A businessman reciting a long list of numbers inhabited the next planet the prince came to. When the prince greeted him, noting that the businessman's cigarette had gone out, the man barely paused to explain how he had no time to relight it. Surprised and annoyed when the prince did not immediately leave, the man then said that he was a "serious man" who "[couldn't] be bothered with trifles” (36). Nevertheless, the prince continued to try to engage him, asking what he was counting, and the man finally said that he was tallying up "those little things you sometimes see in the sky" (37).

The prince at first thought he meant flies or bees but realized, when the man described the "things" as "mak[ing] lazy people daydream" (38), that he was talking about stars. He then asked what the man did with the stars he counted, and the man responded that he simply owned them to increase his own wealth. When the prince questioned what the purpose of accumulating wealth was, the man explained that it allowed him to "buy other stars"(38), reminding the prince of the drunkard's rationale.

Next, the prince asked how

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