The Little Prince

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince, lə p(ə)ti pʁɛ̃s) is a novella written and illustrated by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot 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. The book has been translated into over 505 different languages and dialects worldwide, being 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. The narrator begins with a discussion on the nature of grownups and their inability to perceive "important things". As a test to determine if a grownup is as enlightened as a child, he shows them a picture depicting a boa constrictor that has eaten an elephant. The grownups always reply that the picture depicts a hat, and so he knows 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 has an eight-day supply of water and must fix his aeroplane. Here, he is greeted unexpectedly by a young boy nicknamed "the little prince." The prince has golden hair, a loveable laugh, and will repeat questions until they are answered. 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.