The little prince

The little prince “The Little Prince” (Le Petit Prince), published in 1943 by French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is a profound and philosophical novella disguised as a children’s book.

The Setup

The story is narrated by an airplane pilot who crashes in the middle of the Sahara Desert. With only a few days of water left, he desperately tries to fix his engine. Out of nowhere, a mysterious, golden-haired boy appears and asks him, “Please… draw me a sheep.” This boy is the Little Prince.

The Prince’s Home and the Rose

As the pilot bonds with the Prince, he learns that the boy comes from a tiny planet called Asteroid B-612. The planet is barely larger than a house and features three knee-high volcanoes and troublesome baobab trees that the Prince must constantly weed out before they tear his planet apart.

The Prince’s life changed when a beautiful, dramatic, and proud Rose bloomed on his planet. The Prince fell in love with her and took care of her, but her vanity and demands eventually drove him away. Feeling lonely and confused by her mixed signals, he decided to leave his asteroid to explore the universe.