I ask the indulgence of the children for dedicating
this story to a grown-up,
but this grown-up is the best friend I have in the world
I have another reason, this grown-up can understand all
even books about children.
Besides he lives in a country where I know he's hungry and cold.
If you only knew how much this person needs
to be comforted...
If I can comfort him a little with these words...
I hope you understand
but if these reasons aren't enough,
I shall dedicate this book to the child that this man was.
All the grown-ups were once children.
All the grown-ups...
All the grown-ups were once children.
Were once children...
All the grown-ups were once children.
Children...
All the grown-ups were once children.
Although few of them remember it.
Few of them remember it.
Broken engine. Plane stranded in the desert
maybe a thousand miles from any inhabited region.
December 30th, 1935
The repair will be difficult.
Enough water for 8 days.
Well my dear...
You wanted to be a pilot,
here you are.
I wish I'd kept drawing boa snakes.
Do you know what that is?
Oh... It's a hat.
And that?
What is that?
It's a boa.
Did you do your maths homework?
Where are China, Japan and Arizona?
You'd better play something else: golf, bridge...
Be sensible.
- One has to be sensible. - It's a hat.
Don't forget to turn off the light.
He said "turn off the light".
My God, this child is hopeless...
You'll get a cold. Watch out for draughts and put on your scarf.
Did my drawing frighten you?
Why should a hat frighten us?
I don't know why nobody sees
the elephant inside the boa.
So I lay aside all my pencils,
I put my strange drawings in a box
and finally found my vocation:
I learnt to pilot airplanes.
Grown-ups are tiresome
they don't understand,
they need explanations,
explanations all the time.
After meeting many people
I haven't changed my mind
I don't talk about stars anymore,
or about boas and tropical flowers.
Yet sometimes I still test them
with my drawing,
but the grown-ups answer
every time: "It's a hat!"
Then I talk about politics,
neckties, golf and horse races
and the grown-ups are pleased
to have met such a sensible man.
Did my drawing frighten you?
Why should a hat frighten us?
I don't know why nobody sees
beyond things, beyond themselves.
It's a hat! It's a hat!
Grown-ups,
never understand anything by themselves.
And it's tiresome for children
to be always explaining things to them.
If you please...
draw me a sheep.
Draw me a sheep.
What are you doing here?
If you please, draw me a sheep.
Oh! You know, I have studied geography,
history and arithmetic… I don't know how to draw.
That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep.
Listen...
the only drawing I can make is that.
Come, come… Have a look.
No, I don't want an elephant inside a boa.
Boas are very dangerous, and elephants are very cumbersome.
Where I live, everything's small.
I need a sheep.
Draw me a sheep.
It looks sick. Make me another.
That's not a sheep, that's a ram, it has horns.
It's too old.
I want a sheep that will live long.
This is a box. The sheep you asked for is inside.
Oh! That's exactly the way I wanted it.
But do you think this sheep will need much grass?
- Why? - Because where I live everything's small.
Don't worry,
it is a very small sheep that I have given you.
Not small enough.
Look, it's gone to sleep…
What is that object?
It is not an object,
It is an airplane. It flies.
It's my airplane.
What, did you drop down from the sky as well?
Why, where are you from, my little fellow?
The good thing with the box you gave me,
is that at night it can use it as its house.
And I will give you a rope to tie it up during the day.
- And a peg. - But where do you think it would go?
Anywhere, straight ahead of it.
Do you also come from the sky?
Do you come from another planet?
Is it true that with those funny wings
no one can go very far?
Straight ahead
no one can go very, very far.
Straight ahead
I can't even go up to you.
What a strange idea to tie up
my sheep to your peg.
But if you don't,
it will wander off somewhere.
Straight ahead
no one can go very, very far.
Straight ahead
I can't even go up to you.
But where do you think it would go?
Anywhere, straight ahead of it.
It will never get lost
Where I live, everything's so small...
Straight ahead
no one can go very, very far.
Straight ahead
I can't even find my way to you.
Straight ahead
the road won't teach us anything. One has to
get lost to be found.
I've made a friend!
He comes from another planet.
- How old is he? - Has he got siblings?
- How much money does his father make? - How much does he weigh?
But why don't you ask me
what his voice sounds like,
what games he loves best,
- if he collects butterflies? - What do you mean?
Where does he live?
On a planet,
a small one,
with two active volcanoes,
which he cleans out carefully
because they're convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning.
and an extinct volcano,
which he cleans out too.
- One never knows. - One never knows.
He does that to avoid volcanic eruptions,
which are like fires in a chimney.
What's this story? You made it up, didn't you?
On planet Earth
the grown-ups are too small to clean out their own volcanoes,
That's why they cause so much trouble to them.
Third day in the desert.
The proof that the little Prince existed,
is that he was charming,
that he laughed…
and that he was looking for a sheep.
If anybody wants a sheep, that's a proof that he exists.
And he comes from Asteroid B612.
But that is... It is…
Children must be patient with grown-ups.
I have serious reason to believe
that the planet from which the little Prince came is
Asteroid B612.
That celestial body has been seen
only once in 1909
by a Turkish astronomer.
Then he presented
his discovery to a Congress, but
no one believed him
because of his costume.
Grown-ups are like that,
they don't know anything.
A Turkish dictator forced
his subjects, in 1920,
to change to European costume.
Then the astronomer could give
his demonstration again
in a very elegant dress
and this time evidently
everybody believed him. Nothing
was different, however,
except his costume.
Grown-ups are like that.
They only believe in what they see.
They are like that. They are like that.
Is it true that sheep eat bushes?
Yes, it's true.
Therefore, they also eat baobabs.
