Picture Dictionary & Books : Free for English Learner!

"That is possible. Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery."

"One goes to see it?"

"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs.

For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."

The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.

"But you--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 explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished 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 all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes 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 flowers," said the geographer.

"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--'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 very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things."

"But extinct volcanoes may come to life again," the little prince interrupted.

"What does that mean--'ephemeral'?"

"Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us," said the geographer.

"The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."

"But what does that mean--'ephemeral'?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it.