「3加2是5，5加7是12、12加3是15，早安，15加7是22、22加6是28，我沒時間再點燃它，26加5是31，唉！然後總共是五億零一百六十二萬二千七百三十一。」
「五億多少？」小王子問。
「咦？你還在？五億一百萬的...我不能停下來...我的事情太多了！我有很多重要的事，我不能跟你閒聊，2加5是7...」
「什麼五億一百萬？」小王子問他，他從不放過他問的問題。
企業家抬起了頭說：「從我住在這個行星五十四年以來，我只被打擾過三次。第一次是在二十二年以前，被不知從哪兒來的呆頭鵝給擾亂，他發著可怕噪音，接著我算錯了四個地方；第二次是十一年前，我因為沒時間散步及缺少運動而關節炎發作；而現在是第三次。我剛才說五億一百萬...」
「什麼東西百萬？」小王子問。
這位企業家突然明白，除非他回答這個問題，不然是不可能獲得安靜的。於是他說：「百萬的那些小東西，有時會在天上出現的小東西。」
「蒼蠅？」小王子說。
「不是，閃閃發亮的小東西！」企業家說。
「蜜蜂？」小王子說。
「不是，那些常讓懶人發夢的金色小東西。但對我來說，我的人生可沒時間去胡思亂想。」企業家說。
「啊！你是說星星？」小王子說。
「對了，就是他，就是星星。」企業家說。
「那你算這個五億一百萬的星星幹什麼？」小王子說。
「是五億零一百六十二萬二千七百三十一。我是嚴謹、精確。」企業家說。「你問我，我算他們做什麼。」
「是的，你算他們做什麼？」小王子問。
「沒什麼，我擁有他們。」企業家說。
「你擁有這些星星？」小王子問。
「是的。」企業家說。
「但是我才見過一位國王，他...」小王子說。
「國王並不擁有，他們是統治，這是不大相同的。」企業家說。
「你擁有那些星星有什麼用？」小王子問。
「那會讓我變得富有。」企業家說。
「變得富有對你有什麼用？」小王子問。
「我可以買別的星星阿，假如有其他星星被發現的話。」
小王子自言自語說：「這個傢伙的理由跟那個酒鬼有點像。」然而小王子還有其他問題，他又繼續問：「怎麼可能有人能夠擁有那些星星呢？」
「要不然他們是屬於誰呢？」企業家急躁的反問。
「我不知道，不屬於誰吧。」小王子說。
「那麼他們是屬於我的，因為是我最先想到的。」企業家說。
「這樣就算數嗎？」小王子問。
「當然啦，假如你找到一顆不屬於任何人的鑽石，那鑽石就是你的。假如你發現一個不屬於任何人的島，那島就是你的。當你在任何人沒想到之前先有了想法，你就擁有專利，他就是你的。所以我擁有這些星星，因為在我以前沒有任何人曾經想過要擁有他們。」企業家說。
「這倒是真的。」小王子說：「但你擁有他們做什麼？」
「我管理他們，計算他們」企業家回答說：「這是困難的，但我是嚴謹的人！」
小王子仍然不滿意，他說：「假如我有一條絲綢圍巾，我可以把它圍在脖子上帶著走。假如我擁有一朵花，我可以把它摘下來帶走，可是你又不能把星星從天上摘下！」
「是的，但是我可以把它們放在銀行裡。」企業家說。
「這是什麼意思？」小王子問。
「意思就是說，我可以把我擁有的星星數寫在一張小紙條上，然後把這張紙條鎖在抽屜裡。」企業家說。
「就這樣？」小王子問。
「這樣就夠了！」企業家說。
「這個倒是很有趣。這樣還挺有詩意的，不過沒啥太大意義。」小王子心想。
這件事讓小王子對那些大人有很不一樣的想法。
小王子繼續對企業家說：「我擁有一朵花，每天給她澆水，我擁有三座火山，每個禮拜我都仔細清理他們(當然也清理那座死火山，誰知道它會不會再噴火？)我所做的事對我的火山跟我的花都有益，但你對那些星星有什麼用...」。
企業家張著嘴，但卻不知如何回答，於是小王子走了。
「那些大人們的確都很奇怪。」他一路上不斷地自言自語說。
The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince's arrival.
"Good morning," the little prince said to him. "Your cigarette has gone out."
"Three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three make fifteen. Good morning. FIfteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I haven't time to light it again. Twenty-six and five make thirty-one. Phew! Then that makes five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two-thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one."
"Five hundred million what?" asked the little prince.
"Eh? Are you still there? Five-hundred-and-one million--I can't stop . . . I have so much to do! I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don't amuse myself with balderdash. Two and five make seven . . ."
"Five-hundred-and-one million what?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question once he had asked it.
The businessman raised his head.
"During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited this planet, I have been disturbed only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where. He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place, and I made four mistakes in my addition. The second time, eleven years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism. I don't get enough exercise. I have no time for loafing. The third time--well, this is it! I was saying, then, five-hundred-and-one millions--"
"Millions of what?"
The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question.
"Millions of those little objects," he said, "which one sometimes sees in the sky."
"Flies?"
"Oh, no. Little glittering objects."
"Bees?"
"Oh, no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming. As for me, I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life."
"Ah! You mean the stars?"
"Yes, that's it. The stars."
"And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?"
"Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate."
"And what do you do with these stars?"
"What do I do with them?"
"Yes."
"Nothing. I own them."
"You own the stars?"
"Yes."
"But I have already seen a king who--"
"Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter."
"And what good does it do you to own the stars?"
"It does me the good of making me rich."
"And what good does it do you to be rich?"
"It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are discovered."
"This man," the little prince said to himself, "reasons a little like my poor tippler . . ."
Nevertheless, he still had some more questions.
"How is it possible for one to own the stars?"
"To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly.
"I don't know. To nobody."
"Then they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it."
"Is that all that is necessary?"
"Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them."
"Yes, that is true," said the little prince. "And what do you do with them?"
"I administer them," replied the businessman. "I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence."
The little prince was still not satisfied.
"If I owned a silk scarf," he said, "I could put it around my neck and take it away with me. If I owned a flower, I could pluck that flower and take it away with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven . . ."
"No. But I can put them in the bank."
"Whatever does that mean?"
"That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key."
"And that is all?"
"That is enough," said the businessman.
"It is entertaining," thought the little prince. "It is rather poetic. But it is of no great consequence."
On matters of consequence, the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown-ups.
"I myself own a flower," he continued his conversation with the businessman, "which I water every day. I own three volcanoes, which I clean out every week (for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows). It is of some use to my volcanoes, and it is of some use to my flower, that I own them. But you are of no use to the stars . . ."
The businessman opened his mouth, but he found nothing to say in answer. And the little prince went away.
"The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary," he said simply, talking to himself as he continued on his journey.
註：《小王子》是法國童話，法文原書名為Le Petit Prince，作者是聖艾修伯里，1943年在紐約出版，被譯成超過 180種語言，銷售量超過8千萬冊，還有拍成電影和動畫片、改編成話劇和音樂劇演出。
圖片出處：http://www.odaha.com
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