The Little Prince - страница 3

“No, no, no! I don’t want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. Boa constrictors are very dangerous animals, and elephants are huge. Everything is very small where I live. I just need a lamb. Draw me the lamb.”

I drew another picture.

“No. This lamb looks very weak. Draw another one,” he looked carefully and said.

I made another picture.

My friend laughed gently.

“You can see yourself,” he said patiently. “This is not a lamb, this is a sheep. It has horns.”

Then I remade the picture again.

But it was rejected like the previous ones.

“This one is too old. I want the one that will live for a very long time.”

By this time I’d had just about enough because I was in a hurry to sort out the engine. So I drew this picture.

In addition, I explained.

“This is only a box. The lamb, you were asking for, is inside.”

I was surprised when I spotted the enlightenment in a young judge’s face.

“This is exactly what I wanted. How much grass do you think this lamb will need?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Because everything is very small where I live…”

“I am sure there will be enough grass for him,” I said. “I drew you a very small lamb.”

He bent over the picture.

“It is not so small. Look! It went to sleep…”

That’s how I met the Little Prince.

I had to spend a long time to find out where he was from. It seemed that the Little Prince who was asking me so many questions didn’t hear mine. Only due to some accidentally spilt phrases, little by little I discovered the truth.

For example, when he saw my plane (I won’t draw the plane, it’s too hard for me).

“What kind of object is this?” he asked.

“This is not an object. It can fly. This is a plane. This is my plane.”

I was proud to tell him that I could fly a plane.

“What? Did you fall from the sky?” he cried then.

“I did”, I replied quietly.

“Oh, that’s funny!” the Little Prince broke into gentle laughter. It made me furious because I prefer when my failures are treated seriously.

“So you also came down from above! What planet are you from?” he added then.

At that moment I saw the light in the impenetrable darkness of his presence.

“Are you from another planet?” I asked suddenly.

He didn’t answer. He slightly shook his head leaving his eyes on the plane.

“That’s true; it wouldn’t be possible to fly from far away in this.”