If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince’s planet, his departure from it, his journey. The information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.
的確,正如我之前體味到的,在小王子居住的星球上,也和彆的星球一樣,存在著好的植物和壞的植物,是以,也就存在來自好的植物的好的種子,和來自壞的植物的壞的種子。但是,我們是看不見種子的。
This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly― as if seized by a grave doubt― "It is true, isn’t it, that sheep eat little bushes""Yes, that is true."
"It is a question of discipline," the little prince said to me later on. "When you’ve finished your own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet, just so, with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work," the little prince added, "but very easy."And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing, so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes," he added, "there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day.