The Little Prince

by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In order to make his escape, I believe he took advantage of a migration of wild birds.

“The proof of the little prince’s existence is that he was delightful, that he laughed, and that he wanted a sheep. When someone wants a sheep, that proves he exists,” they shrug their shoulders and treat you like a child! But if you tell them, “The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612,” then they’ll be con-vinced, and they won’t bother you with their ques-tions. That’s the way they are. You must not hold it against them. Children should be very understanding of grown-ups. But, of course, those of us who understand life couldn’t care less about numbers!

“If someone loves a flower of which just one example exists among all the millions and millions of stars, that’s enough to make him happy when he looks at the stars. He tells himself, ‘My flower’s up there somewhere . . .’ But if the sheep eats the flower, then for him it’s as if, suddenly, all the stars went out. And that isn’t important?”

“In those days, I didn’t understand anything. I should have judged her accord-ing to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away!

I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love her.”

“I need to put up with two or three caterpillars if I want to get to know the butterflies. Apparently they’re very beautiful. Otherwise who will visit me? You’ll be far away. As for the big animals, I’m not afraid of them. I have my own claws.”

“If Your Majesty desires to be promptly obeyed, he should give me a reasonable command. He might command me, for instance, to leave before this minute is up. It seems to me that conditions are favorable .

Grown-ups, of course, won’t believe you. They’re convinced they take up much more room. They consider themselves as important as the baobabs. So you should advise them to make their own calculations—they love numbers, and they’ll enjoy it. But don’t waste your time on this extra task. It’s unnecessary. Trust me.

“It’s a little lonely in the desert . . .” “It’s also lonely with people,” said the snake.

“You’re not at all like my rose. You’re nothing at all yet,” he told them. “No one has tamed you and you haven’t tamed anyone. You’re the way my fox was. He was just a fox like a hundred thousand others. But I’ve made him my friend, and now he’s the only fox in all the world.” And the roses were humbled. “You’re lovely, but you’re empty,” he went on. “One couldn’t die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she’s the one I’ve watered. Since she’s the one I put under glass. Since she’s the one I sheltered behind a screen. Since she’s the one for whom I killed the caterpillars (except the two or three for butterflies). Since she’s the one I listened to when she complained, or when she boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing at all. Since she’s my rose.”

“It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.”

“It’s the same as for the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star, then it’s good, at night, to look up at the sky. All the stars are blossoming.”

Anyone might be distracted once in a while, and that’s all it takes! One night he forgot to put her under glass, or else the sheep got out without making any noise, during the night . . . Then the bells are all changed into tears! IT’S ALL A GREAT MYSTERY. For you, who love the little prince, too. As for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, no one knows where, a sheep we never saw has or has not eaten a rose . . . Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, “Has the sheep eaten the flower or not?” And you’ll see how everything changes. . . . And no grown-up will ever understand how such a thing could be so important!