Текст песни Антуан Де Сент-Экзюпери - Маленький принц. Глава 14

XIV

The fifth planet was very interesting. She turned out to be the smallest. All that was placed on it was a lantern and a lamplighter. The little prince could not understand in any way why a lantern and a lamplighter were needed on a tiny planet lost in the sky, where there are no houses or inhabitants. But he thought:
"Maybe this man is absurd. But he is not as absurd as a king, an ambitious, a businessman and a drunkard. There is still a sense in his work. When he lights his lantern, it is as if another star or flower is born. And when he extinguishes the lantern - as if a star or a flower fall asleep. A wonderful activity. It is really useful because it is beautiful. "
And, having caught up with this planet, he respectfully bowed to the lamplighter.
“Good afternoon,” he said. - Why did you put out the lantern now?
“Such an arrangement,” replied the lamplighter. - Good afternoon.
- And what is this agreement?
- Turn off the lantern. Good evening.
And he lit the lantern again.
- Why did you light it up again?
“Such an arrangement,” the lamplighter repeated.
“I don’t understand,” the little prince admitted.
“There’s nothing to understand,” said the lamplighter. - An agreement is an agreement. Good afternoon.
And he turned off the lantern.
Then he wiped the sweat from his forehead with a red check handkerchief and said:
- My craft is difficult. It once made sense. I put out the lantern in the morning and turned it on again in the evening. I had a day to rest and a night to sleep ...
- And then the agreement changed?
“The agreement has not changed,” said the lamplighter. - That's the trouble! My planet rotates faster and faster every year, but the agreement remains the same.
- And what about now? - asked the little prince.
- Yes, like that. The planet makes a full revolution in one minute, and I don't have a second of respite. Every minute I extinguish the lantern and light it again.
- That's funny! So your day lasts only one minute!
“There’s nothing funny,” said the lamplighter. - We've been talking for a month now.
- Whole month?!
- Well yes. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening!
And he lit the lantern again.
The little prince looked at the lamplighter, and more and more he liked this man, who was so true to his word. The little prince remembered how he once moved a chair from place to place in order to once again look at the sunset. And he wanted to help a friend.
“Listen,” he said to the lamplighter. - I know the remedy: you can rest whenever you want ...
“I want to rest all the time,” said the lamplighter.
After all, you can be true to your word and still lazy.
“Your planet is so tiny,” the little prince continued, “you can walk around it in three steps. And you just need to walk at such a speed that you stay in the sun all the time. When you want to rest, you just go, go ... And the day will drag on as long as you want.
“Well, that’s of little use to me,” said the lamplighter. - More than anything else, I love to sleep.
- Then your business is bad, - the little prince sympathized.
“My business is bad,” the lamplighter confirmed. - Good afternoon.
And he turned off the lantern.
"Here is a man," the little prince said to himself, continuing on his way, "here is a man whom everyone would despise - both the king and the ambitious, and the drunkard, and the businessman. And yet of all of them he alone, in my opinion, is not funny . Maybe because he thinks not only of himself. "
The little prince sighed.
"I would like to make friends with, - he thought again. - But his planet is already very tiny. There is no room for two ..."
He did not dare to admit to himself that he regrets this wonderful planet most of all for one more reason: in twenty-four hours one can admire the sunset one thousand four hundred and forty times on it!