The Little Prince

 

42 

"Yes."   

"But I have already seen a king who--"   

"Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter."   

"And what good does it do you to own the stars?"   

"It does me the good of making me rich."   

"And what good does it do you to be rich?"   

"It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are ever discovered."   

"This man," the little prince said to himself, "reasons a little like my poor 

tippler..."   

Nevertheless, he still had some more questions.   

"How is it possible for one to own the stars?"   

"To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly.   

"I don't know. To nobody."   

"Then they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it."   

"Is that all that is necessary?"   

"Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. 

When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you 

get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So 

with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of 

owning them."   

"Yes, that is true," said the little prince. "And what do you do with them?"   

"I administer them," replied the businessman. "I count them and recount them. 

It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of 

consequence."   

The little prince was still not satisfied.   

"If I owned a silk scarf," he said, "I could put  it around my neck and take it 

away with me. If I owned a flower, I could pluck that flower and take it away 

with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven..."   

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43 

"No. But I can put them in the bank."   

"Whatever does that mean?"   

"That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I 

put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key."   

"And that is all?"   

"That is enough," said the businessman.   

"It is entertaining," thought the little prince. "It is rather poetic. But it is of no 

great consequence."   

On matters of consequence, the little prince had ideas which were very 

different from those of the grown-ups.   

"I myself own a flower," he continued his conversation with the businessman, 

"which I water every day. I own three volcanoes, which I clean out every week 

(for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows). It is of some use 

to my volcanoes, and it is of some use to my flower, that I own them. But you 

are of no use to the stars..."   

The businessman opened his mouth, but he found nothing to say in answer. 

And the little prince went away.   

"The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary," he said simply, talking 

to himself as he continued on his journey. 

 

 

 

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44 

 Chapter 14   

  the little prince visits the lamplighter 

　

   

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.   

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45 

"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.   

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