小王子 The Little Prince 第十七章

When one wishesto play the wit, he sometimes wandersa little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest

in what I have told youabout the lamplighters. And I realize that I run the risk of givinga false idea of ourplanet to those who do not know it. Men occupya very small space upon theEarth. If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowdedtogether, as they do for some big publicassembly, they couldeasily be put into one publicsquare twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. All humanity couldbe pilled up on a smallPacific islet.

The grown-ups, to be sure, will not believe you when youtell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs.You should advise them, then,to make theirown calculations. They adorefigures, and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extratask. It is unnecessary. You have, I know, confidence in me.

When thelittle prince arrived on the Earth, he wasvery 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 colour of the moonlight, flashed across the sand.

“Good evening,” said the little princecourteously. “Good evening,” said the snake.

“What planet is this on whichI have come down?”asked the little prince.

“This is the Earth;this is Africa,” the snake answered.

“Ah! Then thereare no people on the Earth?”

“This is the desert. There are no people inthe desert.

The Earth is large,” said the snake.

Thelittle prince sat down on a stone, and raised his eyes toward the sky.

“I wonder,”he said, “whether the stars are set alightin heaven so that one day each one of us may find his ownagain… Look at my planet.It is right there aboveus. But how far away it is!”

“It is beautiful,” the snake said. “What hasbrought you

here?”

“I have beenhaving some trouble with a flower,” said

the little prince.

“Ah!” said thesnake.

And they wereboth silent.

“Where are the people?” the little prince at last took up the conversation again. “It is a little lonely in the desert…”

“It is also lonelyamong people,” the snake said. The littleprince gazed at him for a long time.

“You are a funny animal,” he said at last. “You are nothicker than a finger…”

“But I am more powerful than the finger of a king,” saidthe snake.

The little prince smiled. “You are not very

powerful. You haven’teven any feet. Youcannot even travel…”

“I can carry you fartherthan any ship could take you,”said the snake.

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He twined himself around the little prince’sankle, like a golden bracelet.

“WhomeverI touch, I send back to the earth from whence they came,” the snake spokeagain. “But you are innocent and true, and you come from a star…”

The little prince made no reply.

“You moveme to pity-you are so weak on this Earth madeof granite,” the snake said.“I can help you, someday, if you grow too homesickfor your own planet. I can-”

“Oh! I understand you very well,”said the little prince.“But why do you alwaysspeak in riddles?”

“I solve them all,”said the snake. And they were both silent.