目录
Content

- Chapter_1

- Chapter_2

- Chapter_3

- Chapter_4

- Chapter_5

- Chapter_6

- Chapter_7

Chapter_1

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To Leon Werth

I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything
even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough
I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:

To Leon Werth
when he was a little boy

[ Chapter 1 ]

- we are introduced to the narrator
a pilot
and his ideas about grown-ups

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book
called True Stories from Nature
about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole
without chewing it. After that they are not able to move
and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

I pondered deeply
then
over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:

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

But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it
I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor
so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

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. That is why
at the age of six
I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves
and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession
and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night
such knowledge is valuable.

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 have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately
close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted
I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One
which I have always kept. I would try to find out
so
if this was a person of true understanding. But
whoever it was
he
or she
would always say:

That is a hat.

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors
or primeval forests
or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge
and golf
and politics
and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

[ Chapter 2 ]

- the narrator crashes in the desert and makes the acquaintance of the little prince

So I lived my life alone
without anyone that I could really talk to
until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara
six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers
I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.

The first night
then
I went to sleep on the sand
a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement
at sunrise
when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:

If you please-- draw me a sheep!

What!

Draw me a sheep!

I jumped to my feet
completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person
who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best potrait that
later
I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.

That
however
is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old
and I never learned to draw anything
except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.

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. And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands
nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert
a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak
I said to him:

But-- what are you doing here?

And in answer he repeated
very slowly
as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence: "If you please-- draw me a sheep..."

When a mystery is too overpowering
one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me
a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death
I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen. 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. He answered me:

That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep...

But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with

No
no
no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature
and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live
everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.

So then I made a drawing.

He looked at it carefully
then he said:

No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another.

So I made another drawing.

My friend smiled gently and indulgenty.

You see yourself

he said
that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns.

So then I did my drawing over once more.

But it was rejected too
just like the others.

This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time.

By this time my patience was exhausted
because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart. So I tossed off this drawing.

And I threw out an explanation with it.

This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.

I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:

That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?

Why?

Because where I live everything is very small...

There will surely be enough grass for him

I said. "It is a very small sheep that I have given you."

He bent his head over the drawing:

Not so small that-- Look! He has gone to sleep...

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

[ Chapter 3 ]

- the narrator learns more about from where the little prince came

It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince
who asked me so many questions
never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that
little by little
everything was revealed to me.

The first time he saw my airplane
for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me)
he asked me:

What is that object?

That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane.

And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.

He cried out
then:

What! You dropped down from the sky?

Yes

I answered
modestly.

Oh! That is funny!

And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter
which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.

Then he added:

So you
too
come from the sky! Which is your planet?

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

Do you come from another planet?

But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently
without taking his eyes from my plane:

It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away...

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." I made a great effort
therefore
to find out more on this subject.

My little man
where do you come from? What is this 'where I live
' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?

After a reflective silence he answered:

The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house.

That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string
too
so that you can tie him during the day
and a post to tie him to.

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:

Tie him! What a queer idea!

But if you don't tie him

I said
he will wander off somewhere
and get lost.

My friend broke into another peal of laughter:

But where do you think he would go?

Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.

Then the little prince said
earnestly:

That doesn't matter. Where I live
everything is so small!

And
with perhaps a hint of sadness
he added:

Straight ahead of him
nobody can go very far...

[ Chapter 4 ]

- the narrator speculates as to which asteroid from which the little prince came

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!

But that did not really surprise me much. I knew very well that in addition to the great planets-- such as the Earth
Jupiter
Mars
Venus-- to which we have given names
there are also hundreds of others
some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope. When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name
but only a number. He might call it
for example
Asteroid 325.

I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612.

This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer
in 1909.

On making his discovery
the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress
in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume
and so nobody would believe what he said.

Grown-ups are like that...

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. So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again
dressed with impressive style and elegance. And this time everybody accepted his report.

If I have told you these details about the asteroid
and made a note of its number for you
it is on account of the grown-ups and their ways. When you tell them that you have made a new friend
they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you
What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?
Instead
they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.

If you were to say to the grown-ups: "I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick
with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof
they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all. You would have to say to them:
I saw a house that cost $20
000." Then they would exclaim: "Oh
what a pretty house that is!"

Just so
you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming
that he laughed
and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep
that is a proof that he exists." And what good would it do to tell them that? They would shrug their shoulders
and treat you like a child. But if you said to them: "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612
then they would be convinced
and leave you in peace from their questions.

They are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people.

But certainly
for us who understand life
figures are a matter of indifference. I should have liked to begin this story in the fashion of the fairy-tales. I should have like to say:
Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was scarcely any bigger than himself
and who had need of a sheep..."

To those who understand life
that would have given a much greater air of truth to my story.

For I do not want any one to read my book carelessly. I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories. Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me
with his sheep. If I try to describe him here
it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him
I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...

It is for that purpose
again
that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils. It is hard to take up drawing again at my age
when I have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside
since I was six. I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible. But I am not at all sure of success. One drawing goes along all right
and another has no resemblance to its subject. I make some errors
too
in the littl e prince's height: in one place he is too tall and in another too short. And I feel some doubts about the color of his costume. So I fumble along as best I can
now good
now bad
and I hope generally fair-to-middling.

In certain more important details I shall make mistakes
also. But that is something that will not be my fault. My friend never explained anything to me. He thought
perhaps
that I was like himself. But I
alas
do not know how to see sheep through t he walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old.

[ Chapter 5 ]

- we are warned as to the dangers of the baobabs

As each day passed I would learn
in our talk
something about the little prince's planet
his departure from it
his journey. The information would come very slowly
as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard
on the third day
about the catastrophe of the baobabs.

This time
once more
I had the sheep to thank for it. 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?"

Yes
that is true.

Ah! I am glad!

I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:

Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?

I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes
but
on the contrary
trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him
the herd would not eat up one single baobab.

The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.

We would have to put them one on top of the other

he said.

But he made a wise comment:

Before they grow so big
the baobabs start out by being little.

That is strictly correct

I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?"

He answered me at once
Oh
come
come!
as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem
without any assistance.

Indeed
as I learned
there were on the planet where the little prince lived-- as on all planets-- good plants and bad plants. In consequence
there were good seeds from good plants
and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness
until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin-- timidly at first-- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush
one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant
one must destroy it as soon as possible
the very first instant that one recognizes it.

Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never
never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small
and the baobabs are too many
they split it in pieces...

It is a question of discipline

the little prince said to me later on. "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning
then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet
just so
with the greatest care. 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."

And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing
so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes
he added

there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs
that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes..."

So
as the little prince described it to me
I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood
and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid
that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children
I say plainly

watch out for the baobabs!"

My friends
like myself
have been skirting this danger for a long time
without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.

Perhaps you will ask me
Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs?

The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.

[ Chapter 6 ]

- the little prince and the narrator talk about sunsets

Oh
little prince! Bit by bit I came to understand the secrets of your sad little life... For a long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset. I learned that new detail on the morning of the fourth day
w hen you said to me:

I am very fond of sunsets. Come
let us go look at a sunset now.

But we must wait

I said.

Wait? For what?

For the sunset. We must wait until it is time.

At first you seemed to be very much surprised. And then you laughed to yourself. You said to me:

I am always thinking that I am at home!

Just so. Everybody knows that when it is noon in the United States the sun is setting over France.

If you could fly to France in one minute
you could go straight into the sunset
right from noon. Unfortunately
France is too far away for that. But on your tiny planet
my little prince
all you need do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like...

One day

you said to me
I saw the sunset forty-four times!

And a little later you added:

You know-- one loves the sunset
when one is so sad...

Were you so sad
then?
I asked
on the day of the forty-four sunsets?

But the little prince made no reply.

[ Chapter 7 ]

- the narrator learns about the secret of the little prince's life

On the fifth day-- again
as always
it was thanks to the sheep-- the secret of the little prince's life was revealed to me. 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:

A sheep-- if it eats little bushes
does it eat flowers
too?

A sheep

I answered
eats anything it finds in its reach.

Even flowers that have thorns?

Yes
even flowers that have thorns.

Then the thorns-- what use are they?

I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried
for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.

The thorns-- what use are they?

The little prince never let go of a question
once he had asked it. As for me
I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:

The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!

Oh!

There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me
with a kind of resentfulness:

I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are na秭e. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons...

I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won't turn
I am going to knock it out with the hammer." Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.

And you actually believe that the flowers--

Oh
no!
I cried. "No
no no! I don't believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don't you see-- I am very busy with matters of consequence!"

He stared at me
thunderstruck.

Matters of consequence!

He looked at me there
with my hammer in my hand
my fingers black with engine-grease
bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly...

You talk just like the grown-ups!

That made me a little ashamed. But he went on
relentlessly:

You mix everything up together... You confuse everything...

He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze.

I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman. He has never smelled a flower. He has never looked at a star. He has never loved any one. He has never done anything in his life but add up figures. And all day he says over and over
just like you: 'I am busy with matters of consequence!' And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man-- he is a mushroom!

A what?

A mushroom!

The little prince was now white with rage.

The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years. For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same. And is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them? Is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important? Is this not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman's sums? 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! You think that is not important!

His face turned from white to red as he continued:

If some one loves a flower
of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars
it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself
'Somewhere
my flower is there...' But if the sheep eats the flower
in one moment all his stars will be darkened... And you think that is not important!

He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing.

The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what moment now was my hammer
my bolt
or thirst
or death? On one star
one planet
my planet
the Earth
there was a little prince to be comforted. I took him in my arms
and rocked him. I said to him:

The flower that you love is not in danger. I will draw you a muzzle for your sheep. I will draw you a railing to put around your flower. I will--

I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him
where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more.

It is such a secret place
the land of tears.

[ Chapter 8 ]

- the rose arrives at the little prince's planet

I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody. One morning they would appear in the grass
and by night they would have faded peacefully away. But one day
from a seed blown from no one knew where
a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might
you see
have been a new kind of baobab.

The shrub soon stopped growing
and began to get ready to produce a flower. 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. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colours with the greatest care. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled
like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh
yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.

Then one morning
exactly at sunrise
she suddenly showed herself.

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

Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged...

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

Oh! How beautiful you are!

Am I not?
the flower responded
sweetly. "And I was born at the same moment as the sun..."

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

I think it is time for breakfast

she added an instant later. "If you would have the kindness to think of my needs--"

And the little prince
completely abashed
went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So
he tended the flower.

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. One day
for instance
when she was speaking of her four thorns
she said to the little prince:

Let the tigers come with their claws!

There are no tigers on my planet

the little prince objected. "And
anyway
tigers do not eat weeds."

I am not a weed

the flower replied
sweetly.

