Review # 95: "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

The review goes like this:

A young boy loved to draw, but was discouraged when noone recognized his drawings for what they were, so he put away drawing and grew up to be a sensible man, a pilot by profession.
One day his plane went down in the Sahara Desert. It was there he met the Little Prince.

The Little Prince comes from a very small planet where he alone lives and takes care of 3 small volcanos (two active and one extinct,) keeps baobabs from taking over, and cares for a lone rose which grows on his planet.
He leaves his planet because he thinks the rose does not care for him. He travels to 6 planets before landing on earth, in the Sahara where the first thing he meets is a snake. The snake tells the little prince "Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came,.... but you are innocent and true, and you come from a star."
The snake will be invited back later, but for a time leaves the Little Prince to his travels.
Eventually the prince and the pilot meet and the little prince asks the pilot to draw him a sheep - this to keep the baobabs under control. Soon he realizes that the sheep could also eat the rose, and that her four thorns are no protection at all. This sends him into a panic, until the pilot tells him that he will draw the sheep a muzzle.
One of the creatures the Little Prince meets in the Sahara is a fox. This has always been my favorite part of this story. The fox explains to the Little Prince what "tame" means.

"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 in all the world..."

I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

The Little Prince is the story is of all the people and creatures the Little Prince has met on his journey, how he learns to understand his rose better from his experiences, and how the pilot learns to better understand what makes something a "matter of consequence."

I reread this book to see if I would still like it as much, and the answer is - yes. There is a reason that this book has remained so widely read and translated from the original French. It is a childrens book, but adults can love it too (I do.)