Chapter XVII

When one wants to make the mind, it happens that one lying a little. I was not very honest in telling you about street light lighter. I risk giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not know it. Men occupy very little space on earth. If the two billion inhabitants who inhabit the land were standing up and a little tight, as if for a meeting, they would easily lodge in a public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. We could put humanity on the smallest little island in the Pacific.

Great people, of course, will not believe you. They imagine they hold a lot of space. They see themselves important as baobabs. You will advise them to do the calculation. They love the numbers: it will please them. But do not waste your time on this pensum. It's useless. You trust me.

The little prince, once on land, was therefore much surprised to see no one. He was already afraid of being mistaken about the planet, when a ring of moonlight stirred in the sand.

"Good night," said the little prince, at all hazards.

"Good night," said the serpent.

- On what planet have I fallen? Asked the little prince.

"On the Earth, in Africa," replied the serpent.

"Ah! ... So there is nobody on Earth?

"Here is the desert." There is no one in the deserts. The Earth is great, "says the serpent.

The little prince sat down on a stone and raised his eyes to the sky:

"I wonder," he said, "if the stars are illuminated so that everyone can one day find his own. Look at my planet. She's just above us ... But how far she is!

"She is beautiful," said the serpent. What are you doing here ?

"I have difficulties with a flower," said the little prince.

"Ah! The serpent said.

And they were silent.

" Where are the men ? Resumed the little prince. We're a little alone in the desert ...

"One is also alone among men," said the serpent.

The little prince looked at him for a long time:

"You are a funny beast," he said at last, thin as a finger.

"But I am more powerful than the finger of a king," said the serpent.

The little prince smiled:

"You're not very powerful ... you do not even have paws ... you can not even travel ...

"I can carry you farther than a ship," said the serpent.

He wrapped himself around the ankle of the little prince, like a gold bracelet:

"The one I touch, I return to the earth from which he came out," he said again. But you are pure and you come from a star ... "

The little prince answered nothing.

"You pity me, you so weak, on this Granite Earth. I can help you someday if you regret too much your planet. I can...

- Oh ! I understood very well, "said the little prince," but why do you always speak in riddles?

"I will resolve them all," said the serpent.

And they fell silent.