'Good day.' said the little prince.

'Good day.' said the railway pointsman.

'What do you do here?' asked the little prince.

'I sort the passengers into bundles of one thousand,'  said the pointsman. 'I dispatch the trains that carry them: now to the right, now to the left.'

At which moment an express train, brightly lit and rumbling like thunder, shook the pointsman's cabin as it passed.

'They're in a great hurry,' said the little prince. 'What are they looking for?'

'Not even the engine driver can answer that,' said the pointsman.

At which there rumbled past, in the opposite direction, a second brightly lit express train.

'Are they coming back already?'' asked the little prince.

'Those are not the same ones,'  said the pointsman. 'It's an exchange.'

'Were they not happy where they were?'

'One is never happy where one is,' said the pointsman.

At which the thunder of a third brightly lit express train rumbled past.

'Are they chasing the first passengers?'  asked the little prince.

'They are chasing nothing at all,' said the pointsman. 'They are asleep inside there, or else yawning. Only the children are flattening their noses against the window panes.’

'Only the children know what they are looking for,'  said the little prince. 'They waste their time over a rag doll, and it becomes very important to them; and if it's taken away from them, they cry.'

'They're the lucky ones,' said the pointsman.