The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery     “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

A book for children but comes with thought-provoking parable of the adult world.  E.g.

Grown-ups are strange like the king who attaches considerable importance to his authority being respected; are odd like the conceited individual who wants everyone to admire him; are really very odd like the drunkard who drinks to forget his shame of drinking; are extraordinary like the serious businessman who counts and stores his possession; are not ridiculous like the lamplighter who is not only concerned with himself.

 “Men crowd into express trains without knowing what they are looking for. So they become agitated and rush around in circles.  Only children know what they are looking for. They dote on a rag doll and it becomes very important to them, and if it is taken away from them, they cry…”

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is rather tedious for children to have to explain things to them time and again.”

“Grown-ups love figures. When you talk to them about a new friend, they never ask questions about essential matters. They never say to you: ‘What does his voice sound like? What games does he prefer?....’  They ask you: ‘How old is he? How many brothers does he have?....’ It is only then that they feel they know him.” 

A rose on The Little Prince’s planet has ‘tamed’ The Prince. She tormented him with her demanding beauty – so much so that he became confused and ran away from her!  Doesn’t that resemble life where some people are completely bewitched by another’s beauty – so much as that he/she is willing to do everything and anything just to please the other and also he/she takes words of no importance seriously and becomes very unhappy.

Read it, think about it and admire the cute illustrations too!