291'

As each day passed I would learn in our talk something about the little prince's planet his departure from it his journey. The information would come very slowly as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard on the third day about the catastrophe of the baobabs.

This time once more I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly-- as if seized by a grave doubt-- "It is true isn't it that sheep eat little bushes?"

"Yes that is true."

"Ah! I am glad!"

I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:

"Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?"

I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes but on the contrary trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him the herd would not eat up one single baobab.

The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.

"We would have to put them one on top of the other" he said.

But he made a wise comment:

"Before they grow so big the baobabs start out by being little."

"That is strictly correct" I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?"

He answered me at once "Oh come come!" as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem without any assistance.

Indeed as I learned there were on the planet where the little prince lived-- as on all planets-- good plants and bad plants. In consequence there were good seeds from good plants and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin-- timidly at first-- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant one must destroy it as soon as possible the very first instant that one recognizes it.

Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small and the baobabs are too many they split it in pieces…

"It is a question of discipline" the little prince said to me later on. "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet just so with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work" the little prince added "but very easy."

And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes" he added "there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes…"

So as the little prince described it to me I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children" I say plainly "watch out for the baobabs!"

My friends like myself have been skirting this danger for a long time without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.

Perhaps you will ask me "Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs?"

The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.

首先自我检讨一下，昨天看重温鉴证实录， 结果完全忘记阅读的事情了……我错了
然后就是语音条， 之前录音是用AU录的， 一个是软件还不熟悉， 二就是在电脑上录特别浪费时间， 一句一句反复的弄来弄去， 最后混音的时候还总是丢失， 所以以后Bunny还是直接在评论里读 。
申明哟， Bunny的发音一直是很诟病的存在 ，所以不要拿我当模板哈 ， 大家互相帮助， 共同进步 ，也欢迎大家指出我的发音错误，有建议也可以 提哟。
（BGM： Little Traveler）