10.The little prince

There are several other asteroids in the nearby universe, including 325, 326, 327, 328, 329 and 330. He
started visiting these planets to find something to do there and to learn.
On the first planet there was a king. The king was dressed in a great gown made of fuchsia and black flowers on a white background.
He was sitting on a very simple but majestic throne.
When he saw the little prince, he cried out.
"Ah, here comes a subject."
The little prince pondered, "How can he know me when he has never seen me before?"
Little did he know that in the eyes of those kings the world was very simple: all people were subjects.
The king was very proud that he had finally become king of someone, and he said to the little prince: "Come closer
So that I can have a good look at you."
The little prince looked around and tried to find a place to sit down, but the whole planet was filled with the king's magnificent white and black
The whole planet was filled up with the king's magnificent white and black leather robe. He had to stand there, but because he was tired, he yawned.
The king said to him, "It is against etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king. I forbid you to yawn."
The young prince said in shame, "I just can't help it, I have travelled a long way to get here and I haven't slept yet."
The king said, "Well, then, I command you to yawn. I have not seen anyone yawn for years.
Yawning is a novelty to me. Go on, yawn again! That's an order."
"That makes me a little nervous... I can't yawn..." said the little prince, blushing.
"Mmm! Yes!" The king replied, "Then I... order you to yawn sometimes and sometimes..."
He muttered, showing a little annoyance.
For the main thing the king wanted was to keep his majesty respected. He could not tolerate disobedience to his orders.
He was an absolute monarch. But he was kind and he gave orders with good sense.
He often said: "If I tell a general to become a sea bird and the general disobeys my orders
then it would not be the general's fault, but mine."
The young prince tried coyly, "May I sit down?"
"I command you to sit down." The king replied as he solemnly moved the lapels of his white and black leather robe
and moved it a little.
But the young prince felt strange. What was the king ruling over such a small planet?
He said to the king, "Your Majesty... forgive me, I want to ask you..."
The king hastened to snatch up the question, "I command you to ask me."
"Your Majesty... what do you rule over?"
The king said very simply, "I rule over everything."
"Everything?"
The king gently pointed his finger at his planet and the other planets, and all the stars.
The little prince said, "Rule over all this?"
"Rule over all this."
It turned out that he was not only an absolute monarch, but the monarch of the whole universe.
"So, do the stars obey you?"
"Then of course!" the king said to him, "they must obey at once. I am not allowed to be undisciplined."
Such power made the young prince marvel. If he had such power, then, in one day, he would not
just see the sun set forty-three times a day, but could see it seventy-two times, or even a hundred times, or two hundred times, and
And there would be no need to move his chair! As he thought of his little abandoned planet and felt a little sad, he
boldly made a request to the king.
"I want to see the sunset, please... order the sun to set..."
The king said, "If I order a general to fly like a butterfly from this flower to that flower, or
If I order a general to fly like a butterfly from this flower to that flower, or to write a tragic play or to become a seabird, and if the general does not carry out the order, then he is wrong.
If the general does not carry out the order, is he wrong or am I wrong?"
"Then of course it is your fault." The young prince replied in the affirmative.
"Not at all," continued the king, "that what is asked of each man should be all that they can do
The Authority should be based first and foremost on reason. If you order your people to throw themselves into the sea, they must rise up
They must rise up in revolution. My orders are reasonable, so I have the right to make people obey."
"And what about the sunset I proposed?" Once the young prince had asked a question, he never forgot it.
Once the young prince had asked a question, he did not forget it.
"The sunset? You will see it. I must have the sun set, but according to the science of my rule, I shall have to
wait until the conditions are right."
The young prince asked, "When will that be?"
Before answering, the king first flipped through a thick calendar and said slowly on his lips, "Hmmm! Well!
Sunset is about... about... at seven forty o'clock tonight! You will see that my orders will certainly be obeyed." The little prince yawned again. He regretted not seeing the sunset. A little bored, he said to the king.
"There is no need for me to stay here any longer. I am leaving."
The king, who was so proud of himself because he had just had a subject, said.
"Don't go, don't go. I appoint you as a minister."
"What minister?"
"Well... the Minister of Justice!"
"But there is no one here to judge."
"It's hard to say," said the king. "I'm very old, and my place is small, and there's no place to put a royal carriage.
Besides, I get tired when I walk. Therefore I have not yet toured my kingdom!"
"Oh! But I have seen it." said the young prince, and looked over to the other side of the planet.
There was no one there either...
"Then judge thyself!" replied the king. "That's the hardest thing of all. Judging yourself
It is much harder than judging others! If you can judge yourself well, you are a truly wise man."
"Me? I can judge myself in any place. There is no need for me to stay here."
The king said again, "Well... well... I think there is an old rat on my planet. At night, I hear its
The sound of it. You can judge it and condemn it to death from time to time. So its life depends on your sentence. But
yes, you must use this rat with moderation and pardon it after each sentence, for it is the only one." "But I don't want to be sentenced to death, and I think I should go anyway." The little prince replied.
"No." The king said.
But the young prince, having finished preparing, did not want to upset the old monarch and said.
"If Your Majesty wants to be obeyed without compromise, you can give me a reasonable order.
You could order me, for example, to leave in one minute. I think that condition is ripe⋯"
The king answered nothing. At first, the young prince hesitated a little, then sighed and left
"I am sending you to be my ambassador." The king shouted hastily.
The king looked very authoritative.
The young prince said to himself on his journey: "These lords are strange."
