Chapter 3

It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear

the ones ceux/celles
los, las/aquellos, aquellas

I asked him. It was from words

dropped by chance laissés tomber, prononcés par hasard
soltados, pronunciados al azar

that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.

The first time he saw my airplane,

for instance par exemple
por ejemplo

(I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me:

"What is that object?"

"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."

And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.

He cried out il s'écria
exclamó

, then:

"What!

You dropped down tu es tombé
has caído

from the sky?"

"Yes," I answered, modestly.

"Oh! That is funny!"

And the little prince

broke into a lovely peal of laughter eut un très joli éclat de rire
lanzó una graciosa carcajada

, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.

Then he added:

"So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?"

At that moment

I caught a gleam of light j'ai vu, saisi, entrevu une lueur
vi una luz, un rayo de luz

in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:

"Do you come from another planet?"

But he did not reply.

He tossed il bougeait, hochait
movía

his head gently, without taking his eyes from my plane:

"It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away . . ."

And

he sank into il s'enfonça dans
se hundió en

a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket,

he buried himself il se plongea
se sumergió

in the contemplation of his treasure.

You can imagine how my curiosity was

aroused provoqué, éveillée
estimulado, despertado

by this half-confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.

"My little man, where do you come from? What is this 'where I live,' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?"

After a reflective silence he answered:

"The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house."

"

That is so bien sûr, c'est exact
sin duda, por su puesto

. And if you are good I will give you a

string corde
cuerda

, too, so that you can

tie him l'attacher
atarlo

during the day, and a

post piquet
estaca, palo

to tie him to."

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:

"Tie him!

What a queer idea quelle drôle d'idée
Qué idea más rara

!"

"But if you don't tie him," I said, "

He will wander off s'éloignera, ira
se irá, se alejará

somewhere, and get lost."

My friend broke into another peal of laughter:

"But where do you think he would go?"

"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."

Then the little prince said,

earnestly avec enthousiasme
entusiasmado

:

"That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small!"

And, with perhaps a

hint signe, indice
indicio, una pizca, un poco

of sadness, he added:

"

Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far droit devant soi, on ne peut pas aller bien loin
frente a uno, no se puede ir muy lejos

..."

chapter 2           en anglais           chapter 4