First off, what a charming little book. It is quaint and short and sweet. Kind of like the perfect weekend read, on the beach or at the lake. It's full of word pictures and little illustrations alike. I loved it! Admittedly though, I had to get on SparkNotes (remember that from high school, my fellow children of the 80s and 90s??) to make sure I had gotten the whole thing. That's sad, right? It's written for children and I felt the need to make sure I hadn't missed any of the literary value or intent. I'm a silly silly woman.
Anyhow, it was a beautiful little read. After my quick consultation with SparkNotes, I realized I had indeed gotten all the main ideas that the author had intended. Thank goodness–THAT would be embarrassing if I was too dense to get a childrens' book.
This is my favorite part of the book:
It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good
morning," said the fox.
"Good
morning," the little prince responded politely, although
when
he turned around he saw nothing.
"I
am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"
Who
are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are
very pretty
to look at.
"I
am a fox," said the fox.
"Come
and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I
am so unhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said.
"I am
not tamed."
"Ah!
Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after
some thought,
he added: "What does that mean, 'tame'?"
"You
do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you
are looking
for?
"I
am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does
that mean,
'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It
is very
disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their
only interests.
Are you looking for chickens?""No,"
said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What
does that
mean, 'tame'?"
"It
is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means
to establish
ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just
that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more
than a
little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other
little boys.
And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have
no need
of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a
hundred thousand
other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each
other.
To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I
shall be
unique in all the world…"
"I
am beginning to understand," said the little prince.
"There is
a flower… I think that she has tamed me…"
"It
is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all
sorts of
things."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little
prince. The
fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On
another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are
there hunters on this planet?"
"No."
"Ah,
that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing
is perfect," sighed the fox. But he came back to his
idea.
"My
life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt
chickens; men
hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the
men are
just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored.
But if you
tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my
life . I
shall know the sound of a step that will be different
from all
the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath
the ground.
Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And
then look:
you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat
bread. Wheat
is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say
to me.
And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of
gold.
Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me!
The grain,
which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of
you. And
I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…"
The
fox gazed
at the little prince, for a long time. "Please, tame
me!" he said.
"I
want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I
have not
much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many
things
to understand."
"One
only understands the things that one tames," said the
fox. "Men
have no more time to understand anything. They buy
things all
ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere
where one
can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more.
If you
want a friend, tame me…"
"What
must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You
must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will
sit down
at a little distance from me, like that, in the grass. I
shall
look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will
say nothing.
Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will
sit a
little closer to me, every day…"
The
next day the little prince came back.
"It
would have been better to come back at the same hour,"
said the
fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the
afternoon,
then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall
feel
happier and happier as the hour advances. At four
o'clock, I shall
already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you
how happy
I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never
know at
what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you… One
must observe
the proper rites…"
"What
is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those
also are actions too often neglected," said the fox.
"They are
what make one day different from other days, one hour
from other
hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters.
Every Thursday
they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a
wonderful
day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards.
But if
the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be
like every
other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
So
the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of
his departure
drew near…
"Ah,"
said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It
is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never
wished you
any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…"
"Yes,
that is so," said the fox.
"But
now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes,
that is so," said the fox. "Then
it has done you no good at all!"
"It
has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color
of the
wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at
the roses.
You will understand now that yours is unique in all the
world.
Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you
a present
of a secret."
The
little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are
not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are
nothing. No
one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are
like my
fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a
hundred thousand
other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he
is unique
in all the world."
And the roses were very much
embarrassed.
"You
are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One
could not
die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would
think that
my rose looked just like you, the rose that belongs to
me. But
in herself alone she is more important than all the
hundreds of
you other roses: because it is she that I have watered;
because
it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because
it is
she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it
is for
her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two
or three
that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she
that I
have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even
sometimes
when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."
And
he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye,"
said the fox. "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."
"What
is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince
repeated,
so that he would be sure to remember. "It
is the time you have spent on your rose that makes
your rose
so important."
"It
is the time I have spent on my rose…" said the
little prince,
so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men
have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must
not forget
it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have
tamed.
You are responsible for your rose…"
"I
am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated,
so that
he would be sure to remember.
–The LIttle Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Please, do yourself a favor and read this book when you can. You don't have to purchase it, you can borrow it from your local library like I did this week. I didn't even have to wait for it, it was already checked in and on the shelf. It is such a fast and sweet read–and your kids will love to hear you read it aloud to them, too. It is never too young to read a chapter book to your children. My 3 year old was captivated by the tale–and my 18 month old didn't mind that the book didn't have many pictures. I think he was captivated by his older brother being captivated. Funny how those second kids think. :)
I'm glad I have finally read this book–it certainly has taken me a long time since 3rd year French class. Although, I must say, it was MUCH easier and more enjoyable to read in English than French. :)