Chapter 12 🔊✎

The next planet was inhabited by a drunk. 🔊✎ This visit was very short, but it left the little prince feeling terribly depressed. 🔊✎

“What are you doing here?” he asked the drunk. 🔊✎ He was sitting silently in front of a large collection of bottles, some of them empty and some of them full. 🔊✎

“I’m drinking,” said the drunk in a voice devoid of hope. 🔊✎

“Why are you drinking?” asked the little prince. 🔊✎

“To forget,” answered the drunk. 🔊✎

“To forget what?” asked the little prince, who already felt sorry for him. 🔊✎

“To forget I am ashamed,” confessed the drunk, and lowered his head. 🔊✎

“Ashamed of what?” asked the little prince, hoping he could help him. 🔊✎

“Ashamed of drinking!” concluded the drunk. And that was all he had to say. 🔊✎

The little prince left, feeling rather confused. 🔊✎

“The grown-ups are really very, very strange,” he said to himself as he travelled along. 🔊✎