Then, on yet another fourth planet the little prince meets a businessman, who is very engrossed in all his numerical calculations and hardly even notices that the little prince is around. He informs the little prince that he is very busy in counting all the stars in the sky as this is a matter of great consequence to him. The little prince is even more confused when the businessman claims that he owns all the stars. He does not see how it is possible to own an object when one is of no use to that object. He remarks that by taking care of his rose and his three volcanoes, his ownership of them was at least useful. From this he realizes that things which are of consequence to him are different from the things which the businessman thinks are of great importance. With this newly acquired knowledge, he 
carries on with his journey.

Next the little prince meets a lamplighter and is even more confused because he lights a lamp and then puts it out the very next minute. He feels sorry for someone doing such an absurd job, but realizes that, unlike the previous adults he has met, the lamplighter is doing something useful. Hoping to  become his friend he tries to help the lamplighter, but the planet is too small to accommodate two people. He is quite sad to leave a planet, which has a 1440 sunsets.

On the sixth planet he meets a geographer. The little prince is thrilled to at last meet someone who has a real profession, and even more so when the geographer asks him to describe his planet. The little prince tells him about his dear rose but the geographer refuses to record this saying that he cannot record things which don't last forever. The little prince is surprised to learn that his rose will not last forever and feels regretful about leaving her. Even though he is still thinking about his flower he soon takes courage as the geographer advises him to visit the planet Earth.

Upon arriving on Earth, the little prince is surprised to find such a large planet. The narrator marks that there are a great number of kings, geographers, businessmen, and a whole army of international lamplighters who are required to work around the clock on this planet. However, he does admit that humanity is neither as important nor as large as it shows itself to be. The little prince wonders why he still hasn't met any humans though the planet is so big. He meets a snake, who tells him that he is in the Sahara Desert and there are hardly any humans there. He finds that the snake is a curious creature who is not as dangerous as he appears. Before parting, the snake promises that he will help the little prince return to his planet if he grows too homesick.

The little prince continues searching for human beings, but only encounters a few roses and desolation. The roses tell him that only seven humans exist on the planet and are very difficult to find as they have no roots. The prince climbs to the top of a mountain and calls out to someone to be his friend but all he hears is the echo of his own question. But he believes that his echo is a reply from another human and concludes that human beings are most unimaginative since they can only repeat what they are asked. He begins to think about his rose upon discovering a large rose garden. When he realizes that his flower was not unique, but just a common rose, he begins to cry.

Click here for part 4 of the summary of The Little Prince