E-BOOKS

- XI -



The second planet was inhabited by a conceited man.
→На второй планете жил честолюбец.

"Ah! Ah! I am about to receive a visit from an admirer!"
→– О, вот и почитатель явился!

he exclaimed from afar, when he first saw little prince coming.
→– воскликнул он, еще издали завидев Маленького принца.

For, to conceited men, all other men are admirers.
→Ведь тщеславным людям кажется, что все ими осхищаются.

"Good morning," said the little prince. "That is a queer hat you are wearing."
→– Добрый день, – сказал Маленький принц. – Какая у вас забавная шляпа.

"It is a hat for salutes," the conceited man replied.
→– Это чтобы раскланиваться, – объяснил честолюбец.

"It is to raise in salute when people acclaim me.
→ – Чтобы раскланиваться, когда меня приветствуют.

Unfortunately, nobody at all ever passes this way."
→ К несчастью, сюда никто не заглядывает.

"Yes?" said the little prince, who did not understand what the conceited man was talking about.
→– Вот как? – промолвил Маленький принц: он ничего не понял.

"Clap your hands, one against the other," the conceited man now directed him.
→– Похлопай-ка в ладоши, – сказал ему честолюбец.

The little prince clapped his hands.
→Маленький принц захлопал в ладоши.

The conceited man raised his hat in a modest salute.
→Честолюбец снял шляпу и скромно раскланялся.

"This is more entertaining than the visit to the king," the little prince said to himself.
→«Здесь веселее, чем у старого короля», – подумал Маленький принц.

And he began again to clap his hands, one against the other.
→ И опять стал хлопать в ладоши.

The conceited man again raised his hat in salute.
→ А честолюбец опять стал раскланиваться, снимая шляпу.

After five minutes of this exercise the little prince grew tired of the game's monotony.
→Так минут пять подряд повторялось одно и то же, и Маленькому принцу это наскучило.

"And what should one do to make the hat come down?" he asked.
→– А что надо сделать, чтобы шляпа упала? – спросил он.

But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.
→Но честолюбец не слышал. Тщеславные люди глухи ко всему, кроме похвал.

"Do you really admire me very much?" he demanded of the little prince.
→– Ты и в самом деле мой восторженный почитатель? – спросил он Маленького принца.

"What does that mean—'admire'?"
→– А как это – почитать?

"To admire means that you regard me as the handsomest, the best dressed, the richest, and the most intelligent man on this planet."
→– Почитать значит признавать, что на этой планете я всех красивее, всех наряднее, всех богаче и всех умней.

"But you are the only man on your planet!"
→– Да ведь на твоей планете больше и нет никого!

"Do me this kindness. Admire me just the same."
→– Ну, доставь мне удовольствие, все равно восхищайся мною!

"I admire you," said the little prince, shrugging his shoulders slightly, "but what is there in that to interest you so much?"
→– Я восхищаюсь, – сказал Маленький принц, слегка пожав плечами, – но что тебе от этого за радость?

And the little prince went away.
→И он сбежал от честолюбца.

"The grown-ups are certainly very odd," he said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
→«Право же, взрослые – очень странные люди», – простодушно подумал он, пускаясь в путь.

- XII -



The next planet was inhabited by a tippler.
→На следующей планете жил пьяница.

This was a very short visit, but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection.
→ Маленький принц пробыл у него совсем недолго, но стало ему после этого очень невесело.

"What are you doing there?" he said to the tippler, whom he found settled down in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles.
→Когда он явился на эту планету, пьяница молча сидел и смотрел на выстроившиеся перед ним полчища бутылок – пустых и полных. – Что это ты делаешь? – спросил Маленький принц.

"I am drinking," replied the tippler, with a lugubrious air.
→– Пью, – мрачно ответил пьяница.

"Why are you drinking?" demanded the little prince.
→– Зачем?

"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.
→– Чтобы забыть.

"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.
→– О чем забыть? – спросил Маленький принц; ему стало жаль пьяницу.

"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.
→– Хочу забыть, что мне совестно, – признался пьяница и повесил голову.

"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.
→– Отчего же тебе совестно? – спросил Маленький принц, ему очень хотелось помочь бедняге.

"Ashamed of drinking!" The tippler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.
→– Совестно пить! – объяснил пьяница, и больше от него нельзя было добиться ни слова.

And the little prince went away, puzzled.
→И Маленький принц отправился дальше, растерянный и недоумевающий.

"The grown-ups are certainly very, very odd," he said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
→«Да, право же, взрослые очень, очень странный народ», – думал он, продолжая путь.

- XIII -



The fourth planet belonged to a businessman.
→Четвертая планета принадлежала деловому человеку.

This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince's arrival.
→Он был так занят, что при появлении Маленького принца даже головы не поднял.

"Good morning," the little prince said to him. "Your cigarette has gone out."
→– Добрый день, – сказал ему Маленький принц. – Ваша папироса погасла.

"Three and two make five.
→– Три да два – пять.

Five and seven make twelve.
→ Пять да семь – двенадцать.