Please excuse me...

I am not at all afraid of tigers

she went on
but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?

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...

At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from--

But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a na秭e untruth
she coughed two or three times
in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

The screen?

I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me...

Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should 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. He had taken seriously words which were without importance
and it made him very unhappy.

I ought not to have listened to her

he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws
which disturbed me so much
should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

And he continued his confidences:

The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her...

[ Chapter 9 ]

- the little prince leaves his planet

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes. He possessed two active volcanoes; and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning. He also had one volcano that was extinc

Chapter_2

t. But
as he said
One never knows!
So he cleaned out the extinct volcano
too. If they are well cleaned out
volcanoes burn slowly and steadily
without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.

On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes. That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.

The little prince also pulled up
with a certain sense of dejection
the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him. And when he watered the flower for the last time
and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe
he realised that he was very close to tears.

Goodbye

he said to the flower.

But she made no answer.

Goodbye

he said again.

The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.

I have been silly

she said to him
at last. "I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy..."

He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered
the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.

Of course I love you

the flower said to him. "It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. But you-- you have been just as foolish as I. Try to be happy... let the glass globe be. I don't want it any more."

But the wind--

My cold is not so bad as all that... the cool night air will do me good. I am a flower.

But the animals--

Well
I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies-- and the caterpillars-- who will call upon me? You will be far away... as for the large animals-- I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.

And
na秭ely
she showed her four thorns. Then she added:

Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!

For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower...

[ Chapter 10 ]

- the little prince visits the king

He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325
326
327
328
329
and 330. He began
therefore
by visiting them
in order to add to his knowledge.

The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine
he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

Ah! Here is a subject

exclaimed the king
when he saw the little prince coming.

And the little prince asked himself:

How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?

He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them
all men are subjects.

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. So he remained standing upright
and
since he was tired
he yawned.

It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king

the monarch said to him. "I forbid you to do so."

I can't help it. I can't stop myself

replied the little prince
thoroughly embarrassed. "I have come on a long journey
and I have had no sleep..."

Ah
then

the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns
to me
are objects of curiosity. Come
now! Yawn again! It is an order."

That frightens me... I cannot
any more...
murmured the little prince
now completely abashed.

Hum! Hum!
replied the king. "Then I-- I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to--"

He sputtered a little
and seemed vexed.

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But
because he was a very good man
he made his orders reasonable.

If I ordered a general

he would say
by way of example
if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird
and if the general did not obey me
that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.

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

I order you to do so

the king answered him
and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.

But the little prince was wondering... The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?

Sire

he said to him
I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question--

I order you to ask me a question

the king hastened to assure him.

Sire-- over what do you rule?

Over everything

said the king
with magnificent simplicity.

Over everything?

The king made a gesture
which took in his planet
the other planets
and all the stars.

Over all that?
asked the little prince.

Over all that

the king answered.

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

And the stars obey you?

Certainly they do

the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."

Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority
he would have been able to watch the sunset
not forty-four times in one day
but seventy-two
or even a hundred
or even two hundred times
with out ever having to move his chair. 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:

I should like to see a sunset... do me that kindness... Order the sun to set...

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. "The general
or myself?"

You

said the little prince firmly.

Exactly. One much require from each one the duty which each one can perform

the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. 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."

Then my sunset?
the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.

You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But
according to my science of government
I shall wait until conditions are favorable.

When will that be?
inquired the little prince.

Hum! Hum!
replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. "Hum! Hum! That will be about-- about-- that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed."

The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then
too
he was already beginning to be a little bored.

I have nothing more to do here

he said to the king. "So I shall set out on my way again."

Do not go

said the king
who was very proud of having a subject. "Do not go. I will make you a Minister!"

Minister of what?

Minster of-- of Justice!

But there is nobody here to judge!

We do not know that

the king said to him. "I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk."

Oh
but I have looked already!
said the little prince
turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet. On that side
as on this
there was nobody at all...

Then you shall judge yourself

the king answered. "that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly
then you are indeed a man of true wisdom."

Yes

said the little prince
but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet.

Hum! Hum!" said the king. "I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have."

I

replied the little prince
do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way.

No

said the king.

But the little prince
having now completed his preparations for departure
had no wish to grieve the old monarch.

If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed

he said
he should be able to give me a reasonable order. He should be able
for example
to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favorable...

As the king made no answer
the little prince hesitated a moment. Then
with a sigh
he took his leave.

I made you my Ambassador

the king called out
hastily.

He had a magnificent air of authority.

The grown-ups are very strange

the little prince said to himself
as he continued on his journey.

[ Chapter 11 ]

- the little prince visits the conceited man

The second planet was inhabited by a conceited man.

Ah! Ah! I am about to receive a visit from an admirer!
he exclaimed from afar
when he first saw the little prince coming.

For
to conceited men
all other men are admirers.

Good morning

said the little prince. "That is a queer hat you are wearing."

It is a hat for salutes

the conceited man replied. "It is to raise in salute when people acclaim me. Unfortunately
nobody at all ever passes this way."

Yes?
said the little prince
who did not understand what the conceited man was talking about.

Clap your hands
one against the other

the conceited man now directed him.

The little prince clapped his hands. The conceited man raised his hat in a modest salute.

This is more entertaining than the visit to the king

the little prince said to himself. And he began again to clap his hands
one against the other. The conceited man against raised his hat in salute.

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

And what should one do to make the hat come down?
he asked.

But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.

Do you really admire me very much?
he demanded of the little prince.

What does that mean-- 'admire'?

To admire mean that you regard me as the handsomest
the best-dressed
the richest
and the most intelligent man on this planet.

But you are the only man on your planet!

Do me this kindness. Admire me just the same.

I admire you

said the little prince
shrugging his shoulders slightly
but what is there in that to interest you so much?

And the little prince went away.

The grown-ups are certainly very odd

he said to himself
as he continued on his journey.

[ Chapter 12 ]

- the little prince visits the tippler

The next planet was inhabited by a tippler. This was a very short visit
but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection.

What are you doing there?
he said to the tippler
whom he found settled down in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles.

I am drinking

replied the tippler
with a lugubrious air.

Why are you drinking?
demanded the little prince.

So that I may forget

replied the tippler.

Forget what?
inquired the little prince
who already was sorry for him.

Forget that I am ashamed

the tippler confessed
hanging his head.

Ashamed of what?
insisted the little prince
who wanted to help him.

Ashamed of drinking!
The tippler brought his speech to an end
and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

And the little prince went away
puzzled.

The grown-ups are certainly very
very odd

he said to himself
as he continued on his journey.

[ Chapter 13 ]

- the little prince visits the businessman

The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince's arrival.

Good morning

the little prince said to him. "Your cigarette has gone out."

Three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three make fifteen. Good morning. Fifteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I haven't time to light it again. Twenty-six and five make thirty-one. Phew! Then that makes five-hundred-and-one-million
six-hundred-twenty-two-thousand
seven-hundred-thirty-one.

Five hundred million what?
asked the little prince.

Eh? Are you still there? Five-hundred-and-one million-- I can't stop... I have so much to do! I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don't amuse myself with balderdash. Two and five make seven...

Five-hundred-and-one million what?
repeated the little prince
who never in his life had let go of a question once he had asked it.

The businessman raised his head.

During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited this planet
I have been disturbed only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago
when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where. He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place
and I made four mistakes in my addition. The second time
eleven years ago
I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism. I don't get enough exercise. I have no time for loafing. The third time-- well
this is it! I was saying
then
five -hundred-and-one millions--

Millions of what?

The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question.

Millions of those little objects

he said
which one sometimes sees in the sky.

Flies?

Oh
no. Little glittering objects.

Bees?

Oh
no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming. As for me
I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life.

Ah! You mean the stars?

Yes
that's it. The stars.

And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?

Five-hundred-and-one million
six-hundred-twenty-two thousand
seven-hundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate.

And what do you do with these stars?

What do I do with them?

Yes.

Nothing. I own them.

You own the stars?

Yes.

But I have already seen a king who--

Kings do not own
they reign over. It is a very different matter.

And what good does it do you to own the stars?

It does me the good of making me rich.

And what good does it do you to be rich?

It makes it possible for me to buy more stars
if any are ever discovered.

This man

the little prince said to himself
reasons a little like my poor tippler...

Nevertheless
he still had some more questions.

How is it possible for one to own the stars?

To whom do they belong?
the businessman retorted
peevishly.

I don't know. To nobody.

Then they belong to me
because I was the first person to think of it.

Is that all that is necessary?

Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody
it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody
it is yours. When you get an idea before any one else
you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars
because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them.

Yes
that is true

said the little prince. "And what do you do with them?"

I administer them

replied the businessman. "I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence."

The little prince was still not satisfied.

If I owned a silk scarf

he said
I could put it around my neck and take it away with me. If I owned a flower
I could pluck that flower and take it away with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven...

No. But I can put them in the bank.

Whatever does that mean?

That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key.

And that is all?

That is enough

said the businessman.

It is entertaining

thought the little prince. "It is rather poetic. But it is of no great consequence."

On matters of consequence
the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown-ups.

I myself own a flower

he continued his conversation with the businessman
which I water every day. I own three volcanoes
which I clean out every week (for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows). It is of some use to my volcanoes
and it is of some use to my flower
that I own them. But you are of no use to the stars...

The businessman opened his mouth
but he found nothing to say in answer. And the little prince went a本图书由www.aitxt.com为您整理制作
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[ Chapter 14 ]

- the little prince visits the lamplighter

The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamplighter
somewhere in the heavens
on a planet which had no people
and not one house. But he said to himself
nevertheless:

It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king
the conceited man
the businessman
and the tippler. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp
it is as if he brought one more star to life
or one flower. When he puts out his lamp
he sends the flower
or the star
to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful
it is truly useful.

When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.

Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?

Those are the orders

replied the lamplighter. "Good morning."

What are the orders?

The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening.

And he lighted his lamp again.

But why have you just lighted it again?

Those are the orders

replied the lamplighter.

I do not understand

said the little prince.

There is nothing to understand

said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning."

And he put out his lamp.

Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.

I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning
and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep.

And the orders have been changed since that time?

The orders have not been changed

said the lamplighter. "That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"

Then what?
asked the little prince.

Then-- the planet now makes a complete turn every minute
and I no longer have a single second for repose. Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!

That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute
here where you live!

It is not funny at all!
said the lamplighter. "While we have been talking together a month has gone by."

A month?

Yes
a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening.

And he lighted his lamp again.

As the little prince watched him
he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders. He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek
in other days
merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend.

You know

he said
I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to...

I always want to rest

said the lamplighter.

For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time.

The little prince went on with his explanation:

Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it. To be always in the sunshine
you need only walk along rather slowly. When you want to rest
you will walk-- and the day will last as long as you like.

