Little
Prince Table of Contents
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 a 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 toward the wall. At no time did I see or hear
anyone. The little prince, however, replied once again: "...Exactly.
You will see where my track begins, in the sand. You have nothing
to do but wait for me there. I shall be there tonight."
I
was only twenty metres 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 leaped
into the air. There before me, facing the little prince, was one
of those yellow snakes that take just thirty seconds to bring
your life to an end. Even as I was digging into my pocked to get
out my revolver I made a running step back. But, at 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 had given 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 arms around my neck. I felt his heart beating
like the heart of a dying bird, shot with someone's rifle...
"I
am 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, too, am going
back home today..." Then, sadly, "It is much farther... it is
much more difficult..." I realised 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
toward an abyss from which I could do nothing to restrain him...
His look was very serious, like some one lost far away.
"I
have your sheep. And I have the sheep's box. And I have the muzzle..."
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 are 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 laughter any more. For me, it was like a 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 will be a year... my 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
is just as it is with the 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
is just as it is with the 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 just be one of the stars,
for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens...
they will all be your friends. And, besides, I am going to make
you a present..." He laughed again.
"Ah,
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 the stars," he answered, "but they are not the same things
for different people. For some, who are travelers, 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 businessman
they were 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. You 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," said the little prince.
"I shall not leave you," I said.
"I
shall look as if I were suffering. I shall look a little as if
I were dying. It is like that. Do not come to see that. It is
not worth the trouble..."
"I
shall not leave you."
But
he was worried. "I tell you, it is also because of the snake.
He must not bite you. Snakes, they are malicious creatures. This
one might bite you just for 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 out 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 are there..." And he took me by the hand.
But he was still worrying. "It was wrong of you to come. You will
suffer. I shall look as if I were dead; and that will not be true..."
I
said nothing.
"You understand... it is too far. I cannot carry this body with
me. It is too heavy."
I
said nothing.
"But
it will be like an old abandoned shell. There is nothing sad about
old shells..."
I
said nothing. He was a little discouraged. But he made one more
effort: "You know, it will be very nice. I, too, shall look at
the stars. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley. All
the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink..."
I
said nothing.
"That
will be so amusing! You will have five hundred million little
bells, and I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh
water..." And he too said nothing more, becuase 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 am responsible
for her. And she is so weak! She has four thorns, of no use at
all, to protect herself against all the world..."
I
too sat down, 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 fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even
any sound, because of the sand.
Go
to Chapter 27
