El principito estaba pálido de cólera.

The little prince was now white with rage.

— Hace millones de años que las flores tiene espinas y hace también millones de años que los corderos, a pesar de las espinas, se comen las flores. ¿Es que no es cosa seria averiguar por qué las flores pierden el tiempo fabricando unas espinas que no les sirven para nada? ¿Es que no es importante la guerra de los corderos y las flores? ¿No es esto más serio e importante que las sumas de un señor gordo y colorado?

“The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years. For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same. And is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them? Is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important? Is this not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman’s sums?

Y si yo sé de una flor única en el mundo y que no existe en ninguna parte más que en mi planeta; si yo sé que un buen día un corderillo puede aniquilarla sin darse cuenta de ello, ¿es que esto no es importante?

And if I know — I, myself — one flower which is unique in the world, which grows nowhere but on my planet, but which one little sheep can destroy in a single bite some morning, without even noticing what he is doing — Oh! You think that is not important!”

El principito enrojeció y después continuó:

His face turned from white to red as he continued:

— Si alguien ama a una flor de la que sólo existe un ejemplar en millones y millones de estrellas, basta que las mire para ser dichoso. Puede decir satisfecho: “Mi flor está allí, en alguna parte…” ¡Pero si el cordero se la come, para él es como si de pronto todas las estrellas se apagaran! ¡Y esto no es importante!

“If some one loves a flower, of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself, ‘Somewhere, my flower is there…’ But if the sheep eats the flower, in one moment all his stars will be darkened… And you think that is not important!”

No pudo decir más y estalló bruscamente en sollozos. La noche había caído. Yo había soltado las herramientas y ya no importaban nada el martillo, el perno, la sed y la muerte. ¡Había en una estrella, en un planeta, el mío, la Tierra, un principito a quien consolar! Lo tomé en mis brazos y lo mecí diciéndole:

He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing. The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what moment now was my hammer, my bolt, or thirst, or death? On one star, one planet, my planet, the Earth, there was a little prince to be comforted. I took him in my arms, and rocked him. I said to him:

“La flor que tú quieres no corre peligro… te dibujaré un bozal para tu cordero y una armadura para la flor…te…”.

“The flower that you love is not in danger. I will draw you a muzzle for your sheep. I will draw you a railing to put around your flower. I will — ”

No sabía qué decirle, cómo consolarle y hacer que tuviera nuevamente confianza en mí; me sentía torpe. ¡Es tan misterioso el país de las lágrimas!

I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him, where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more. It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

VIII

VIII

Aprendí bien pronto a conocer mejor esta flor. Siempre había habido en el planeta del principito flores muy simples adornadas con una sola fila de pétalos que apenas ocupaban sitio y a nadie molestaban. Aparecían entre la hierba una mañana y por la tarde se extinguían.

I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince’s planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody. One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away.

Pero aquella había germinado un día de una semilla llegada de quién sabe dónde, y el principito había vigilado cuidadosamente desde el primer día aquella ramita tan diferente de las que él conocía. Podía ser una nueva especie de Baobab.

But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.

Pero el arbusto cesó pronto de crecer y comenzó a echar su flor. El principito observó el crecimiento de un enorme capullo y tenía le convencimiento de que habría de salir de allí una aparición milagrosa; pero la flor no acababa de preparar su belleza al abrigo de su envoltura verde.

The shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower. The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber.

Elegía con cuidado sus colores, se vestía lentamente y se ajustaba uno a uno sus pétalos. No quería salir ya ajada como las amapolas; quería aparecer en todo el esplendor de su belleza. ¡Ah, era muy coqueta aquella flor!

She chose her colors with the greatest care. She dressed herself slowly. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature!

Su misteriosa preparación duraba días y días. Hasta que una mañana, precisamente al salir el sol se mostró espléndida.

And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days. Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.

La flor, que había trabajado con tanta precisión, dijo bostezando:

And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:

— ¡Ah, perdóname… apenas acabo de despertarme… estoy toda despeinada…!

“Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged…”

El principito no pudo contener su admiración:

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

— ¡Qué hermosa eres!

“Oh! How beautiful you are!”

— ¿Verdad? —respondió dulcemente la flor—. He nacido al mismo tiempo que el sol.

“Am I not?” the flower responded, sweetly. “And I was born at the same moment as the sun…”

El principito adivinó exactamente que ella no era muy modesta ciertamente, pero ¡era tan conmovedora!

The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest — but how moving — and exciting — she was!

— Me parece que ya es hora de desayunar — añadió la flor —; si tuvieras la bondad de pensar un poco en mí…

“I think it is time for breakfast,” she added an instant later. “If you would have the kindness to think of my needs…”

Y el principito, muy confuso, habiendo ido a buscar una regadera la roció abundantemente con agua fresca.

And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water.

Y así, ella lo había atormentado con su vanidad un poco sombría. Un día, por ejemplo, hablando de sus cuatro espinas, dijo al principito:

So, he tended the flower. So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity — which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with. One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:

— ¡Ya pueden venir los tigres, con sus garras!

“Let the tigers come with their claws!”

— No hay tigres en mi planeta —observó el principito— y, además, los tigres no comen hierba.

“There are no tigers on my planet,” the little prince objected. “And, anyway, tigers do not eat weeds.”

— Yo nos soy una hierba —respondió dulcemente la flor.

“I am not a weed,” the flower replied, sweetly.

— Perdóname…

“Please excuse me…”

— No temo a los tigres, pero tengo miedo a las corrientes de aire. ¿No tendrás un biombo?

“I am not at all afraid of tigers,” she went on, “but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn’t have a screen for me?”

“Miedo a las corrientes de aire no es una suerte para una planta —pensó el principito—. Esta flor es demasiado complicada…”

“A horror of drafts — that is bad luck, for a plant,” remarked the little prince, and added to himself, “This flower is a very complex creature…”

— Por la noche me cubrirás con un fanal… hace mucho frío en tu tierra. No se está muy a gusto; allá de donde yo vengo…

“At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from — ”

La flor se interrumpió; había llegado allí en forma de semilla y no era posible que conociera otros mundos. Humillada por haberse dejado sorprender inventando una mentira tan ingenua, tosió dos o tres veces para atraerse la simpatía del principito.

But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. Embarrassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naïve untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

— ¿Y el biombo?

“The screen?”

— Iba a buscarlo, pero como no dejabas de hablarme…

“I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me…”

Insistió en su tos para darle al menos remordimientos.

Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.

De esta manera el principito, a pesar de la buena voluntad de su amor, había llegado a dudar de ella. Había tomado en serio palabras sin importancia y se sentía desgraciado.

So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her. He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.

“Yo no debía hacerle caso —me confesó un día el principito— nunca hay que hacer caso a las flores, basta con mirarlas y olerlas. Mi flor embalsamaba el planeta, pero yo no sabía gozar con eso… Aquella historia de garra y tigres que tanto me molestó, hubiera debido enternecerme”.

“I ought not to have listened to her,” he confided to me one day. “One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity.”

Y me contó todavía:

And he continued his confidences:

“¡No supe comprender nada entonces! Debí juzgarla por sus actos y no por sus palabras. ¡La flor perfumaba e iluminaba mi vida y jamás debí huir de allí! ¡No supe adivinar la ternura que ocultaban sus pobres astucias! ¡Son tan contradictorias las flores! Pero yo era demasiado joven para saber amarla”.

“The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her… I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her …”

IX

IX

Creo que el principito aprovechó la migración de una bandada de pájaros silvestres para su evasión. La mañana de la partida, puso en orden el planeta. Deshollinó cuidadosamente sus volcanes en actividad, de los cuales poseía dos, que le eran muy útiles para calentar el desayuno todas las mañanas.

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes. He possessed two active volcanoes; and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning.