Twelve and three make fifteen.
→Двенадцать да три – пятнадцать.

Good morning. Fifteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight.
→Добрый день. Пятнадцать да семь – двадцать два. Двадцать два да шесть – двадцать восемь.

I haven't time to light it again.
→Некогда спичкой чиркнуть.

Twenty-six and five make thirty-one.
→Двадцать шесть да пять – тридцать один.

Phew! Then that makes five-hundred-and-one million, sixhundred-twenty-two-thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one."
→Уф! Итого, стало быть, пятьсот один миллион шестьсот двадцать две тысячи семьсот тридцать один.

"Five hundred million what?" asked the little prince.
→– Пятьсот миллионов чего?

"Eh? Are you still there?
→– А? Ты еще здесь?

Five-hundred-and-one million—I can't stop ... I have so much to do!
→Пятьсот миллионов… Уж не знаю, чего… У меня столько работы!

I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don't amuse myself with balderdash.
→Я человек серьезный, мне не до болтовни!

Two and five make seven.
→Два да пять – семь…

"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.
→– Пятьсот миллионов чего? – повторил Маленький принц: спросив о чем-нибудь, он не успокаивался, пока не получал ответа.

The businessman raised his head.
→Деловой человек поднял голову.

"During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited this planet, I have been disturbed only three times.
→– Уже пятьдесят четыре года я живу на этой планете, и за все время мне мешали только три раза.

The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where.
→В первый раз, двадцать два года тому назад, ко мне откуда-то залетел майский жук.

He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place, and I made four mistakes in my addition.
→Он поднял ужасный шум, и я тогда сделал четыре ошибки в сложении.

The second time, eleven years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism.
→Во второй раз, одиннадцать лет тому назад, у меня был приступ ревматизма.

I don't get enough exercise.
→ От сидячего образа жизни.

I have no time for loafing.
→Мне разгуливать нкогда.

The third time—well, this is it!
→Я человек серьезный. Третий раз… вот он!

I was saying, then, five-hundred-and-one millions —"Millions of what?"
→Итак, стало быть, пятьсот миллионов… – Миллионов чего?

The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question.
→Деловой человек понял, что надо ответить, а то не будет ему покоя.

"Millions of those little objects," he said, "which one sometimes sees in the sky."
→– Пятьсот миллионов этих маленьких штучек, которые иногда видны в воздухе.

"Flies?"
→– Это что же, мухи?

"Oh, no. Little glittering objects."
→– Да нет же, такие маленькие, блестящие.

"Bees?"
→– Пчелы?

"Oh, no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming.
→– Да нет же. Такие маленькие, золотые, всякий лентяй как посмотрит на них, так и размечтается.

As for me, I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life."
→А я человек серьезный. Мне мечтать некогда.

"Ah! You mean the stars?"
→– А, звезды?

"Yes, that's it. The stars."
→– Вот-вот. Звезды.

"And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?"
→– Пятьсот миллионов звезд? Что же ты с ними делаешь?

"Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, sevenhundred-thirty-one.
→– Пятьсот один миллион шестьсот двадцать две тысячи семьсот тридцать одна.

I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate."
→Я человек серьезный, я люблю точность.

"And what do you do with these stars?"
→– Так что же ты делаешь со всеми этими звездами?

"What do I do with them?"
→– Что делаю?

"Yes." "Nothing. I own them."
→– Да. – Ничего не делаю. Я ими владею.

"You own the stars?"
→– Владеешь звездами?

"Yes." "But I have already seen a king who—"
→– Да. – Но я уже видел короля, который…

"Kings do not own, they reign over.
→– Короли ничем не владеют. Они только правят.

It is a very different matter."
→ Это совсем другое дело.

"And what good does it do you to own the stars?"
→– А для чего тебе владеть звездами?

"It does me the good of making me rich."
→– Чтоб быть богатым.

"And what good does it do you to be rich?"
→– А для чего быть богатым?

"It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are discovered."
→– Чтобы покупать еще новые звезды, если их кто-нибудь откроет.

"This man," the little prince said to himself, "reasons a little like my poor tippler ..."
→«Он рассуждает почти как пьяница», – подумал Маленький принц.

Nevertheless, he still had some more questions.
→И стал спрашивать дальше:

"How is it possible for one to own the stars?"
→– А как можно владеть звездами?

"To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly.
→– Звезды чьи? – ворчливо спросил делец.

"I don't know. To nobody."
→– Не знаю. Ничьи.

"Then they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it."
→– Значит, мои, потому что я первый до этого додумался.

"Is that all that is necessary?"
→– И этого довольно?

"Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours.
→– Ну конечно. Если ты найдешь алмаз, у которого нет хозяина, – значит, он твой.

When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours.
→Если ты найдешь остров, у которого нет хозяина, он твой.

When you get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on it: it is yours.
→Если тебе первому придет в голову какая-нибудь идея, ты берешь на нее патент: она твоя.

So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them."
→Я владею звездами, потому что до меня никто не догадался ими завладеть.

