The story of ‘The Little Prince’ is loved by many people of all ages around the world. Written by French writer and aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupèry's, this tale is about a young boy from a tiny planet called Asteroid B-612, it is one of the best selling and most translated book ever published.
Contrary to its appearance, this literary piece is not just for children, for it is enjoyed by the young and old. While on the surface it is a simple story about a boy who is full of wonder, life lessons can be learnt if you read between the lines. It is Antoine’s social commentary on adulthood and how we have been too absorbed in our sleves, numbers and rules that we have grown numb to what is truly important in life.
“Stars mean different things to different people. For travellers, stars tell them where they are, where they are going. For others, they are just little lights in the sky. For scholars, they are the world of the unknown, yet to be discovered and understood. For my businessman, they are gold. But all stars stay silent. And you? No one else in the world will see the stars as you do… For you, and only for you, the stars will always be laughing.”
Lladró’s The Little Prince Sculpture
IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE LITTLE PRINCE…
The well-loved tale is about the narrator, an aviator whose plane crashes into the Sahara Desert and encounters a young boy, The Little Prince. The Little Prince tells the aviator all about his home planet and his travels before arriving on Earth.
He’s from a tiny house-sized asteroid called B-612. On his planet he tends the soil, to make sure his tiny planet is not over run by weeds and bad seeds, especially “Baobab” trees which if not uprooted the moment it is recognised, will grow too large to be removed and it’s roots will take over the planet, being a “catastrophe” as the Little Prince would say.
One day, the Prince notices the small shoot of a flower he has never seen before on his planet, a rose. The rose tells him she is unique, the only rose in the universe, an exaggeration to get the prince to care for her. Enamoured by her beauty, he nourishes and takes care of the rose until he has fallen in love with her. However, The Little Prince began to feel taken advantage of by the rose and her vain words and decides to leave the planet to explore the universe.
His explorations take him to different asteroids, where he meets a narrow-minded adult on each of them; a king with no subjects, a conceited man, a drunkard, a business man, a lamplighter and a geographer. Each of which represent a different element of society and each have a lesson to be learnt from them. The geographer tells the prince to visit Earth next so there is where he headed.
On Earth, he comes across a bed of roses, making him realise that his rose had been lying to him and that she wasn’t unique at all. However, when he encounters and befriends a wise fox, it teaches him that the rose really was one of a kind after all. It is because he poured his love and time into her that makes her special from all those roses he saw in the garden.
Back to present day where countless days have passed, the prince’s recollections make him long to be with his rose again. The prince is met by a snake who claims that he can take him to see his rose. The Little Prince bids his farewells to the aviator and tells him that he may not be able to take his body with him back to his planet as it may be too heavy but to not be sad for the aviator only needs only to look at the stars to think of the prince’s loveable laughter. The prince walks away from the aviator, allows the snake to bite him and his body falls soundlessly on the desert sand.