destroy in a single bite some morning without even noticing what he was doing so you think that is not important his face turned from white to red as he continued if someone loves a flower of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars it is enough to make him happy just to look at the Stars he can say to himself somewhere my flower is there but if a sheep eats the flower in one moment all his stars will be darkened and you think that is not important he could not say anything more his words were choked by sobbing the night had fallen I had let my tools drop from my hands of what moment now was my hammer my belt or thirst or death on the star one planet my planet the earth there was a little prince to be comforted I took him in my arms and rocked him I said to him the flower that you love is not in danger I will draw you a muzzle for your sheep I will draw you a railing to put round your flower I will I did not know what to say to him I felt awkward and blundering I did not know how I could reach him where I could overtake him and go on hand-in-hand with him once more it is such a secret place the land of Tears I soon learned to know this flower better on the little princes planet the flowers had always been very simple they had only one ring of petals they took up no room at all they were a trouble to nobody one morning they would appear in the grass and by night they would have faded peacefully away but one day from a seed blown from no one knew where a new flower had come up and the little prince had watched very closely over his small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet it might you see have been a new kind of baobab but the shrub soon stopped growing and began to get ready to produce a flower the little prince who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it but the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber she chose her colors with the greatest care she dressed herself slowly she adjusted her petals one by one she did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled like the field poppies it was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear oh yes she was a coquettish creature and her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days then one morning exactly at sunrise she suddenly showed herself and after working with all this painstaking precision she yawned and said oh I'm scarcely awake I beg that you will excuse me my petals are still all disarranged but the little prince could not restrain his admiration oh how beautiful you are am I not the flower responded sweetly and I was born at the same moment as the Sun the little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest but how moving and exciting she was I think it is time for breakfast she added an instant later if you would have the kindness to think of my needs and the little prince' completely abashed went to look for a sprinkling can of fresh water so he tendered the flower she too began very quickly to torment him with her vanity which was if the truth be known a little difficult to deal with one day for instance when she was speaking of her for thorns she said to the little prince let the Tigers come with our claws there are new Tigers on my planet the little prince objected and anyway Tigers do not eat weeds I am NOT a weed the flower replied sweetly and please excuse me I'm not at all afraid of tigers she went on but I have a horror of grafts I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me a horror of drafts that is bad luck for a plant remark the little prince and added to himself this flower is a very complex creature at night I want you to put me under a glass globe it is very cold will you live in the place where I came from ha ha but she interrupted herself at that point she had come in the form of a seed she could not have known anything of any other world's embarrassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naive and truth she cuffed two or three times in order to put the little prince in the wrong the screen and I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me then she forced her coffee little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same so the little prince in spite of all the goodwill that was inseparable from his love had soon come to doubt her he had taken seriously words which were without importance and it made him there unhappy I ought not to have listened to her he confided to me one day one ought never to listen to the flowers one should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance mine perfumed all my planet but I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace this tale of claws which disturbed me so much should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity and he continued his confidences the fact is I did not know how to understand anything I ought to have judged by deeds are not by words she cast her fragrance and her radiance over me I ought never to have run away from her I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems flowers are so inconsistent but I was too young to know how to love her I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds on the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order he carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes he possessed two active volcanoes and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning he also had one volcano that was extinct but as he said one never knows so he cleaned out the extinct volcano - if they are well cleaned out volcanoes burned slowly and steadily without any eruptions volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney on our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes that is why they bring no end of trouble upon us the little prince' also pulled up with a certain sense of dejection the last little shoots of the baobabs he believed that he would never want to return but on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him and when he watered the flower for the last time and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe he realized that he was very close to tears goodbye he said to the flower but she made no answer goodbye he said again the flower coughed but it was not because she had a cold I have been silly she said to him at last I asked her forgiveness try to be happy he was surprised by this absence of reproaches he stood there all bewildered the glass globe held arrested in midair he did not understand this quiet sweetness of course I love you the flower said to him it is my fault that you have not known it all the while that is of no importance but you you have been just as foolish as I trying to be happy let the glass globe be I don't want it any more but the wind my cold is not as bad as all that the cool night air will do me good I am a flower but the animals well I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies it seems that they are really built for and if not the butterflies and the caterpillars who will call upon me you will be far away as for the large animals I'm not at all afraid of any of them I have my claws and they Eve Lee she showed her four forms then she added don't linger like this you decided go where now go for she did not want him to see her crying she was such a proud flower he found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids three to five three to six three two seven three two eight three to nine and three three oh he began therefore by visiting them in order to add to his knowledge the first of them was inhabited by a king clad in royal purple and ermine he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic ha here's a subject exclaimed the king when he saw the little prince coming