Chapter X

He was in the region of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329 and 330. He therefore began by visiting them to search for an occupation and to learn.

The first was inhabited by a king. The king sat, dressed in purple and ermine, on a very simple and yet majestic throne.

"Ah! Here is a subject! Cried the king, when he perceived the little prince.

And the little prince asked himself:

"How can he recognize me since he has never seen me before?" "

He did not know that for kings, the world is very simplified. All men are subjects.

"Come closer, I'll see you better," said the king, who was very proud to be king at last.

The little prince sought eyes to sit down, but the planet was cluttered with the magnificent ermine mantle. So he stood, and as he was tired he yawned.

"It is contrary to the etiquette of yawning in the presence of a king," said the monarch. I forbid it.

"I can not help myself," replied the little prince, quite confused. I did a long trip and I did not sleep ...

"Then," said the king, "I command you to yawn." I have not seen anyone yawning for years. Yawns are curiosities for me. Come on! Still yawns. It's an order.

"That intimidates me ... I can not ..." said the little prince, blushing.

- Um! Hum! Replied the king. Then I ... I order you to yawn and sometimes to ... "

He stammered a little and seemed vexed.

For the King was essentially concerned that his authority should be respected. He did not tolerate disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But as he was very good, he gave reasonable orders.

"If I commanded," said he, "if I ordered a general to change into a sea-bird, and if the general did not obey, it would not be the general's fault." It would be my fault. "

" May I sit ? Inquired the little prince, timidly.

"I order you to sit down," replied the king, who brought back majestically a piece of his ermine cloak.

But the little prince was astonished. The planet was tiny. On what could the king reign?

"Sire," said he, "I beg your pardon to ask you questions."

"I order you to question me," said the King.

"Sire, on what do you reign?"

"Above all," replied the king, with great simplicity.

- Mostly ? "

The king, with a discreet gesture, pointed to his planet, the other planets and the stars.

"About all that?" Said the little prince.

"On all that," replied the king.

For not only was he an absolute monarch but he was a universal monarch.

"And the stars obey you?"

"Of course," said the king. They obey at once. I do not tolerate indiscipline. "

Such a power marveled the little prince. If he had relaxed it himself, he might have been present, not at forty-four, but at seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred sunsets in the same day, To pull his chair! And as he felt a little sad because of the memory of his little abandoned planet, he boldly solicited a favor from the king:

"I would like to see a sunset ... Do me a favor ... Order the sun to lie down ...

"If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or write a tragedy, or change into a sea-bird, and if the general did not execute The order received, which of him or of me would be in his wrong?

"It would be you," said the little prince firmly.

- Exact. We must demand of each one what each one can give, "replied the king. Authority rests first on reason. If thou commandest thy people to go throw themselves into the sea, they shall make a revolution. I have the right to demand obedience because my orders are reasonable.

"Then my sunset?" Reminded the little prince, who never forgot a question once he had asked it.

- Your sunset, you will have it. I will demand it. But I shall wait, in my science of the government, for the conditions to be favorable.

"When will it be?" Inquired the little prince.

- Hem! Hem! Replied the king, who at first consulted a large calendar, "hem! Hem! It will be, towards-towards-it will be this evening towards seven forty! And you will see how well I am obeyed. "

The little prince yawned. He regretted his failed sunset. And then he was already bored a little:

"I have nothing more to do here," he said to the king. I'll go again!

"Do not go," replied the king, who was so proud of having a subject. Do not go, I make you a minister!

- Minister of what?

- Of ... of Justice!

"But there is no one to judge!"

"We do not know," said the king. I have not yet gone round my kingdom. I am very old, I have no place for a coach, and it tires me to walk.

- Oh ! But I have already seen, "said the little prince, who bent down to glance at the other side of the planet. There's no one there either--

"You will judge yourself, then," replied the king. This is the most difficult. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you manage to judge yourself well, it is because you are a true wise man.

"I," said the little prince, "can judge myself anywhere." I do not need to live here.

- Hem! Hem! Said the king, "I believe that on my planet there is somewhere an old rat. I hear it at night. You can judge that old rat. You will condemn him to death from time to time. So his life will depend on your righteousness. But you will pardon it every time to save it. There is only one.

"I," replied the little prince, "do not like to condemn to death, and I believe I am going."

"No," said the king.

But the little prince, having finished his preparations, would not trouble the old monarch:

"If your majesty wished to be obeyed punctually," she might give me a reasonable order. She could order me, for example, to leave before one minute. It seems to me that the conditions are favorable ... "

The king having replied nothing, the little prince hesitated at first, then, with a sigh, took the departure.

"I make you my ambassador," then hastened to cry the king.

He had an air of authority.

Great people are very strange, the little prince said to himself, during his journey.