[ Chapter 24 ]
- the narrator and the littleprince, thirsty, hunt for a well in thedesert
It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and Ihad listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of mywater supply.
"Ah," I said to the little prince, "these memories of yoursare very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I havenothing more to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at myleisure toward a spring of fresh water!"
"My friend the fox--" the little prince said to me.
"My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything todo with the fox!"
"Why not?"
"Because I am about to die of thirst..."
He did not follow my reasoning, and he answered me:
"It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about todie. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend..."
"He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself."He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all heneeds..."
But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought:
"I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well..."
I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random,in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.
When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darknessfell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish,and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last wordscame reeling back into my memory:
"Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded.
But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:
"Water may also be good for the heart..."
I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very wellthat it was impossible to cross-examine him.
He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a littlesilence, he spoke again:
"The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot beseen."
I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more,I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in themoonlight.
"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.
And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on adesert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silencesomething throbs, and gleams...
"Whatmakes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is thatsomewhere it hides a well..."
