The Little Prince (Chapters 12-14)

Reading from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944).
In these chapters, he meets a drinker, a businessman and a lamplighter.
Let me know what insights you drew from these visits.
Also, thank you so much for your contributions to help me produce more content!
Music by Kai Engel and Doctor Turtle

Transcript

The Little Prince Chapter 12 The next planet was inhabited by a drinker.

This was a very short visit,

But it plunged the Little Prince into deep dejection.

What are you doing there?

He said to the tippler,

Whom he found settled down in silence,

Before collection of empty bottles and also collection of full bottles.

I am drinking,

Bleakley replied the drinker.

Why are you drinking?

Asked the Little Prince.

So that I may forget,

Replied the tippler.

Forget what?

Inquired the Little Prince who already was sorry for him.

Forget that I'm ashamed,

The tippler confessed,

Tipping his head down.

Ashamed of what?

Insisted the Little Prince,

Who wanted to help him.

Ashamed of drinking.

The tippler brought his speech to an end,

Retrieving into an impregnable silence.

And the Little Prince went away puzzled.

The grown-ups are certainly very,

Very odd,

He said to himself as he continued on his journey.

Chapter 13 The fourth planet belonged to a businessman.

This man was so busy that he did not even raise his head as the Little Prince arrived.

Good morning,

The Little Prince said to him.

Your cigarette has gone out.

Three and two make five,

Five and seven make twelve,

Twelve and three make fifteen.

Good morning,

Fifteen and seven make twenty-two,

Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight.

I don't have time to light it again.

Twenty-six and five make thirty-one.

Phew.

Then that makes five hundred and one million,

Six hundred and twenty-two thousand,

Seven hundred and thirty-one.

Five hundred million what?

Asked the Little Prince.

Ah,

Are you still there?

Five hundred and one million.

I can't stop,

I have so much to do.

I am concerned with matters of consequence,

I don't have time for nonsense.

Two and five make seven.

Five hundred and one million what?

Repeated the Little Prince,

Who never in his life had let go of a question once he asked it.

The businessman raised his head.

During the fifty-four years that I've inhabited this planet,

I have been disturbed only three times.

The first time was twenty-two years ago when some Maybug fell from goodness knows where.

He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place and I made four mistakes in my addition.

The second time,

Eleven years ago,

I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism.

I don't get enough exercise,

I don't have time for laziness.

The third time,

Well,

This is it.

As I was saying,

Five hundred and one million.

Millions of what?

The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered the question.

Millions of those little objects,

He said.

Which one sometimes sees in the sky?

Flies?

Oh no,

Little glittering objects.

Bees?

Oh no,

Little golden objects that set lazy men into idle dreaming.

As for me,

I'm concerned with matters of consequence.

There is no time for idle dreaming in my life.

Ah,

You mean the stars?

Yes,

That's it,

The stars.

And what do you do with five hundred millions of stars?

Five hundred and one million,

Six hundred and twenty-two thousand,

Seven hundred thirty-one.

I am concerned with matters of consequence.

I am precise.

And what do you do with these stars?

What do I do with them?

Yes.

Nothing.

I own them.

You own the stars?

Yes.

But I've already seen a king who kings do not own.

They reign over.

It is a very different matter.

And what good does it do to 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.

And that's it?

Certainly.

When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody,

It is yours.

When you discover an island that belongs to nobody,

It's yours.

And when you get an idea before anyone 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 manage them,

Said the businessman.

I count 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 scarf,

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,

No.

But I can put them in a bank.

What 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 I lock it with a key.

That's it?

That is enough,

Said the businessman.

Well,

That's amusing,

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,

Just in case.

It is of some use to my volcanoes,

And it is of some use to my flower that I own them,

But you're of no use to the stars.

The businessman opened his mouth,

But he found nothing to say and 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.

Chapter 14 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 lamp lighter.

The little prince was not able to reach an explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamp lighter somewhere in the heavens on a planet which had no people and not one single 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 and the conceited man,

The businessman,

Or the drinker,

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 lamp lighter.

Good morning.

Why have you just put out your lamp?

Those are the orders,

Replied the lamp lighter.

Good morning.

What are the orders?

The orders are that I put out my lamp.

Good evening.

And he lighted his lamp again.

But why have you just lighted it again?

Those are the orders,

Replied the lamp lighter.

Um,

I do not understand,

Said the little prince.

There is nothing to understand,

Said the lamp lighter.

Orders are orders.

Good morning.

And he put out the lamp.

Then he wiped out 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 changed since that time.

The orders have not been changed,

Said the lamp lighter.

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 of respite.

Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out.

Oh,

That's very funny.

A day lasts only one minute?

Here where you live?

It's not at all funny,

Said the lamp lighter.

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 up his lamp again.

As the little prince washed him,

He felt that he loved this lamp lighter who was so faithful to his orders.

He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek in the old days merely by pulling up his chair,

And he wanted to help his friend.

You know,

He said,

I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to.

I'll always want to rest,

Said the lamp lighter.

For it is possible for men to be faithful and lazy at the same time.

The little prince went on with his explanation.

Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all around it.

To stay in the sunshine,

You only need to walk rather slowly,

And when you want to rest,

You will walk,

And the day will last as long as you like.

That doesn't do me much good,

Said the lamp lighter.

The one thing I love in life is to sleep.

Then you're not lucky,

Said the little prince.

I'm not lucky,

Said the lamp lighter.

Good morning,

And he put out his lamp.

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 drinker,

By the businessman.

Nevertheless,

He is the only one out of all of them that does not seem ridiculous to me.

Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.

He breathed a sigh of regret,

And said to himself again.

That man is the only one that I could have befriended,

But his planet is really too small.

There is no room on it for two people.

The little prince did not dare to confess that the main reason why he was sorry to leave this planet was because it was blessed with 1,

440 sunsets per day.

Reviews

Some strange sad planets out there! Thank you for reading🙏🏼❤️