Tenía, además, un volcán extinguido. Deshollinó también el volcán extinguido, pues, como él decía, nunca se sabe lo que puede ocurrir. Si los volcanes están bien deshollinados, arden sus erupciones, lenta y regularmente. Las erupciones volcánicas son como el fuego de nuestras chimeneas.

He also had one volcano that was extinct. But, as he said, “One never knows!” So he cleaned out the extinct volcano, too. If they are well cleaned out, volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.

Es evidente que en nuestra Tierra no hay posibilidad de deshollinar los volcanes; los hombres somos demasiado pequeños. Por eso nos dan tantos disgustos.

On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes. That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.

El principito arrancó también con un poco de melancolía los últimos brotes de baobabs. Creía que no iba a volver nunca. Pero todos aquellos trabajos le parecieron aquella mañana extremadamente dulces.

The little prince also pulled up, with a certain sense of dejection, the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him.

Y cuando regó por última vez la flor y se dispuso a ponerla al abrigo del fanal, sintió ganas de llorar.

And when he watered the flower for the last time, and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe, he realized that he was very close to tears.

— Adiós —le dijo a la flor.

 “Goodbye,” he said to the flower.

Esta no respondió.

But she made no answer.

— Adiós —repitió el principito.

“Goodbye,” he said again.

La flor tosió, pero no porque estuviera resfriada.

The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.

— He sido una tonta —le dijo al fin la flor—. Perdóname. Procura ser feliz.

“I have been silly,” she said to him, at last. “I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy…”

Se sorprendió por la ausencia de reproches y quedó desconcertado, con el fanal en el aire, no comprendiendo esta tranquila mansedumbre.

He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered, the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.

— Sí, yo te quiero —le dijo la flor—, ha sido culpa mía que tú no lo sepas; pero eso no tiene importancia. Y tú has sido tan tonto como yo. Trata de ser feliz… Y suelta de una vez ese fanal; ya no lo quiero.

“Of course I love you,” the flower said to him. “It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. But you — you have been just as foolish as I. Try to be happy… Let the glass globe be. I don’t want it any more.”

— Pero el viento…

“But the wind — ”

— No estoy tan resfriada como para… El aire fresco de la noche me hará bien. Soy una flor.

“My cold is not so bad as all that… The cool night air will do me good. I am a flower.”

— Y los animales…

“But the animals — ”

— Será necesario que soporte dos o tres orugas, si quiero conocer las mariposas; creo que son muy hermosas. Si no ¿quién vendrá a visitarme? Tú estarás muy lejos. En cuanto a las fieras, no las temo: yo tengo mis garras.

“Well, I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies — and the caterpillars — who will call upon me? You will be far away… As for the large animals — I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.”

Y le mostraba ingenuamente sus cuatro espinas. Luego añadió:

And, naïvely, she showed her four thorns. Then she added:

— Y no prolongues más tu despedida. Puesto que has decidido partir, vete de una vez.

“Don’t linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!”

La flor no quería que la viese llorar: era tan orgullosa…

For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower.

X

X

Se encontraba en la región de los asteroides 325, 326, 327, 328, 329 y 330. Para ocuparse en algo e instruirse al mismo tiempo decidió visitarlos.

He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. He began, therefore, by visiting them, in order to add to his knowledge.

El primero estaba habitado por un rey. El rey, vestido de púrpura y armiño, estaba sentado sobre un trono muy sencillo y, sin embargo, majestuoso.

The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

— ¡Ah, —exclamó el rey al divisar al principito—, aquí tenemos un súbdito!

“Ah! Here is a subject,” exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming.

El principito se preguntó:
“¿Cómo es posible que me reconozca si nunca me ha visto?”

And the little prince asked himself:
“How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?”

Ignoraba que para los reyes el mundo está muy simplificado. Todos los hombres son súbditos.

He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects.

— Aproxímate para que te vea mejor —le dijo el rey, que estaba orgulloso de ser por fin el rey de alguien.