That doesn't do me much good

said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."

Then you're unlucky

said the little prince.

I am unlucky

said the lamplighter. "Good morning."

And he put out his lamp.

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. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.

He breathed a sigh of regret
and said to himself
again:

That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people...

What the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet
because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets!

[ Chapter 15 ]

- the little prince visits the geographer

The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.

Oh
look! Here is an explorer!
he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.

The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!

Where do you come from?
the old gentleman said to him.

What is that big book?
said the little prince. "What are you doing?"

I am a geographer

the old gentleman said to him.

What is a geographer?
asked the little prince.

A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas
rivers
towns
mountains
and deserts.

That is very interesting

said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.

Your planet is very beautiful

he said. "Has it any oceans?"

I couldn't tell you

said the geographer.

Ah!
The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"

I couldn't tell you

said the geographer.

And towns
and rivers
and deserts?

I couldn't tell you that
either.

But you are a geographer!

Exactly

the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns
the rivers
the mountains
the seas
the oceans
and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions
and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him
the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."

Why is that?

Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much.

Why is that?
asked the little prince.

Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one.

I know some one

said the little prince
who would make a bad explorer.

That is possible. Then
when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good
an inquiry is ordered into his discovery.

One goes to see it?

No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example
if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain
one requires that large stones be brought back from it.

The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.

But you-- you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me!

And
having opened his big register
the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs
before putting them down in ink.

Well?
said the geographer expectantly.

Oh
where I live

said the little prince
it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows.

One never knows

said the geographer.

I have also a flower.

We do not record flowers

said the geographer.

Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!

We do not record them

said the geographer
because they are ephemeral.

What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?

Geographies

said the geographer
are the books which
of all books
are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things.

But extinct volcanoes may come to life again

the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?"

Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive
it comes to the same thing for us

said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."

But what does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?
repeated the little prince
who never in his life had let go of a question
once he had asked it.

It means
'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'

Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?

Certainly it is.

My flower is ephemeral

the little prince said to himself
and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet
all alone!

That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.

What place would you advise me to visit now?
he asked.

The planet Earth

replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."

And the little prince went away
thinking of his flower.

[ Chapter 16 ]

- the narrator discusses the Earth's lamplighters

So then the seventh planet was the Earth.

The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count
there 111 kings (not forgetting
to be sure
the Negro kings among them)
7000 geographers
900
000 businessmen
7
500
000 tipplers
311
000
000 conceited men-- that is to say
about 2
000
000
000 grown-ups.

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. The movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera. First would come the turn of the lamplighters of New Zealand and Australia. Having set their lamps alight
these would go off to sleep. Next
the lamplighters of China and Siberia would enter for their steps in the dance
and then they too would be waved back into the wings. After that would come the turn of the lamplighters of Russia and the Indies; then those of Africa and Europe
then those of South America; then those of South America; then those of North America. And never would they make a mistake in the order of their entry upon the stage. It would be magnificent.

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.

[ Chapter 17 ]

- the little prince makes the acquaintance of the snake

When one wishes to play the wit
he sometimes wanders a little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters. And I realize that I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not k now it. Men occupy a very small place upon the Earth. If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together
as they do for some big public assembly
they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet.

The grown-ups
to be sure
will not believe you when you tell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You should advise them
then
to make their own calculations. They adore fig ures
and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extra task. It is unnecessary. You have
I know
confidence in me.

When the little prince arrived on the Earth
he was very much surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet
when a coil of gold
the color of the moonlight
flashed across the sand.

Good evening

said the little prince courteously.

Good evening

said the snake.

What planet is this on which I have come down?
asked the little prince.

This is the Earth; this is Africa

the snake answered.

Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?

This is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large

said the snake.

The little prince sat down on a stone
and raised his eyes toward the sky.

I wonder

he said
whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again... Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!

It is beautiful

the snake said. "What has brought you here?"

I have been having some trouble with a flower

said the little prince.

Ah!
said the snake.

And they were both silent.

Where are the men?
the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert..."

It is also lonely among men

the snake said.

The little prince gazed at him for a long time.

You are a funny animal

he said at last. "You are no thicker than a finger..."

But I am more powerful than the finger of a king

said the snake.

The little prince smiled.

You are not very powerful. You haven't even any feet. You cannot even travel...

I can carry you farther than any ship could take you

said the snake.

He twined himself around the little prince's ankle
like a golden bracelet.

Whomever I touch
I send back to the earth from whence he came

the snake spoke again. "But you are innocent and true
and you come from a star..."

The little prince made no reply.

You move me to pity-- you are s

Chapter_3

o weak on this Earth made of granite

the snake said. "I can help you
some day
if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can--"

Oh! I understand you very well

said the little prince. "But why do you always speak in riddles?"

I solve them all

said the snake.

And they were both silent.

[ Chapter 18 ]

- the little prince goes looking for men and meets a flower

The little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower. It was a flower with three petals
a flower of no account at all.

Good morning

said the little prince.

Good morning

said the flower.

Where are the men?
the little prince asked
politely.

The flower had once seen a caravan passing.

Men?
she echoed. "I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them
several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots
and that makes their life very difficult."

Goodbye

said the little prince.

Goodbye

said the flower.

[ Chapter 19 ]

- the little prince climbs a mountain range

After that
the little prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes
which came up to his knees. And he used the extinct volcano as a footstool. "From a mountain as high as this one
he said to himself

I shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance
and all the people..."

But he saw nothing
save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles.

Good morning

he said courteously.

Good morning--Good morning--Good morning

answered the echo.

Who are you?
said the little prince.

Who are you--Who are you--Who are you?
answered the echo.

Be my friends. I am all alone

he said.

I am all alone--all alone--all alone

answered the echo.

What a queer planet!
he thought. "It is altogether dry
and altogether pointed
and altogether harsh and forbidding. And the people have no imagination. They repeat whatever one says to them... On my planet I had a flower; she always was the first to speak..."

[ Chapter 20 ]

- the little prince discovers a garden of roses

But it happened that after walking for a long time through sand
and rocks
and snow
the little prince at last came upon a road. And all roads lead to the abodes of men.

Good morning

he said.

He was standing before a garden
all a-bloom with roses.

Good morning

said the roses.

The little prince gazed at them. They all looked like his flower.

Who are you?
he demanded
thunderstruck.

We are roses

the roses said.

And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them
all alike
in one single garden!

She would be very much annoyed

he said to himself
if she should see that... she would cough most dreadfully
and she would pretend that she was dying
to avoid being laughed at. And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life-- for if I did not do that
to humble myself also
she would really allow herself to die...

Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich
with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose
and three volcanoes that come up to my knees-- and one of them perhaps extinct forever... that doesn't make me a very great prince..."

And he lay down in the grass and cried.

[ Chapter 21 ]

- the little prince befriends the fox

It was then that the fox appeared.

Good morning

said the fox.

Good morning

the little prince responded politely
although when he turned around he saw nothing.

I am right here

the voice said
under the apple tree.

Who are you?
asked the little prince
and added
You are very pretty to look at.

I am a fox

said the fox.

Come and play with me

proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

I cannot play with you

the fox said. "I am not tamed."

Ah! Please excuse me

said the little prince.

But
after some thought
he added:

What does that mean-- 'tame'?

You do not live here

said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"

I am looking for men

said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

Men

said the fox. "They have guns
and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"

No

said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

It is an act too often neglected

said the fox. It means to establish ties."

'To establish ties'?

Just that

said the fox. "To me
you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you
on your part
have no need of me. To you
I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me
then we shall need each other. To me
you will be unique in all the world. To you
I shall be unique in all the world..."

I am beginning to understand

said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

It is possible

said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."

Oh
but this is not on the Earth!
said the little prince.

The fox seemed perplexed
and very curious.

On another planet?

Yes.

Are there hunters on this planet?

No.

Ah
that is interesting! Are there chickens?

No.

Nothing is perfect

sighed the fox.

But he came back to his idea.

My life is very monotonous

the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike
and all the men are just alike. And
in consequence
I am a little bored. But if you tame me
it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me
like music
out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not ea t bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain
which is also golden
will bring me bac k the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."

The fox gazed at the little prince
for a long time.

Please-- tame me!
he said.

I want to
very much

the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover
and a great many things to understand."

One only understands the things that one tames

said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship
and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend
tame me..."

What must I do
to tame you?
asked the little prince.

You must be very patient

replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye
and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But yo u will sit a little closer to me
every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

It would have been better to come back at the same hour

said the fox. "If
for example
you come at four o'clock in the afternoon
then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock
I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time
I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

What is a rite?
asked the little prince.

Those also are actions too often neglected

said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days
one hour from other hours. There is a rite
for example
among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time
every day would be like every other day
and I should never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--

Ah

said the fox
I shall cry.

It is your own fault

said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

Yes
that is so

said the fox.

But now you are going to cry!
said the little prince.

Yes
that is so

said the fox.

Then it has done you no good at all!

It has done me good

said the fox
because of the color of the wheat fields.
And then he added:

Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me
and I will make you a present of a secret.

The little prince went away
to look again at the roses.

You are not at all like my rose

he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you
and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend
and now he is unique in all the world."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

You are beautiful
but you are empty

he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure
an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to
when she grumbled
or boasted
or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

And he went back to meet the fox.

Goodbye

he said.

Goodbye

said the fox. "And now here is my secret
a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

What is essential is invisible to the eye

the little prince repeated
so that he would be sure to remember.

It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

It is the time I have wasted for my rose--
said the little prince
so that he would be sure to remember.

Men have forgotten this truth

said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible
forever
for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

I am responsible for my rose

the little prince repeated
so that he would be sure to remember.

[ Chapter 22 ]

- the little prince encounters a railway switchman

Good morning

said the little prince.

Good morning

said the railway switchman.

What do you do here?
the little prince asked.

I sort out travelers
in bundles of a thousand

said the switchman. "I send off the trains that carry them; now to the right
now to the left."

And a brilliantly lighted express train shook the switchman's cabin as it rushed by with a roar like thunder.

They are in a great hurry

said the little prince. "What are they looking for?"

Not even the locomotive engineer knows that

said the switchman.

And a second brilliantly lighted express thundered by
in the opposite direction.

Are they coming back already?
demanded the little prince.

These are not the same ones

said the switchman. "It is an exchange."

Were they not satisfied where they were?
asked the little prince.

No one is ever satisfied where he is

said the switchman.

And they heard the roaring thunder of a third brilliantly lighted express.

Are they pursuing the first travelers?
demanded the little prince.

They are pursuing nothing at all

said the switchman. "They are asleep in there
or if they are not asleep they are yawning. Only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes."

