Chapter 4 🔊✎

Well, I had learned another important thing: the planet he came from was scarcely bigger than a house! 🔊✎

But I should n’t have been surprised. 🔊✎ I knew perfectly well that besides the large planets like the Earth, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, which have names, there are hundreds more, which sometimes are so small that it’s hard to see them even in a telescope. 🔊✎ When an astronomer finds a new one, he gives it a number instead of a name. For example, he might call it “Asteroid 3251”. 🔊✎

I have good reason to believe that the asteroid the little prince came from is asteroid B 612. 🔊✎ It has only been observed a single time, by a Turkish astronomer in 1909. 🔊✎

He made an elaborate presentation of his discovery at an international conference on astronomy. But no one believed a word he said because of the way he was dressed. Grown-ups are like that. 🔊✎

Luckily for the reputation of asteroid B 612, a Turkish dictator introduced a law which said that all his people, on pain of death, were henceforth obliged to wear European clothes. 🔊✎ The astronomer presented his discovery again, in 1920, this time wearing a smart suit. And on his second attempt, everyone agreed with him. 🔊✎

If I have told you all these details about asteroid B 612 and even given you its number, it’s because of the grown-ups. 🔊✎ Grown-ups love numbers. If you tell them about your new friend, they never ask you anything important. 🔊✎ They never ask “What does his voice sound like? What are his favourite games? Does he collect butterflies?” 🔊✎ Instead, they ask “How old is he? How many brothers does he have? How much does he weigh? How much does his father make?” 🔊✎ Then they think they know something about him. 🔊✎ If you tell a grown-up “I saw a lovely house made of rosy red bricks, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof,” they wo n’t be able to imagine what this house is like. 🔊✎ What you need to do is say “I saw a house that cost two million euros.” 🔊✎ And then they’ll say “Wow! That must be a beautiful house!” 🔊✎ So if you tell them “The proof that the little prince really existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he wanted a sheep,” they’ll shrug their shoulders and call you a child. 🔊✎ But if you say “The planet he came from is asteroid B 612,” they’ll be convinced and they wo n’t ask you any more stupid questions. 🔊✎ They’re like that that. You should n’t hold it against them. Children should try and be tolerant towards grown-ups. 🔊✎

But of course, people like us who understand what life is about are not so bothered with numbers. 🔊✎ I really wanted to start this book like a fairy story, and say: “Once upon a time, there was a little prince who lived on a planet only a bit bigger than he was, and who needed a friend…” 🔊✎ To people who understand what life is about, that would have sounded more convincing. 🔊✎

Because I do n’t want you to treat this book lightly. 🔊✎ It fills me with such sadness to tell you all these things I remember. 🔊✎ It’s now six years since my friend left with his sheep. 🔊✎ If I try to describe him, it’s so that I wo n’t forget what he was like. 🔊✎ It’s very sad to forget a friend. 🔊✎ Not everybody has had a friend. 🔊✎ And I could become like those grown-up people who are only interested in numbers. 🔊✎ That’s why I bought a paint-box and some coloured pencils. 🔊✎ It’s hard to start drawing again at my age, if all you’ve ever done are two pictures of a boa constrictor from the outside and from the inside, when you were six. 🔊✎ I want to make my drawings as true to life as I can. 🔊✎ But I’m not sure I’ve succeeded very well. 🔊✎ This drawing is not too bad, that one just does n’t look like him at all. 🔊✎ I’m uncertain about his height. 🔊✎ Here, the little prince is too tall, there he’s too short. 🔊✎ I’m not sure about the colour of his clothes either. 🔊✎ Anyway, I keep on trying and do as well as I can. 🔊✎ No doubt I’ll get some more important things wrong too, but you’ll just have to forgive me. 🔊✎ My friend never explained anything. Maybe he thought I was like he was. 🔊✎ But unfortunately I ca n’t see a sheep that’s inside a box. 🔊✎ Maybe I’ve become a bit like the grown-ups. 🔊✎ I have n’t been able to stop myself from getting old. 🔊✎