فصل سوم

Chapter three

It took me a long time to understand where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him.

It was things he said quite at random that, bit by bit, explained everything. For instance, when he first caught sight of my airplane (I won’t draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me) he asked: “What’s that thing over there?”

“It’s not a thing. It flies. It’s an airplane. My airplane.”

And I was proud to tell him I could fly. Then he exclaimed:

“What! You fell out of the sky?”

“Yes,” I said modestly.

“Oh, That’s funny…” And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which annoyed me a good deal.

I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously. Then he added, “So you fell out of the sky, too. What planet are you from?”

That was when I had the first clue to the mystery of his presence, and I questioned him sharply.

“Do you come from another planet?”

But he made no answer. He shook his head a little, still staring at my airplane.

“Of course, that couldn’t have brought you from very far…”

And he fell into a reverie that lasted a long while. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he plunged into contemplation of his treasure.

You can imagine how intrigued I was by this hint about “other planets.” I tried to learn more: “Where do you come from, little fellow? Where is this ‘where I live’ of yours? Where will you be taking my sheep?”

After a thoughtful silence he answered, “The good thing about the crate you’ve given me is that he can use it for a house after dark.”

“Of course and if you’re good, I’ll give you a rope to tie him up during the day. And a stake to tie him to.”

This proposition seemed to shock the little prince. “Tie him up? What a funny idea!”

“But if you don’t tie him up, he’ll wander off somewhere and get lost.”

My friend burst out laughing again.

“Where could he go?”

“Anywhere. Straight ahead…”

Then the little prince remarked quite seriously, “Even if he did, everything’s so small where I live!” And he added, perhaps a little sadly, “Straight ahead, you can’t go very far.”