As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little princes planet, his departure from it, his journey. The information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.
Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived-- as on all planets-- good plants and bad plants. In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earths darkness, until some one a九*九*藏*书*网mong them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin-- timidly at first-- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.
Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire pl九*九*藏*书*网anet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces...
Perhaps you will ask me, "Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs?"
[ Chapter 5 ] - we are warned as to the dangers of the baobabs
But he made a wise comment:
I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:
So, as the little prince described it to me, I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood, and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid, that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children," I say plainly, "watch out for the baobabs!"
一群大象这种想法使小王子发笑：
"Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?"
I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not l99lib.netittle bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.
"Yes, that is true."
他很有见识地说：
“啊，我真高兴。”
This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly-- as if seized by a grave doubt-- "It is true, isnt it, that sheep eat little bushes?"
And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing, so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes," he added, "there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs, that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes..."
“羊吃小灌木，这是真的吗？”
"It is a question of discipline," the little prince said to me later on. "When youve finished your９9ｌib•neｔ own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet, just so, with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work," the little prince added, "but very easy."
我不明白羊吃小灌木这件事为什么如此重要。可小王子又说道：
"Ah! I am glad!"
The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
"That is strictly correct," I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?"
"Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little."
这一次又是因为羊的事情，突然小王子好象是非常担心地问我道：
My friends, like myself, have been skirting this danger for a long time, without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.
"We would have to put them one on top of the other," he said.
He answered me at once, "Oh, come, come!", as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.
