On our earth we are too small to clean out our volcanoes. That is why they bring us so much trouble.
The little prince also pulled up the last little shoots of the baobabs. He did not want to return. And he watered the flower for the last time, and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe.
“Goodbye,” he said to the flower.
But she made no answer.
“Goodbye,” he said again.
The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.
“I was silly,” she said to him, at last. “Forgive me. Try to be happy.”
He was surprised. He stood there bewildered. He did not understand.
“Of course I love you,” the flower said to him. “It is my fault that you don’t know it. But this is not important. But you—you are as foolish as I. Try to be happy. Take the glass globe. I don’t want it any more.”
“But the wind—”
“My cold is not so bad. The cool night air will do me good[21]. I am a flower.”
“But the animals—”
“Well, I must meet two or three caterpillars if I wish to see the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies—and the caterpillars—who will come to me? You will be far away. As for the large animals—I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.”
And she showed her four thorns. Then she added:
“Don’t hesitate. You decided to go away. Now go!”
She was a proud flower.
He found himself[22] in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. He began, therefore, to visit them.
The first of them was inhabited by a king. The king was in royal purple and ermine, and was sitting upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.
“Ah! Here is a subject[23],” exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince.
And the little prince asked himself:
“How does he recognize me?”
He did not know how the world is simple for kings. To them, all men are subjects.
“Approach, so that I may see you better,” said the king. He was very proud to be a king over somebody.
The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was obstructed by the king’s magnificent robe. So he was standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned.
“It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king,” the monarch said to him. “I forbid you to do so.”
“Sorry, I can’t stop myself,” replied the little prince, embarrassed. “I came on a long journey, and I had no sleep.”
“Ah, then,” the king said. “I order you to yawn. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order.”
“That frightens me. I cannot yawn any more,” murmured the little prince.
“Hum! Hum!” replied the king. “Then I—I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to—”
He seemed vexed. The king hated disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.
“If I ordered a general,” he said, “if I order a general to change himself into a bird, and if the general does not obey me, that is not the fault of the general. It is my fault.”
“May I sit down?” came a timid inquiry from the little prince.
“I order you to do so,” the king answered him.
But the little prince was wondering. The planet was tiny. Over what did this king really rule?
“Your majesty,” he said to him, “may I ask you a question—”
“I order you to ask me a question,” the king assured him.
“Your majesty, over what do you rule?”
“Over everything,” said the king, with magnificent simplicity.