"Yes, that is true," said the little prince. "And what do you do with them?"
→– Вот это верно, – сказал Маленький принц. – И что же ты с ними делаешь?

"I administer them," replied the businessman. "I count them and recount them.
→– Распоряжаюсь ими, – ответил делец. – Считаю их и пересчитываю.

It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence."
→Это очень трудно. Но я человек серьезный.

The little prince was still not satisfied.
→Однако Маленькому принцу этого было мало.

"If I owned a silk scarf," he said, "I could put it around my neck and take it away with me.
→– Если у меня есть шелковый платок, я могу повязать его вокруг шеи и унести с собой, – сказал он.

If I owned a flower, I could pluck that flower and take it away with me.
→– Если у меня есть цветок, я могу его сорвать и унести с собой.

But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven ..."
→А ты ведь не можешь забрать звезды!

"No. But I can put them in the bank."
→– Нет, но я могу положить их в банк.

"Whatever does that mean?"
→– Как это?

"That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper.
→– А так: пишу на бумажке, сколько у меня звезд.

And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key."
→ Потом кладу эту бумажку в ящик и запраю его на ключ.

"And that is all?"
→– И все?

"That is enough," said the businessman.
→– Этого довольно.

"It is entertaining," thought the little prince.
→«Забавно! – подумал Маленький принц.

"It is rather poetic. But it is of no great consequence."
→ – И даже поэтично. Но не так уж это серьезно».

On matters of consequence, the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grownups.
→Что серьезно, а что не серьезно, – это Маленький принц понимал по-своему, совсем не так, как взрослые.

"I myself own a flower," he continued his conversation with the businessman, "which I water every day.
→– У меня есть цветок, – сказал он, – и я каждое утро его поливаю.

I own three volcanoes, which I clean out every week
→ У меня есть три вулкана, я каждую неделю их прочищаю.

(for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows).
→Все три прочищаю, и потухший тоже. Мало ли что может случиться.

It is of some use to my volcanoes, and it is of some use to my flower, that I own them.
→И моим вулканам, и моему цветку полезно, что я ими владею.

But you are of no use to the stars ..."
→А звездам от тебя нет никакой пользы…

The businessman opened his mouth, but he found nothing to say in answer. And the little prince went away.
→Деловой человек открыл было рот, но так и не нашелся что ответить, и Маленький принц отправился дальше.

"The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary," he said simply, talking to himself as he continued on his journey.
→«Нет, взрослые и правда поразительный народ», – простодушно говорил он себе, продолжая путь.

- XIV -



The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all.
→Пятая планета была очень занятная. Она оказалась меньше всех.

There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter.
→ На ней только и помещалось что фонарь да фонарщик.

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.
→Маленький принц никак не мог понять, для чего на крохотной, затерявшейся в небе планетке, где нет ни домов, ни жителей, нужны фонарь и фонарщик.

But he said to himself, nevertheless: "It may well be that this man is absurd.
→Но он подумал: «Может быть, этот человек и нелеп.

But he is not so absurd as the king, the conceited man, the businessman, and the tippler.
→Но он не так нелеп, как король, честолюбец, делец и пьяница.

For at least his work has some meaning.
→ В его работе все-таки есть смысл.

When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower.
→Когда он зажигает свой фонарь – как будто рождается еще одна звезда или цветок.

When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep.
→А когда он гасит фонарь – как будто звезда или цветок засыпают.

That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful."
→Прекрасное занятие. Это по-настоящему полезно, потому что красиво».

When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.
→И, поравнявшись с этой планеткой, он почтительно поклонился фонарщику.

"Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?" – Добрый день, – сказал он. – Почему ты сейчас погасил фонарь?

"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter.
→– Такой уговор, – ответил фонарщик.

"Good morning." "What are the orders?"
→– Добрый день. – А что это за уговор?

"The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening."
→– Гасить фонарь. Добрый вечер.

And he lighted his lamp again.
→И он снова засветил фонарь.

"But why have you just lighted it again?"
→– Зачем же ты опять его зажег?

"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter.
→– Такой уговор, – повторил фонарщик.

"I do not understand," said the little prince.
→– Не понимаю, – признался Маленький принц.

"There is nothing to understand," said the lamplighter.
→– И понимать нечего, – сказал фонарщик,

"Orders are orders. Good morning."
→– уговор есть уговор. Добрый день.

And he put out his lamp.
→И погасил фонарь.

Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.
→Потом красным клетчатым платком утер пот со лба и сказал:

"I follow a terrible profession.
→– Тяжкое у меня ремесло.

In the old days it was reasonable.
→Когда-то это имело смысл.

I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again.
→Я гасил фонарь по утрам, а вечером опять зажигал.

I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep."
→У меня оставался день, чтобы отдохнуть, и ночь, что бы выспаться…

"And the orders have been changed since that time?"
→– А потом уговор переменился?

"The orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter.
→– Уговор не менялся, – сказал фонарщик.

"That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"
→– В том-то и беда! Моя планета год от году вращается все быстрее, а уговор остается прежний.