and the little prince asked himself how could he recognize me when he's never seen me before he did not know how the world is simplified four kings to them all men are subject approached so that I may see you better said the king who felt consuming Lee proud of being at last king over somebody the little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the Kings magnificent ermine robe so he remained standing upright and since he was tired he yawned now it is contrary to a ticket to yawn in the presence of King the monarch said to him I forbid you to do so I can't help it I can't stop myself replied the little prince thoroughly embarrassed I've come on a long journey I've had no sleep ah ah then the king said i order you to yawn it's years since I've seen anyone yawning yawns to me are objects of curiosity come on now haha your nageire hey that's an order that frightens me I I cannot anymore murmured the little prince now completely abashed and her hair replied the king then I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to well well I hired her he spluttered a little and seemed vexed for what the King fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected he tolerated no disobedience he was an absolute monarch but because he was a very good man he made his orders reasonable if I order a general he would say by way of example yes if I order a general to change himself into a sea bird and if the general did not obey me that would not be the fault of the general it would be my fault may I sit down came now a timid inquiry from the little prince yeah I order you to do so the King answered him and majestically gathered in a fold of his urban mantle but the little prince was wandering the planet was tiny over what could this King really rule sire he said to him I beg that you'll excuse my asking you a question oh I already owe to ask me a question the king hastened to assure him sir over what do you rule over everything said the king with magnificent simplicity over everything the King made a gesture which took in his planet the other planets and all the stars over all that asked the little prince here overall at the king answered for his rule was not any absolute it was also Universal and the Stars obey you certainly they do the King said there be instantly I do not commit in sporty nation such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at if he'd been a master of such complete authority he would have been able to watch the sunset not forty four times in one day but seventy two or even a hundred or even two hundred times without ever having to move his chair and because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor I should like to see a sunset do me that kindness order the Sun to set if I if I ordered the general to fly from one flower or another like a butterfly or to write a tragic drama or to change himself into a seabird fantasy and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received which one of us would be in the wrong the King demanded the general or myself you said the prince firmly exactly one must require from each one the duty which each one can perform the King went on accepted Authority rest first of all on reason if you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea they would rise up in revolution I had the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable well then my son said the little prince reminded him for he never forgot a question once he had asked it yes you shall have your sunset I shall command it but according to my science of government I shall wait until conditions are favourable the win will that be inquired the little prince yes uh-huh replied the king and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky Almanac uh-uh-uh that'll be about about yes that'll be this evening about twenty minutes to 8:00 and huh you'll see how well I'm Abed the little prince yawned he was regretting his last sunset and then too he was already beginning to be a little bored I have nothing more to do here he said to the king so I shall set out on my way again do not go said the king who was very proud of having a subject I do not go I'll make you a minister minister of what the Minister of Justice but there is nobody here to judge AHA we do not know that the king said to him I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom I am there there's no room here for carriage and it tires me to walk oh but I've looked already said the little prince turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet on that side as on this there was nobody at all then you will judge yourself the king answered that is the most difficult thing more it's much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others if you will exceed in judging yourself right there then you are indeed a man of true wisdom yes said the little prince but I can judge myself anywhere I do not need to live on this planet well not on us Yeah right said the king I've got reasonable either somewhere on my planet there is no threat I heard him at night you can you can judge this eldress huh from time to time you will condemn him to death then his life will depend on your justice but then he will pardon him on each occasion for he must be treated thriftily he is the only one we have oh I replied the little prince do not like to condemn anyone to death and now I think I will go on my way no said the king but the little prince having now completed his preparations for departure had no wish to grieve the old monarch if your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed he said he should be able to give me a reasonable order he should be able for example to order me to be gone by the end of one minute it seems to me that conditions are favorable as the king made no answer the little prince hesitated a moment then with a sigh he took his leave I make you my ambassador the king called out hastily he had a magnificent air of authority but grown-ups are very strange the little prince said to himself as he continued on his journey the second planet was inhabited by a conceited man aha yes I'm about to receive the visit of an admirer he exclaimed from afar when he first saw the little prince coming for too conceited men all other men are admirers good-morning said the little prince that is a hat you are wearing it is a hat for salutes the conceited man replied it is to raise and salute when people acclaim me unfortunately nobody at all ever passes this way yes said the little prince who did not understand what the conceited man was talking about they clap your hands one against the other the conceited man now directed him the little prince clapped his hands the conceited man raised his hat in a modest salute this is more entertaining than the visit to the king the little prince said to himself and he began again to clap his hands one against the other the conceited man again raised his hat in salute after five minutes of this exercise the little prince grew tired of the games monotony and what should one do to make the hat come down he asked but the conceited man did not hear him conceited people never hear anything but praise you really admire me very much he demanded of the little prince but what does that mean admire ah to admire means that you regard me as the handsomest the best-dressed the richest and the most intelligent man on this planet but you are the only man on your planet do me this kindness admire me just the same I admire use of little Prince shrugging his shoulders slightly but what is there in that to interest you so much and then footprints went away the grown-ups are certainly very odd he said to himself as he continued on his journey the next planet was inhabited by a tippler