1"Good morning," said the little prince.

2"Good morning," said the merchant.

3This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need of anything to drink.

4"Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.

5"Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week."

6"And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"

7"Anything you like . . ."

8"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water."