WEEKLY PLANNER FOR EVERYDAY USE

SCENE 6

THE KING’S PLANET

LP (to the audience) - So I left and first visited the King’s Planet.

K - Here is a subject!

N - How can you call me a subject if you’ve never seen me before?

K - Approach, so that I may see you better.

(The Little Prince approaches, yawning)

K – It’s contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king. I forbid you to do so.

LP - I can't help it.

K - Ah…then I order you to yawn.

LP - But I can’t yawn any more!

K - Then I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes not.

LP - Can I sit down?

K - I order you to do so.

LP - Will you excuse my asking you a question?

K - I order you to ask me a question.

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LP - Over what do you rule?

K - Over everything. Over all the planets and stars.

LP - And do the stars obey you?

K - Certainly they do.

LP - So could you do me a favor and order a sunset? I’d love to see one now!

K - If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to change
himself into a sea bird, and if the general didn’t carry out the order that he’d received, which
one of us would be in the wrong? The general, or myself?

LP - You.

K - Exactly. One must require from the other the duty which can be performed.

LP - How about my sunset?

K - I can order that but we must wait until the conditions are favourable.

LP - When will that be?

K - In the evening. And you’ll see how well I’m obeyed.

LP - I’m sorry but I can’t wait. I have to set out on my journey again.

K - Oh, don’t go! I’ll make you a minister!

LP - Thank you but I have to go. If Your Majesty wishes to be obeyed, you should give me a
reasonable order. So you should order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to
me that conditions are favourable.

LP (leaving with a sigh, to the audience) - The grown - ups are very strange.

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SCENE 7

THE CONCEITED MAN’S PLANET

(The Little Prince continues his journey; he visits another planet inhabited by a man with a
mirror)

CM – Wow! I’m about to receive a visit from an admirer!

LP - Good morning.

CM - Do you admire me?

LP - What does it mean ‘admire’?

CM - To admire means that you regard me as the best-dressed, the richest, and the most
intelligent man on this planet.

LP - But you are the only man on your planet!

CM - Do me this kindness and admire me just the same.

LP (with a sigh, to the audience) - The grown – ups are really strange.

SCENE 8

THE TIPPLER’S PLANET

(The Little Prince meets a man sipping a beer)

LP - What are you doing there?

T – I’m drinking.

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LP - Why are you drinking?

T - So that I may forget.

LP - Forget what?

T - Forget that I’m ashamed.

LP - Ashamed of what?

T - Ashamed of drinking!

LP - (leaving, to the audience) - The grown-ups are certainly very, very odd.

SCENE 9

THE BUSINESSMAN’S PLANET

(The Businessman is smoking a cigarette, busy counting)

B - Three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three make fifteen…

LP (interrupting) - Good morning. What are you doing?

B (impatiently) - During the fifty-four years that I’ve inhabited this planet, I’ve been disturbed
only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some goose fell from
goodness knows where and I made four mistakes in my addition. The second time, eleven
years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism. I don't get enough exercise. I have
no time for loafing. The third time, well, this is it!

LP - What are you counting?

B - The little objects that you see in the sky. Twelve and three make fifteen…

LP - And what do you do with the stars?

B - What do I do with them? I own them!

LP - How come?

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B - Well, they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it. When you find a
diamond that belongs to nobody, it’s yours. When you discover an island that belongs to
nobody, it’s yours. When you get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on it: it’s
yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning
them.

LP - Yes, that’s true. And what do you do with them?

B - I administer them. I count them and recount them. It’s difficult. But I’m a man who’s
naturally interested in matters of consequence.

LP - I myself own a flower. I used to water it every day.

(The Businessman gets back to counting; The Little Prince goes away saying):

LP- The grown-ups are really extraordinary.

SCENE 10

THE LAMPLIGHTER’S PLANET

(The Little Prince greets the Lamplighter while he has just put out the lamp)

LP - Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?

L - Those are the orders. Good morning.

LP - What orders?

L - The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening. (he lights the lamp)

LP - But why have you just lit it again?

L - Those are the orders.

LP - I don’t understand!

L – There’s nothing to understand. Orders are orders. Good morning. (he puts out the lamp
again)

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L - I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the
morning, and in the evening I lit it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest
of the night for sleep.

LP - And the orders have been changed since that time?

L (sadly) - The orders haven’t been changed! That is the tragedy! From year to year the
planet has turned more rapidly and the orders haven’t been changed!

LP - Then what?

L - The planet now makes a complete turn every minute so every minute I have to light my
lamp and put it out!

LP – That’s very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!

L – It’s not funny at all! While we’ve been talking together a month has gone by.

LP - Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it. To be always
in the sunshine, you need only to walk along slowly. When you want to rest, you’ll walk and
the day will last as long as you like.

L - That doesn't do me much good. The only thing I love in life is sleeping.

LP - Then you're unlucky. Good morning.

LP (leaving the Lamplighter, to himself or to the audience) - I like this man. Maybe it’s
because he’s the only one who’s thinking of something else besides himself.

