"I," he said again, "have a flower that I water every day. I have three volcanoes that I shake every week. For I also sweep away the extinct one. We never know. It is useful to my volcanoes, and it is useful to my flower, that I possess them. But you are not useful to the stars ... "

The businessman opened his mouth but found no answer, and the little prince left.

"The grown-ups are definitely quite extraordinary," he said simply to himself during the journey.

XIV

The fifth planet was very curious. It was the smallest of them all. There was just enough room to house a lamppost and a street lamp lighter. The little prince could not explain how a street lamp and a lamp-lighter could be used, somewhere in the sky, on a planet without a house or a population. However, he said to himself:

"Maybe this man is absurd. However, it is less absurd than the king, the vain, the businessman and the drinker. At least his work makes sense. When he lights his lamppost, it is as if he were creating another star, or a flower. When he turns off his lamppost, it puts the flower or the star to sleep. It is a very pretty occupation. This is really useful since it is beautiful. "