The prince first visited several asteroids close to his own, including one only a king inhabited. Much to the prince's confusion, the king delightedly greeted him as his "subject"(28) before objecting to the tired prince's yawning. However, when the prince explained that he couldn't help yawning, the king backtracked and actually commanded the prince to yawn. The prince said that this was equally impossible, because he couldn't yawn on command, so the king finally ordered him to simply "sometimes yawn" (29).

Eventually, the prince learned even though the king insisted on commanding everything around him, including the stars, he took care to only issue orders that could be followed. The king, for instance, responded to the prince's request to make the sun set by asking whether he would be justified in ordering a general to "fly from one flower to the next like a butterfly, or to write a tragedy, or to turn into a seagull" (30). The prince agreed that this wouldn't be fair, and the king replied that he would wait until evening to command the sun to set.

Disappointed, the prince prepared to leave, only to be stopped short by the king offering to make him a minister of justice.