Little
Prince Table of Contents
The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was
inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous 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!
"Where
do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him.
"What
is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
"I
am a geographer," the old gentleman said to him.
"What
is a geographer?" asked 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 that he had ever
seen.
"Your
planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?"
"I
couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"Ah!"
The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"And
towns, and rivers, and deserts?"
"I
couldn't tell you that, either."
"But
you are a geographer!"
"Exactly,"
the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single
explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to
count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans,
and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing
about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers
in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they
recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among
them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry
into that explorer's 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 see double. Then the geographer would note down
two mountains in a place where there was only one."
"I
know some one," 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 inquiry is ordered into his discovery."
"One
goes to see it?"
"No.
That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to
furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that
of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought
back from it." The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.
"But you you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall
describe your planet to me!" And, having opened his big register,
the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals 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 geographer expectantly.
"Oh,
where I live," said the little prince, "it is not very interesting.
It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are
active and the other is extinct. But one never knows."
"One
never knows," said the geographer.
"I have also a flower."
"We
do not record flowers," said 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'?"
"Geographies,"
said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most
concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned.
It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is
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'?"
"Whether
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 change."
"But
what does that mean 'ephemeral'?" 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?"
"Certainly
it is."
"My flower is ephemeral," 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 reputation."
And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
Go
to Chapter 16
