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他进入了第325号小行星至330号小行星这六个星球所组成的星系。为了做些有用的事情并增长自己的学识，他开始一一拜访这些星球。 他最先拜访的那颗星星，上面住着一位国王。他身穿紫红色皇袍，上镶有白色貂皮，坐在一个极其简单却又非常威严的宝座上。 "哦，来了一个老百姓啦。"国王一见小王子就这么喊道。 于是，小王子自己纳闷了 ："他怎么会认识我呢？他从来没有见过我呀！” 他不懂得，对于那些国王来说，世界再简单不过，所有的人都只是他自己的臣民。 "你走过来，好让我看清楚你。"国王对小王子说，他终于有机会在某一个人面前摆摆国王的架子，因而得意扬扬。 小王子东瞧瞧西瞧瞧，想找个地方坐下，但是，这整个星球都被那件貂皮皇袍覆盖着。他只好站立一旁，因为太疲劳而打了个哈欠。 "在国王面前打哈欠，是违反宫廷规矩的，"这位君王告诫说，"我不许你这样做！” "我实在控制不住自己，"小王子很难堪地答道，"我刚做了一次长途旅行，还没合过眼……” "既然如此，"国王对他说，"我命令你打哈欠。多年以来，我从没有见过有人打哈欠。对我来说，打哈欠是个新鲜事儿。来吧！再打一个。这是命令。" "这可把我吓坏啦……我想打也打不出来了……”小王子满脸通红地说。 "哼！哼！”国王回答说，"那么，我……我命令一会儿打哈欠，一会儿……” 他嘴里嘟嘟囔囔的，显得有些生气。这是因为他最关心的是他的权威能否受到尊重。他不能容忍任何人违抗他的命令。他是一位极端专制的国王。不过，由于他生性善良，他下的命令倒都合情合理。 "假如我命令，"他倒背如流地说道，"假如我命令一位将军变成一只海鸟，而将军不服从命令，那不是将军的过错，那是我的过错。" "我能坐下吗？”小王子怯生生地问他。 "我命令你坐下。"国王答道，以一种威严的神态将皇袍的一个下摆往回拉了拉。 见此，小王子感到很惊奇。这颗星星小得像粒弹丸,这位国王有什么可统治的呢？ "陛下……请允许我向您提个问题…… " “我命令你向我提问。"国王急忙作答。 "陛下……您统治些什么？” "统治一切。”国王煞有介事，极为天真地这么回答。 国王做了一个神秘兮兮的手势，指指他那颗星球，又指指别的星球以及天空中的群星。 "所有这一切？”小王子问。 "所有这一切……”国王肯定地回答。 这么说来，他就不仅是一国的专制君主，而是整个宇宙的君王了。 "这些星星都服从您的统治？” "当然啰，"国王回答，"我的命令一下，他们就立即听命。我不能容忍无组织无纪律。" 这么一种令行禁止的权力，真使小王子赞叹不已。要是他自己也拥有这种权力，那他在自己那颗星球上，每天就不仅能够看四十四次日落，而且能看上七十二次，一百次，甚至是两百次，而且，要看的时候，根本就用不着将座椅挪来挪去！如今想起被他自己抛弃了的那颗小小的星球，他感到有些伤心了。于是，他鼓起勇气，请求国王的恩准："我想看一次日落……请陛下满足我这个愿望…… 请您命令太阳下山吧……” "假如我命令一位将军像一只蝴蝶似的，从一朵花儿飞到另一朵花儿，或者命令他去写一部悲剧，或者命令他变成一只海鸟，而那位将军拒不执行我的命令，那么是算他错了还是算我错了？” "那要算您的错。"小王子斩钉截铁地说。"说得对。只能要求每个人去做他能够办得到的事情，"国王接着说，"权威首先要建立在理性之上。假如你命令自己的臣民百姓去跳海，那就会爆发革命。我有权要求大家都服从我的命令，因为我的命令都合情合理。” "那么，我要看日落的那个请求昵？”小王子提醒他说，这个小家伙一旦提出什么问题，他总是要坚持到底的。 "你要看日落，你会看到的。我会对太阳下这道命令的。但是，出于我的领导智慧，我要等到时机成熟、水到渠成的时候，才会下这道命令。" "那么我要等到什么时候呢？”小王子又问道。 "嗯！嗯！”国王先査阅一大本日历，然后回答说， "嗯！嗯！要等到，将近……将近……要等到今天晚上七点四十分左右！那时，你就可以看到我的命令是多么有效。" 小王子又打了个哈欠。他因为没有立刻看到日落而觉得遗憾。而且，他已经觉得这颗星球实在索然无味，叫人腻烦了。 "在陛下这儿，我没有什么可干的了，"他对国王说道，"我要走啦！” "别走呀！”国王答道，他好不容易才有了一个臣民，正扬扬得意着，"你别走，我封你当大臣！” "什么大臣呀？” “……司法大臣！” "可是，没有人可审判呀！” "那可说不定。我还没有到全国巡视过一周呢。我太老了，也没有地方停放我的马车，走路嘛，我又觉得累得慌！” "哦！可是您的王国，我一眼就已经望到头了。" 小王子弯弯腰，又好好看了看这星球的那一半。"那一边也没有任何人呀……” "那你就自己审判自己吧，"国王回答说，"这是世上最难的一件事。评判自己要比评判别人难得多。如果你清清楚楚、实实在在认识了自己，那你就是一个真正的智者！” "我嘛，"小王子答道，"我可以随便到任何地方去认识认识自己，我不必住在这里呀！” "嗯！嗯！”国王说，"我觉得我这个星球的某个地方，藏着一只老耗子。我夜里常听见它的声响。你可以去审判这只老耗子呀。你还可以时不时就判它一次死刑。这样，它的性命就全掌握在你的手心。但是，你每次判了它死刑后，还得恕它无罪，为的是留它一命， 因为这个星球上只有它这么一只。” "我呀，"小王子回绝道，"我才不爱去宣判死刑呢。我想，我是该走啦。" "别走，别走。"国王再作挽留。 小王子心意已决，但他在做好了动身准备之后，为了不让老国王难受，建议说："如果陛下期望别人忠实地服从您的命令，那么您可以向我下达一道我所能执行的合理的命令。比如说，您可以命令我在一分钟之内就动身离开。那么，我就会觉得，您对我是宽大、恩赐有加的……” 国王不答理他。小王子先犹豫了一小会儿，接着叹了口气，就动身走了。 "我封你为巡回大使！”国王赶紧大声下了最后一道命令。 他那股神气，可真是威严得很啊！ "成年人的确是很特别！"小王子在星际旅行之中，这么对自己说。 He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. He began, therefore, by visiting them, in order to add to his knowledge. The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic. "Ah! Here is a subject," exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming. And the little prince asked himself: "How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?" He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects. "Approach, so that I may see you better," said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody. The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe. So he remained 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." "I can't help it. I can't stop myself," replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. "I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep..." "Ah, then," the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order." "That frightens me... I cannot, any more..." murmured the little prince, now completely abashed. "Hum! Hum!" replied the king. "Then