The Little Prince (Saint-Exupéry)
Short summary
The Sahara Desert. Approximately early 20th century. After crashing his airplane, a pilot met a mysterious young boy, the Little Prince, who strangely asked him to draw a sheep.
The pilot soon realized the Little Prince had come from a tiny asteroid named B-612. On his planet, the boy had carefully tended a special rose he loved deeply, but her vanity made their relationship complicated, prompting him to leave home and travel the galaxy.
During his journey, the Little Prince encountered various adults on small planets, each obsessed with meaningless tasks: a king controlling nothing, a conceited narcissist seeking admiration, a tippler drinking to forget shame, an indifferent businessman counting stars as possessions, a lamplighter faithfully yet absurdly lighting a useless streetlamp, and a geographer unwilling to explore places himself.
Arriving on Earth, the Little Prince found it beautiful but loneliness surprised him. Meeting a wise fox, he learned the profound meaning of relationships and responsibility. Upon their parting, the fox shared a valuable lesson: "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."
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.
Finally reaching the Sahara Desert, the prince befriended the pilot, who cherished their friendship. Realizing he missed his rose and asteroid, the prince chose to return home by allowing a snake to bite him, as his body was too heavy. The pilot profoundly grieved this loss, always pondering if the prince safely reunited with his cherished flower under distant stars.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The narrators childhood and his encounter with grown-ups
The story began with the narrator's childhood experience. When he was six years old, he saw a picture of a boa constrictor swallowing an animal in a book about the jungle. Inspired by this, he created his first drawing, which depicted a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant. However, when he showed this drawing to adults, they mistook it for a hat. Frustrated by their lack of understanding, he made a second drawing showing the inside of the boa constrictor with the elephant visible, but the adults advised him to focus on more practical subjects like geography and mathematics instead.
Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
Discouraged, the narrator abandoned his potential career as an artist and became a pilot instead. Throughout his life, whenever he met someone who seemed clear-sighted, he would show them his Drawing Number One to test their understanding. Invariably, they would identify it as a hat, confirming his low opinion of grown-ups and their inability to see beyond the obvious.
The crash in the desert and the mysterious little prince
Six years before telling this story, the narrator's plane crashed in the Sahara Desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. While attempting to repair his aircraft alone, he was awakened at sunrise by a small voice asking him to draw a sheep. Startled, he turned to find an extraordinary little boy watching him with great seriousness. Despite his surprise at finding someone in such a remote location, the narrator complied with the strange request.
After several unsuccessful attempts at drawing sheep, the narrator hastily sketched a box and explained that the sheep was inside it. To his surprise, the little prince was perfectly satisfied with this solution. Through their conversation, the narrator gradually learned that the little prince came from a tiny planet, scarcely larger than a house. The narrator later identified this planet as Asteroid B-612, which had only been observed once by a Turkish astronomer in 1909.
The little prince asked many questions but rarely answered those posed to him. Information about his origins emerged slowly through casual remarks. When discussing the narrator's airplane, the little prince revealed he had come from another planet. He carried his drawing of the sheep everywhere and seemed concerned about whether it would have enough grass to eat, explaining that where he lived, everything was very small.
The little princes planet and the danger of baobabs
As their conversations continued, the narrator learned more about the little prince's home planet. On the third day, the little prince expressed concern about sheep eating baobab trees. He explained that on his planet, like all planets, there were good plants and bad plants. The baobabs were dangerous because if left unchecked, they would grow enormous, their roots would penetrate the planet, and eventually split it apart. The little prince emphasized that it was a matter of discipline to pull up baobab sprouts immediately when they appeared.
The little prince described his daily routine of caring for his planet, comparing it to morning hygiene: "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet." He insisted that the narrator make a drawing to warn children about the danger of baobabs, which the narrator did with great care, considering it an important lesson.
The little prince also shared that his only entertainment on his planet was watching sunsets. Due to the planet's small size, he could see a sunset whenever he wished simply by moving his chair a few steps. On one particularly sad day, he had watched forty-four sunsets. When the narrator asked if he had been sad that day, the little prince gave no reply.
The rose and the little princes departure
On the fourth day, the little prince revealed the story of his beloved flower. A mysterious seed had blown onto his planet and produced a flower unlike any he had seen before. The flower took great care with her appearance, choosing her colors carefully and adjusting her petals one by one. She was vain and demanding, asking for a screen against drafts and a glass globe for protection at night.
The little prince had been enchanted by the flower at first but became frustrated by her vanity and contradictions. He took her complaints too literally and began to doubt her. He confessed to the narrator that he had been too young to know how to love her properly. "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..."
Eventually, the little prince decided to leave his planet. He prepared for his departure by cleaning out his active volcanoes and uprooting the last baobab shoots. On his final morning, he watered his flower one last time and prepared to place her under her glass globe. The flower, showing unexpected tenderness, told him she loved him and asked him not to cover her. She admitted her foolishness and wished him happiness. The little prince was surprised by her lack of reproach and her quiet strength as she bid him farewell.
It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.
