CHAPTER 8 – FLOWER

I am still repairing my plane when the little prince says, “Do you really believe that flowers have thorns because they want to hurt others?”

“No, I don’t believe it! But I don’t want to think about it. I am busy with my plane. It is a serious thing!”

“Serious thing?”

He is shocked.

He looks at me. My hands are touching the engine. The engine is dirty. My hands are dirty too. The little prince doesn’t like the engine. But the engine is important for me.

“You talk like the adults!”

The little prince is not happy. I know that it is my mistake. I don’t feel OK. But the little prince continues, “You mix everything together!”

The little prince is angry.

“I know a planet with a gentleman with a red face. He doesn’t have a flower. He doesn’t look at stars. He doesn’t love other people. He only counts numbers. And all day he repeats again and again, like you, ‘I am a serious man! I am a serious man!’ And he is very proud. But he is not a man, he is a mushroom!”

“He is a what?”

“A mushroom!”

The little prince is now very angry. His face is white.

“Flowers have thorns. Sheep eat flowers. And you think that it is not good to try to understand why flowers have thorns. There is a war between the sheep and the flowers. And you think that it is not important?”

The little prince is still very angry. He continues.

“You think that the war between the sheep and the flowers is not more important than the numbers of the gentleman with a red face? I know a flower which is the only flower in the world, which exists only on my planet. It is a flower which a little sheep can eat for breakfast. And you think that this is not important?”

His face is now red. He continues.

“If you love a flower which is in the sky, then you are happy when you look at the stars. You are happy because you know that your flower is he says up there. But if the sheep eats the flower, then the sky is very sad for you.”

He can’t say another word. He starts to cry. The night comes. I put my tools on the ground. How important are my tools, my engine, my death now? On one planet, on my planet, the Earth, there is a little prince who needs me. I take him in my arms. I hold him. I say to him, “The flower which you love is not in danger. I can draw you something which can protect your flower. I can draw you a fence. You can put the fence around your flower. I can…”

I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t know how to talk to him, how to be his friend again. It is so strange when somebody cries.