this was a very short visit but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection what are you doing there he said to the Tipler whom he found settled down in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles I am drinking replied the Tipler with a lugubrious air why are you drinking demanded the little prince surely I may forget replied the Tipler forget what inquired the little prince who already was sorry for him forget that I am shamed the Tipler confessed hanging his head ashamed of what insisted the little prince who wanted to help him ashamed of drinking the Tipler brought his speech to an end and shut himself up in an impregnable silence and the little prince went away puzzled the grown-ups are certainly very very odd he said to himself as he continued on his journey the fourth planet belonged to a businessman this man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little princes arrival good morning the little prince said to him your cigarette has gone out three and two make five five and seven nine twelve twelve and three make fifteen good morning fifteen and seven make twenty-two twenty-two and six May 28 and time to light it again 26 and five make thirty one fifth at makes 501 million six hundred twenty two thousand seven hundred thirty one five hundred million what as the little prince Hey oh you still there five hundred and one mill I can't stop I've got so much to do I'm concerned with matters of consequence I don't amuse myself with balderdash two and five makes seven five hundred and one million watt repeated the little prince who never in his life had let go over question once he had asked it the business man raised his head ah now during the fifty four years that I've inhabited this I've been disturbed only three times the first time was 28 years ago when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where he made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place and I made four mistakes in my addition the second time 11 years ago I was disturbed by an attacker rheumatism I don't get enough exercise I have no time for loafing the third time well this is it I was saying then 501 millions millions of what the business man suddenly realized there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question millions of those little objects he said which one sometimes sees in the sky flies oh no little glittering objects bees oh no no little golden objects at sit lazy meander idle dreaming as for me I'm concerned with matters of consequence there's no time for idle dreaming in my life oh you mean the stars yes that's at the stars well what do you do with 500 million stars 501 million six hundred twenty two thousand seven hundred and thirty-one I'm concerned but not as a consequence I am accurate but and what do you do with these stars what do I do with them yes nothing I own them you own the Stars yes but I've already seen a king look Kings do not own their reign over to a very different matter and what good does it do you to own the stars it does me the good of making me rich and what good does it do you to be rich it makes it possible for me to buy more stars if any are discovered this man little prince said to himself reasons like my poor Tipler nevertheless he still had some more questions how is it possible for one to own stars to whom do they belong the businessmen retorted peevishly well I don't know - nobody yeah then they belong to me because I was the first person to think of it is that all it's necessary certainly when you find dime that belongs to nobody it's yours when you discover an island that belongs to nobody it's yours when you get an idea before anyone else you take a patent out on it it's yours so with me I own the Stars because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them yes that's true so the little prince and what you do with them I I administer then replied the businessman accountant and I recount them that's difficult but I'm a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence the little prince was still not satisfied if I owned a silk scarf he said I could put it around my neck and take it away with me if I owned a flower I could pluck that flower and take it away with me but you cannot pluck the stars from heaven no but I can put them in the bank whatever does that mean that means that I write the numbers of my stars on a little paper then I put this paper in a drawer and I lock it with a key and that is all ah that's enough said the businessman it's entertaining thought the little prince it's rather poetic but it is of no great consequence on matters of consequence the little prince had ideas which were very much different from those of the grown-ups I myself own a flower he continued his conversation with the business man which I water every day I own three volcanoes which I clean out every week but I also clean out the one that is extinct one never knows it is of some use to my volcanoes and it is of some use to my flower that I own them but you are of no use to the stars the business man opened his mouth but he found nothing to say an answer and the little prince went away the grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary he said simply talking to himself as he continued on his journey the fifth planet was very strange it was the smallest of all that was just enough room ID for a street lamp and a lamp lighting the little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamp lighter somewhere in the heavens on a planet which was so small that he had no people and not one house but he said to himself nevertheless it may well be that this man is absurd but he is not as absurd as the king the conceited man the businessman of the Tipler for at least his work has some meaning when he lights his street lamp it is as if he brought one more star to life for one flower when he puts out his lamp he sends the flower of a star to sleep and that is a beautiful occupation and since it is beautiful it is truly useful when he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the Lamplighter good morning sir why have you just put out your lamp those are the orders replied the Lamplighter good morning what are the orders the orders are that I put out my lamp good evening and he lighted his lamp again but why have you just lighted it again those are the orders replied the Lamplighter I do not understand to the little prince there is nothing to understand said the Lamplighter orders are orders good morning and he put out his lamp then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares I'll follow a terrible profession and the old days it was reasonable I put the lamp out in the morning and in the evening I lighted it again I had the rest of the day for relaxation in the rest of the night for sleep and the orders of change since that time the orders have not been changed to the Lamplighter that's the progeny from year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed then what asked the little prince then the planet now makes a complete dead in every minute and I'll no longer have a single second for repose once every minute after like my lump and put it out oh that's very funny a day lasts only one minute here where you live it's not funny at dolls at the Lamplighter well we've been talking together a month has gone by a month a month 30 minutes 30 days good evening and he lighted his lamp again as the little prince watched him he felt that he loved this lamp lighter who was so faithful to his orders he remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek in other days merely by pulling up his chair and he wanted to help his friend you know he said I can tell you away you can rest whenever you want to I