“Then you will judge yourself,” said the king, “It’s very difficult. It’s much more difficult to judge yourself than to judge other people. If you can judge yourself well, it’s because you are really a clever man.”
“But I can judge myself anywhere,” said the little prince. “I don’t need to live here.”
“Well! Well!” said the king. “I believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old mouse. I hear the mouse at night. You can judge that old mouse. You can send him to prison. And his life will depend on your justice.”
“I don’t want to send anybody to prison. And now I think that I will leave.”
“No,” said the king.
The little prince was ready for his departure, but he didn’t want to make the old king sad. So he said, “If you want to control me, you can give me a reasonable order. For example, you can tell me to leave in one minute. I think that the conditions are right.”
The king didn’t say anything and the little prince waited for a while. Then he didn’t want to wait longer and he started to leave.
“I make you my ambassador,” the king quickly shouted after the little prince.
“Adults are very strange,” the little prince said to himself when he continued on his journey.
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