It took me a long time[2] to understand where he came from. The little prince asked me many questions, but did not hear the questions I asked him.
The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; it’s too complicated for me), he asked me:
“What is that object?”
“That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane.”
And I was proud to tell him that I could fly.
He cried out, then:
“What! You dropped down from the sky?”
“Yes,” I answered, modestly.
“Oh! That is funny!”
And the little prince began to laugh, which irritated me very much. Then he added:
“So you, too, come from the sky! Which planet is yours?”
At that moment I understood the mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:
“Do you come from another planet?”
But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently. He was looking at my plane:
“It is true that on that you can’t travel very far…”
You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused! I heard about the “other planets.” I tried to learn something more.
“My little man[3], where do you come from? What is this ‘where I live,’ of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?”
After a while he answered:
“It is very good that you gave me the box. The sheep can use it as his house.”
“That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to.”
But the little prince seemed shocked:
“Tie him! What a queer idea!”
“But if you don’t tie him,” I said, “he will wander off[4] somewhere, and get lost[5].”
My friend laughed loudly:
“But where do you think he can go?”
“Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.”
Then the little prince said, earnestly:
“That doesn’t matter. Where I live, everything is so small!”
And, with sadness, he added:
“Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far.”