Only the children know what they are looking for

said the little prince. "They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them
they cry..."

They are lucky

the switchman said.

[ Chapter 23 ]

- the little prince encounters a merchant

Good morning

said the little prince.

Good morning

said the merchant.

This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week
and you would feel no need of anything to drink.

Why are you selling those?
asked the little prince.

Because they save a tremendous amount of time

said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills
you save fifty-three minutes in every week."

And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?

Anything you like...

As for me

said the little prince to himself
if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked
I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.

[ Chapter 24 ]

- the narrator and the little prince
thirsty
hunt for a well in the desert

It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert
and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply.

Ah

I said to the little prince
these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I
too
should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!

My friend the fox--
the little prince said to me.

My dear little man
this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!

Why not?

Because I am about to die of thirst...

He did not follow my reasoning
and he answered me:

It is a good thing to have had a friend
even if one is about to die. I
for instance
am very glad to have had a fox as a friend...

He has no way of guessing the danger

I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..."

But he looked at me steadily
and replied to my thought:

I am thirsty
too. Let us look for a well...

I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well
at random
in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.

When we had trudged along for several hours
in silence
the darkness fell
and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish
and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory:

Then you are thirsty
too?
I demanded.

But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:

Water may also be good for the heart...

I did not understand this answer
but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.

He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And
after a little silence
he spoke again:

The stars are beautiful
because of a flower that cannot be seen.

I replied
Yes
that is so.
And
without saying anything more
I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.

The desert is beautiful

the little prince added.

And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune
sees nothing
hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs
and gleams...

What makes the desert beautiful

said the little prince
is that somewhere it hides a well...

I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house
and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure
no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart...

Yes

I said to the little prince. "The house
the stars
the desert-- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"

I am glad

he said
that you agree with my fox.

As the little prince dropped off to sleep
I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved
and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me
even
that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead
his closed eyes
his locks of hair that trembled in the wind
and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible..."

As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile
I said to myself
again: "What moves me so deeply
about this little prince who is sleeping here
is his loyalty to a flower-- the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp
even when he is asleep..." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him
as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind...

And
as I walked on so
I found the well
at daybreak.

[ Chapter 25 ]

- finding a well
the narrator and the little prince discuss his return to his planet

Men

said the little prince
set out on their way in express trains
but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about
and get excited
and turn round and round...

And he added:

It is not worth the trouble...

The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here
and I thought I must be dreaming...

It is strange

I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley
the bucket
the rope..."

He laughed
touched the rope
and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned
like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.

Do you hear?
said the little prince. "We have wakened the well
and it is singing..."

I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.

Leave it to me

I said. "It is too heavy for you."

I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there-- happy
tired as I was
over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears
and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.

I am thirsty for this water

said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..."

And I understood what he had been looking for.

I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank
his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars
the song of the pulley
the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart
like a present. When I was a little boy
the lights of the Christmas tree
the music of the Midnight Mass
the tenderness of smiling faces
used to make up
so
the radiance of the gifts I received.

The men where you live

said the little prince
raise five thousand roses in the same garden-- and they do not find in it what they are looking for.

They do not find it

I replied.

And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose
or in a little water.

Yes
that is true

I said.

And the little prince added:

But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart...

I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy
too. What brought me
then
this sense of grief?

You must keep your promise

said the little prince
softly
as he sat down beside me once more.

What promise?

You know-- a muzzle for my sheep... I am responsible for this flower...

I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over
and laughed as he said:

Your baobabs-- they look a little like cabbages.

Oh!

I had been so proud of my baobabs!

Your fox-- his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long.

And he laughed again.

You are not fair
little prince

I said. "I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."

Oh
that will be all right

he said
children understand.

So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.

You have plans that I do not know about

I said.

But he did not answer me. He said to me
instead:

You know-- my descent to the earth... Tomorrow will be its anniversary.

Then
after a silence
he went on:

I came down very near here.

And he flushed.

And once again
without understanding why
I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question
however
occurred to me:

Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you-- a week ago-- you were strolling along like that
all alone
a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?

The little prince flushed again.

And I added
with some hesitancy:

Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?

The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-- but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?

Ah

I said to him
I am a little frightened--

But he interrupted me.

Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening...

But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little
if one lets himself be tamed...

[ Chapter 26 ]

- the little prince converses with the snake; the little prince consoles the narrator; the little prince returns to his planet

Beside the well there was the ruin of an old stone wall. When I came back from my work
the next evening
I saw from some distance away my little price sitting on top of a wall
with his feet dangling. And I heard him say:

Then you don't remember. This is not the exact spot.

Another voice must have answered him
for he replied to it:

Yes
yes! It is the right day
but this is not the place.

I continued my walk toward the wall. At no time did I see or hear anyone. The little prince
however
replied once again:

--Exactly. You will see where my track begins
in the sand. You have nothing to do but wait for me there. I shall be there tonight.

I was only twenty metres from the wall
and I still saw nothing.

After a silence the little prince spoke again:

You have good poison? You are sure that it will not make me suffer too long?

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

Now go away

said the little prince. "I want to get down from the wall."

I dropped my eyes
then
to the foot of the wall-- and I leaped into the air. There before me
facing the little prince
was one of those yellow snakes that take just thirty seconds to bring your life to an end. Even as I was digging into my pocked to get out my revolver I made a running step back. But
at the noise I made
the snake let himself flow easily across the sand like the dying spray of a fountain
and
in no apparent hurry
disappeared
with a light metallic sound
among the stones.

I reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms; his face was white as snow.

What does this mean?
I demanded. "Why are you talking with snakes?"

I had loosened the golden muffler that he always wore. I had moistened his temples
and had given him some water to drink. And now I did not dare ask him any more questions. He looked at me very gravely
and put his arms around my neck. I felt his heart beating like the heart of a dying bird
shot with someone's rifle...

I am glad that you have found what was the matter with your engine

he said. "Now you can go back home--"

How do you know about that?

I was just coming to tell him that my work had been successful
beyond anything that I had dared to hope.

He made no answer to my question
but he added:

I
too
am going back home today...

Then
sadly--

It is much farther... it is much more difficult...

I realised clearly that something extraordinary was happening. 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...

His look was very serious
like some one lost far away.

I have your sheep. And I have the sheep's box. And I have the muzzle...

And he gave me a sad smile.

I waited a long time. I could see that he was reviving little by little.

Dear little man

I said to him
you are afraid...

He was afraid
there was no doubt about that. But he laughed lightly.

I shall be much more afraid this evening...

Once again I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable. And I knew that I could not bear the thought of never hearing that laughter any more. For me
it was like a spring of fresh water in the desert.

Little man

I said
I want to hear you laugh again.

But he said to me:

Tonight
it will be a year... my star
then
can be found right above the place where I came to the Earth
a year ago...

Little man

I said
tell me that it is only a bad dream-- this affair of the snake
and the meeting-place
and the star...

But he did not answer my plea. He said to me
instead: "The thing that is important is the thing that is not seen..."

Yes
I know...

It is just as it is with the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star
it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers...

Yes
I know...

It is just as it is with the water. Because of the pulley
and the rope
what you gave me to drink was like music. You remember-- how good it was.

Yes
I know...

And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better
like that. My star will just be one of the stars
for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens... they will all be your friends. And
besides
I am going to make you a present...

He laughed again.

Ah
little prince
dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!

That is my present. Just that. It will be as it was when we drank the water...

What are you trying to say?

All men have the stars

he answered
but they are not the same things for different people. For some
who are travelers
the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others
who are scholars
they are problems . For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You-- you alone-- will have the stars as no one else has them--

What are you trying to say?

In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing
when you look at the sky at night... you-- only you-- will have stars that can laugh!

And he laughed again.

And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window
so
for that pleasure... and your friends w ill be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them
'Yes
the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you...

And he laughed again.

It will be as if
in place of the stars
I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh...

And he laughed again. Then he quickly became serious:

Tonight-- you know... do not come

said the little prince.

I shall not leave you

I said.

I shall look as if I were suffering. I shall look a little as if I were dying. It is like that. Do not come to see that. It is not worth the trouble...

I shall not leave you.

But he was worried.

I tell you-- it is also because of the snake. He must not bite you. Snakes-- they are malicious creatures. This one might bite you just for fun...

I shall not leave you.

But a thought came to reassure him:

It is true that they have no more poison for a second bite.

That night I did not see him set out on his way. He got away from me without making a sound. When I succeeded in catching up with him he was walking along with a quick and resolute step. He said to me merely:

Ah! You are there...

And he took me by the hand. But he was still worrying.

It was wrong of you to come. You will suffer. I shall look as if I were dead; and that will not be true...

I said nothing.

You understand... it is too far. I cannot carry this body with me. It is too heavy.

I said nothing.

But it will be like an old abandoned shell. There is nothing sad about old shells...

I said nothing.

He was a little discouraged. But he made one more effort:

You know
it will be very nice. I
too
shall look at the stars. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley. All the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink...

I said nothing.

That will be so amusing! You will have five hundred million little bells
and I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water...

And he too said nothing more
becuase he was crying...

Here it is. Let me go on by myself.

And he sat down
because he was afraid. Then he said
again:

You know-- my flower... I am responsible for her. And she is so weak! She is so na秭e! She has four thorns
of no use at all
to protect herself against all the world...

I too sat down
because I was not able to stand up any longer.

There now-- that is all...

He still hesitated a little; then he got up. He took one step. I could not move.

There was nothing but a flash of yellow close to his ankle. He remained motionless for an instant. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even any sound
because of the sand.

[ Chapter 27 ]

- the narrator's afterthoughts

And now six years have already gone by...

I have never yet told t

Chapter_4

his story. The companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive. I was sad
but I told them: "I am tired."

Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say-- not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet
because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body... and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells...

But there is one extraordinary thing... when I drew the muzzle for the little prince
I forgot to add the leather strap to it. He will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep. So now I keep wondering: what is happening on his planet? Perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower...

At one time I say to myself: "Surely not! The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night
and he watches over his sheep very carefully..." Then I am happy. And there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars.

But at another time I say to myself: "At some moment or other one is absent-minded
and that is enough! On some one evening he forgot the glass globe
or the sheep got out
without making any noise
in the night..." And then the little bells are changed to tears...

Here
then
is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince
and for me
nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere
we do not know where
a sheep that we never saw has-- yes or no?-- eaten a rose...

Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes...

And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance!

This is
to me
the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world. It is the same as that on the preceding page
but I have drawn it again to impress it on your memory. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth
and disappeared.

Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise it in case you travel some day to the African desert. And
if you should come upon this spot
please do not hurry on. Wait for a time
exactly under the star. Then
if a little man appears who laughs
who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions
you will know who he is. If this should happen
please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back.
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The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary

he said simply
talking to himself as he continued on his journey.

