The Little Prince (45)

The Little Prince (45)

  " Exactly. One must require from each one duty which each one can performs " the King went on.

  " Accepted authority rests first of all on reasons If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable. " 

  " Then my sunset ?" the little prince reminded him : for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.

  " You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But, according to my science of government, I shall wait until conditions are favorable. " 

  " When will it that be  ?" 

  " Hum ! Hum ! " replied the King ; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac.

  "Hum! Hum ! That will be about ー about ー that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. and you will see how well I am obeyed ! "

  The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset.

  And then, too, he was already beginning to be a little bored.

(45)