I—I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to—" He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed. For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no 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 would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my Fault." "May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince. "I order you to do so," the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle. But the little prince was wondering... The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule? "Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question—" "I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him. "Sire—over what do you rule?" "Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity. "Over everything?" The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars. "Over all that?" asked the little prince. "Over all that," the king answered. For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal. "And the stars obey you?" "Certainly they do," the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination." Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, without ever having to move his chair. And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor: "I should like to see a sunset... do me that kindness... Order the sun to set..." "If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?" the king demanded. "The general, or myself?" "You," said the little prince firmly. "Exactly. One much require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable." "Then my sunset?" the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it. "You shall have your sunset. 1 shall command it. But, according to my science of government, 1 shall wait until conditions are favorable." "When will that be?" inquired the little prince. "Hum! Hum!" replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. "Hum! Hum! That will be about—about—that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed." The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then, too, he was already beginning to be a little bored. "I have nothing more to do here," he said to the king. "So I shall set out on my way again." "Do not go," said the king, who was very proud of having a subject. "Do not go. I will make you a Minister!" "Minister of what?" "Minster of—of Justice!" "But there is nobody here to judge!" "We do not know that," the king said to him. "I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk." "Oh, but I have looked already!" said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet. On that side, as on this, there was nobody at all... "Then you shall judge yourself," the king answered, "that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom." "Yes," said the little prince, "but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet. "Hum! Hum!" said the king. "I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have." "I," replied the little prince, "do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way." "No," said the king. But the little prince, having now completed his preparations for departure, had no wish to grieve the old monarch. "If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed," he said, "he should be able to give me a reasonable order. He should be able, for example, to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favorable..." As the king made no answer, the little prince hesitated a moment. Then, with a sigh, he took his leave. "I made you my Ambassador," the king called out, hastily. He had a magnificent air of authority. "The grown-ups are very strange," the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey. |
