XXII

"Good morning," said the little prince.
     "Good morning," said the railway switchman.
     "What is it that you do here?" asked the little prince.
     "I sort the travelers into bundles of a thousand," the switchman said. "I dispatch the trains that carry them, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left."
      And a brightly lit express train, roaring like thunder, shook the switchman's cabin.
     "What a hurry they're in," said the little prince. "What are they looking for?"
     "Not even the engineer on the locomotive knows," the switchman said.
     And another brightly lit express train thundered by in the opposite direction.
     "Are they coming back already?" asked the little prince.
     "It's not the same ones," the switchman said. "It's an exchange."
     "They weren't satisfied, where they were?" asked the little prince.
     "No one is ever satisfied where he is," the switchman said. 
     And a third brightly lit express train thundered past.
     "Are they chasing the first travelers?" asked the little prince.
     "They aren't chasing anything," the switchman said. "They're sleeping in there, or else they're yawning. Only the children are pressing their noses against the windowpanes."
     "Only the children know what they're looking for," said the little prince. "They spend their time on a rag doll and it becomes very important, and if it's taken away from them, they cry..."
     "They're lucky," the switchman said.