"Then what?" asked the little prince.
→– И как же теперь? – спросил Маленький принц.

"Then the planet now makes a complete turn every minute, and I no longer have a single second for repose.
→– Да вот так. Планета делает полный оборот за одну минуту, и у меня нет ни секунды передышки.

Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!"
→Каждую минуту я гашу фонарь и опять его зажигаю.

"That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!"
→– Вот забавно! Значит, у тебя день длится всего одну минуту!

"It is not funny at all!" said the lamplighter.
→– Ничего тут нет забавного, – возразил фонарщик.

"While we have been talking together a month has gone by."
→ – Мы с тобой разговариваем уже целый месяц.

"A month?"
→– Целый месяц?!

"Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening."
→– Ну да. Тридцать минут. Тридцать дней. Добрый вечер!

And he lighted his lamp again.
→И он опять засветил фонарь.

As the little prince watched him, he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders.
→Маленький принц смотрел на фонарщика, и ему все больше нравился этот человек, который был так верен своему слову.

He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek, in other days, merely by pulling up his chair;
→Маленький принц вспомнил, как он когда-то переставлял стул с места на место, чтобы лишний раз поглядеть на закат солнца.

and he wanted to help his friend.
→И ему захотелось помочь другу.

"You know," he said, "I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to. . ."
→– Послушай, – сказал он фонарщику, – я знаю средство: ты можешь отдыхать, когда только захочешь…

"I always want to rest," said the lamplighter.
→– Мне все время хочется отдыхать, – сказал фонарщик.

For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time. The little prince went on with his explanation:
→Ведь можно быть верным слову и все-таки ленивым.

"Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it.
→– Твоя планетка такая крохотная, – продолжал Маленький принц, – ты можешь обойти ее в три шага.

To be always in the sunshine, you need only walk along rather slowly.
→И просто нужно идти с такой скоростью, чтобы все время оставаться на солнце.

When you want to rest, you will walk—and the day will last as long as you like."
→ Когда захочется отдохнуть, ты просто все иди, иди… И день будет тянуться столько времени, сколько ты пожелаешь.

"That doesn't do me much good," said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."
→– Ну, от этого мне мало толку, – сказал фонарщик. – Больше всего на свете я люблю спать.

"Then you're unlucky," said the little prince. "I am unlucky," said the lamplighter. "Good morning." And he put out his lamp.
→– Тогда плохо твое дело, – посочувствовал Маленький принц. – Плохо мое дело, – подтвердил фонарщик. – Добрый день. И погасил фонарь.

"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.
→«Вот человек, – сказал себе Маленький принц, продолжая путь, – вот человек, которого все стали бы презирать – и король, и честолюбец, и пьяница, и делец.

Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous.
→А между тем из них всех он один, по-моему, не смешон.

Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself." He breathed a sigh of regret, and said to himself, again:
→Может быть, потому, что он думает не только о себе». Маленький принц вздохнул. «Вот бы с кем подружиться, – подумал он еще.

"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. . ."
→Маленький принц вздохнул. «Вот бы с кем подружиться, – подумал он еще. – Но его планетка уж очень крохотная. Там нет места для двоих…»

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!
→Он не смел себе признаться в том, что больше всего жалеет об этой чудесной планетке еще по одной причине: за двадцать четыре часа на ней можно любоваться закатом тысячу четыреста сорок раз!

- XV -



The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
→Шестая планета была в десять раз больше предыдущей. На ней жил старик, который писал толстенные книги.

"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!
→– Смотрите-ка! Вот прибыл путешественник! – воскликнул он, заметив Маленького принца. Маленький принц сел на стол, чтобы отдышаться. Он уже столько странствовал!

"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him. "What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
→– Откуда ты? – спросил его старик. – Что это за огромная книга? – спросил Маленький принц. – Что вы здесь делаете?

"I am a geographer," said the old gentleman. "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."
→– Я географ, – ответил старик. – А что такое географ? – Это ученый, который знает, где находятся моря, реки, города, горы и пустыни.

"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.
→– Как интересно! – сказал Маленький принц. – Вот это – настоящее дело! И он окинул взглядом планету географа.

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. Никогда еще он не видал такой величественной планеты! – Ваша планета очень красивая, – сказал он. – А океаны у вас есть? – Этого я не знаю, – сказал географ.

"Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?" "I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
→– О-о-о… – разочарованно протянул Маленький принц. – А горы есть? – Не знаю, – повторил географ.

"And towns, and rivers, and deserts?" "I couldn't tell you that, either." "But you are a geographer!"
→– А города, реки, пустыни? – И этого я тоже не знаю. – Но ведь вы географ!

"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.
→– Вот именно, – сказал старик. – Я географ, а не путешественник. Мне ужасно не хватает путешественников. Ведь не географы ведут счет городам, рекам, горам, морям, океанам и пустыням.

The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study.
→Географ – слишком важное лицо, ему некогда разгуливать. Он не выходит из своего кабинета. Но он принимает у себя путешественников и записывает их рассказы.