SCENE 11

THE GEOGRAPHER’S PLANET

(The Little Prince sees the Geographer over a thick book)

G - Oh, look! Here’s an explorer! Where do you come from?

LP – What’s that big book? What’s your occupation?

G – I’m a geographer.

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LP – What’s a geographer?

G - A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns,
mountains, and deserts.

LP – That’s very interesting! (enthusiastically) Here at last is a man who has a real
profession! Your planet is very beautiful. Has it any oceans?

G - I can’t tell you.

LP - How about mountains?

G - I can't tell you.

LP - And towns, rivers or deserts?

G - I can’t tell you that, either.

LP - But you’re a geographer!

G - Exactly. But I’m not an explorer. It’s not the geographer who goes out to count the towns,
the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer’s much too
important for that stuff. He doesn’t leave his desk. But he has his explorers for bringing
information about the world.

LP - Who can be an explorer?

G - A man of good moral character. Someone trustworthy. An explorer who told lies would
bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much.

LP – Why’s that?

G - Because drunk men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains
in a place where there was only one.

LP - On my planet I have a flower.

G - We don’t record flowers because they’re ephemeral.

LP - What does that mean 'ephemeral'?

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G - Geographers write books that are concerned with matters of consequence. They never
become old-fashioned. It’s very rarely that a mountain changes its position, for example. We
write of eternal things.

LP - But what does that mean 'ephemeral'?

G - It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'

LP - (to himself) My flower is ephemeral…! And I’ve left her on my planet, all alone!

(to the Geographer) - What place would you advise me to visit now?

G - The planet Earth. It has a good reputation.

SCENE 12

THE EARTH

(The Little Prince finds himself in a garden full of roses)

LP (disappointed) - Good morning. You all look like my flower. My flower told me that she
was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here’re five thousand of you, all alike, in
one single garden!

So it turns out all I ever had was just a common rose. And that doesn't make me a very great
prince... (starts crying and leaves)

(The Little Prince keeps on walking and meets the Fox on his way)

SCENE 13

A MEETING WITH THE FOX

(The Fox is hiding under a tree)

F – I’m a fox.

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LP - Come and play with me.

F - I can’t play with you. I’m not tamed.

LP - What does that mean, 'tame'?

F - What are you looking for?

LP – I’m looking for friends. What does that mean, 'tame'?

F – It’s an act too often neglected. It means to establish ties.

LP - 'To establish ties'?

F - Just that. To you I’m nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if
you tame me, then we’ll need each other. To me you’ll be unique in all the world. To you I’ll
be unique in all the world...

LP – I’m beginning to understand. There’s a flower... I think that she’s tamed me.

F - Please, tame me!

LP - I want to, very much, but I haven’t much time. I have friends to discover, and a great
many things to understand.

F - One only understands the things that one tames. Men buy things all ready made in
shops. But there’s no shop where you can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any
more. If you want a friend, tame me.

LP - What must I do to tame you?

F - You must be very patient. First you’ll sit down at a little distance from me, like that, in the
grass. I’ll look at you and you’ll say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But
you’ll sit a little closer to me, every day.

LP - I think we’re friends already. But now it’s time for me to go.

F – Can’t you stay a little longer? If you go, I’ll cry!

LP – It’s your own fault. I never wished you any sort of harm. You wanted me to tame you!

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F - Yes, that is so. Before you go I want to tell you a secret: It’s only with the heart that one
can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

LP - What is essential is invisible to the eye…

F – It’s the time you’ve wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

LP – It’s the time I’ve wasted for my rose…

F - Men have forgotten this truth. But you mustn’t forget it! You become responsible, forever,
for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.

LP – I’m responsible for my rose. (The Prince repeats the Fox’s words and sets out on his
journey)

SCENE 14

(The Little Prince walks on and visits the garden of roses again. He stops and says):

LP – You’re not at all like my rose. No one has tamed you, and you’ve tamed no one. You’re
like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But
I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s unique in all the world. You’re beautiful, but you’re
empty.

As for my rose…she’s the one I’ve watered, she’s the one I’ve put under the glass globe. It’s
for her that I’ve killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become
butterflies). I’ve listened to her when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when
she said nothing. She’s My Rose!

(he looks sadly at the roses and walks away)

SCENE 15

A MEETING WITH THE SNAKE

(The Prince meets the Snake on the desert)

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S - Good evening. What’s brought you here?

LP – Where’re men? It’s a little lonely in the desert.

S – It’s also lonely among men.

LP – You’re a funny animal. You’re no thicker than a finger.

S - But I’m more powerful than the finger of a king! (hissing)

LP - (smiling, showing no fear) You’re not very powerful. You don’t have even any feet. You
can’t even travel.

S - I can carry you farther than any ship could take you. Whomever I touch, I send them back
to the place they came from. I can help you, some day, if you grow too homesick for your
own planet.

LP. Oh! I understand you very well! But why do you always speak in riddles?

S - I solve them all. (hissing)

(They both become silent, then The Prince approaches the Snake. The Snake stings The
Prince who dies).

THE END

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