falsely accused. When the news reached the ears of the little prince, his conscience drove him to intervene. Carrying the wooden horse under his arm, he dashed to the execution ground where the noose1 had already been tied around the man's neck.
"Don't hang him! He is innocent!" shouted the prince. "It is I who went to the palace in the sky. The paint-stained clothes are mine. If you want to hang someone, hang me and let him go!"
The king, who was watching from a distance, saw the execution come to a halt and sent someone to ask what had happened. The hangman told him, "A young man has just come forward and confessed the crime. Which of them should be hanged?"
"Hang the one who has pleaded guilty," ordered the king. So the old man was released and went home, thanking his lucky stars for this narrow escape. The little prince, meanwhile, just as the hangman came over to bind2 him for the hanging, mounted his wooden horse, loosened the screws and rose into the air before everyone's eyes. Seeing that all his men could not even deal with this one youth, the king fainted with rage.
The little prince arrived at the palace in the sky and said to the princess, "Our love is so deep that we can never part. Now that we have been detected by your father, I am sure he won't allow me to stay here any longer. There is only one way out. Come home with me. I know my father will like you."
The princess agreed and said, "Wherever you go, I will go too." The two hurried out of the palace in the sky and flew away on the wooden horse. They had been flying for a long time when the princess suddenly cried out, "I forgot to bring the two precious stones my mother gave me when I was a little girl. Let me go back and get them. I should like to give them to your parents at our wedding."
"We are already a long way from the palace," said the little prince. "Let's not bother with them now." But the princess insisted on going back, and in the end, the little prince had to give in. He tightened3 the screws and the wooden horse landed.
The prince said, "
;I'll wait for you here. Go to the palace on the wooden horse and come back as soon as you have collected the precious stones." The princess mounted the wooden horse and flew away.
Meanwhile, the king, who had been brought round by his courtiers, feared the worst for his daughter. He hurried up to the palace in the sky and, just as expected, found the place empty. He was at his wits' end when suddenly the princess arrived on the wooden horse. His men captured her and took her down to his palace, where they locked her up in an empty room. The wooden horse also fell into the hands of the king, but he had no idea how to use it and just stored it in another empty room.
Long before all this, there had been another king who, hearing of the beauty of the princess, had asked for her hand for his own son, only to be rejected by the princess' father. After this affair, however, it suited him to marry her to someone who lived a long way away, and he sent a message to this king, saying, "My daughter has reached the age of marriage, and I am therefore willing to marry her to your son. This will make our two families closely related and will bring an enduring peace to our two kingdoms. Please let your son come and take his bride."
But let us leave aside the king and his daughter and turn once more to the little prince.
He waited for a long time, but there was no sign of the princess. Looking around, he found himself in a boundless4 stretch of desert with towering sand dunes5 in every direction. The sand was blowing in the wind, the scorching6 sun was directly over head and there was not so much as a single blade of grass to be seen. Time passed, and he became hungry and thirsty. But when he rose to his feet and went in search of water, there was not a drop to be found. "I may be able to see something from the top of those dunes," he thought, but as he climbed, the shifting sand buried his feet, making every step a struggle. With great difficulty he finally reached the top. As he raised his head to look around, the sand underneath7 gave way like melting ice in spring. He slipped over and downward and when he came to a stop, he saw before him a lush orchard8 filled with all kinds of fruit trees. The ripe fruits, red and green, hung heavy on the trees. His mouth watered. He ran in, picked several peaches and began gobbling them up. He ate his fill of the sweet, juicy fruits and then fell asleep against a tree.
When he woke up, he felt his chin and found his whole face covered with a growth of beard. As he was wondering what had happened, he felt hungry again but did not dare to eat any more peaches. He suspected them of being the cause of his beard. Then he saw a pear tree. Pulling down a branch, he picked a few large succulent pears. The more he ate, the more delicious they tasted. When he was sated with the pears, he fell asleep again and did not wake till dusk. Stretching himself, he bu
mped his head against a tree. His head seemed heavier than usual and when he felt it, he discovered that he had grown a pair of thick horns and his chin was covered with a snowy white beard more than a foot long. "How terrible I look!" thought the little prince. "Even if the princess returns, she will never recognize me and will never love me again. What can I do?" The more he thought the more wretched he felt, and he burst into tears. After a while, exhausted9 with weeping, he fell into a deep sleep.
He dreamed that an old man came to see him. "My child, why are you so sad?" he asked, stroking the little prince's head. When the little prince told him what had happened, the old man said, "Don't worry. Go and pick up some of the dried peaches and pears that have fallen under the trees and eat them, then your beard and your horns will disappear. Leave quickly! This place is inhabited by demons10. They are now asleep. When they awake, they will devour11 you."
The words startled the little prince from sleep. He rubbed his eyes. A cool breeze was blowing, carrying away with it the heat of the desert. Following the advice of the old man in his dream, he gathered a handful of dry peaches and a handful of dry pears and chewed them slowly. Sure enough, when he finished eating and felt his chin and head again, the beard and the horns had vanished. He pondered for a while. Then, breaking some willow12 twigs13, he wove a basket and filled half of it with dry peaches and pears and half with fresh. He hurried from the demon's orchard.
He wanted to go home, but had no idea in which direction home lay. "The important thing is just to keep going!" he thought to himself. Everywhere he went, it was desert with no sign of human habitation. He had only the dry peaches and pears to allay14 his hunger and the vast desert to sleep on. He walked like this for seven days and nights and saw not even a bird, let alone a human being.
Finally he reached a highway. Breathing a sigh of relief, he sat down by the roadside to rest.
Presently he saw a man driving a donkey along the road. From him the little prince learnt that his home lay to the east, while the kingdom of the princess lay to the west. "How can I go home now, having lost both the princess and the wooden horse?" he thought to himself. So he chose to go west along the road. As he was walking, he heard the sound of men shouting orders. A great cortege caught up with him. The men were in full armor, the horses likewise; it was a most impressive sight.
In the middle was a carriage intricately inlaid with gold, with glass windows on all four sides. Four elaborately caparisoned horses led the way. The little prince had stepped aside to watch, but to his surprise the carriage came to a halt in front of him and a man came up and asked him, "What are you selling?"
"Nothing," replie
d the little prince.
But the man pointed15 to his basket and said, "Aren't these peaches and pears? After a hard day's journey, our prince is thirsty and hungry. Please be so good as to sell us some of your fruit."
"This fruit is not for sale," said the little prince. "It is food for my journey. Can't you see that there is not even a blade of grass to be found on this road? Where can I find food to eat if I sell this to you?"
Meanwhile the prince inside the carriage was shouting to his men to hurry up. "Pay whatever he asks!" he cried, handing them out an ingot of gold.
"Where are you going?" inquired the little prince.
"Our master is on his way to his wedding," answered the men. "His bride is the princess in the town ahead." So saying, he pointed to the west. The little prince was shaken by the news, but he managed to maintain an unruffled appearance. After he had asked some more detailed16 questions and was sure that the bride was none other than the princess he loved, he accepted the gold, chose two especially red peaches and two especially big pears from his basket and handed them to the men.
The prince inside the carriage was delighted to have the fruit and devoured17 it ravenously18. The cortege then continued on its way, and with the rocking of the carriage, the prince gradually fell asleep. When he awoke, he gave a great start and began crying out loud. His escort gathered around him to inquire what the matter was. When they l
