Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (English trans.)

I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up.

If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew.

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest.

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest.

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle.

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle.

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.

I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two.

"Oh, but I have looked already!" said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet.

At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona.

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.

I had thus learned a second fact of great importance: this was that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger than a house!

I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean.

I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck.

And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness.

Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment.

Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment.

Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region.

When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw.

And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with,

A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome.

By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart.

And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.

And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much.

I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.

At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:

At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:

At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:

And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time.

Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.

You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets."

After a reflective silence he answered:

The tipler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

Then the little prince said, earnestly:

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration.

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume.

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume.

WHen you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters.

One drawing goes along all right, and another has no resemblance to its subject.

As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince's planet, his departure from it, his journey.

It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.

For the little prince asked me abruptly-- as if seized by a grave doubt-- "It is true, isn't it, that sheep eat little bushes?"

And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.

The soil of that planet was infested with them.

You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth.

It is very tedious work," the little prince added, "but very easy."

You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like...

Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:

So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her.

They are naïve.

The little prince was now white with rage.

And if I know-- I, myself-- one flower which is unique in the world, which grows nowhere but on my planet, but which one little sheep can destroy in a single bite some morning, without even noticing what he is doing-- Oh!

His words were choked by sobbing.

I felt awkward and blundering.

The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it.

It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear.

She was a coquettish creature!

I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands.

And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest-- but how moving-- and exciting-- she was!

And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water.

So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity-- which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with.

So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity-- which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with.

"A horror of drafts-- that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature..."

Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naïve untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

Then she forced her cough a little more so that he shoud suffer from remorse just the same.

So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her.

One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance.

Mine perfumed all my planet.

"You move me to pity-- you are so weak on this Earth made of granite," the snake said.

Flowers are so inconsistent!

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds.

He also had one volcano that was extinct.

If they are well cleaned out, volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any eruptions.

The little prince also pulled up, with a certain sense of dejection, the last little shoots of the baobabs.

"Don't linger like this.

Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

"Approach, so that I may see you better," said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.

The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe.

"It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king," the monarch said to him.

"It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king," the monarch said to him.

I can't stop myself," replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed.

He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed.

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected.

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected.

He tolerated no disobedience.

He was an absolute monarch.

"May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.

"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.

"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.

"Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity.

For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.

I do not permit insubordination."

And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor:

"If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?" the king demanded.

If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution.

I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."

Hum!" replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac.

"I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom.

But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily.

"I made you my Ambassador," the king called out, hastily.

Conceited people never hear anything but praise.

"It is to raise in salute when people acclaim me.

After five minutes of this exercise the little prince grew tired of the game's monotony.

"I am drinking," replied the tippler, with a lugubrious air.

The tipler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

I don't amuse myself with balderdash.

The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where.

The second time, eleven years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism.

"To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly.

"That man," said the little prince to himself, as he continued farther on his journey, "that man would be scorned by all the others: by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman.

It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.

And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."

"Because intoxicated men see double.

And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil.

We write of eternal things."

To give you an idea of the size of the Earth, I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain, over the whole of the six continents, a veritable army of 462,511 lamplighters for the street lamps.

Seen from a slight distance, that would make a splendid spectacle.

Seen from a slight distance, that would make a splendid spectacle.

The movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera.

Only the man who was in charge of the single lamp at the North Pole, and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp at the South Pole-- only these two would live free from toil and care: they would be busy twice a year.

When one wishes to play the wit, he sometimes wanders a little from the truth.

All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet.

"But you are innocent and true, and you come from a star..."

The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said.

This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst.

It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert.

When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out.

I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind...

I stopped in my tracks, my heart torn asunder; but still I did not understand.

I was holding him close in my arms as if he were a little child; and yet it seemed to me that he was rushing headlong toward an abyss from which I could do nothing to restrain him...

Once again I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable.

Snakes-- they are malicious creatures.

When I succeeded in catching up with him he was walking along with a quick and resolute step.