The little princes visits to the king and the conceited man
After leaving his planet, the little prince began visiting other asteroids. The first was inhabited by a king who claimed to rule over everything. The king insisted that his authority was absolute and universal, extending even to the stars. However, he only gave orders that could be carried out, explaining that "accepted authority rests first of all on reason." When the little prince asked him to order a sunset, the king consulted his almanac and said he would command it when conditions were favorable. Growing bored, the little prince decided to leave despite the king's offer to make him a minister.
The second asteroid was home to a conceited man who mistook the little prince for an admirer. He asked the little prince to clap his hands so he could raise his hat in salute. The conceited man heard only praise and demanded admiration even though he was the only person on his planet. Finding this behavior odd, the little prince soon departed.
Encounters with the drunkard, the businessman, and the lamplighter
The third asteroid was inhabited by a tippler surrounded by empty and full bottles. When the little prince asked why he was drinking, the tippler replied that he drank to forget that he was ashamed of drinking. Puzzled by this circular reasoning, the little prince continued his journey.
On the fourth asteroid, the little prince met a businessman who was constantly counting stars, claiming to own them. When questioned about the purpose of owning stars, the businessman explained that it made him rich, allowing him to buy more stars. The little prince found this reasoning absurd, pointing out that the businessman was of no use to the stars he owned, unlike how the little prince cared for his flower and volcanoes.
The fifth asteroid was the smallest of all, just large enough for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The lamplighter's job was to light his lamp at night and extinguish it in the morning. However, his planet rotated once per minute, requiring him to light and extinguish the lamp every minute without rest. The little prince admired the lamplighter's dedication to his work and thought he was the only one of all the grown-ups who was not ridiculous, as he thought of something besides himself.
The geographer and arrival on Earth
The sixth asteroid was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books. He introduced himself as a geographer, explaining that he recorded mountains, oceans, cities, and deserts but never left his desk to explore them himself. When the little prince described his planet, the geographer refused to record the flower because flowers were "ephemeral" – in danger of speedy disappearance. This revelation distressed the little prince, who realized he had left his delicate flower all alone. The geographer recommended that the little prince visit Earth next.
Upon arriving on Earth, the little prince found himself in a desert in Africa. He was surprised not to see any people. The first creature he encountered was a snake, who spoke in riddles and claimed to have the power to send anyone back to the place they came from. The little prince then met a three-petaled flower who told him that men were few in number and had no roots. Later, he climbed a mountain but found only echoes when he called out for friendship.
The fox and the secret of taming
Continuing his exploration, the little prince discovered a garden full of roses identical to his own. He was devastated to learn that his rose was not unique as she had claimed, but merely one of thousands. As he lay in the grass crying, a fox appeared. The fox asked the little prince to tame him, explaining that to tame meant "to establish ties" and create a relationship that makes one unique to the other.
The fox taught the little prince how to approach taming with patience and respect for rituals. "If you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you," the fox explained. After the little prince tamed the fox, he returned to the rose garden with new understanding. He realized that his rose was special not because of her appearance but because of the time and care he had invested in her.
Before they parted, the fox shared his secret with the little prince: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." He also reminded the little prince of the responsibility that comes with taming: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." These lessons helped the little prince understand the true value of his relationship with his rose.
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed... You are responsible for your rose.
The well in the desert and what is essential
By the eighth day after his plane crash, the narrator had run out of water. The little prince suggested they look for a well in the desert. Though the narrator thought this was absurd, they began walking. As night fell, the stars came out, and the little prince shared his wisdom: "The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen." He added that what makes the desert beautiful is that it hides a well somewhere.
The narrator carried the sleeping little prince through the night, reflecting on how fragile and precious the child seemed. At daybreak, they discovered a well. The water tasted sweet to them both, enhanced by the journey they had taken to find it. The little prince observed that people on Earth grow thousands of roses in one garden yet don't find what they're looking for, when it could be found in a single rose or a little water. "The eyes are blind," he said. "One must look with the heart."
As they rested by the well, the little prince reminded the narrator of his promise to draw a muzzle for his sheep to protect his flower. The narrator sensed something was wrong when the little prince mentioned that the next day would be the anniversary of his arrival on Earth. The little prince seemed to have plans he wasn't sharing, which filled the narrator with apprehension.
The little princes farewell and the narrators return
The following evening, the narrator found the little prince sitting on a wall, speaking to someone invisible. Approaching closer, he realized with horror that the little prince was talking to the same venomous snake he had met upon his arrival. The little prince had arranged to be bitten so he could shed his body and return to his planet. Despite the narrator's protests, the little prince insisted this was the only way.
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...
The little prince comforted the narrator, saying that he would be able to look at the stars and remember their friendship. "You will always be my friend... And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure... And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky!" At the appointed time, the snake bit the little prince, who fell gently to the sand without a sound.
Six years later, the narrator concluded his story. He had never found the little prince's body at daybreak and believed he had indeed returned to his planet. The narrator still looked at the stars and wondered if the sheep he drew had eaten the little prince's rose. He asked readers to notify him if they ever encountered a strange, laughing, golden-haired boy who refused to answer questions.