always want to rest said the Lamplighter for it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time the little prince went on with his explanation your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it to be always in the sunshine you need only walk along rather slowly when you want to rest you will walk and the day will last as long as you like that doesn't do me much good said the Lamplighter but one thing I love in life is to sleep then you're unlucky said the little prince I am unlucky said the Lamplighter good morning and he put out his lamp that man said the little prince to himself as he continued father on his journey that man would be scorned by all the others by the king by the conceited man by the Tipler by the business man nevertheless he's the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous perhaps that is because he's thinking of something else besides himself he breathed the sigh of regret and said to himself again that man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend but his planet is indeed too small there is no room on it for two people what the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet because it was blessed everyday with 1404 - sunsets the sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one it was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote the luminous books oh look here is an explorer he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming the little prince sat down on the table and panted a little he had already traveled so much and so far heard you'll come from the old gentleman said to him what is there big books of the little prince what are you doing ah I'm a geographer said the old gentleman what is a geographer as the little prince a geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas rivers towns mountains and deserts that is very interesting said the little prince here at last is a man who has a real profession and he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer it was the most magnificent and stately planet he had ever seen your planet is very beautiful he said has it any oceans uh oh I couldn't tell you said the geographer ah the little prince was disappointed has it any mountains ah no I couldn't tell you said the geographer and towns and rivers and deserts I couldn't tell you that either but you're a geographer exactly the geographer said but I'm not an explorer I haven't a single Explorer on my planet it is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns rivers mountains seas oceans deserts the geography is much too important to go loafing about he does not leave his desk but he receives the explorers in his study he asked them questions and he nets down what they recall that travels yeah and if three recollection of any one among them seemed interested in to him the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorers moral character why is that because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer so would an explorer who drank too much why is that asked the little prince because intoxicated men she double and the geographer would note down two mountains in a place will lose her name one well I know someone said the little prince who would make a bad Explorer that is possible then when the moral character of the Explorer is shown to be good an Inquirer is ordered into discovery when goes to see it oh no no that would be too complicated but one requires the Explorer to furnish proofs for example the discovery in question is that of a large mountain when requires that large stones be brought back from it the geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement oh you know you come from far away you are an explorer you should describe your planet to me and having opened his big register the geographer sharpened his pencil the Recycles of explorers are put down first in pencil one waits until the Explorer has furnished proofs before putting them down in ink well said the geography expectantly oh where I live said the little prince it's not very interesting it's also small I have three volcanoes to volcanoes active the other is extinct but one never knows one never knows said the geographer I also have a flower oh no no we do not odd flowers at the geographer why is that the flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet we do not record them said the geographer because they are ephemeral what does that mean ephemeral Oh geographers said the geographer are the books which of all books are most concerned with methods of consequence they never become old-fashioned it is their rally that a mountain changes its position it's very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters we write of eternal things but extinct volcanoes may come to life again the little prince' interrupted what does that mean ephemeral Oh weather volcanoes are extinct or alive it comes to the same thing for us said the geographer the thing that matters to us is the mountain it does not say but what does that mean if femural repeated the little prince who never in his life had let go of a question once he had asked it it means which is in danger of speedy disappearance is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance or certainly it is my flower is a femural the little prince said to himself and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world and I have left her on my planet all alone that was his first moment of regret but he took courage once more what place would you advise me to visit now he asked the planet Earth replied the geographer it has a good refutation and the little prince went away thinking of his flower so then the seventh planet was the earth the earth is not just an ordinary planet one can count there a hundred and eleven Kings not forgetting to be sure the Negro Kings among them seven thousand geographers nine hundred thousand businessmen 7,500,000 tipplers 311 million conceited men that is to say about 200 billion grown-ups to give you an idea of the size of the earth I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain over the whole of the six continents a veritable army of four hundred and sixty two thousand five hundred and eleven lamplighters for the streetlamps seen from a slight distance that would make a splendid spectacle the movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the Opera first would come the turn of the lamplighters of New Zealand and Australia having set their lamps alight those would go off to sleep next the lamplighters of China and Siberia would enter for their steps in the dance and then they too would be waved back into the wings after that would come the turn of the lamplighters of Russia and the Indies then those of Africa and Europe then there's of South America then those of North America and never would they make a mistake in the order their entry upon the stage it would be magnificent only the man who was in charge of the single lamp of the North Pole and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp of a South Pole only these two would live free from toil and care they would be busy twice a year when one wishes to play the wit when sometimes wanders a little from the truth I am NOT being altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters and I realized that I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not know it men occupy a very small space upon the earth if the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together as they do for some big public assembly they could easily be put into one public square 20 miles long and 20 miles wide all humanity could be piled up on a small pacific islet the grown ups to be sure will not believe you when you tell them that they imagine that