05.The little prince

Every day I learn something about the little prince's planet, his exodus and travels and other things. All of this was
slowly gained by chance from various reactions. And so it was that on the third day I learnt about the baobab tragedy.
This time it was again because of the sheep, and suddenly the little prince asked me as if he were very worried, saying.
"Is it true that sheep eat small bushes?"
"Yes, it's true."
"Ah, I am so happy."
I didn't understand why it was so important that the sheep ate the shrubs. But then the little prince said.
"So they eat baobabs too?"
I said to the little prince that baobabs are not small bushes, but big trees as big as churches; and even if they
even if he brought back a herd of elephants, he would not be able to eat a baobab tree.
The idea of a herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
"Well, we'll have to stack these elephants one on top of the other."
He said with great insight.
"Baobab trees start small before they grow up."
"Good. But why do you want to tell your sheep to eat the little baobab trees?"
He replied to me, "Alas! That goes without saying!" It seemed like it was self-evident. But I myself had to make a great deal of
to figure this out myself.
It turned out that on the little prince's planet, as on all other planets, there is good grass and bad grass; therefore
There are seeds of good grasses and seeds of poisonous grasses, but the seeds are invisible. They lie dormant in the soil until
until one of them suddenly wants to wake up, so it stretches itself out and begins to grow coyly towards the sun.
A lovely little seedling emerges. If it is a radish or a rose seedling, let it grow freely.
If it is a bad seedling, it should be pulled out as soon as it is identified. For on the little prince's planet
On the planet of the Little Prince there are some very terrible seeds... the seeds of the baobab. In the soil there, they are
There is a plague of them. And a baobab sapling, if you pull it out too late, you can never get rid of it. And it
It will take over the whole planet. Its roots can burrow through the planet, and if the planet is small and there are many baobabs, it
It will tear the whole planet apart.
"It's a matter of discipline." The little prince explained to me later. "When you have finished freshening up in the morning, the
must carefully freshen up the planet, you must stipulate that you go and pluck the baobab saplings on time. When these saplings are small
is about the same as a rose sapling, and as soon as you can tell them apart, you must pluck it. This is a very
It's very tedious work, but it's easy."
One day he persuaded me to draw a nice picture with my heart so that the children of my home town would have a
a deep impression. He also said to me, "If one day they go on a trip, this will be very
It will be useful for them if they travel one day. Sometimes there is no harm in people putting off their work until later, but when it comes to
But when it comes to things like pulling up baobab saplings, it's bound to cause havoc. I have come across a planet where a lazy guy lives.
I met a planet where a lazy fellow lived, and he spared three saplings..."
So, following the young prince's instructions, I drew the planet. I don't like to speak in a Taoist
But the dangers of baobab trees are not well understood, and the dangers for people lost on an asteroid are very great.
The danger to people lost on asteroids is so great that this time I rashly broke with my habit of not lecturing people.
convention. I said, "Children, beware of the baobabs!" In order to alert my friends to this
danger - which they, like me, had been in contact with for a long time without realising its danger - I took the trouble to draw
I have taken great pains to paint this picture. The lesson I am proposing is significant and the effort is
well worth the effort. Why, you may ask, are none of the other paintings in this book as spectacular as this one? The answer is simple.
The answer is simple: I have tried to do better in other paintings, but have not succeeded. When I painted the baobab tree, there was
An eagerness that motivated me.
译文：
每天我都了解到一些关于小王子的星球，他的出走和旅行等事情。这些都是
偶然从各种反应中慢慢得到的。就这样，第三天我就了解到关于猴面包树的悲剧。
这一次又是因为羊的事情，突然小王子好象是非常担心地问我道：
“羊吃小灌木，这是真的吗？”
“是的，是真的。”
“啊，我真高兴。”
我不明白羊吃小灌木这件事为什么如此重要。可小王子又说道：
“因此，它们也吃猴面包树罗？”
我对小王子说，猴面包树可不是小灌木，而是象教堂那么大的大树；即便是
带回一群大象，也啃不了一棵猴面包树。
一群大象这种想法使小王子发笑：
“那可得把这些大象一只叠一只地垒起来。”
他很有见识地说：
“猴面包树在长大之前，开始也是小小的。”
“不错。可是为什么你想叫你的羊去吃小猴面包树呢？”
他回答我道：“唉！这还用说！”似乎这是不言而喻的。可是我自己要费很
大的心劲才能弄懂这个问题。
原来，在小王子的星球上就象其他所有星球上一样，有好草和坏草；因此，
也就有益草的草籽和毒草的草籽，可是草籽是看不见的。它们沉睡在泥土里，直
到其中的一粒忽然想要苏醒过来⋯于是它就伸展开身子，开始腼腆地朝着太阳长
出一棵秀丽可爱的小嫩苗。如果是小萝卜或是玫瑰的嫩苗，就让它去自由地生长。
如果是一棵坏苗，一旦被辨认出来，就应该马上把它拔掉。因为在小王子的星球
上，有些非常可怕的种子⋯这就是猴面包树的种子。在那里的泥土里，这种种子
多得成灾。而一棵猴面包树苗，假如你拔得太迟，就再也无法把它清除掉。它就
会盘踞整个星球。它的树根能把星球钻透，如果星球很小，而猴面包树很多，它
就把整个星球搞得支离破碎。
“这是个纪律问题。”小王子后来向我解释道。“当你早上梳洗完毕以后，
必须仔细地给星球梳洗，必须规定自己按时去拔掉猴面包树苗。这种树苗小的时
候与玫瑰苗差不多，一旦可以把它们区别开的时候，就要把它拔掉。这是一件非
常乏味的工作，但很容易。”
有一天，他劝我用心地画一副漂亮的图画，好叫我家乡的孩子们对这件事有
一个深刻的印象。他还对我说：“如果将来有一天他们出外旅行，这对他们是很
有用的。有时候，人们把自己的工作推到以后去做，并没有什么妨害，但要遇到
拔猴面包树苗这种事，那就非造成大灾难不可。我遇到过一个星球，上面住着一
个懒家伙，他放过了三棵小树苗⋯”
于是，根据小王子的说明，我把这个星球画了下来。我从来不大愿意以道学
家的口吻来说话，可是猴面包树的危险，大家都不大了解，对迷失在小行星上的
人来说，危险性非常之大，因此这一回，我贸然打破了我的这种不喜欢教训人的
惯例。我说：“孩子们，要当心那些猴面包树呀！”为了叫我的朋友们警惕这种
危险——他们同我一样长期以来和这种危险接触，却没有意识到它的危险性——
我花了很大的功夫画了这副画。我提出的这个教训意义是很重大的，花点功夫是
很值得的。你们也许要问，为什么这本书中别的画都没有这副画那么壮观呢？回
答很简单：别的画我也曾经试图画得好些，却没成功。而当我画猴面包树时，有
一种急切的心情在激励着我。