The Little Prince
The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince, pronounced [lə p(ə)ti pʁɛ̃s]) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the US by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943, and posthumously in France following the liberation of France as Saint-Exupéry’s works had been banned by the Vichy Regime. The story follows a young prince who visits various planets in space, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children’s book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults and human nature.[8]
The Little Prince became Saint-Exupéry’s most successful work, selling an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the best-selling and most translated books ever published.[9][10][11][Note 2][13] It has been translated into 301 languages and dialects.[14][15][16] The Little Prince has been adapted to numerous art forms and media, including audio recordings, radio plays, live stage, film, television, ballet, and opera.[15][17]
The narrator begins with a discussion on the nature of grown-ups and their inability to perceive “important things”. As a test to determine if a grown-up is as enlightened as a child, he shows them a picture depicting a snake which has eaten an elephant. The grown-ups always reply the picture depicts a hat, and so he knows to only talk of “reasonable” things to them, rather than fanciful.
The narrator becomes an aircraft pilot, and, one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara, far from civilisation, where he is unexpectedly greeted by a young boy nicknamed “the little prince”. The prince has golden hair, a loveable laugh, and will repeat questions until they are answered. The narrator has an eight day supply of water and must fix his aeroplane.
The prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him the picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator’s surprise, the prince interprets correctly. After three failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the frustrated narrator draws a simple crate, claiming the sheep is inside. The prince exclaims that this was exactly the drawing he wanted.
Over the course of eight days in the desert, while the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the prince recounts his life story. He begins describing his tiny home planet: in effect, a house-sized asteroid known as “B 612” on Earth. The asteroid’s most prominent features are three minuscule volcanoes (two active, and one dormant or extinct) and a variety of plants.
The prince describes his earlier days cleaning the volcanoes and weeding unwanted seeds and sprigs that infest his planet’s soil; in particular, pulling out baobab trees that are constantly on the verge of overrunning the surface. If the baobabs are not rooted out the moment they are recognised, its roots can have a catastrophic effect on the tiny planet. Therefore, the prince wants a sheep to eat the undesirable plants, but worries it will also eat plants with thorns.
The prince tells of his love for a vain and silly rose that began growing on the asteroid’s surface some time ago. The rose is given to pretension, exaggerating ailments to gain attention and have the prince care for her. The prince says he nourished the rose and tended to her, making a screen or glass globe to protect her from the cold wind, watering her, and keeping off the caterpillars.
Although the prince fell in love with the rose, he also began to feel that she was taking advantage of him and he resolved to leave the planet to explore the rest of the universe. Upon their goodbyes, the rose is serious and apologises that she failed to show she loved him and that they had both been silly. She wishes him well and turns down his desire to leave her in the glass globe, saying she will protect herself. The prince laments that he did not understand how to love his rose while he was with her and should have listened to her kind actions, rather than her vain words.