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."
→И если кто-нибудь из них расскажет что-нибудь интересное, географ наводит справки и проверяет, порядочный ли человек этот путешественник.

"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."
→– А зачем? – Да ведь если путешественник станет врать, в учебниках географии все перепутается. И если он выпивает лишнее – тоже беда.

"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."
→– А почему? – Потому, что у пьяниц двоится в глазах. И там, где на самом деле одна гора, географ отметит две.

"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."
→– Я знал одного человека… Из него вышел бы плохой путешественник, – заметил Маленький принц. – Очень возможно. Так вот, если окажется, что путешественник – человек порядочный, тогда проверяют его открытие.

"One goes to see it?" "No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs.
→– Как проверяют? Идут и смотрят? – Ну нет. Это слишком сложно. Просто требуют, чтобы путешественник представил доказательства.

For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."
→Например, если он открыл большую гору, пускай принесет с нее большие камни.

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!"
→Географ вдруг пришел в волнение: – Но ты ведь и сам путешественник! Ты явился издалека! Расскажи мне о своей планете!

And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil.
→И он раскрыл толстенную книгу и очинил карандаш. Рассказы путешественников сначала записывают карандашом.

One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink. "Well?" said the geographer expectantly.
→И только после того как путешественник представит доказательства, можно записать его рассказ чернилами. – Слушаю тебя, – сказал географ.

"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.
→– Ну, у меня там не так уж интересно, – промолвил Маленький принц. – У меня все очень маленькое. Есть три вулкана. Два действуют, а один давно потух.

But one never knows." "One never knows," said the geographer.
→ Но мало ли что может случиться… – Да, все может случиться, – подтвердил географ.

"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!"
→– Потом у меня есть цветок. – Цветы мы не отмечаем, – сказал географ. – Почему?! Это ведь самое красивое!

"We do not record them," said the geographer, "because they are ephemeral." "What does that mean ephemeral'?"
→– Потому, что цветы эфемерны. – Как это – эфемерны?

"Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become oldfashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position.
→– Книги по географии – самые драгоценные книги на свете, – объяснил географ. – Они никогда не устаревают. Ведь это очень редкий случай, чтобы гора сдвинулась с места.

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.
→Или чтобы океан пересох. Мы пишем о вещах вечных и неизменных. – Но потухший вулкан может проснуться, – прервал Маленький принц.

"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."
→– А что такое «эфемерный»? – Потух вулкан или действует, это для нас, географов, не имеет значения, – сказал географ. – Важно одно: гора. Она не меняется.



"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.
→– А что такое «эфемерный»? – спросил Маленький принц, который, раз задав вопрос, не успокаивался, пока не получал ответа.

"It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'" "Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?" "Certainly it is."
→– Это значит: тот, что должен скоро исчезнуть. – И мой цветок должен скоро исчезнуть? – Разумеется.

"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!"
→«Моя краса и радость недолговечна, – сказал себе Маленький принц, – и ей нечем защищаться от мира, у нее только и есть что четыре шипа. А я бросил ее, и она осталась на моей планете совсем одна!»

That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more. "What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked.
→Это впервые он пожалел о покинутом цветке. Но тут же мужество вернулось к нему. – Куда вы посоветуете мне отправиться? – спросил он географа.

"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation." And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
→– Посети планету Земля, – отвечал географ. – У нее неплохая репутация… И Маленький принц пустился в путь, но мысли его были о покинутом цветке.

- XVI -

So then the seventh planet was the Earth. The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count, there, 111 kings (not forgetting, to be sure, the Negro kings among them), 7000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 tipplers, 311,000,000 conceited men that is to say, about 2,000,000,000 grown-ups.
→Итак, седьмая планета, которую он посетил, была Земля. Земля – планета не простая! На ней насчитывается сто одиннадцать королей (в том числе, конечно, и негритянских), семь тысяч географов, девятьсот тысяч дельцов, семь с половиной миллионов пьяниц, триста одиннадцать миллионов честолюбцев, итого около двух миллиардов взрослых.

To give you an idea of the size of the Earth, I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain, over the whole of the six continents, a veritable army of 462,511 lamplighters for the street lamps.
→Чтобы дать вам понятие о том, как велика Земля, скажу лишь, что, пока не изобрели электричество, на всех шести континентах приходилось держать целую армию фонарщиков – четыреста шестьдесят две тысячи пятьсот одиннадцать человек.

Seen from a slight distance, that would make a splendid spectacle. The movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera.
→Если поглядеть со стороны, это было великолепное зрелище. Движения этой армии подчинялись точнейшему ритму, совсем как в балете.

First would come the turn of the lamplighters of New Zealand and Australia. Having set their lamps alight, these would go off to sleep.
→Первыми выступали фонарщики Новой Зеладии и Австралии. Засветив свои огни, они отправлялись спать.

