我冇答覆。我當時想的是，如果這顆螺絲再和我作對，我就一錘子敲掉它。小王子又來打攪我的思路了：“你卻以為花……”

The little prince was now white with rage.

小王子氣得神采發白。

"Matters of consequence!"

“我到過一個星球，上麵住著一個紅臉先生。他向來冇聞過一朵花。他向來冇有看過一顆星星。他甚麼人也冇有喜好過。除了算賬以外，他甚麼也冇有做過。他整天同你一樣自言自語：‘我有端莊事要做！我是個端莊的人！’這使他傲氣實足。但他不是小我，他是個蘑菇！”

“有刺的也吃。”

小王子一旦提出了題目，向來不會放過。這顆該死的螺絲使我很惱火，我因而就遵循大腦中的第一反應，隨便答覆了他一句：“刺甚麼用都冇有，花兒們的刺隻是為了用心傷害彆人。”

他實在惱火。他甩動腦袋，金黃色的頭髮隨風顫抖著。

“你說話就和那些大人一樣！”

他的臉變紅了，接著說道：

“它碰到甚麼吃甚麼。”

There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:"I don’t believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are name. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons..."I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won’t turn, I am going to knock it out with the hammer." Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.

On the fifth day― again, as always, it was thanks to the sheep― the secret of the little prince’s life was revealed to me. Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:"A sheep― if it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too""A sheep," I answered, "eats anything it finds in its reach.""Even flowers that have thorns""Yes, even flowers that have thorns.""Then the thorns― what use are they"I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.