The Little Prince

You are beautiful but you are empty, one cannot die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passer-by would believe that my very own rose looked just like you, but she is far more important than all of you, because she is the one I have watered.

whereupon she coughed a little more, so that he should feel remorse

So the little prince, in spite of the goodwill his love engendered towards her, came gradually to doubt her. He had taken words of no importance seriously and became very unhappy.

'I shouldn't have listened to her', he confided in me one day, 'one should never listen to flowers. One must admire them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet, but I did not know how to enjoy her. That tale of claws which irritated me so should simply have touched my heart...

And he confided further

'At the time, I was unable to understand anything! I should have based my judgement upon deeds and not words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I should never have run away from her! I should have guessed at the affection behind her poor little tricks. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her...'

... And, when he watered the flower for the last time and prepared to place her under her glass dome, he felt like crying.

'Goodbye', he said to the flower.
But she did not answer him.
'Goodbye', he said again.

The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.

'I've been silly,' she whispered at last. 'Please forgive me. Try to be happy. He was surprised by the absence of reproaches. He just stood there, quite bewildered, the dome poised in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness. ..

'Of course I love you', the flower told him. 'If you were not aware of it, it was my fault. That is not important. But you have been just as foolish. Try to be happy...'

...Then she added: 'Don't hang about so, it's so irritating. You have decided to leave, so leave'.

For she didn't want him to see her crying. She was a very proud flower.

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

The fox

The

The Prince and the Rose. Extracts from Chapters 8 & 9

You are like my fox when I first encountered him. He was just like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I made him my friend, and now he is unique in the world (Chapter 21)

Go here and choose 'frames' or 'no frames'

There was nothing more than a flash of yellow close to his ankle. He stood motionless for a moment. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even the slightest sound, because of the sand.

nnnnn

This is to me the most beautiful and saddest landscape in the world. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth and then disappeared. Look very carefully at the landscape so as to be sure to recognise it if ever one day you travel to Africa, through the desert. And if you should happen to come to this spot, please do not hurry on. Wait a little, exactly under the star. Then, if a child comes towards you, if he laughs, if he has golden locks and if he refuses to answer questions, you will surely guess who he is. So be kind!

Do not leave me grieving. Write to me quickly to tell me that he has come back.

Little

Prince