Next, the lamplighters of China and Siberia would enter for their steps in the dance, and then they too would be waved back into the wings. After that would come the turn of the lamplighters of Russia and the Indies; then those of Africa and Europe; then those of South America; then those of South America; then those of North America.
→За ними наступал черед фонарщиков Китая. Исполнив свой танец, они тоже скрывались за кулисами. Потом приходил черед фонарщиков в России и в Индии. Потом – в Африке и Европе. Затем в Южной Америке, затем в Северной Америке.

And never would they make a mistake in the order of their entry upon the stage. It would be magnificent.
→И никогда они не ошибались, никто не выходил на сцену не вовремя. Да, это было блистательно.

Only the man who was in charge of the single lamp at the North Pole, and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp at the South Pole—only these two would live free from toil and care: they would be busy twice a year.
→Только тому фонарщику, что должен был зажигать единственный фонарь на северном полюсе, да его собрату на южном полюсе, – только этим двоим жилось легко и беззаботно: им приходилось заниматься своим делом всего два раза в год.

- XVII -



When one wishes to play the wit, he sometimes wanders a little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters.
→Когда очень хочешь сострить, иной раз поневоле приврешь. Рассказывая о фонарщиках, я несколько погрешил против истины.

And I realize that I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not know it. Men occupy a very small place upon the Earth.
→ Боюсь, что у тех, кто не знает нашей планеты, сложится о ней ложное представление. Люди занимают на Земле не так уж много места.

If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together, as they do for some big public assembly, they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide.
→ Если бы два миллиарда ее жителей сошлись и стали сплошной толпой, как на митинге, все они без труда уместились бы на пространстве размером двадцать миль в длину и двадцать в ширину.

All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet.
→Все человечество можно бы составить плечом к плечу на самом маленьком островке в Тихом океане.

The grown-ups, to be sure, will not believe you when you tell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space.
→Взрослые вам, конечно, не поверят. Они воображают, что занимают очень много места.

They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You should advise them, then, to make their own calculations. They adore figures, and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extra task. It is unnecessary. You have, I know, confidence in me.
→Они кажутся сами себе величественными, как баобабы. А вы посоветуйте им сделать точный расчет. Им это понравится, они ведь обожают цифры. Вы же не тратьте время на эту арифметику. Это ни к чему. Вы и без того мне верите.

When the little prince arrived on the Earth, he was very much surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet, when a coil of gold, the color of the moonlight, flashed across the sand.
→Итак, попав на землю, Маленький принц не увидел ни души и очень удивился. Он подумал даже, что залетел по ошибке на какую-то другую планету. Но тут в песке шевельнулось колечко цвета лунного луча.

"Good evening," said the little prince courteously. "Good evening," said the snake. "What planet is this on which I have come down?" asked the little prince.
→– Добрый вечер, – сказал на всякий случай Маленький принц. – Добрый вечер, – ответила змея. – На какую это планету я попал?

"This is the Earth; this is Africa," the snake answered. "Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?" "This is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large," said the snake.
→– На Землю, – сказала змея. – В Африку. – Вот как. А разве на Земле нет людей? – Это пустыня. В пустынях никто не живет. Но Земля большая.

The little prince sat down on a stone, and raised his eyes toward the sky.
→Маленький принц сел на камень и поднял глаза к небу.

"I wonder," he said, "whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again . . . Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!"
→– Хотел бы я знать, зачем звезды светятся, – задумчиво сказал он. – Наверно, затем, чтобы рано или поздно каждый мог вновь отыскать свою. Смотри, вот моя планета – как раз прямо над нами… Но как до нее далеко!

"It is beautiful," the snake said. "What has brought you here?" "I have been having some trouble with a flower," said the little prince.
→– Красивая планета, – сказала змея. – А что ты будешь делать здесь, на Земле? – Я поссорился со своим цветком, – признался Маленький принц.

"Ah!" said the snake. And they were both silent. "Where are the men?" the little prince at last took up the conversation again.
→– А, вот оно что… И оба умолкли. – А где же люди? – вновь заговорил наконец Маленький принц.

"It is a little lonely in the desert..." "It is also lonely among men," the snake said. The little prince gazed at him for a long time.
→– В пустыне все-таки одиноко… – Среди людей тоже одиноко, – заметила змея. Маленький принц внимательно посмотрел на нее.

"You are a funny animal," he said at last. "You are no thicker than a finger ..." "But I am more powerful than the finger of a king," said the snake.
→– Странное ты существо, – сказал он. – Не толще пальца… – Но могущества у меня больше, чем в пальце короля, – возразила змея.

The little prince smiled. "You are not very powerful. You haven't even any feet. You cannot even travel. . ." "I can carry you farther than any ship could take you," said the snake.
→Маленький принц улыбнулся: – Ну, разве ты уж такая могущественная? У тебя даже лап нет. Ты и путешествовать не можешь… – Я могу унести тебя дальше, чем любой корабль, – сказала змея.