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To Leon Werth

I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything
even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough
I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:

To Leon Werth
when he was a little boy

[ Chapter 1 ]

- we are introduced to the narrator
a pilot
and his ideas about grown-ups

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book
called True Stories from Nature
about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole
without chewing it. After that they are not able to move
and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

I pondered deeply
then
over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:

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

But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it
I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor
so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

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. That is why
at the age of six
I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves
and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession
and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night
such knowledge is valuable.

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 have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately
close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted
I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One
which I have always kept. I would try to find out
so
if this was a person of true understanding. But
whoever it was
he
or she
would always say:

That is a hat.

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors
or primeval forests
or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge
and golf
and politics
and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

[ Chapter 2 ]

- the narrator crashes in the desert and makes the acquaintance of the little prince

So I lived my life alone
without anyone that I could really talk to
until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara
six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers
I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.

The first night
then
I went to sleep on the sand
a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement
at sunrise
when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:

If you please-- draw me a sheep!

What!

Draw me a sheep!

I jumped to my feet
completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person
who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best potrait that
later
I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.

That
however
is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old
and I never learned to draw anything
except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.

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. And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands
nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert
a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak
I said to him:

But-- what are you doing here?

And in answer he repeated
very slowly
as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence: "If you please-- draw me a sheep..."

When a mystery is too overpowering
one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me
a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death
I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen. 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. He answered me:

That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep...

But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with

No
no
no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature
and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live
everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.

So then I made a drawing.

He looked at it carefully
then he said:

No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another.

So I made another drawing.

My friend smiled gently and indulgenty.

You see yourself

he said
that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns.

So then I did my drawing over once more.

But it was rejected too
just like the others.

This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time.

By this time my patience was exhausted
because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart. So I tossed off this drawing.

And I threw out an explanation with it.

This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.

I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:

That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?

Why?

Because where I live everything is very small...

There will surely be enough grass for him

I said. "It is a very small sheep that I have given you."

He bent his head over the drawing:

Not so small that-- Look! He has gone to sleep...

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

[ Chapter 3 ]

- the narrator learns more about from where the little prince came

It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince
who asked me so many questions
never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that
little by little
everything was revealed to me.

The first time he saw my airplane
for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me)
he asked me:

What is that object?

That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane.

And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.

He cried out
then:

What! You dropped down from the sky?

Yes

I answered
modestly.

Oh! That is funny!

And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter
which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.

Then he added:

So you
too
come from the sky! Which is your planet?

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

Do you come from another planet?

But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently
without taking his eyes from my plane:

It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away...

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." I made a great effort
therefore
to find out more on this subject.

My little man
where do you come from? What is this 'where I live
' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?

After a reflective silence he answered:

The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house.

That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string
too
so that you can tie him during the day
and a post to tie him to.

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:

Tie him! What a queer idea!

But if you don't tie him

I said
he will wander off somewhere
and get lost.

My friend broke into another peal of laughter:

But where do you think he would go?

Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.

Then the little prince said
earnestly:

That doesn't matter. Where I live
everything is so small!

And
with perhaps a hint of sadness
he added:

Straight ahead of him
nobody can go very far...

[ Chapter 4 ]

- the narrator speculates as to which asteroid from which the little prince came

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!

But that did not really surprise me much. I knew very well that in addition to the great planets-- such as the Earth
Jupiter
Mars
Venus-- to which we have given names
there are also hundreds of others
some of which are so small that one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope. When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name
but only a number. He might call it
for example
Asteroid 325.

I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612.

This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer
in 1909.

On making his discovery
the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress
in a great demonstration. But he was in Turkish costume
and so nobody would believe what he said.

Grown-ups are like that...

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. So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again
dressed with impressive style and elegance. And this time everybody accepted his report.

If I have told you these details about the asteroid
and made a note of its number for you
it is on account of the grown-ups and their ways. When you tell them that you have made a new friend
they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you
What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?
Instead
they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.

If you were to say to the grown-ups: "I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick
with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof
they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all. You would have to say to them:
I saw a house that cost $20
000." Then they would exclaim: "Oh
what a pretty house that is!"

Just so
you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming
that he laughed
and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep
that is a proof that he exists." And what good would it do to tell them that? They would shrug their shoulders
and treat you like a child. But if you said to them: "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612
then they would be convinced
and leave you in peace from their questions.

They are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people.

But certainly
for us who understand life
figures are a matter of indifference. I should have liked to begin this story in the fashion of the fairy-tales. I should have like to say:
Once upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was scarcely any bigger than himself
and who had need of a sheep..."

To those who understand life
that would have given a much greater air of truth to my story.

For I do not want any one to read my book carelessly. I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories. Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me
with his sheep. If I try to describe him here
it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him
I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...

It is for that purpose
again
that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils. It is hard to take up drawing again at my age
when I have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside
since I was six. I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible. But I am not at all sure of success. One drawing goes along all right
and another has no resemblance to its subject. I make some errors
too
in the littl e prince's height: in one place he is too tall and in another too short. And I feel some doubts about the color of his costume. So I fumble along as best I can
now good
now bad
and I hope generally fair-to-middling.

In certain more important details I shall make mistakes
also. But that is something that will not be my fault. My friend never explained anything to me. He thought
perhaps
that I was like himself. But I
alas
do not know how to see sheep through t he walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old.

[ Chapter 5 ]

- we are warned as to the dangers of the baobabs

As each day passed I would learn
in our talk
something about the little prince's planet
his departure from it
his journey. The information would come very slowly
as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard
on the third day
about the catastrophe of the baobabs.

This time
once more
I had the sheep to thank for it. 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?"

Yes
that is true.

Ah! I am glad!

I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:

Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?

I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes
but
on the contrary
trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him
the herd would not eat up one single baobab.

The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.

We would have to put them one on top of the other

he said.

But he made a wise comment:

Before they grow so big
the baobabs start out by being little.

That is strictly correct

I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?"

He answered me at once
Oh
come
come!
as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem
without any assistance.

Indeed
as I learned
there were on the planet where the little prince lived-- as on all planets-- good plants and bad plants. In consequence
there were good seeds from good plants
and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness
until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin-- timidly at first-- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush
one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant
one must destroy it as soon as possible
the very first instant that one recognizes it.

Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never
never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small
and the baobabs are too many
they split it in pieces...

It is a question of discipline

the little prince said to me later on. "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning
then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet
just so
with the greatest care. 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."

And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing
so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes
he added

there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs
that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes..."

So
as the little prince described it to me
I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood
and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid
that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children
I say plainly

watch out for the baobabs!"

My friends
like myself
have been skirting this danger for a long time
without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.

Perhaps you will ask me
Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs?

The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.

[ Chapter 6 ]

- the little prince and the narrator talk about sunsets

Oh
little prince! Bit by bit I came to understand the secrets of your sad little life... For a long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset. I learned that new detail on the morning of the fourth day
w hen you said to me:

I am very fond of sunsets. Come
let us go look at a sunset now.

But we must wait

I said.

Wait? For what?

For the sunset. We must wait until it is time.

At first you seemed to be very much surprised. And then you laughed to yourself. You said to me:

I am always thinking that I am at home!

Just so. Everybody knows that when it is noon in the United States the sun is setting over France.

If you could fly to France in one minute
you could go straight into the sunset
right from noon. Unfortunately
France is too far away for that. But on your tiny planet
my little prince
all you need do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like...

One day

you said to me
I saw the sunset forty-four times!

And a little later you added:

You know-- one loves the sunset
when one is so sad...

Were you so sad
then?
I asked
on the day of the forty-four sunsets?

But the little prince made no reply.

[ Chapter 7 ]

- the narrator learns about the secret of the little prince's life

On the fifth day-- again
as always
it was thanks to the sheep-- the secret of the little prince's life was revealed to me. 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:

A sheep-- if it eats little bushes
does it eat flowers
too?

A sheep

I answered
eats anything it finds in its reach.

Even flowers that have thorns?

Yes
even flowers that have thorns.

Then the thorns-- what use are they?

I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried
for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.

The thorns-- what use are they?

The little prince never let go of a question
once he had asked it. As for me
I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:

The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!

Oh!

There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me
with a kind of resentfulness:

I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are na秭e. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons...

I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won't turn
I am going to knock it out with the hammer." Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.

And you actually believe that the flowers--

Oh
no!
I cried. "No
no no! I don't believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don't you see-- I am very busy with matters of consequence!"

He stared at me
thunderstruck.

Matters of consequence!

He looked at me there
with my hammer in my hand
my fingers black with engine-grease
bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly...

You talk just like the grown-ups!

That made me a little ashamed. But he went on
relentlessly:

You mix everything up together... You confuse everything...

He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze.

I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman. He has never smelled a flower. He has never looked at a star. He has never loved any one. He has never done anything in his life but add up figures. And all day he says over and over
just like you: 'I am busy with matters of consequence!' And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man-- he is a mushroom!

A what?

A mushroom!

The little prince was now white with rage.

The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years. For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same. And is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them? Is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important? Is this not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman's sums? 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! You think that is not important!

His face turned from white to red as he continued:

If some one loves a flower
of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars
it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself
'Somewhere
my flower is there...' But if the sheep eats the flower
in one moment all his stars will be darkened... And you think that is not important!

He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing.

The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what moment now was my hammer
my bolt
or thirst
or death? On one star
one planet
my planet
the Earth
there was a little prince to be comforted. I took him in my arms
and rocked him. I said to him:

The flower that you love is not in danger. I will draw you a muzzle for your sheep. I will draw you a railing to put around your flower. I will--

I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him
where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more.

It is such a secret place
the land of tears.

[ Chapter 8 ]

- the rose arrives at the little prince's planet

I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody. One morning they would appear in the grass
and by night they would have faded peacefully away. But one day
from a seed blown from no one knew where
a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might
you see
have been a new kind of baobab.

The shrub soon stopped growing
and began to get ready to produce a flower. 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. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colours with the greatest care. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled
like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh
yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.

Then one morning
exactly at sunrise
she suddenly showed herself.

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

Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged...

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

Oh! How beautiful you are!

Am I not?
the flower responded
sweetly. "And I was born at the same moment as the sun..."

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

I think it is time for breakfast

she added an instant later. "If you would have the kindness to think of my needs--"

And the little prince
completely abashed
went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So
he tended the flower.

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. One day
fo

Chapter_5

r instance
when she was speaking of her four thorns
she said to the little prince:

Let the tigers come with their claws!

There are no tigers on my planet

the little prince objected. "And
anyway
tigers do not eat weeds."

I am not a weed

the flower replied
sweetly.

Please excuse me...

