Little
Prince Table of Contents
"Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good
morning," said the railway switchman.
"What
do you do here?" the little prince asked.
"I
sort out travelers, in bundles of a thousand," said the switchman.
"I send off the trains that carry them; now to the right, now
to the left." And a brilliantly lighted express train shook the
switchman's cabin as it rushed by with a roar like thunder.
"They
are in a great hurry," said the little prince. "What are they
looking for?"
"Not
even the locomotive engineer knows that," said the switchman.
And a second brilliantly lighted express thundered by, in the
opposite direction.
"Are
they coming back already?" demanded the little prince. "These
are not the same ones," said the switchman. "It
is an exchange."
"Were
they not satisfied where they were?" asked the little prince.
"No
one is ever satisfied where he is," said the switchman. And they
heard the roaring thunder of a third brilliantly lighted express.
"Are
they pursuing the first travelers?" demanded the little prince.
"They
are pursuing nothing at all," said the switchman. "They are asleep
in there, or if they are not asleep they are yawning. Only the
children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes."
"Only
the children know what they are 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.
Go
to Chapter 23
