Читать книгу The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-exupéry, Экзюпери Антуан - Страница 7

On the fifth day, again thanks to the lamb I discovered a secret from the Little Prince’s life.

Unexpectedly, without any introduction and as if the question appeared as a result of a long and silent meditation, he asked.

“If a lamb eats small bushes he eats flowers as well, doesn’t he?”

“Lambs eat everything they can reach”, I replied.

“Even flowers with thorns?”

“Yes, even flowers with thorns.”

“What’s the point of thorns then?”

I didn’t know.

I was very busy unbolting my engine at that moment. I was very nervous as it had become obvious that the damage to my plane was serious. And I had so little water I expected the worst.

“What’s the point of thorns then?”

I didn’t know.

The Little Prince had never left the question he asked. As for me, I was very upset because of the bolt. I replied the first thing I could think of.

“There is no point in thorns. Flowers show them just out of spite.”

“Ah”, there was a silence for some time.

Then the Little Prince, shocked and offended, attacked me.

“I don’t believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naïve. They take care of themselves as much as they can. They assume their thorns are a dangerous weapon…”

I didn’t answer. I was thinking about myself at that moment.

“If I don’t unscrew this bolt I am going to beat it with a hammer.”

The Little Prince interrupted my thoughts again.

“Do you really believe that flowers…?”

“No, no and no! I don’t believe in anything. I told you the first thing I could think of. Can’t you see I am busy with important stuff?”

He was staring at me as if he had been struck by lightning.

“Important stuff…”

He looked at me. I was standing with a hammer in my black, from the engine oil, hands and bending over the object that he found ugly.

“You are talking like adults!”

It made me ashamed. Without mercy, he went on.

“You are mixing everything together…”

He got really angry. He tossed his golden locks and the wind caught them.

“I know the planet where a red-faced gentleman used to live. He had never smelled flowers. He had never looked at a star. He had never loved anyone. He had never done anything in his life except adding numbers. And every day he used to repeat just like you, “I am busy with very important stuff!” He was very proud of himself. But in reality, he is a mushroom, not a man. He is a mushroom!”

“What?”

“A mushroom!”

The Little Prince was white with anger now.

“For millions of years, flowers have been growing thorns. The same as lambs have been eating them. Isn’t it an important thing to know why the flowers try so hard to grow the thorns if there is no point? Isn’t it more important than the adding process of the red-faced gentleman? If I personally know one little flower that grows only on my planet and nowhere else, and it can be destroyed by one lamb that will swallow it one morning without noticing what he had done. Ah! Do you think it’s not important!?”