The Little Prince

The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince, pronounced [lə p(ə)ti pʁãs]) is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and was published posthumously in France following liberation; Saint-Exupéry's works had been banned by the Vichy Regime. The story follows a young prince who visits various planets, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children's book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults, and human nature. The Little Prince became Saint-Exupéry's most successful work, selling an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the best-selling in history. By November 2024, the book had been translated into 600 different languages and dialects worldwide. It became the second most translated work ever published, trailing only the Bible. The Little Prince has been adapted to numerous art forms and media, including audio recordings, radio plays, live stage, film, television, ballet, and opera.

Plot The book begins with the narrator reflecting back on the first drawing he made as a six-year-old of a boa constrictor who had eaten an elephant. Upon showing the picture to grown-ups, he was prompted to create his second drawing of the inside of the boa constrictor to prove the first drawing was not a hat. At this point, he was advised by the grown-up to put away his drawings and pursue something practical. As an adult, he kept his first drawing with him and showed it to new acquaintances to determine if the grown-up was as enlightened as a child. But the adults always reply that the picture was of a hat, so he learns to only talk of "reasonable" things to them, rather than the fanciful. The narrator becomes an aircraft pilot, and one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara desert, far from civilization. The narrator must fix his airplane before his supply of water runs out. Here, he is greeted by a young boy who is named "the little prince." The prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him the picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets correctly. After three failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the frustrated narrator draws a crate, claiming the sheep is inside. Surprisingly, this drawing delights the little prince. Over the course of days, while the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the prince recounts his life story. He used to live on a house-sized asteroid known on Earth as "B-612". The narrator recounts a story of a Turkish astronomer who, after discovering asteroid B-612, gave a presentation on his findings, but was ignored due to his traditional Turkish clothing. After dressing in European garments, however, namely a suit, his discoveries were accepted. The asteroid has three minuscule volcanoes (two active, and one dormant or extinct) and various plants. The prince used to clean the volcanoes and weed unwanted seeds and sprigs that infested his soil, pulling out baobab trees that were constantly on the verge of overrunning the surface due to their size. The prince wants a sheep to eat the undesirable plants, but worries it will also eat plants with thorns. The prince then describes a rose that grew on his asteroid. The rose exaggerated ailments and coughed to have the prince care for her. So, the prince made a screen and a glass globe to protect her from the cold and wind, watered her, and kept the caterpillars from eating her. Despite falling in love with the rose, the prince also began to feel that she was taking advantage of him, and so he resolved to leave the planet to explore the rest of the universe. Upon saying their goodbyes, the rose apologized for failing to show that she loved him. She wished him well and turned down his desire to leave her in the glass globe, saying she would protect herself. The prince laments that he does not understand how to love his rose while being with her. After leaving his planet, the prince visited six other planets, each of which was inhabited by one adult:

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