they feel a great deal of space they fancy themselves as important as the baobabs you should advise them then to make their own calculations they adore figures and therefore pleased them but do not waste your time on this extra task it is unnecessary you have I know confidence in me when the little prince arrived on the earth he was very much surprised not to see any people he was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet when a coil of gold the color of the moonlight flashed across the sand good evening said the little prince courteously good evening said the snake what planet is this on which I have come down as the little prince this is the earth this is Africa a snake answered ah there are no people in the earth hey if this is the desert there are no people in the desert the earth is large said the snake the little prince sat down on a stone and raised his eyes towards the sky I wonder he said whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each of us may find his own again look at my planet it's right there above us but how far away it is Hey it is beautiful snake said what has brought you here I had been having some trouble with a flowers of them for Prince ah said the snake and they were both silent where are the men the little prince at last took up the conversation again it is a little lonely in the desert it is also lonely among men the snake said the little prince gazed at him for a long time you are a funny animal he said at last you are no thicker than a finger but I am more powerful than the finger of a kings for the snake the little prince smiled you're not very powerful you haven't even any seat you can't even travel I can carry you farther than any ship could take use and snake he trained himself around the little princes ankle a golden bracelet whoever I touch I sent back to earth from whence they came snakes of again but you are innocent of true and you come from a star the little prince made no reply you move me to pity you are so weak on this earth made of granite the snake said I can help you someday if you grow too homesick for your own planet I can oh I understand you very well said the little prince but why do you always speak in riddles I solve them all said the snake and they were both silent the little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower it was a flower with three petals a flower of no account at all good morning said the little prince wouldn't we said the flower where are the men the little prince asked politely the flower had once seen a caravan passing min she echoed I think there are six or seven of them in existence I saw them several years ago but one never knows where to find them the wind blows them away they have no roots that makes their life in a difficult goodbyes little prince goodbye said the flower after that the little prince climbed a high mountain the only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes which came up to his knees and used the extinct volcano as a footstool from a mountain as high as this one he said to himself I shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance and all the people but he saw nothing save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles good morning he said courteously good morning morning morning answered the echo oh who you said the little prince who answered the echo be my friends I'm all alone he said I answered the echo what a queer planet he thought it's altogether dry and altogether pointed and altogether harsh and forbidding and the people have no imagination they repeat what everyone says to them on my planet I had a flower she always was the first to speak but it happened that after walking for a long time through sand and rocks and snow the little prince' at last came upon a road and all roads lead to the abodes of men good morning he said he was standing before a garden all abloom with roses good mornings had the roses the little prince gazed at them they all looked like his flower who are you he demanded thunderstruck we are losses the Roses said and he was overcome with sadness his flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe and here were five thousand of them all alike in one single garden she would be very much annoyed he said to himself if she could see that she would cough most dreadfully and she would pretend that she was dying to avoid being laughed at and I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life for if I did not do that to humble myself also she would really allow herself to die then he went on with his reflections I thought that I was rich with a flower that was unique in all the world and all I had was a common rose a common rose and three volcanoes that come up to my knees and one of them perhaps extinct forever that doesn't make me a very great Prince and he laid down in the grass and cried it was then that the Fox appeared good morning to the Fox good morning the little prince responded politely although when he turned around he saw nothing I'm right here voice said under the apple tree who you asked a little princeton added no very pretty to look at I'm a fox a Fox said oh come and play with me proposed the little prince I'm so unhappy I cannot play with you with the Fox said I'm not tamed oh please excuse me said the little prince but after some thought he added what does that mean tame ha you do not live here said the Fox what is it that you're looking for I'm looking for men's of them for Prince what does that mean tame men said the Fox they have guns and they hunt very disturbing they also raised chickens these are there any interests are you looking for chickens no sir little prince I'm looking for friends what does that mean tame me it is an act too often neglected to the Fox it means to establish ties to establish ties just that said the Fox to me you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys and I have no need of you and you on your part have no need of me do you I'm nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes but if you tame me then we shall need each other to me you will be unique in all the world to you I shall be unique in all the world oh I'm beginning to understand so the footprints there is a flower I think that she has tamed me hmm it is possible said the Fox on the earth one sees all sorts of things well but this is not on the earth so the little prince the Fox seemed perplexed and very curious on another planet yes are there hunters on their planet no oh that's interesting now are their own chickens no nothing is perfect side the Fox but he came back to his idea my life is dead a monotonous he said I hunt chickens men hunt me all the chickens just like in all men are just alike and in consequence I'm a little bored but if you tame me it'll be as if the Sun gave sign on my life huh I saw near the sound of a steps that'll be different from all the others other steps in me hurrying back underneath the ground yours will call me like music out of my burrow and then look you see the grain fields down yonder I do not eat bread which is of no use to me the wheat fields have nothing to say to me and that is sad but you have hair that is the color of gold think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me the grain which has also golden will bring me back the thought of you and I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat the Fox gazed the little prince for a long time please a tame me he said I want to very much the little Prince replied but I have not much time I have friends to discover and a great many things to understand one only understands of things that one tame said the Fox men have no more time to understand anything they buy things already made of shops