Chapter 3 🔊✎

It was a long time before I understood where he came from. 🔊✎ The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. 🔊✎ But putting together words which he let fall by chance, I gradually managed to figure it out. 🔊✎ So, when he saw my airplane for the first time (I won’t draw my plane, it’s far too complicated for me), he asked:

“What is that thing?” 🔊✎

“It’s not a ‘thing’.” It flies. It’s an airplane. It’s my airplane.” 🔊✎

I felt proud to tell him I could fly. But he exclaimed:

“What! 🔊✎ You fell out of the sky?” 🔊✎

“Yes,” I said modestly. 🔊✎

“Ah! That’s funny…”

And the little prince laughed, very prettily I might say, but I felt really annoyed. 🔊✎ I want people to take my misfortunes seriously. 🔊✎ Then he added:

“So you’re from the sky too! Which planet?” 🔊✎

Suddenly I thought I saw an explanation for the mystery of how he had got there, and I asked him:

“You mean you come from another planet?” 🔊✎

But he didn’t answer. 🔊✎ He just shook his head quietly as he looked at my plane:

“It’s true, you couldn’t have come very far in that…” 🔊✎

And he stood there for a long time, lost in his own thoughts. 🔊✎ Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he absorbed himself in looking at his treasure. 🔊✎

You can imagine how curious his half-expressed words about “other planets” made me. 🔊✎ I did my best to find out more: 🔊✎

“Where do you come from, kid? Where is this ‘where I live’? Where are you planning to take my sheep?”

He replied after a thoughtful silence:

“You know, what’s really good about the box you gave me is that it can sleep there at night.” 🔊✎

“Exactly. And if you behave, I’ll give you a rope so you can tether him during the day. And a post you can tether him to.” 🔊✎

The thought seemed to shock the little prince. 🔊✎

“Tether him? What a weird idea!” 🔊✎

“But if you don’t tether him, he’ll just wander off and get lost…” 🔊✎

And my friend laughed again:

“Where do you think he’ll wander off to?” 🔊✎

“I don’t know. Anywhere. Straight ahead…” 🔊✎

But the little prince answered with great seriousness:

“Don’t worry. Everything is very small where I live.”

And a little sadly, he added:

“If you go straight ahead, you won’t get far…” 🔊✎