He twined himself around the little prince's ankle, like a golden bracelet. "Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came," the snake spoke again. "But you are innocent and true, and you come from a star ..."
→И обвилась вокруг щиколотки Маленького принца, словно золотой браслет. – Всякого, кого я коснусь, я возвращаю земле, из которой он вышел, – сказала она. – Но ты чист и явился со звезды…

The little prince made no reply. "You move me to pity—you are so weak on this Earth made of granite," the snake said. "I can help you, some day, if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can-"
→Маленький принц не ответил. – Мне жаль тебя, – продолжала змея. – Ты так слаб на этой Земле, жесткой, как гранит. В тот день, когда ты горько пожалеешь о своей покинутой планете, я сумею тебе помочь. Я могу…

"Oh! I understand you very well," said the little prince. "But why do you always speak in riddles?" "I solve them all," said the snake. And they were both silent.
→– Я прекрасно понял, – сказал Маленький принц. – Но почему ты все время говоришь загадками? – Я решаю все загадки, – сказала змея. И оба умолкли.

-XVIII-

The little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower. It was a flower with three petals, a flower of no account at all. "Good morning," said the little prince. "Good morning," said the flower.
→Маленький принц пересек пустыню и никого не встретил. За все время ему попался только один цветок – крохотный, невзрачный цветок о трех лепестках… – Здравствуй, – сказал Маленький принц. – Здравствуй, – отвечал цветок.

"Where are the men?" the little prince asked, politely. The flower had once seen a caravan passing.
→– А где люди? – вежливо спросил Маленький принц. Цветок видел однажды, как мимо шел караван.

"Men?" she echoed. "I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them, several years ago. But one never knows where to find them.
→– Люди? Ах да… Их всего-то, кажется, шесть или семь. Я видел их много лет назад. Но где их искать – неизвестно.

The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their life very difficult." "Goodbye," said the little prince. "Goodbye," said the flower.
→ Их носит ветром. У них нет корней, это очень неудобно. – Прощай, – сказал Маленький принц. – Прощай, – сказал цветок.

- XIX -



After that, the little prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes, which came up to his knees. And he used the extinct volcano as a footstool.
→Маленький принц поднялся на высокую гору. Прежде он никогда не видал гор, кроме своих трех вулканов, которые были ему по колено. Потухший вулкан служил ему табуретом.

"From a mountain as high as this one," he said to himself, "I shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance, and all the people ..."
→И теперь он подумал: «С такой высокой горы я сразу увижу всю эту планету и всех людей». Но увидел только скалы, острые и тонкие, как иглы.

But he saw nothing, save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles. "Good morning," he said courteously. "Good morning-Good morning-Good morning," answered the echo. "Who are you?" said the little prince. "Who are you—Who are you—Who are you?" answered the echo.
→– Добрый день, – сказал он на всякий случай. – Добрый день… день… день… – откликнулось эхо. – Кто вы? – спросил Маленький принц. – Кто вы… кто вы… кто вы… – откликнулось эхо.

"Be my friends. I am all alone," he said. "I am all alone—all alone-all alone," answered the echo. "What a queer planet!" he thought.
→– Будем друзьями, я совсем один, – сказал он. – Один… один… один… – откликнулось эхо. «Какая странная планета! – подумал Маленький принц.

"It is altogether dry, and altogether pointed, and altogether harsh and forbidding. And the people have no imagination.
→ – Совсем сухая, вся в иглах и соленая. И у людей не хватает воображения.

They repeat whatever one says to them . . . On my planet I had a flower; she always was the first to speak ..."
→Они только повторяют то, что им скажешь… Дома у меня был цветок, моя краса и радость, и он всегда заговаривал первым».

- XX -



But it happened that after walking for a long time through sand, and rocks, and snow, the little prince at last came upon a road.
→Долго шел Маленький принц через пески, скалы и снега и, наконец, набрел на дорогу.

And all roads lead to the abodes of men. "Good morning," he said. He was standing before a garden with roses. "Good morning," said the roses.
→А все дороги ведут к людям. – Добрый день, – сказал он. Перед ним был сад, полный роз. – Добрый день, – отозвались розы.

The little prince gazed at them. They all looked like his flower. "Who are you?" he demanded, thunderstruck. "We are roses," the roses said.
→И Маленький принц увидел, что все они похожи на его цветок. – Кто вы? – спросил он, пораженный. – Мы – розы, – отвечали розы.

And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe.
→– Вот как… – промолвил Маленький принц. И почувствовал себя очень-очень несчастным. Его красавица говорила ему, что подобных ей нет во всей вселенной.

And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in one single garden!
→И вот перед ним пять тысяч точно таких же цветов в одном только саду!

"She would be very much annoyed," he said to himself, "if she should see that. . . She would cough most dreadfully, and she would pretend that she was dying, to avoid being laughed at.
→«Как бы она рассердилась, если бы увидела их! – подумал Маленький принц. – Она бы ужасно раскашлялась и сделала вид, что умирает, лишь бы не показаться смешной.

And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life—for if I did not do that, to humble myself also, she would really allow herself to die. . ."
→А мне пришлось бы ходить за ней, как за больной, ведь иначе она и вправду бы умерла, лишь бы унизить и меня тоже…»

Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose.
→А потом он подумал: «Я-то воображал, что владею единственным в мире цветком, какого больше ни у кого и нигде нет, а это была самая обыкновенная роза.