“Approach, so that I may see you better,” said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.

El principito buscó donde sentarse, pero el planeta estaba ocupado totalmente por el magnífico manto de armiño. Se quedó, pues, de pie, pero como estaba cansado, bostezó.

The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king’s magnificent ermine robe. So he remained standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned.

— La etiqueta no permite bostezar en presencia del rey —le dijo el monarca—. Te lo prohibo.

“It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king,” the monarch said to him. “I forbid you to do so.”

— No he podido evitarlo —respondió el principito muy confuso—, he hecho un viaje muy largo y apenas he dormido…

“I can’t help it. I can’t stop myself,” replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. “I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep…”

— Entonces —le dijo el rey— te ordeno que bosteces. Hace años que no veo bostezar a nadie. Los bostezos son para mí algo curioso. ¡Vamos, bosteza otra vez, te lo ordeno!

“Ah, then,” the king said. “I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order.”

— Me da vergüenza… ya no tengo ganas… —dijo el principito enrojeciendo.

“That frightens me… I cannot, any more…” murmured the little prince, now completely abashed.

— ¡Hum, hum! —respondió el rey—. ¡Bueno! Te ordeno tan pronto que bosteces y que no bosteces…

“Hum! Hum!” replied the king. “Then I — I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to — ”

Tartamudeaba un poco y parecía vejado.

He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed.

Pues el rey daba gran importancia a que su autoridad fuese respetada. Era un monarca absoluto, pero como era muy bueno, daba siempre órdenes razonables.

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.

“Si yo ordenara —decía frecuentemente—, si yo ordenara a un general que se transformara en ave marina y el general no me obedeciese, la culpa no sería del general, sino mía”.

“If I ordered a general,” he would say, by way of example, “if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.”

— ¿Puedo sentarme? —preguntó tímidamente el principito.

“May I sit down?” came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.

— Te ordeno sentarte —le respondió el rey—, recogiendo majestuosamente un faldón de su manto de armiño.

“I order you to do so,” the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.

El principito estaba sorprendido. Aquel planeta era tan pequeño que no se explicaba sobre quién podría reinar aquel rey.

But the little prince was wondering… The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?

— Señor —le dijo—, perdóneme si le pregunto…

“Sire,” he said to him, “I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question — ”

— Te ordeno que me preguntes —se apresuró a decir el rey.

“I order you to ask me a question,” the king hastened to assure him.

— Señor… ¿sobre qué ejerce su poder?

“Sire — over what do you rule?”

— Sobre todo —contestó el rey con gran ingenuidad.

“Over everything,” said the king, with magnificent simplicity.

— ¿Sobre todo?

“Over everything?”

El rey, con un gesto sencillo, señaló su planeta, los otros planetas y las estrellas.

The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars.

— ¿Sobre todo eso? —volvió a preguntar el principito.

“Over all that?” asked the little prince.

— Sobre todo eso… —respondió el rey.

“Over all that,” the king answered.

No era sólo un monarca absoluto, era, además, un monarca universal.

For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.

— ¿Y las estrellas le obedecen?

“And the stars obey you?”

— ¡Naturalmente! —le dijo el rey—. Y obedecen en seguida, pues yo no tolero la indisciplina.

“Certainly they do,” the king said. “They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination.”

Un poder semejante dejó maravillado al principito. Si él disfrutara de un poder de tal naturaleza, hubiese podido asistir en el mismo día, no a cuarenta y tres, sino a setenta y dos, a cien, o incluso a doscientas puestas de sol, sin tener necesidad de arrastrar su silla.

Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, without ever having to move his chair.

Y como se sentía un poco triste al recordar su pequeño planeta abandonado, se atrevió a solicitar una gracia al rey:

And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor:

— Me gustaría ver una puesta de sol… Deme ese gusto… Ordénele al sol que se ponga…

“I should like to see a sunset… Do me that kindness… Order the sun to set…”