I am not at all afraid of tigers

she went on
but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?

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...

At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from--

But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a na秭e untruth
she coughed two or three times
in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

The screen?

I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me...

Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should 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. He had taken seriously words which were without importance
and it made him very unhappy.

I ought not to have listened to her

he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws
which disturbed me so much
should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

And he continued his confidences:

The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her...

[ Chapter 9 ]

- the little prince leaves his planet

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes. He possessed two active volcanoes; and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning. He also had one volcano that was extinct. But
as he said
One never knows!
So he cleaned out the extinct volcano
too. If they are well cleaned out
volcanoes burn slowly and steadily
without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.

On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes. That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.

The little prince also pulled up
with a certain sense of dejection
the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him. And when he watered the flower for the last time
and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe
he realised that he was very close to tears.

Goodbye

he said to the flower.

But she made no answer.

Goodbye

he said again.

The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.

I have been silly

she said to him
at last. "I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy..."

He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered
the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.

Of course I love you

the flower said to him. "It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. But you-- you have been just as foolish as I. Try to be happy... let the glass globe be. I don't want it any more."

But the wind--

My cold is not so bad as all that... the cool night air will do me good. I am a flower.

But the animals--

Well
I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies-- and the caterpillars-- who will call upon me? You will be far away... as for the large animals-- I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.

And
na秭ely
she showed her four thorns. Then she added:

Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!

For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower...

[ Chapter 10 ]

- the little prince visits the king

He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325
326
327
328
329
and 330. He began
therefore
by visiting them
in order to add to his knowledge.

The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine
he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

Ah! Here is a subject

exclaimed the king
when he saw the little prince coming.

And the little prince asked himself:

How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?

He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them
all men are subjects.

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. So he remained standing upright
and
since he was tired
he yawned.

It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king

the monarch said to him. "I forbid you to do so."

I can't help it. I can't stop myself

replied the little prince
thoroughly embarrassed. "I have come on a long journey
and I have had no sleep..."

Ah
then

the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns
to me
are objects of curiosity. Come
now! Yawn again! It is an order."

That frightens me... I cannot
any more...
murmured the little prince
now completely abashed.

Hum! Hum!
replied the king. "Then I-- I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to--"

He sputtered a little
and seemed vexed.

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But
because he was a very good man
he made his orders reasonable.

If I ordered a general

he would say
by way of example
if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird
and if the general did not obey me
that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.

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

I order you to do so

the king answered him
and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.

But the little prince was wondering... The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?

Sire

he said to him
I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question--

I order you to ask me a question

the king hastened to assure him.

Sire-- over what do you rule?

Over everything

said the king
with magnificent simplicity.

Over everything?

The king made a gesture
which took in his planet
the other planets
and all the stars.

Over all that?
asked the little prince.

Over all that

the king answered.

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

And the stars obey you?

Certainly they do

the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."

Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority
he would have been able to watch the sunset
not forty-four times in one day
but seventy-two
or even a hundred
or even two hundred times
with out ever having to move his chair. 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:

I should like to see a sunset... do me that kindness... Order the sun to set...

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. "The general
or myself?"

You

said the little prince firmly.

Exactly. One much require from each one the duty which each one can perform

the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. 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."

Then my sunset?
the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.

You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But
according to my science of government
I shall wait until conditions are favorable.

When will that be?
inquired the little prince.

Hum! Hum!
replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. "Hum! Hum! That will be about-- about-- that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed."

The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then
too
he was already beginning to be a little bored.

I have nothing more to do here

he said to the king. "So I shall set out on my way again."

Do not go

said the king
who was very proud of having a subject. "Do not go. I will make you a Minister!"

Minister of what?

Minster of-- of Justice!

But there is nobody here to judge!

We do not know that

the king said to him. "I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk."

Oh
but I have looked already!
said the little prince
turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet. On that side
as on this
there was nobody at all...

Then you shall judge yourself

the king answered. "that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly
then you are indeed a man of true wisdom."

Yes

said the little prince
but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet.

Hum! Hum!" said the king. "I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have."

I

replied the little prince
do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way.

No

said the king.

But the little prince
having now completed his preparations for departure
had no wish to grieve the old monarch.

If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed

he said
he should be able to give me a reasonable order. He should be able
for example
to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favorable...

As the king made no answer
the little prince hesitated a moment. Then
with a sigh
he took his leave.

I made you my Ambassador

the king called out
hastily.

He had a magnificent air of authority.

The grown-ups are very strange

the little prince said to himself
as he continued on his journey.

[ Chapter 11 ]

- the little prince visits the conceited man

The second planet was inhabited by a conceited man.

Ah! Ah! I am about to receive a visit from an admirer!
he exclaimed from afar
when he first saw the little prince coming.

For
to conceited men
all other men are admirers.

Good morning

said the little prince. "That is a queer hat you are wearing."

It is a hat for salutes

the conceited man replied. "It is to raise in salute when people acclaim me. Unfortunately
nobody at all ever passes this way."

Yes?
said the little prince
who did not understand what the conceited man was talking about.

Clap your hands
one against the other

the conceited man now directed him.

The little prince clapped his hands. The conceited man raised his hat in a modest salute.

This is more entertaining than the visit to the king

the little prince said to himself. And he began again to clap his hands
one against the other. The conceited man against raised his hat in salute.

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

And what should one do to make the hat come down?
he asked.

But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.

Do you really admire me very much?
he demanded of the little prince.

What does that mean-- 'admire'?

To admire mean that you regard me as the handsomest
the best-dressed
the richest
and the most intelligent man on this planet.

But you are the only man on your planet!

Do me this kindness. Admire me just the same.

I admire you

said the little prince
shrugging his shoulders slightly
but what is there in that to interest you so much?

And the little prince went away.

The grown-ups are certainly very odd

he said to himself
as he continued on his journey.

[ Chapter 12 ]

- the little prince visits the tippler

The next planet was inhabited by a tippler. This was a very short visit
but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection.

What are you doing there?
he said to the tippler
whom he found settled down in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles.

I am drinking

replied the tippler
with a lugubrious air.

Why are you drinking?
demanded the little prince.

So that I may forget

replied the tippler.

Forget what?
inquired the little prince
who already was sorry for him.

Forget that I am ashamed

the tippler confessed
hanging his head.

Ashamed of what?
insisted the little prince
who wanted to help him.

Ashamed of drinking!
The tippler brought his speech to an end
and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

And the little prince went away
puzzled.

The grown-ups are certainly very
very odd

he said to himself
as he continued on his journey.

[ Chapter 13 ]

- the little prince visits the businessman

The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince's arrival.

Good morning

the little prince said to him. "Your cigarette has gone out."

Three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three make fifteen. Good morning. Fifteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I haven't time to light it again. Twenty-six and five make thirty-one. Phew! Then that makes five-hundred-and-one-million
six-hundred-twenty-two-thousand
seven-hundred-thirty-one.

Five hundred million what?
asked the little prince.

Eh? Are you still there? Five-hundred-and-one million-- I can't stop... I have so much to do! I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don't amuse myself with balderdash. Two and five make seven...

Five-hundred-and-one million what?
repeated the little prince
who never in his life had let go of a question once he had asked it.

The businessman raised his head.

During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited this planet
I have been disturbed only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago
when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where. He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place
and I made four mistakes in my addition. The second time
eleven years ago
I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism. I don't get enough exercise. I have no time for loafing. The third time-- well
this is it! I was saying
then
five -hundred-and-one millions--

Millions of what?

The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question.

Millions of those little objects

he said
which one sometimes sees in the sky.

Flies?

Oh
no. Little glittering objects.

Bees?

Oh
no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming. As for me
I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life.

Ah! You mean the stars?

Yes
that's it. The stars.

And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?

Five-hundred-and-one million
six-hundred-twenty-two thousand
seven-hundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate.

And what do you do with these stars?

What do I do with them?

Yes.

Nothing. I own them.

You own the stars?

Yes.

But I have already seen a king who--

Kings do not own
they reign over. It is a very different matter.

And what good does it do you to own the stars?

It does me the good of making me rich.

And what good does it do you to be rich?

It makes it possible for me to buy more stars
if any are ever discovered.

This man

the little prince said to himself
reasons a little like my poor tippler...

Nevertheless
he still had some more questions.

How is it possible for one to own the stars?

To whom do they belong?
the businessman retorted
peevishly.

I don't know. To nobody.

Then they belong to me
because I was the first person to think of it.

Is that all that is necessary?

Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody
it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody
it is yours. When you get an idea before any one else
you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars
because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them.

Yes
that is true

said the little prince. "And what do you do with them?"

I administer them

replied the businessman. "I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence."

The little prince was still not satisfied.

If I owned a silk scarf

he said
I could put it around my neck and take it away with me. If I owned a flower
I could pluck that flower and take it away with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven...

No. But I can put them in the bank.

Whatever does that mean?

That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key.

And that is all?

That is enough

said the businessman.

It is entertaining

thought the little prince. "It is rather poetic. But it is of no great consequence."

On matters of consequence
the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown-ups.

I myself own a flower

he continued his conversation with the businessman
which I water every day. I own three volcanoes
which I clean out every week (for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows). It is of some use to my volcanoes
and it is of some use to my flower
that I own them. But you are of no use to the stars...

The businessman opened his mouth
but he found nothing to say in answer. And the little prince went away.

The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary

he said simply
talking to himself as he continued on his journey.
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[ Chapter 14 ]

- the little prince visits the lamplighter

The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamplighter
somewhere in the heavens
on a planet which had no people
and not one house. But he said to himself
nevertheless:

It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king
the conceited man
the businessman
and the tippler. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp
it is as if he brought one more star to life
or one flower. When he puts out his lamp
he sends the flower
or the star
to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful
it is truly useful.

When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.

Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?

Those are the orders

replied the lamplighter. "Good morning."

What are the orders?

The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening.

And he lighted his lamp again.

But why have you just lighted it again?

Those are the orders

replied the lamplighter.

I do not understand

said the little prince.

There is nothing to understand

said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning."

And he put out his lamp.

Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.

I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning
and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep.

And the orders have been changed since that time?

The orders have not been changed

said the lamplighter. "That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"

Then what?
asked the little prince.

Then-- the planet now makes a complete turn every minute
and I no longer have a single second for repose. Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!

That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute
here where you live!

It is not funny at all!
said the lamplighter. "While we have been talking together a month has gone by."

A month?

Yes
a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening.

And he lighted his lamp again.

As the little prince watched him
he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders. He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek
in other days
merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend.

You know

he said
I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to...

I always want to rest

said the lamplighter.

For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time.

The little prince went on with his explanation:

Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it. To be always in the sunshine
you need only walk along rather slowly. When you want to rest
you will walk-- and the day will last as long as you like.

