On the fifth day again, as always, it was thanks to the sheepthe secret of the little prince's life was revealed to me. Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:
"A sheepif it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too?"
"A sheep," I answered, "eats anything it finds in its reach."
"Even flowers that have thorns?"
"Yes, even flowers that have thorns."
"Then the thorns what use are they?"
I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.
"The thornswhat use are they?"
The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it. As for me, I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:
"The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite."
"Oh!"
There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:
"I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creature. They are native. They reassure themselves at best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons…"
I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won't turn, I am going to knock it out with the hammer."
Again the little price disturbed my thoughts.
"And you actually believe that the flowers"
"Oh, no!" I cried. "No, no, no! I don't believe anything. I answered you the first thing that came into my head. Don't you seeI am very busy with matters of consequence!"
He stared at me, thunderstruck.
"Matters of consequence!"
He looked at me there, with my hammer in my hand, my fingers black with engine-grease, bending over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly…
"You talk just like the grown-ups!"
That made me a little ashamed.
But he went on, relentlessly: "You mix everything up together…You confuse everything…"
He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze. The little prince was now white with rage.
❤
第五天，我发现小王子身世的另一个秘密，再次感谢那只羊。好象默默地思索了很长时间以后，得出了什么结果一样，他突然没头没脑地问我：
“羊会吃花吗？就像吃灌木丛一样？”
“它碰到什么吃什么。”
“连有刺的花都吃吗？”
“有刺的花也吃。”
“那刺还有什么用呢？”
我不知道该怎么回答。那时候，我正忙着将一个卡在引擎上的螺丝拆下来。我发现，飞机损坏的情形很严重，而且，更让我担心的是饮用水已经所剩不多了。
“那刺还有什么作用呢？”
小王子一旦提出了问题，就绝不放弃，而我正为了螺丝生气，于是不假思索地回答他
“那些刺儿毫无用处，花儿长刺只能害人！”
“噢！”
沉默了一会儿，他悻悻地说：“我不信你说的话！花儿弱不禁风，花儿天真无邪，她们自顾不暇呢。她们身上长了刺，是为了给自己壮胆，为了保护自己……”
我没有答话，当时我在想：“如果螺丝还不松动的话，我就一锤子敲碎它。”
小王子的话再次打断了我的思路：“你真的认为花儿……”
“算了吧，算了吧！我什么也不认为！我是随便说说。你没看到我正在忙着要紧的事吗？”
他瞪着我，愣住了。
“要紧的事！？”
他看着我，蹲在那个在他眼中看来丑得要命的东西前面，手握着锤子，手指上沾满了油圬……
“你跟那些大人没什么两样！”
听了这话，我觉得有点惭愧。
然而，他又毫不留情地说：“你什么都分不清，你把什么都混在一起！”
他生气地摇晃着脑袋，金黄色的头发随风飘动着。小王子气得脸色发白。