but there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship and so men have no friends anymore if you want a friend o tame me what must I do to tame you as the little prince you must be there a patient replied the Fox first you will sit down at a little distance from me like that yes in the grass I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye and you will say nothing words of a source of misunderstandings but you will sit a little closer to me every day the next day the little prince came back it would have been better to come back the same hours of the Fox if for example you came at four o'clock in the afternoon then a three o'clock I shall begin to be happy I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances at four o'clock I shall already be worrying and jumping about I shall show you how happy I am but if you come just any time I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you one must observe the proper rights what is a right asked a little prince those also are actions too often neglected so the Fox they are what makes one day different from the other days one hour from other hours there is a rite for example among my hunters every Thursday they dance with the village girls so Thursday is a wonderful day for me I can take a walk as far as the vineyards but if the hunters dance to just any time every day would be like every other day and I should never have any vacation at all so the little prince tamed the Fox and when the hour of his departure drew near ah said the Fox I shall cry it is your own faults at the little prince I never wished you any sort of harm but you wanted me to tame you yes that is so said the Fox and now you're going to cries the little prince yes that is so said the Fox then it has done you no good at all it has done me good said the Fox because of the color of the wheat fields and then he added go and look again at the roses you will understand now that yours is unique in all the world then come back to say goodbye to me and I will make you a present of a secret the little prince went away to look again at the roses you are not at all like my rose he said as yet you are nothing no one has tamed you and you have tamed no one you are like my Fox when I first knew him he was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes but I have made him my friend and now he is unique in all the world and the roses were very much embarrassed you are beautiful but you are empty he went on one could not die for you to be sure an ordinary passerby would think that my rose look just like you the Rose that belongs to me but in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses because it is she that I have watered because it is she that I have put under the glass globe because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies because it is she that I have listened to when she grumbled or boasted or even sometimes when she said nothing because she is my rose and he went back to meet the Fox goodbye he said goodbye to the Fox and now here is my secret oh there is simple secret it is only with a heart that one can see rightly what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye the little prince' repeated so that he would be sure to remember it is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important it is the time I have wasted for my Rose said the little prince so that he would be sure to remember men have forgotten this truth said the Fox but you must not forget it you become responsible forever for what you have tamed you are responsible for your rose I am responsible for my rose the little prince repeated so that he would be sure to remember you good morning said the little prince good morning said the railways switch man what do you do here that for prince asked our sort our travelers in bundles of a thousandth of the switchmen i send off the trains that carry them now to the right now to the left and a brilliant delighted Express train shook the switch turns cabin as it rushed by with a roar like thunder they are in a great house of the footprint what are we looking for not even the locomotive engineer knows that said the switchmen and a second brilliant alighted expressed thundered by in the opposite direction are they coming back already demanded the little prince ah those are not the same ones to the switchman it's an exchange where they not satisfied where they where asked the little prince no one's ever satisfied where he is said the switchmen and they heard the roaring Thunder of a third brilliant delighted Express are they pursuing the first travellers demanded the little prince they are pursuing nothing at all said the switchmen they are asleep in there or if they're not asleep they're yawning only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes only the children know what they're looking for said the little prince they waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them and if anybody takes it away from them they cry they are lucky the switchman said good morning said the little prince good morning said the merchant this was the merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst you need only swallow one pill a week and you will feel no need of anything to drink why are you selling those asked the little prince because they save a tremendous amount of time said the merchants computations have been made by experts with these pills you save fifty three minutes in every week and what do I do with those fifty three minutes anything you like as for me said the little prince to himself if I had fifty three minutes to spend as I liked I should walk at my leisure towards a spring of fresh water it was now the eighth day since I'd had my accident in the desert and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply ah I said to the little prince those memories of yours are very charming but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane I have nothing more to drink and I too should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure towards a spring of fresh water my friend the Fox the little prince said to me my dear little man this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with a fox why not because I'm about to die of thirst he did not follow my reasoning and he answered me it is a good thing to have a friend even if when he's about to die I for instance I'm very glad to have a fox as a friend he has no way of getting the danger I said to myself he's never been either hungry or thirsty a little sunshine is all that he needs but he looked at me steadily and replied to my thought I am thirsty too let us look for a well I made a gesture of weariness absurd to look for a well at random in the immensity of the desert but nevertheless we started walking when we had trudged along for several hours in silence the darkness fell and the stars began to come out thirst had made me a little feverish and I looked at them as if I were in a dream the little princes last words came reeling back into my memory then you are thirsty too I demanded but he did not reply to my question he merely said to me water may also be good for the heart ah I did not understand this answer but I said nothing I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him he was tired he sat down i sat down beside him and after little silence he spoke again the stars are beautiful because of a flower that cannot be seen I replied yes yes that is so and without saying anything more I looked across the ridges of sand that was stretched out the forest in the moonlight the desert is beautiful the little prince added and that was true I've always loved the desert when sits down on a desert sand dune sees nothing hears nothing hit through