Little
Prince Table of Contents
The fourth planet belonged to a businessman.
This
man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at
the little prince's arrival.
"Good
morning," the little prince said to him. "Your cigarette has gone
out."
"Three
and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three
make fifteen. Good morning. Fifteen and seven make twenty-two.
Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I haven't time to light
it again. Twenty-six and five make thirty-one. Phew ! Then that
makes five-hundred-and-one-million, six-hundred-twenty-two-thousand,
seven-hundred-thirty-one."
"Five
hundred million what?" asked the little prince. "Eh? Are you still
there? Five-hundred-and-one million, I can't stop... I have so
much to do! I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don't
amuse myself with balderdash. Two and five make seven..."
"Five-hundred-and-one
million what?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life
had let go of a question once he had asked it.
The
businessman raised his head. "During the fifty-four years that
I have inhabited this planet, I have been disturbed only three
times. The first time was twenty-two 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, eleven years ago, I was disturbed
by an attack of rheumatism. I don't get enough exercise. I have
no time for loafing. The third time, well, this is it! I was saying,
then, five -hundred-and-one millions"
"Millions
of what?" The businessman suddenly realized that 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. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming.
As for me, I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is
no time for idle dreaming in my life." "Ah! You mean the stars?"
"Yes, that's it. The stars." "And what do you do with five-hundred
millions of stars?" "Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two
thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one. I
am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate."
"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 have already seen a king who..." "Kings do not own, they reign
over. It is 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 ever discovered."
"This
man," the little prince said to himself, "reasons a little like
my poor tippler..." Nevertheless, he still had some more questions.
"How is it possible for one to own the stars?" "To whom do they
belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly. "I don't know. To
nobody." "Then they belong to me, because I was the first person
to think of it." "Is that all that is necessary?" "Certainly.
When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When
you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When
you get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on
it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else
before me ever thought of owning them."
"Yes, that is true," said the little prince. "And what do you
do with them?"
"I
administer them," replied the businessman. "I count them and recount
them. It is difficult. But I am 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 number of my stars on a little paper.
And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key."
"And
that is all?"
"That
is enough," said the businessman.
"It
is entertaining," thought the little prince. "It is rather poetic.
But it is of no great consequence." On matters of consequence,
the little prince had ideas which were very different from those
of the grown-ups.
"I
myself own a flower," he continued his conversation with the businessman,
"which I water every day. I own three volcanoes, which I clean
out every week (for 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
businessman opened his mouth, but he found nothing to say in 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.
Go
to Chapter 14
