The lamplighter

The lamplighter appears in the novella The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He  lives alone on the fifth planet the little prince visits, asteroid 329. The lamplighter's planet is so small that there is  room on it only for him and a street lamp. 

The lamplighter is constantly busy switching his lamp on and off again. When the little prince asks him why he is doing this, the lamplighter answers that he is following the instruction, which means that he has to switch the lamp on in the evening and off in the morning. But his planet has been spinning faster and faster lately, which is why he has no time to sleep. Although he is the only inhabitant of the planet, he continues to follow these instructions. This shows how faithful and dutiful the...