英中英|18_TheLittlePrince小王子|山林_乐明无念

"If I ordered a general," he would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.""May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince."I order you to do so," the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.But the little prince was wondering... The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?"Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question--""I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him."Sire-- over what do you rule?""Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity."Over everything?"The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars."Over all that?" asked the little prince."Over all that," the king answered.For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal."And the stars obey you?""Certainly they do," the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, with out ever having to move his chair. And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor:"I should like to see a sunset... do me that kindness... Order the sun to set..."