That doesn't do me much good

said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."

Then you're unlucky

said the little prince.

I am unlucky

said the lamplighter. "Good morning."

And he put out his lamp.

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. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself.

He breathed a sigh of regret
and said to himself
again:

That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people...

What the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet
because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets!

[ Chapter 15 ]

- the little prince visits the geographer

The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.

Oh
look! Here is an explorer!
he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.

The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!

Where do you come from?
the old gentleman said to him.

What is that big book?
said the little prince. "What are you doing?"

I am a geographer

the old gentleman said to him.

What is a geographer?
asked the little prince.

A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas
rivers
towns
mountains
and deserts.

That is very interesting

said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.

Your planet is very beautiful

he said. "Has it any oceans?"

I couldn't tell you

said the geographer.

Ah!
The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"

I couldn't tell you

said the geographer.

And towns
and rivers
and deserts?

I couldn't tell you that
either.

But you are a geographer!

Exactly

the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns
the rivers
the mountains
the seas
the oceans
and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions
and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him
the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."

Why is that?

Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much.

Why is that?
asked the little prince.

Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one.

I know some one

said the little prince
who would make a bad explorer.

That is possible. Then
when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good
an inquiry is ordered into his discovery.

One goes to see it?

No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example
if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain
one requires that large stones be brought back from it.

The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.

But you-- you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me!

And
having opened his big register
the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs
before putting them down in ink.

Well?
said the geographer expectantly.

Oh
where I live

said the little prince
it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows.

One never knows

said the geographer.

I have also a flower.

We do not record flowers

said the geographer.

Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!

We do not record them

said the geographer
because they are ephemeral.

What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?

Geographies

said the geographer
are the books which
of all books
are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things.

But extinct volcanoes may come to life again

the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?"

Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive
it comes to the same thing for us

said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."

But what does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?
repeated the little prince
who never in his life had let go of a question
once he had asked it.

It means
'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'

Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?

Certainly it is.

My flower is ephemeral

the little prince said to himself
and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet
all alone!

That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.

What place would you advise me to visit now?
he asked.

The planet Earth

replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."

And the little prince went away
thinking of his flower.

[ Chapter 16 ]

- the narrator discusses the Earth's lamplighters

So then the seventh planet was the Earth.

The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count
there 111 kings (not forgetting
to be sure
the Negro kings among them)
7000 geographers
900
000 businessmen
7
500
000 tipplers
311
000
000 conceited men-- that is to say
about 2
000
000
000 grown-ups.

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. The movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera. First would come the turn of the lamplighters of New Zealand and Australia. Having set their lamps alight
these would go off to sleep. Next
the lamplighters of China and Siberia would enter for their steps in the dance
and then they too would be waved back into the wings. After that would come the turn of the lamplighters of Russia and the Indies; then those of Africa and Europe
then those of South America; then those of South America; then those of North America. And never would they make a mistake in the order of their entry upon the stage. It would be magnificent.

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.

[ Chapter 17 ]

- the little prince makes the acquaintance of the snake

When one wishes to play the wit
he sometimes wanders a little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters. And I realize that

Chapter_6

I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not k now it. Men occupy a very small place upon the Earth. If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together
as they do for some big public assembly
they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet.

The grown-ups
to be sure
will not believe you when you tell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You should advise them
then
to make their own calculations. They adore fig ures
and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extra task. It is unnecessary. You have
I know
confidence in me.

When the little prince arrived on the Earth
he was very much surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet
when a coil of gold
the color of the moonlight
flashed across the sand.

Good evening

said the little prince courteously.

Good evening

said the snake.

What planet is this on which I have come down?
asked the little prince.

This is the Earth; this is Africa

the snake answered.

Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?

This is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large

said the snake.

The little prince sat down on a stone
and raised his eyes toward the sky.

I wonder

he said
whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again... Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!

It is beautiful

the snake said. "What has brought you here?"

I have been having some trouble with a flower

said the little prince.

Ah!
said the snake.

And they were both silent.

Where are the men?
the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert..."

It is also lonely among men

the snake said.

The little prince gazed at him for a long time.

You are a funny animal

he said at last. "You are no thicker than a finger..."

But I am more powerful than the finger of a king

said the snake.

The little prince smiled.

You are not very powerful. You haven't even any feet. You cannot even travel...

I can carry you farther than any ship could take you

said the snake.

He twined himself around the little prince's ankle
like a golden bracelet.

Whomever I touch
I send back to the earth from whence he came

the snake spoke again. "But you are innocent and true
and you come from a star..."

The little prince made no reply.

You move me to pity-- you are so weak on this Earth made of granite

the snake said. "I can help you
some day
if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can--"

Oh! I understand you very well

said the little prince. "But why do you always speak in riddles?"

I solve them all

said the snake.

And they were both silent.

[ Chapter 18 ]

- the little prince goes looking for men and meets a flower

The little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower. It was a flower with three petals
a flower of no account at all.

Good morning

said the little prince.

Good morning

said the flower.

Where are the men?
the little prince asked
politely.

The flower had once seen a caravan passing.

Men?
she echoed. "I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them
several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots
and that makes their life very difficult."

Goodbye

said the little prince.

Goodbye

said the flower.

[ Chapter 19 ]

- the little prince climbs a mountain range

After that
the little prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes
which came up to his knees. And he used the extinct volcano as a footstool. "From a mountain as high as this one
he said to himself

I shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance
and all the people..."

But he saw nothing
save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles.

Good morning

he said courteously.

Good morning--Good morning--Good morning

answered the echo.

Who are you?
said the little prince.

Who are you--Who are you--Who are you?
answered the echo.

Be my friends. I am all alone

he said.

I am all alone--all alone--all alone

answered the echo.

What a queer planet!
he thought. "It is altogether dry
and altogether pointed
and altogether harsh and forbidding. And the people have no imagination. They repeat whatever one says to them... On my planet I had a flower; she always was the first to speak..."

[ Chapter 20 ]

- the little prince discovers a garden of roses

But it happened that after walking for a long time through sand
and rocks
and snow
the little prince at last came upon a road. And all roads lead to the abodes of men.

Good morning

he said.

He was standing before a garden
all a-bloom with roses.

Good morning

said the roses.

The little prince gazed at them. They all looked like his flower.

Who are you?
he demanded
thunderstruck.

We are roses

the roses said.

And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them
all alike
in one single garden!

She would be very much annoyed

he said to himself
if she should see that... she would cough most dreadfully
and she would pretend that she was dying
to avoid being laughed at. And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life-- for if I did not do that
to humble myself also
she would really allow herself to die...

Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich
with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose
and three volcanoes that come up to my knees-- and one of them perhaps extinct forever... that doesn't make me a very great prince..."

And he lay down in the grass and cried.

[ Chapter 21 ]

- the little prince befriends the fox

It was then that the fox appeared.

Good morning

said the fox.

Good morning

the little prince responded politely
although when he turned around he saw nothing.

I am right here

the voice said
under the apple tree.

Who are you?
asked the little prince
and added
You are very pretty to look at.

I am a fox

said the fox.

Come and play with me

proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

I cannot play with you

the fox said. "I am not tamed."

Ah! Please excuse me

said the little prince.

But
after some thought
he added:

What does that mean-- 'tame'?

You do not live here

said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"

I am looking for men

said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

Men

said the fox. "They have guns
and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"

No

said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

It is an act too often neglected

said the fox. It means to establish ties."

'To establish ties'?

Just that

said the fox. "To me
you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you
on your part
have no need of me. To you
I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me
then we shall need each other. To me
you will be unique in all the world. To you
I shall be unique in all the world..."

I am beginning to understand

said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

It is possible

said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."

Oh
but this is not on the Earth!
said the little prince.

The fox seemed perplexed
and very curious.

On another planet?

Yes.

Are there hunters on this planet?

No.

Ah
that is interesting! Are there chickens?

No.

Nothing is perfect

sighed the fox.

But he came back to his idea.

My life is very monotonous

the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike
and all the men are just alike. And
in consequence
I am a little bored. But if you tame me
it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me
like music
out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not ea t bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain
which is also golden
will bring me bac k the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."

The fox gazed at the little prince
for a long time.

Please-- tame me!
he said.

I want to
very much

the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover
and a great many things to understand."

One only understands the things that one tames

said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship
and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend
tame me..."

What must I do
to tame you?
asked the little prince.

You must be very patient

replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye
and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But yo u will sit a little closer to me
every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

It would have been better to come back at the same hour

said the fox. "If
for example
you come at four o'clock in the afternoon
then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock
I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time
I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

What is a rite?
asked the little prince.

Those also are actions too often neglected

said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days
one hour from other hours. There is a rite
for example
among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time
every day would be like every other day
and I should never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--

Ah

said the fox
I shall cry.

It is your own fault

said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

Yes
that is so

said the fox.

But now you are going to cry!
said the little prince.

Yes
that is so

said the fox.

Then it has done you no good at all!

It has done me good

said the fox
because of the color of the wheat fields.
And then he added:

Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me
and I will make you a present of a secret.

The little prince went away
to look again at the roses.

You are not at all like my rose

he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you
and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend
and now he is unique in all the world."

And the roses were very much embarrassed.

You are beautiful
but you are empty

he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure
an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to
when she grumbled
or boasted
or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

And he went back to meet the fox.

Goodbye

he said.

Goodbye

said the fox. "And now here is my secret
a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

What is essential is invisible to the eye

the little prince repeated
so that he would be sure to remember.

It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.

It is the time I have wasted for my rose--
said the little prince
so that he would be sure to remember.

Men have forgotten this truth

said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible
forever
for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

I am responsible for my rose

the little prince repeated
so that he would be sure to remember.

[ Chapter 22 ]

- the little prince encounters a railway switchman

Good morning

said the little prince.

Good morning

said the railway switchman.

What do you do here?
the little prince asked.

I sort out travelers
in bundles of a thousand

said the switchman. "I send off the trains that carry them; now to the right
now to the left."

And a brilliantly lighted express train shook the switchman's cabin as it rushed by with a roar like thunder.

They are in a great hurry

said the little prince. "What are they looking for?"

Not even the locomotive engineer knows that

said the switchman.

And a second brilliantly lighted express thundered by
in the opposite direction.

Are they coming back already?
demanded the little prince.

These are not the same ones

said the switchman. "It is an exchange."

Were they not satisfied where they were?
asked the little prince.

No one is ever satisfied where he is

said the switchman.

And they heard the roaring thunder of a third brilliantly lighted express.

Are they pursuing the first travelers?
demanded the little prince.

They are pursuing nothing at all

said the switchman. "They are asleep in there
or if they are not asleep they are yawning. Only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes."

