The Little Prince

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Title: The Little Prince
Written and drawn by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

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The Little Prince which is often described as a 'children's fable for adults', is a story which is rich in meaning and symbolism. It is an extremely likable story of a pilot who crashes in the desert and meets a charming little boy from another planet.

The story can be actually read at two levels -- as a children's story and as a story which speaks volumes about human nature, their dreams and aspirations. Very few books have been liked so immensely by children and adults alike. Every chapter leaves the readers reflecting about their lives but in a good way.

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This story talks about how adults could not understand the imaginations of children and how children could not understand adult's way of thinking.

The first instance was when the pilot, when he was 6 years old, drew an elephant inside a boa constrictor.

When he showed it to the grown-ups, they mistaken it as a hat. (it sure does look like a hat, isn't it? :D now I'm acting like a grown-up. hehe :D) So, he drew the inside of the boa constrictor so the grown-ups would understand.

The grown-ups, seeing this one, responded that he must lay aside his boa constrictors and focus on studying geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar.

Another is, 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 them: "I saw a house that cost $20,000." Then they would exclaim: "Oh, what a pretty house that is!" (well, this is true alright. :D)

Once, when the little prince was travelling to the other small planets, he first landed to a planet that was inhabited by a king. The king addressed him as a subject. To them, all men are subjects. The king's orders are rational. He told an example to the little prince, "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." The little prince asked the king over what dominion he rules, when he is alone in his small planet. The king answered, "Over everything." So, the little prince continued his journey saying to himself, "The grown-ups are very strange."

Then the second planet was inhabited by a conceited man and addressed the little prince as an admirer. The little prince asked him what an 'admirer' means. He answered, "To admire mean that you regard me as the handsomest, the best-dressed, the richest, and the most intelligent man on this planet." The little prince was puzzled because he was the only man on his small planet. So he departed, saying to himself, "The grown-ups are certainly very odd."

He came to the third planet. A tippler was seated before a collection of both empty and full bottles. The little prince asked him, "Why are you drinking?" The tippler replied, "So that I may forget that I am ashamed . . . of drinking." So, the little prince went away saying, "The grown-ups are certainly very, very odd."

The next planet belonged to a businessman, who was so busy mentioning numbers. He was counting the stars, and said that they own them. He did not want the little prince to ask him questions because he was 'concerned with matters of consequence'. So, the little prince continued his journey saying, "The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary."

The fifth planet was inhabited by a lamplighter with a street lamp. During day, the lamplighter put out the lamp, and during night, he would light it up again. He follows this order faithfully. So the prince thought that he could be his friend but his planet was so small. And then he departed.

Then he came to the planet of a geographer, who didn't know if there is an ocean, mountain, town, river, or desert in his own planet, in contrast with what he said that a geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts.

So the little prince came to the planet Earth and met the pilot who drew an elephant inside a boa constrictor when he was 6. Then, after a year, he went back to his own planet.

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Quotes from Antoine De Saint-Exupéry's works

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

- The Little Prince

"Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."

- The Little Prince

"Whoever loves above all the approach of love will never know the joy of attaining it."

- The Wisdom of the Sands

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."

- Flight to Arras

"Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction."

- Wind, Sands, and Stars

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♥   (｡◕‿◕｡)   ♥