Chapter Xv The sixth planet was ten times bigger.

It was inhabited by an old man who wrote enormous books. - Hey! Here an explorer! - He exclaimed when he saw the little prince. The little prince sat on the table and sigh a bit. He had travelled a lot! - Where are you from? - The old man asked him. - What's this thick book? - The little prince asked. - What are you doing here? - I'm geographer. - What's a geographer? - It's a wise man that knowns where the seas are, the rivers, the cities, the mo untains, and the deserts. - That's quite interesting. The little prince said. - At last a true ofice! And he looked around the planet of the geographer. He hadn't ever seen such a majestic planet. - It's very beautiful your planet. Does it have oceans? - I can't know it. - The geographer said. - Ah!. - The little prince was disappointed. - And mountains? - I can't know it. - The geographer said. - And cities and rivers and deserts? - I can't know it either. - The geographer said. - But you are geographer! - That's true. - The geographer said. - But I'm not explorer. I don't absolutely have any explorers. It's not the geographer who has to do the count of the citi es, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans and the deserts. The geograp her is too important to explore. He musn't leave his office. But he receives the explorers there. He interrogates them and writes down observations. And if some one's observations seem interesting to him, the geographer questions the explore r about his morality. - Why? - Because an explorer who lied would produce a catastrophe in the books of geogr aphy. Also an explorer who drank a lot. - Why? - Because the drunks see double. Then the geographer would point two mountains w here there isn't more than one. - I know somebody who would be a bad explorer. - The little prince said. - It's possible. In conclusion, when the morality of the explorer seems aceptabl e, a survey is made about his discovery. - Is it checked? - No. It's too complicated. But it's obligatory to present prooves for the explo rer. If it's about, for example, a discovery of a huge mountain, he is asked to bring huge stones. Suddenly the geographer got emocionated. - But you come far from here! You are explorer! You are going to describe your p lanet to me! And the geographer, that had opened his registry, sharpened the pencil. The statements of the explorers are written with pencil in the beginning. To wri te them with tint, one must wait until the explorer brings prooves. - You were saying? - The geographer interrogated. - Oh! My planet. - The little prince said. - It's not very interesting, it's ver y small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes in activity and an extinguished v olcano. But nobody knows. - Nobody knows. - The geographer said. - I also have a flower. - We don't write down the flowers. - The geographer said. - Why? It's the nicest! - Because flowers are ephemeral. - What does "ephemeral" mean? - The geographies - The geographer said. - are the most valued books of all book s. They never go old fashioned. It's very strange that a mountain changes its lo

cation. It's very strange that an ocean loses its water. We write everlasting th ings. - But the extinguished volcanoes can wake up. - The little prince interrupted. What does "ephemeral" mean? - If the volcanoes are extinguished or have woken up is the same for us. - The g eographer said. - What it's important for us is the mountain. The mountain doesn 't change. - But what does "ephemeral" mean? - The little prince repeated, who never in his life had resigned to a question once he had made it. - It means that "it is threatened with desapparition." - My flower is threatened with disapparition? - Surely. "My flower is ephemeral." The little prince told himself, and only has four thor ns to defended herself against the world! And I have left her totally alone in m y house! That was the first impulse of sadness. But he got strong: - What planet do you advise me to visit? - He asked. - The Earth. - The geographer answered to him. - It has good fame... And the little prince left, thinking about his flower.