「喔，瞧！是個探險家！」當他看見小王子時便大叫起來。
小王子旅行了很久，他氣喘噓噓地坐在桌子上。
「你從哪裡來的？」老先生問。
「這本很厚的書是什麼？你在這裡做什麼？」小王子問。
「我是地理學家。」老先生回答說。
「什麼是地理學家？」小王子問。
「地理學家就是懂得所有海洋、河流、城市、山脈跟沙漠位置的學者。」
「這個倒很有趣，這個人總算有一項真正的職業！」於是小王子對這個地理學家的星球環視了一番，這樣宏偉壯麗的行星真是他前所未見的。
「你的星球很美麗，這裡有海洋嗎？」小王子問。
「我怎麼曉得。」地理學家說。
「啊！」小王子很失望：「那有山脈嗎？」
「我怎麼知道。」地理學家說。
「那城市？河流？還是沙漠呢？」小王子問。
「我都不知道。」地理學家回答。
「可是你是地理學家呀！」小王子說。
地理學家說：「沒錯，但我並不是探險家呀，我的星球沒有探險家。計算城市、河流、山脈、海灣、海洋和沙漠不是地理學家的工作。地理學家太重要了，沒辦法四處跑，也離不開辦公桌，不過我可以在工作室接見探險家，向他們詢問，然後把他們旅行的回憶摘記下來，如果其中某人的回憶讓我覺得有趣，我就會深入去調查那個探險家的品德。」
「為什麼要這樣？」小王子問。
「因為一個探險家的謊言，將是地理學書的災難，喝醉酒的探險家也是一樣。」
「為什麼？」小王子問。
「因為喝醉的人會把一件東西看作兩件，這樣一來，地理學家記載了兩座山在同一個地方，可是其實卻只有一座。」地理學家說。
小王子說：「我認識的一個人可能會是糟糕的探險家。」
「這是可能的。要先證明這個探險家的品德沒有問題時，我們才會開始調查他的發現。」地理學家說。
「有人會去看嗎？」小王子問。
「不，這樣太複雜了，我們會要求探險家提出證據，比方說，假如他發現的是一座大山，我們要求他從那裡帶來一些大塊的石頭。」
地理學家突然興奮起來說：「你，你從很遠的地方來的是吧？你是探險家，請你為我描述一下你的星球。」
於是地理學家翻開了他厚厚的筆記本，接著開始把鉛筆削尖，他會先用鉛筆把探險家的描述記下來，等到探險家提出證據之後，再用墨水筆將它記錄下來。
「好了？」地理學家期待的說。
「嗯...我住的地方不太有趣。它很小很小，有三座火山，兩座活的，一座死的。可是誰曉得它會不會再噴火？」小王子說。
「誰曉得？」地理學家問。
「我也有一朵花。」小王子說。
「我們不記載花。」地理學家說。
「為什麼？這朵花是我的星球上最美的！」小王子說。
「我們不記載花，因為花是無常的事物。」地理學家說。
「什麼叫做『無常的事物』？」小王子問。
地理學家說：「地理學書是所有書籍當中最嚴謹的。它們從不會過時，因為山脈很少移動，海洋也很少乾涸，所以我們記載的是永恆的事物。」
「可是死火山還是可能復活。」小王子打岔道：「那也叫做『無常的事物』？」
地理學家說：「不管火山是死的還是活的，對我們來說都是一樣的。我們關心的是山脈本身，它是不會變的。」
「可是什麼叫『無常的事物』？」小王子又問，一旦他發問，就要問到底。
「意思是『它有可能會突然消失』。」地理學家說。
「我的花有可能突然消失嗎？」小王子說。
「的確如此！」地理學家說。
小王子自言自語道：「我的花是無常的事物。她只有四根芒刺能夠自衛及抵抗這個世界，而我卻把她獨自地留在我的星球上。」
小王子頭一次感到懊悔，不過他又重新鼓起了勇氣問：「你會建議我造訪什麼地方嗎？」
地理學家說：「地球，它的評價不錯...」
於是小王子走了，心裡惦記著他的花。
The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
"Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.
The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!
"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him.
"What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
"I am a geographer," said the old gentleman.
"What is a geographer?" asked the little prince.
"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts."
"That is very interesting," said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.
"Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?"
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"And towns, and rivers, and deserts?"
"I couldn't tell you that, either."
"But you are a geographer!"
"Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."
"Why is that?"
"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much."
"Why is that?" asked the little prince.
"Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one."
"I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer."
"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.
"It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'"
"Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?"
"Certainly it is."
"My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!"
That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.
"What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked.
"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."
And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
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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