A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees— and one of them perhaps extinct forever . . . That doesn't make me a very great prince ..." And he lay down in the grass and cried.
→Только всего у меня и было что простая роза да три вулкана ростом мне по колено, и то один из них потух и, может быть, навсегда… какой же я после этого принц…» Он лег в траву и заплакал.









Under construction...





XXI It was then that the fox appeared. "Good morning," said the fox. "Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing. "I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree." "Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at." "I am a fox," the fox said. "Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy." "I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed." "Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after some thought, he added: "What does that mean—'tame'?" "You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?" "I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean —'tame'?" "Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?" "No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean- 'tame'?" "It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties." "To establish ties'?" "Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . ." "I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower ... I think that she has tamed me . . "It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things." "Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince. The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious. "On another planet?" "Yes." "Are there hunters on that planet?" "No." "Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?" "No." "Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. But he came back to his idea. "My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat. . ." The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please—tame me!" he said. "I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand." "One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me ..." "What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince. "You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me—like that— in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day ..." The next day the little prince came back. "It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites ..." "What is a rite?" asked the little prince. "Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all." So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near-"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry." "It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you ..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox. "But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince. "Yes, that is so," said the fox. "Then it has done you no good at all!" "It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret." The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. "You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world." And the roses were very much embarrassed. "You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you—the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose. And he went back to meet the fox. "Goodbye," he said. "Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." "What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. "It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." "It is the time I have wasted for my rose—" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember. "Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . ." "I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. XXII "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. XXIII "Good morning," said the little prince. "Good morning," said the merchant. This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need of anything to drink. "Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince. "Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fiftythree minutes in every week." "And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?" "Anything you like ..." "As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water." XXIV It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply. "Ah," I said to the little prince, "these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!" "My friend the fox-" the little prince said to me. "My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!" "Why not?" "Because I am about to die of thirst..." He did not follow my reasoning, and he answered me: "It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend ..." "He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs ..." But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought: "I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well. . ." I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking. When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory: "Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded. But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me: "Water may also be good for the heart..." I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him. He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again: "The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen." I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight. "The desert is beautiful," the little prince added. And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams . . . "What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..." I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart. . . "Yes," I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert-what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!" "I am glad," he said, "that you agree with my fox." As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible ..." As his lips opened slightly with the suspicion of a half-smile, I said to myself, again: "What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower-the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep . . ." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind . . . And, as I walked on so, I found the well, at daybreak. XXV "Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round ..." And he added: "It is not worth the trouble ..." The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming . . . "It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope . . ." He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten. "Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing . . ." I did not want him to tire himself with the rope. "Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you." I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there—happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water. "I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink . . ." And I understood what he had been looking for. I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received. "The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden-and they do not find in it what they are looking for." "They do not find it," I replied. "And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water." "Yes, that is true," I said. And the little prince added: "But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..." I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me, then, this sense of grief? "You must keep your promise," said the little prince, softly, as he sat down beside me once more. "What promise?" "You know—a muzzle for my sheep ... I am responsible for this flower . . ." I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over, and laughed as he said: "Your baobabs—they look a little like cabbages." "Oh!" I had been so proud of my baobabs! "Your fox—his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long." And he laughed again. "You are not fair, little prince," I said. "I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside." "Oh, that will be all right," he said, "children understand." So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn. "You have plans that I do not know about," I said. But he did not answer me. He said to me, instead: "You know—my descent to the earth . . . Tomorrow will be its anniversary." Then, after a silence, he went on: "I came down very near here." And he flushed. And once again, without understanding why, I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me: "Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you—a week ago—you were strolling along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?" The little prince flushed again. And I added, with some hesitancy: "Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?" The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"? "Ah," I said to him, "I am a little frightened-" But he interrupted me. "Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening ..." But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed . . . XXVI 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 price 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 meters 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 realized 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." "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, because 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 is so naive! 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. XXVII And now six years have already gone by ... I have never yet told this story. The companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive. I was sad, but I told them: "I am tired." Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say-not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet, because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body . . . and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells . . . But there is one extraordinary thing . . . when I drew the muzzle for the little prince, I forgot to add the leather strap to it. He will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep. So now I keep wondering: what is happening on his planet? Perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower . . . At one time I say to myself: "Surely not! The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night, and he watches over his sheep very carefully . . ." Then I am happy. And there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars. But at another time I say to myself: "At some moment or other one is absent-minded, and that is enough! On some one evening he forgot the glass globe, or the sheep got out, without making any noise, in the night ..." And then the little bells are changed to tears . . . Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has-yes or no?-eaten a rose . . . Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes . . . And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance! This is, to me, the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world. It is the same as that on the preceding page, but I have drawn it again to impress it on your memory. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth, and disappeared. Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognize it in case you travel some day to the African desert. And, if you should come upon this spot, please do not hurry on. Wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions, you will know who he is. If this should happen, please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back.