Oh, Little Prince. Step by step, I begin to understand the secrets of your sad little life… For a long time, you have only entertained yourself by watching the sunset.

I learned this detail on the morning of the fourth day. You told me.

“I love sunsets a lot. Let’s go and watch the sunset now.

“But we have to wait”, I said.

“Wait for what?”

“For the sunset. We need to wait for the right time.”

At first, you seemed to be surprised. Then you started laughing at yourself. You said to me.

“I keep thinking I am at home!”

That’s right. Everyone knows when it’s midday in the United States of America it’s time for the sunset in France. If you could reach France in a minute you would catch the sunset right from the midday. Unfortunately, France is too far. My Little Prince, all you need to do on your tiny planet is to move a chair further. You can see the end of the day and the twilight whenever you wish…

“Once I watched the sunset forty-four times”, you said to me.

And then you added.

“You know, people like sunsets when they are sad…”

“Were you very sad when you watched the sunset forty-four times?”

But the Little Prince didn’t reply.

On the fifth day, again thanks to the lamb I discovered a secret from the Little Prince’s life.

Unexpectedly, without any introduction and as if the question appeared as a result of a long and silent meditation, he asked.

“If a lamb eats small bushes he eats flowers as well, doesn’t he?”

“Lambs eat everything they can reach”, I replied.

“Even flowers with thorns?”

“Yes, even flowers with thorns.”

“What’s the point of thorns then?”

I didn’t know.

I was very busy unbolting my engine at that moment. I was very nervous as it had become obvious that the damage to my plane was serious. And I had so little water I expected the worst.

“What’s the point of thorns then?”

I didn’t know.

The Little Prince had never left the question he asked. As for me, I was very upset because of the bolt. I replied the first thing I could think of.

“There is no point in thorns. Flowers show them just out of spite.”

“Ah”, there was a silence for some time.

Then the Little Prince, shocked and offended, attacked me.

“I don’t believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naïve. They take care of themselves as much as they can. They assume their thorns are a dangerous weapon…”

I didn’t answer. I was thinking about myself at that moment.

“If I don’t unscrew this bolt I am going to beat it with a hammer.”

The Little Prince interrupted my thoughts again.

“Do you really believe that flowers…?”

“No, no and no! I don’t believe in anything. I told you the first thing I could think of. Can’t you see I am busy with important stuff?”

He was staring at me as if he had been struck by lightning.

“Important stuff…”

He looked at me. I was standing with a hammer in my black, from the engine oil, hands and bending over the object that he found ugly.

“You are talking like adults!”

It made me ashamed. Without mercy, he went on.

“You are mixing everything together…”

He got really angry. He tossed his golden locks and the wind caught them.

“I know the planet where a red-faced gentleman used to live. He had never smelled flowers. He had never looked at a star. He had never loved anyone. He had never done anything in his life except adding numbers. And every day he used to repeat just like you, “I am busy with very important stuff!” He was very proud of himself. But in reality, he is a mushroom, not a man. He is a mushroom!”

“What?”

“A mushroom!”