the silence something throbs and gleams what makes the desert beautiful said the little prince is that somewhere it hides a well I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands when I was a little bald house and legend told us that a treasure was buried there to be sure no one had ever known how to find it perhaps no one had ever even looked for it but it cast an enchantment over that house my home was hiding a secret in the depth of its heart yes I said to the little prince they're ours the Stars the desert what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible I'm glad he said that you agree with my Fox as the little prince dropped off to sleep I took him in my arms and set out walking once more I felt deeply moved and stirred it seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure it seemed to me even that there was nothing more fragile on all the earth in the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead his closed eyes his locks of hair that trembled in the wind and I said to myself what I see here is nothing but a shell what is most important is invisible as his lips opened slightly with the suspicion of a half-smile I said to myself again what moves me so deeply about this little prince who is sleeping here is his loyalty to a flower the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp even when he is asleep and I felt him to be more fragile still I felt the need of protecting him as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of and as I walked on so I found the well at daybreak men said the little prince set out on their Express trains but they do not know what they're looking for then they rush about and get excited and turn around and round and he added it's not worth the trouble the well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara the wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand this one was like a well in a village but there was no village here and I thought I must be dreaming it's strange I said to the little prince everything is ready for use the pulley the bucket the rope he laughed touched the rope and set the pulley to working and the pulley moaned like an old weather they in which the wind has long since forgotten do you hear said the little prince we have wakened the well and it is singing I did not want him to tie himself with the rope leave it to me I said it's too heavy for you I heisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there happy tired as I was over my achievement the song of the pulley was still in my ears and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water I'm thirsty for this water said the little prince give me some of it to drink and I understood what he had been looking for I raised the bucket to his lips he drank his eyes closed it was a sweet to some special festival treat this water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars the song of the pulley the effort of my arms it was good for the heart like a present when I was a little boy the lights of the Christmas tree the music of the midnight mass the tenderness of smiling faces used to make up so the radiance of the gifts I received the men were you Liv said the little prince raised five thousand roses in the same garden and they do not find in it what they are looking for they do not find it I replied and yet what they're looking for could be found in one single rose or in a little water yes that is true I said and the little prince added but the eyes are blind one must look with a heart I had drunk the water I breathed easily at sunrise the sand is the color of honey and that honey color was making me happy too what brought me then this sense of grief you must keep your promise said the little prince softly as he sat down beside me once more Oh what promise you know a muzzle for my sheep I am responsible for this flower I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket the little prince looked him over and laughed as he said your Bower bubs they look a little like cabbages Oh I'd been so proud of my Bower bubs your his ears look a little like horns and they're too long and he laughed again you're not fair little prince I said I I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside Oh that'll be all right he said children understand so then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle and as I gave it to him my heart was torn you have plans that I do not know about I said but he did not answer me he said to me instead you know my descent to the earth tomorrow will be its anniversary then after a silence he went on I came down very near here and he flushed and once again without understanding why I had a queer sense of sorrow one question however occurred to me then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you a week ago you were strolling along like that all alone a thousand miles from any inhabited region you are on your way back to the place where you land the little prince flushed again and I added with some hesitancy perhaps it was because of the anniversary the little prince flushed once more he never answered questions but when one flushes does that not mean yes ah has said to him I am a little frightened but he interrupted me now you must work you must return to your engine I will be waiting for you here come back tomorrow evening but I was not reassured I remember the Fox one runs the risk of weeping a little if one lets oneself be tamed beside the well there was the ruin of an old stone wall when I came back from my work the next evening I saw from some distance away my little prince sitting on top of this wall with his feet dangling and I heard him say then you don't remember this is not the exact spot another voice must have answered him for he replied to it yes yes it is the right day but this is not the place I continued my walk towards the wall at no time did I see or hear anyone the little prince however replied once again exactly you will see where my tracks begin in the sand you have nothing to do but to wait for me there I shall be there tonight I was only twenty yards from the wall and I still saw nothing after a silence the little prince spoke again you have good poison you are sure that it will not make me suffer too long I stopped in my tracks my heart torn asunder but still I did not understand now go away said the little prince I want to get down from the wall I dropped my eyes then to the foot of the wall and I lept into the air there before me facing the little prince was one of those yellow snakes that take thirty Seconds to bring your life to an end even as I was digging into my pocket to get out my revolver I made a running step back but of the noise I made the snake let himself flow easily across the sand like the dying spray of a fountain and in no apparent hurry disappeared with a light metallic sound among the stones I reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms his face was white as snow what does this mean I demanded why are you talking with snakes I had loosened the golden muffler that he always wore I had moistened his temples and gave him some water to drink and now I did not dare ask him any more questions he looked at me very gravely and put his arm around my neck I felt his heart beating like the heart of a dying bird shot with someone's rifle I'm glad that you have found what was the matter with your engine he said now you can go back home how do you know about that I was just coming to tell him that my work had been successful beyond anything that I had dared to hope he made no answer to my question but he added I - I'm going back home today then sadly it is much farther it is much more difficult I realized clearly that something extraordinary