One the fifth day, thanks again to the sheep, another secret of little prince’s life was revealed to me. At that momont I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had jammed in my engine. I was quited worried, for my plane crash was begining to seem extremely serious, and lack of drinking water made me fear the worst.
- revealed: verb, to make known; disclose; divulge.
“If a sheep eats bushes, does it eat flowers too?”
“Hummm…A sheep eats whatever it finds.”
“Even flowers that have thorns?”
“Yes, Even flowers that have thorns.”
- thorn: noun, a sharp excrescence on a plant. spine; prickle.
“Then what good are thorns?”
“Then what good are thorns?”
The little prince never let go of a question once he asked. I was annyed by my jammed bolt, and I answered without thinking.
“Thorns are not good for anything…they’re just the flowers’ way of being mean.”
“Oh…I don’t believe you! Flowers are weak. They are naive. The reassure themselves whatever way they can. They believe their thorns make them frightening…”
I made no answer.At that moment I was thinking, If this bolt stays jammed, I’ll knock it off with the hammer.
“Then you think flowers…”
“No, not at all, I don’t anything. I just said whatever came from my head, I’m busy here with something serious.”
“Something serious? You talk like the grow-ups! You confuse everything…You’ve got it all mixed up. For millions of years flowers have been producing thorns.For ,illions of years sheep have been eating them all the same. And it’s not serious? Trying to understand why flowers go to such trouble to produce thorns that are good for nothing? Suppose I happen to know a unique flower. One that exists nowhere in the world except on my planet, one that a little sheep can wipe out in a single bite one morning, just like that, without even relizing what he’s doing —— that isn’t important?”
He couldn’t say another word.
Night had fallen, I dropped my tools. What did I care about my hammer, about my bolt, about thirst and death? There was, on one star, on one plant, on mine, the Earth, a little prince to be consoled. I took him in my arms, I rocked him.
“The flower you love is no in danger…I’ll draw you a muzzle for your sheep…I’ll you a fence for your flower…”
- muzzle: noun, a device, usually an arrangement of straps or wires, placed over an animal’s mouth to prevent the animal from biting, eating, etc.
I didn’t know what to say.So…so mysterious, the land of tears.