little Prince

Chapter 16

The sixth planet of the little prince's journey is the largest, it is ten times bigger than the planet of the little prince.There lived an old gentleman on the planet, and he was writing a very thick book.

"Look! Here comes an explorer," exclaimed the old gentleman when he saw the little prince.

The little prince ran over panting and sat down at the table. How far he had traveled, the planet is really big!

"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman asked the little prince.

"What is this big book? What are you doing here?" The little prince asked curiously while looking at the old gentleman's book.

"I am a geographer," replied the old gentleman.

"What is a geographer?"

"A geographer is a scholar who studies geography. He knows where there are oceans, where there are rivers, cities, mountains, and deserts."

"That's very interesting," thought the little prince. "This is a real profession."

The little prince looked around and observed the geographer's planet.At this time, the little prince found that he had never seen such a magnificent planet.

"Your planet is so beautiful, is there an ocean on it?"

"I don't know that," said the geographer.

"Ah!" The little prince was very disappointed. "So, what about the mountains?"

"I don't know that either," said the geographer.

"So, are there cities, rivers, deserts?"

"I don't know that either," said the geographer.

"But you are a geographer, you should know!"

"That's right," said the geographer. "I'm a geographer, but I'm not an explorer. I don't even have an explorer. A geographer doesn't survey cities, rivers, mountains, seas, or deserts." .The geographer is important, he can't run around, let alone leave his office."

"But we can meet with explorers in our offices. Geographers question explorers and record their findings. If the explorer's findings are considered interesting, then the geographer has to be critical of the explorer's character. Do some research."

"Why is this?"

"Because an explorer who tells lies can have disastrous results for a geography book. So can an explorer who drinks too much."

"And why do you love drinking?" The little prince didn't quite understand.

"Because a drunk person sees one as two, so geographers write two mountains where there is only one mountain."

"I know a man who would be a bad explorer if he went on an expedition," said the little prince.

"It is possible. Therefore, if the explorer is of good character, investigate his discoveries."

"Would you like to go and have a look?"

"No. It's complicated. We just ask the explorer to produce evidence. For example, if he discovers a big mountain, ask him to bring some big rocks."

The geographer suddenly became flustered. "Exactly, you come from a far away place, you are an explorer, please give me a good introduction to your planet."

The geographer opened his thick notebook, sharpened his pencil, and looked at the little prince, waiting for him to describe his planet.

"What is it like in your place?" asked the geographer.

"Ah! I have nothing interesting there," said the little prince. "My planet is very small. I have three volcanoes, two active and one dead. But it is hard to say whether it will erupt in the future. "

"It's hard to say," said the geographer.

"I still have a flower."

"We don't record flowers," said the geographer.

"Why? Flowers are the most beautiful things in the world."

"Because a flower's life is short."

"What is ephemeral?" The little prince didn't understand.

"Books on geography are the most serious books of all," says the geographer, "and such books seldom become obsolete, for seldom does a mountain change its place, and seldom does an ocean dry up without water. .So we only write about things that last forever."

"However, the extinct volcano may erupt again." The little prince interrupted the geographer, "What is ephemeral?"

"Whether the volcano is dead or alive is the same thing to us." The geographer said while looking at the little prince. "For us, it is the mountain that is important, and the mountain It’s not going to move around and change position.”

"But what do you mean by ephemeral?" The little prince started to ask again. He was still the same. He would ask a question and keep asking it if he didn't get an answer.

"Ephemeral means that it disappears very quickly," the geographer said.

"Are my flowers going to disappear soon?"

"That's for sure, it's a flower."

"It turns out that my flower is short-lived, it will disappear, it is so weak, only four thorns can protect itself, but I left it at home..." The little prince said to himself.

This was the first time my friend the little prince regretted it, but soon he cheered up again. The little prince asked the geographer:

"Do you have any advice for me?"

"You can go to the earth to see it, it is very famous here." The geographer said.

So, the little prince left the geographer's planet and headed for the earth. During the journey, the little prince missed his flowers.

(End of this chapter)