Only the children know what they are looking for

said the little prince. "They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them
they cry..."

They are lucky

the switchman said.

[ Chapter 23 ]

- the little prince encounters a merchant

Good morning

said the little prince.

Good morning

said the merchant.

This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week
and you would feel no need of anything to drink.

Why are you selling those?
asked the little prince.

Because they save a tremendous amount of time

said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills
you save fifty-three minutes in every week."

And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?

Anything you like...

As for me

said the little prince to himself
if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked
I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.

[ Chapter 24 ]

- the narrator and the little prince
thirsty
hunt for a well in the desert

It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert
and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply.

Ah

I said to the little prince
these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I
too
should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!

My friend the fox--
the little prince said to me.

My dear little man
this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!

Why not?

Because I am about to die of thirst...

He did not follow my reasoning
and he answered me:

It is a good thing to have had a friend
even if one is about to die. I
for instance
am very glad to have had a fox as a friend...

He has no way of guessing the danger

I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..."

But he looked at me steadily
and replied to my thought:

I am thirsty
too. Let us look for a well...

I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well
at random
in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.

When we had trudged along for several hours
in silence
the darkness fell
and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish
and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory:

Then you are thirsty
too?
I demanded.

But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:

Water may also be good for the heart...

I did not understand this answer
but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.

He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And
after a little silence
he spoke again:

The stars are beautiful
because of a flower that cannot be seen.

I replied
Yes
that is so.
And
without saying anything more
I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.

The desert is beautiful

the little prince added.

And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune
sees nothing
hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs
and gleams...

What makes the desert beautiful

said the little prince
is that somewhere it hides a well...

I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house
and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure
no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart...

Yes

I said to the little prince. "The house
the stars
the desert-- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"

I am glad

he said
that you agree with my fox.

As the little prince dropped off to sleep
I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved
and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me
even
that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead
his closed eyes
his locks of hair that trembled in the wind
and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible..."

As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile
I said to myself
again: "What moves me so deeply
about this little prince who is sleeping here
is his loyalty to a flower-- the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp
even when he is asleep..." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him
as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind...

And
as I walked on so
I found the well
at daybreak.

[ Chapter 25 ]

- finding a well
the narrator and the little prince discuss his return to his planet

Men

said the little prince
set out on their way in express trains
but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about
and get excited
and turn round and round...

And he added:

It is not worth the trouble...

The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here
and I thought I must be dreaming...

It is strange

I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley
the bucket
the rope..."

He laughed
touched the rope
and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned
like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.

Do you hear?
said the little prince. "We have wakened the well
and it is singing..."

I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.

Leave it to me

I said. "It is too heavy for you."

I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there-- happy
tired as I was
over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears
and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.

I am thirsty for this water

said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..."

And I understood what he had been looking for.

I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank
his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars
the song of the pulley
the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart
like a present. When I was a little boy
the lights of the Christmas tree
the music of the Midnight Mass
the tenderness of smiling faces
used to make up
so
the radiance of the gifts I received.

The men where you live

said the little prince
raise five thousand roses in the same garden-- and they do not find in it what they are looking for.

They do not find it

I replied.

And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose
or in a little water.

Yes
that is true

I said.

And the little prince added:

But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart...

I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy
too. What brought me
then
this sense of grief?

You must keep your promise

said the little prince
softly
as he sat down beside me once more.

What promise?

You know-- a muzzle for my sheep... I am responsible for this flower...

I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over
and laughed as he said:

Your baobabs-- they look a little like cabbages.

Oh!

I had been so proud of my baobabs!

Your fox-- his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long.

And he laughed again.

You are not fair
little prince

I said. "I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."

Oh
that will be all right

he said
children understand.

So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.

You have plans that I do not know about

I said.

But he did not answer me. He said to me
instead:

You know-- my descent to the earth... Tomorrow will be its anniversary.

Then
after a silence
he went on:

I came down very near here.

And he flushed.

And once again
without understanding why
I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question
however
occurred to me:

Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you-- a week ago-- you were strolling along like that
all alone
a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?

The little prince flushed again.

And I added
with some hesitancy:

Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?

The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-- but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?

Ah

I said to him
I am a little frightened--

But he interrupted me.

Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening...

But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little
if one lets himself be tamed...

[ Chapter 26 ]

- the little prince converses with the snake; the little prince consoles the narrator; the little prince returns to his planet

Beside the well there was the ruin of an old stone wall. When I came back from my work
the next evening
I saw from some distance away my little price sitting on top of a wall
with his feet dangling. And I heard him say:

Then you don't remember. This is not the exact spot.

Another voice must have answered him
for he replied to it:

Yes
yes! It is the right day
but this is not the place.

I continued my walk toward the wall. At no time did I see or hear anyone. The little prince
however
replied once again:

--Exactly. You will see where my track begins
in the sand. You have nothing to do but wait for me there. I shall be there tonight.

I was only twenty metres from the wall
and I still saw nothing.

After a silence the little prince spoke again:

You have good poison? You are sure that it will not make me suffer too long?

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

Now go away

said the little prince. "I want to get down from the wall."

I dropped my eyes
then
to the foot of the wall-- and I leaped into the air. There before me
facing the little prince
was one of those yellow snakes that take just thirty seconds to bring your life to an end. Even as I was digging into my pocked to get out my revolver I made a running step back. But
at the noise I made
the snake let himself flow easily across the sand like the dying spray of a fountain
and
in no apparent hurry
disappeared
with a light metallic sound
among the stones.

I reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms; his face was white as snow.

What does this mean?
I demanded. "Why are you talking with snakes?"

I had loosened the golden muffler that he always wore. I had moistened his temples
and had given him some water to drink. And now I did not dare ask him any more questions. He looked at me very gravely
and put his arms around my neck. I felt his heart beating like the heart of a dying bird
shot with someone's rifle...

I am glad that you have found what was the matter with your engine

he said. "Now you can go back home--"

How do you know about that?

I was just coming to tell him that my work had been successful
beyond anything that I had dared to hope.

He made no answer to my question
but he added:

I
too
am going back home today...

Then
sadly--

It is much farther... it is much more difficult...

I realised clearly that something extraordinary was happening. 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...

His look was very serious
like some one lost far away.

I have your sheep. And I have the sheep's box. And I have the muzzle...

And he gave me a sad smile.

I waited a long time. I could see that he was reviving little by little.

Dear little man

I said to him
you are afraid...

He was afraid
there was no doubt about that. But he laughed lightly.

I shall be much more afraid this evening...

Once again I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable. And I knew that I could not bear the thought of never hearing that laughter any more. For me
it was like a spring of fresh water in the desert.

Little man

I said
I want to hear you laugh again.

But he said to me:

Tonight
it will be a year... my star
then
can be found right above the place where I came to the Earth
a year ago...

Little man

I said
tell me that it is only a bad dream-- this affair of the snake
and the meeting-place
and the star...

But he did not answer my plea. He said to me
instead: "The thing that is important is the thing that is not seen..."

Yes
I know...

It is just as it is with the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star
it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers...

Yes
I know...

It is just as it is with the water. Because of the pulley
and the rope
what you gave me to drink was like music. You remember-- how good it was.

Yes
I know...

And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better
like that. My star will just be one of the stars
for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens... they will all be your friends. And
besides
I am going to make you a present...

He laughed again.

Ah
little prince
dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!

That is my present. Just that. It will be as it was when we drank the water...

What are you trying to say?

All men have the stars

he answered
but they are not the same things for different people. For some
who are travelers
the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others
who are scholars
they are problems . For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You-- you alone-- will have the stars as no one else has them--

What are you trying to say?

In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing
when you look at the sky at night... you-- only you-- will have stars that can laugh!

And he laughed again.

And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window
so
for that pleasure... and your friends w ill be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them
'Yes
the stars al

Chapter_7

ways make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you...

And he laughed again.

It will be as if
in place of the stars
I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh...

And he laughed again. Then he quickly became serious:

Tonight-- you know... do not come

said the little prince.

I shall not leave you

I said.

I shall look as if I were suffering. I shall look a little as if I were dying. It is like that. Do not come to see that. It is not worth the trouble...

I shall not leave you.

But he was worried.

I tell you-- it is also because of the snake. He must not bite you. Snakes-- they are malicious creatures. This one might bite you just for fun...

I shall not leave you.

But a thought came to reassure him:

It is true that they have no more poison for a second bite.

That night I did not see him set out on his way. He got away from me without making a sound. When I succeeded in catching up with him he was walking along with a quick and resolute step. He said to me merely:

Ah! You are there...

And he took me by the hand. But he was still worrying.

It was wrong of you to come. You will suffer. I shall look as if I were dead; and that will not be true...

I said nothing.

You understand... it is too far. I cannot carry this body with me. It is too heavy.

I said nothing.

But it will be like an old abandoned shell. There is nothing sad about old shells...

I said nothing.

He was a little discouraged. But he made one more effort:

You know
it will be very nice. I
too
shall look at the stars. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley. All the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink...

I said nothing.

That will be so amusing! You will have five hundred million little bells
and I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water...

And he too said nothing more
becuase he was crying...

Here it is. Let me go on by myself.

And he sat down
because he was afraid. Then he said
again:

You know-- my flower... I am responsible for her. And she is so weak! She is so na秭e! She has four thorns
of no use at all
to protect herself against all the world...

I too sat down
because I was not able to stand up any longer.

There now-- that is all...

He still hesitated a little; then he got up. He took one step. I could not move.

There was nothing but a flash of yellow close to his ankle. He remained motionless for an instant. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even any sound
because of the sand.

[ Chapter 27 ]

- the narrator's afterthoughts

And now six years have already gone by...

I have never yet told this story. The companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive. I was sad
but I told them: "I am tired."

Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say-- not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet
because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body... and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells...

But there is one extraordinary thing... when I drew the muzzle for the little prince
I forgot to add the leather strap to it. He will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep. So now I keep wondering: what is happening on his planet? Perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower...

At one time I say to myself: "Surely not! The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night
and he watches over his sheep very carefully..." Then I am happy. And there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars.

But at another time I say to myself: "At some moment or other one is absent-minded
and that is enough! On some one evening he forgot the glass globe
or the sheep got out
without making any noise
in the night..." And then the little bells are changed to tears...

Here
then
is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince
and for me
nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere
we do not know where
a sheep that we never saw has-- yes or no?-- eaten a rose...

Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes...

And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance!

This is
to me
the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world. It is the same as that on the preceding page
but I have drawn it again to impress it on your memory. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth
and disappeared.

Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise it in case you travel some day to the African desert. And
if you should come upon this spot
please do not hurry on. Wait for a time
exactly under the star. Then
if a little man appears who laughs
who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions
you will know who he is. If this should happen
please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back.

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