Little
Prince Table of Contents
The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all.
There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter.
The
little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use
of a street lamp and a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens,
on a planet which 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 so absurd as the king, the conceited
man, the businessman, and the tippler. 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, or one flower. When he puts out his lamp,
he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. 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. 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," said 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
follow a terrible profession. In 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 and the rest
of the night for sleep."
"And
the orders have been changed since that time?"
"The
orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter. "That is
the tragedy! 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 turn every minute, and I
no longer have a single second for repose. Once every minute I
have to light my lamp and put it out!"
"That
is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!"
"It is not funny at all!" said the lamplighter. "While we have
been talking together a month has gone by."
"A
month?"
"Yes,
a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening." And he lighted
his lamp again. As the little prince watched him, he felt that
he loved this lamplighter 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 a way 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. "The 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 farther
on his journey, "that man would be scorned by all the others:
by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman.
Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem
to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something
else besides himself."
He
breathed a 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 blest every day with 1440 sunsets!
Go
to Chapter 15
