The Little Prince (66)

The Little Prince (66)

  The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.

  " But you ー you come from far away ! You are an explorer ! You shall describe your planet to me ! "

  And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorer are put down first in pencil. 
One waits until the explorer has finished proofs, before putting them down in ink.

  " Well ? " said the geographer expectantly.

  " Oh, where I live, " said the little prince, " it is not very interesting. It is so small. I have three valcanoes. Two valcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows. "

  " One never knows, " said the geographer.

  " I have also a flower. "

  " We do not record flower. "

  " Why is that ? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet ! "

  " We do not record them, " said the geographer, " because they are ephemeral. "

  " What does that mean ー ephemeral ? "

  " Geographies, " said the geographer, " are the books  which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things. "

(66)