was happening I was holding him close in my arms as if he were a little child and yet it seemed to me that he was rushing headlong towards an abyss from which I could do nothing to restrain him his look was very serious like someone lost far away I have your sheep and I have the sheep's box and I have the muscle and he gave me a sad smile I waited a long time I could see that he was reviving little by little dear little man I said to him you're afraid he was afraid there was no doubt about that but he laughed lightly I shall be much more afraid this evening once again I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable and I knew that I could not bear the thought of never hearing that Laster anymore for me it was like the spring of fresh water in the desert little man I said I want to hear you laugh again but he said to me tonight it'll be a year I star then can be found right above the place where I came to the earth a year ago little man I said tell me that it is only a bad dream this affair of the snake and the meeting place and the star but he did not answer my plea he said to me instead the thing that is important is the thing that is not seen yes I know it's just as it is with a flower if you love a flower that lives on a star it is sweet to look at the sky at night all the stars are a bloom with flowers yes I know it's just as it is with water because of the pulley and the rope what you gave me to drink was like music you remember how good it was yes I know and at night you will look up at the stars where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found it is better like that my star will be just one of the stars for you and so you will love to watch all the stars in the heaven they will all be your friends and besides I'm going to make you a present he laughed again Oh little little prince dear little prince I love to hear that laughter that is my present just that it will be as it was when we drank the water what are you trying to say all men have stars he answered but they are not the same things for different people for some who are travellers the stars are guides for others they are no more than little lights in the sky for others who are scholars they are problems for my business man they are wealth but all these stars are silent you you alone will have the stars as no one else has them what are you trying to say in one of the stars I shall be living in one of them I shall be laughing and so it will be as if all the stars were laughing when you look at the sky at night you only you will have stars that can laugh and he laughed again and when your sorrow is comforted time soothes all sorrows you will be content that you have known me he will always be my friend you will want to laugh with me and you will sometimes open your window so for that pleasure and your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky then you will say to them yes the stars always make me laugh and they will think you are crazy it will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you and he laughed again it will be as if in place of the stars I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh and he laughed again then he quickly became serious tonight you know do not come I shall not leave you I said I shall look as if I was suffering I shall look a little as if I were dying it is like that do not come to see that it's not worth the trouble I shall not leave you but he was worried I tell you it's also because of the snake he must not bite you snakes they are malicious creatures this one might bite you just for the fun I shall not leave you but a thought came to reassure him it is true that they have no more poison for a second bite that night I did not see him set on his way he got away from me without making a sound when I succeeded in catching up with him he was walking along with a quick and resolute step he said to me merely ah you're there and he took me by the hand but he was still worrying it was wrong of you to come you will suffer I should look as if I were dead and that will not be true I said now think you understand it's too far I cannot carry this body with me it's too heavy I said nothing but it'll be like an old abandoned shell there's nothing sad about old shells I said nothing he was a little discouraged but he made one more effort you know it'll be very nice I too shall look at the Stars all the styles will be wells with a rusty pulley all the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink I said nothing that'll be so amusing you will you will have 500 million little bells and I shall have 500 million Springs of fresh water and he too said nothing nor because he was crying here it is let me go on by myself and he sat down because he was afraid then he said again you know my flower I'm responsible for her and she is so weak oh she's so naive she has four thorns of no use at all to protect herself against all the world i sat down to because I was not able to stand up any longer there now that is all he still hesitated a little then he got up he took one step I could not move there was nothing but a flash of yellow close to his ankle he remained motionless for an instant he did not cry out he fellows gently as a tree falls there was not even any sound because of the sand and now six years have already gone by I have never yet told this story the companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive I was sad but I tell them I'm tired now my sorrow is comforted a little that is to say not entirely but I know that he did go back to his planet because I did not find his body at daybreak it was not such a heavy body and at night I loved to listen to the stars it is like 500 million little bells but there is one extraordinary thing when I drew the muzzle for the little prince I forgot to add the leather strap to it you will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep so now I keep wondering what is happening on his planet perhaps the Sheep has eaten the flower at one time I say to myself surely now the little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night and he watches over his sheep very carefully that I'm happy and there is a sweetness in the last of all the stars but at another time I say to myself at some moment or other one is absent-minded net enough on some one evening he forgot the glass globe or the sheep got out without making any noise in the night and then the little bells are chained to tears here then is a great mystery for you who also loved the little prince and for me nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere we do not know where a sheep that we never saw has yes or no eaten arose look up at the sky ask yourselves is it yes or now has the sheep eaten the flower and you will see how everything changes and no grownup will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance the desert is to me the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world in case you travel someday to the African desert I hope you have listened carefully so that you will be sure to recognize the exact spot where the little prince appeared on earth and disappeared and if you should come upon this spot please do not hurry on wait for a time exactly under the star then if a little man appears who loves who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions you will know who he is if this should happen please comfort me send me word that he has come back

Channel: Roman Styran

Views: 126,824

Rating: 4.9226933 out of 5

Keywords: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Peter Ustinov, The Little Prince, audiobook

Id: W86gMRUKQr0

Length: 107min 7sec (6427 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 21 2016