Explore Chapter 14 of 'The Little Prince' with the original English text, English translation, detailed IELTS vocabulary and explanations, and audio of the English original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people.
"This man might be silly. But he is not as silly as the king, the vain man, the businessman, and the drunkard. At least his work has some meaning. When he lights his lamp, it is like he brings another star or flower to life. When he puts out his lamp, it puts the flower or star to sleep. That is a beautiful job. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful."
When he arrived on the planet he greeted the lamplighter with respect.
"Good morning. Why did you just put out your lamp?"
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter. "Good morning."
"The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening."
"There is nothing to understand," said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning." And he put out his lamp. Then he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief that had red squares on it.
"I have a terrible job. In the old days it made sense. I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lit it again. I had the rest of the day to relax and the rest of the night to sleep."
"The orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter. "That is the tragedy! Year after year the planet has spun faster and faster, but the orders have not changed!"
"Then—the planet now spins all the way around every minute, and I don't have a single second to rest. Every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!"
"That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!"
"It is not funny at all!" said the lamplighter. "While we have been talking, a month has passed."
"Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening." And he lit his lamp again.
As the little prince watched him, he felt that he liked this lamplighter who was so loyal to his orders. He remembered the sunsets he used to go and see, just by moving his chair; and he wanted to help his friend.
"You know," he said, "I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to..."
For it is possible for a man to be both loyal and lazy at the same time.
"Your planet is so small that you can walk all the way around it in just three steps. To always be in the sunlight, you only need to walk slowly. When you want to rest, you will walk—and the day will last as long as you want."
"That doesn't help me much," said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."
"Then there's nothing that can be done," said the little prince.
"There is nothing that can be done," said the lamplighter. "Good morning."
"That man," the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey, "that man would be looked down on by all the others: by the king, by the vain man, by the drunkard, by the businessman. Yet, he is the only one who does not seem silly to me. Perhaps that is because he is thinking about something other than himself."
He sighed with regret, and said to himself again:
"That man is the only one of them all whom I could have been friends with. But his planet is really too small. There is no room on it for two people..."