"Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little.""That is strictly correct," I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs"He answered me at once, "Oh, come, come!", as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.
But when it is a matter of baobabs, that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes..."So, as the little prince described it to me, I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood, and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid, that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children," I say plainly, "watch out for the baobabs!"My friends, like myself, have been skirting this danger for a long time, without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.
"Ah! I am glad!"
我不明白绵羊吃矮小灌木这件事为甚么如此首要。可小王子又弥补说道：“那么，它们也吃猴面包树吗？”
I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:"Then it follows that they also eat baobabs"I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.