译文：
在附近的宇宙中，还有325、326、327、328、329、330等几颗小行星。他
就开始访问这几颗星球，想在那里找点事干，并且学习学习。
第一颗星球上住着一个国王。国王穿着用紫红色和白底黑花的毛皮做成的大
礼服，坐在一个很简单却又十分威严的宝座上。
当他看见小王子时，喊了起来：
“啊，来了一个臣民。”
小王子思量着：“他从来也没有见过我，怎么会认识我呢？”
他哪里知道，在那些国王的眼里，世界是非常简单的：所有的人都是臣民。
国王十分骄傲，因为他终于成了某个人的国王，他对小王子说道：“靠近些，
好让我好好看看你。”
小王子看看四周，想找个地方坐下来，可是整个星球被国王华丽的白底黑花
皮袍占满了。他只好站在那里，但是因为疲倦了，他打起哈欠来。
君王对他说：“在一个国王面前打哈欠是违反礼节的。我禁止你打哈欠。”
小王子羞愧地说道：“我实在忍不住，我长途跋涉来到这里，还没有睡觉呢。”
国王说：“那好吧，我命令你打哈欠。好些年来我没有看见过任何人打哈欠。
对我来说，打哈欠倒是新奇的事。来吧，再打个哈欠！这是命令。”
“这倒叫我有点紧张⋯我打不出哈欠来了⋯”小王子红着脸说。
“嗯！嗯！”国王回答道：“那么我⋯命令你忽而打哈欠，忽而⋯”
他嘟嘟囔囔，显出有点恼怒。
因为国王所要求的主要是保持他的威严受到尊敬。他不能容忍不听他的命令。
他是一位绝对的君主。可是，他却很善良，他下的命令都是有理智的。
他常常说：“如果我叫一位将军变成一只海鸟，而这位将军不服从我的命令，
那么这就不是将军的过错，而是我的过错。”
小王子腼腆地试探道：“我可以坐下吗？”
“我命令你坐下。”国王一边回答，一边庄重地把他那白底黑花皮袍大襟挪
动了一下。
可是小王子感到很奇怪。这么小的行星，国王他对什么进行统治呢？
他对国王说：“陛下⋯请原谅，我想问您⋯”
国王急忙抢着说道：“我命令你问我。”
“陛下⋯你统治什么呢？”
国王非常简单明了地说：“我统治一切。”
“一切？”
国王轻轻地用手指着他的行星和其他的行星，以及所有的星星。
小王子说：“统治这一切？”
“统治这一切。”
原来他不仅是一个绝对的君主，而且是整个宇宙的君主。
“那么，星星都服从您吗？”
“那当然！”国王对他说，“它们立即就得服从。我是不允许无纪律的。”
这样的权力使小王子惊叹不已。如果掌握了这样的权力，那么，他一天就不
只是看到四十三次日落，而可以看到七十二次，甚至一百次，或是二百次日落，
也不必要去挪动椅子了！由于他想起了他那被遗弃的小星球，心里有点难过，他
大胆地向国王提出了一个请求：
“我想看日落，请求您⋯命令太阳落山吧⋯”
国王说道：“如果我命令一个将军象一只蝴蝶那样从这朵花飞到那朵花，或
者命令他写作一个悲剧剧本或者变一只海鸟，而如果这位将军接到命令不执行的
话，那么，是他不对还是我不对呢？”
“那当然是您的不对。”小王子肯定地回答。
“一点也不错，”国王接着说，“向每个人提出的要求应该是他们所能做到
的。权威首先应该建立在理性的基础上。如果命令你的老百姓去投海，他们非起
来革命不可。我的命令是合理的，所以我有权要别人服从。”
“那么我提出的日落呢？”小王子一旦提出一个问题，他是不会忘记这个问
题的。
“日落么，你会看到的。我一定要太阳落山，不过按照我的统治科学，我得
等到条件成熟的时候。”
小王子问道：“这要等到什么时候呢？”
国王在回答之前，首先翻阅了一本厚厚的日历，嘴里慢慢说道：“嗯！嗯！
日落大约⋯大约⋯在今晚七时四十分的时候！你将看到我的命令一定会被服从的。”小王子又打起哈欠来了。他遗憾没有看到日落。他有点厌烦了，他对国王说：
“我没有必要再呆在这儿了。我要走了。”
这位因为刚刚有了一个臣民而十分骄傲自得的国王说道：
“别走，别走。我任命你当大臣。”
“什么大臣”
“嗯⋯⋯司法大臣！”
“可是，这儿没有一个要审判的人。”
“很难说呀，”国王说道。“我很老了，我这地方又小，没有放銮驾的地方，
另外，一走路我就累。因此我还没有巡视过我的王国呢！”
“噢！可是我已经看过了。”小王子说道，并探身朝星球的那一侧看了看。
那边也没有一个人⋯
“那么你就审判你自己呀！”国王回答他说。“这可是最难的了。审判自己
比审判别人要难得多啊！你要是能审判好自己，你就是一个真正有才智的人。”
“我吗，随便在什么地方我都可以审度自己。我没有必要留在这里。”
国王又说：“嗯⋯嗯⋯我想，在我的星球上有一只老耗子。夜里，我听见它
的声音。你可以审判它，不时地判处它死刑。因此它的生命取决于你的判决。可
是，你要有节制地使用这只耗子，每次判刑后都要赦免它，因为只有这一只耗子。”“可是我不愿判死刑，我想我还是应该走。”小王子回答道。
“不行。”国王说。
但是小王子，准备完毕之后，不想使老君主难过，说道：
“如果国王陛下想要不折不扣地得到服从，你可以给我下一个合理的命令。
比如说，你可以命令我，一分钟之内必须离开。我认为这个条件是成熟的⋯”
国王什么也没有回答。起初，小王子有些犹疑不决，随后叹了口气，就离开
了⋯“我派你当我的大使。”国王匆忙地喊道。
国王显出非常有权威的样子。
小王子在旅途中自言自语地说：“这些大人真奇怪。”