CHAPTER 13 – PEOPLE
Chapter 13
The second planet was inhabited by another strange man. He liked when people admired him.
“Ah! A visit from somebody who admires me!” said the man when he saw the little prince.
In his world, all the other people admired him.
“Good morning,” said the little prince. “You have a funny hat.”
“It’s a hat to greet people who come to visit me and admire me.”
“Really?” said the little prince, who didn’t understand what the man was talking about.
“Clap your hands,” ordered the man.
The little prince clapped his hands and the man moved his hat with a gentle touch to greet the little prince.
“This is more fun than the visit to the king,” the little prince said to himself. And he continued clapping. The man continued touching his hat.
After five minutes of this exercise the little prince started to be tired of this game.
“What would make the hat go down?” he asked.
But the man didn’t hear him. He heard only when somebody admired him.
“Do you really admire me very much?” he asked the little prince.
“What does it mean – admire?”
“To admire means to acknowledge that I am the most handsome, the best dressed, the richest and the most intelligent man on the planet.”
“But you are the only man on your planet!”
“Do me this favour. Admire me even if I’m the only man on this planet.”
“I admire you,” said the little prince, moving his shoulders up and down a little, “but I don’t understand why my admiration is so interesting to you.”
The little prince had nothing to do on this planet anymore and he went away.
“Adults are certainly very strange,” he told himself, as he continued on his journey.
The next planet was inhabited by a man who drank a lot.
This was a very short visit, but it put the little prince into a deep depression.
“What are you doing?” he asked the drunk man, who was sitting in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles.
“I’m drinking,” replied the drunk man, with an unhappy expression on his face.
“Why are you drinking?” the little prince asked.
“To forget,” replied the drunk man.
“To forget what?” asked the little prince, who was already feeling sorry for him.
“To forget that I am ashamed,” said the drunk man, putting his head down.
“Ashamed of what?” asked the little prince who wanted to help him.
“Ashamed of drinking!” said the drunk man who then stopped talking and it looked like he didn’t want to say another word.
And the little prince left, confused.
“The adults are certainly very, very strange,” he told himself as he continued on his journey.