See, the baobabs
aren't bushes,
but trees as big as churches,
and even if you took a whole herd of elephants away with you,
the herd would not eat up one single baobab.
Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little, don't they?
Therefore sheep eat little baobabs.
Why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?
Well...
because if I let the little baobabs grow big on my little planet,
there will be too many of them and will split it in pieces.
It's terrible, this matter of the baobabs.
Make a drawing to warn the children of your planet.
We never know the danger which lies in wait for us,
beneath our feet, above our heads.
The little seeds which are invisible to us,
and some roots, can be terrible.
They sleep secretly underground
until some day they come to light.
We have to be quick before they get settled,
the roots of evil, on our planets.
One never sees the danger which may come,
bad plants from bad seeds.
As one must shower in the morning,
one must take care of their own planet.
Don't let it get too full
otherwise it will explode.
Children, I don't like to preach
but with these trees any mistake could be fatal.
Watch out for baobabs, they'll spread over the planet.
They'll choke it, they'll split it, watch out for them.
You have to pull up them, you have to uproot them.
Watch out for baobabs, above all you can't attend it
later, because later is too late.
Watch out for baobabs, you have to behead them.
Watch out for baobabs, they'll spread over the planet.
They'll choke it, they'll split it, keep an eye on them.
You must suppress them, you must uproot them.
Watch out for baobabs, above all you can't attend it
later, because later is too late.
Watch out for baobabs, make a clean sweep.
Watch out for baobabs,
they'll spread over the planet.
Watch out for baobabs.
Watch out for baobabs,
they'll spread over the planet.
Watch out for baobabs, they'll spread over the planet.
They'll choke it, they'll split it, you must destroy them.
Destroy them and kill them. Annihilate them.
Watch out for baobabs, above all you can't attend it
later because later is too late.
Watch out for baobabs, you must stop them.
Watch out for baobabs, they'll spread over the planet.
Watch out for baobabs, above all you can't attend it
later because later is too late.
Watch out for baobabs, you must stop them.
You're right,
little baobabs shouldn't be let grow big.
Under some circumstances,
on some planets,
they can be seriously dangerous.
You look melancholy.
I like sunsets.
Let's go look at the sunset!
- But we must wait. - Wait for what?
For the sunset!
Where I live...
everything's so small that I just move my chair a few steps,
and I can see the sunset whenever I want.
One day,
I saw the sunset forty-four times…
When one is sad,
they like the sunset.
On that day, then,
were you very sad?
Fourth day in the desert.
If a sheep eats bushes,
does it eat flowers too?
A sheep eats everything.
Even flowers that have thorns?
Even flowers that have thorns.
Then what use are the thorns?
What use are the thorns?
They're useless.
Flowers have thorns just for spite.
I don't believe you.
Flowers are weak, they are naive.
They reassure themselves as best they can.
They think their thorns make them look frightful…
- Then, do you believe that flowers… - No, I don't believe anything.
I answered thoughtlessly. I'm a serious man.
A serious man?
You speak like the grown-ups!
I know a planet
where a man who only adds up figures lives.
He's never smelled a flower, he's never looked at a star,
and like you, he keeps repeating:
"I am a serious man, I am a serious man"
and that makes him proud,
but he isn't a man,
- he's a mushroom. - A what?
A mushroom!
Flowers have been growing thorns for million years,
for millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same.
and isn't the warfare between the sheep and the flowers a serious matter?
If you love a flower,
of which just one single blossom grows
in all the millions and millions of stars,
it is enough to make you happy just to look at them.
You can say to yourself: "My flower is somewhere out there".
But if a sheep eats the flower,
in one moment all the stars will be darkened!
And isn't that serious?
The flower that you love is not in danger.
I'll draw a muzzle for your sheep,
I will draw you a railing to put around your flower.
Look... Look!
Look!
Come on, look...
Come on, wait. Wait.
On my planet, flowers have always existed.
Very simple flowers with only one ring of petals,
which take up no room at all and are a trouble to nobody.
But one day my flower came up,
from a seed blown from no one knows where.
At first I was afraid that it might be a new kind of baobab,
but it soon stopped growing
and produced a flower with an enormous button.
Hidden in its green room,
sheltered, it kept
choosing its colours with great care
to slowly dress its heart.
It adjusted its own petals one by one
to form a corset of satin.
When I'm near it
I feel a miracle coming,
a sun
came to brighten my planet.
I'd only seen fragile flowers
until this sprout appeared,
flowers which took up no room at all
and passed away without a trace.
But with its touching manners
this one looks so different.
When I'm near it
I feel a miracle coming,
a sun
came to brighten my planet.
Little seed lost in the universe
that found its place on my land,
so full of love and ready
to be born as beautiful as the day.
When I'm near it
I feel a miracle coming,
a sun
came to brighten my planet.
When I'm near it…
- You're beautiful. - Am I not?
You are beautiful, but complicated.
Ah! I've just got up.
Ah! I beg your pardon.
Ah! My hair is a mess.
But I was born at the same moment as the sun.
She is beautiful, but quite a liar.
Ah! If it doesn't bother you too much,
Ah! Could you bring me
the breakfast?
I would like a few drops of dew.
She is beautiful, but a little bizarre.
Ah! With my four thorns,
Ah! I won't let anyone take me,
I am not afraid of tigers.
They can come any time, I know how to defend myself.
She is beautiful, but a little vain.
Ah! I am always a little cold.
Ah! I fear droughts.
I'd like someone to think of my needs so much.
Perhaps you have a screen?
No.
And there are no tigers on my planet,
and tigers don't eat weeds.
I am not a weed.
However, at night
- will you put me under a glass globe? - Huh?
It's very cold here.
All is set badly. In the place I come from…
Excuse me!
Those are wild geese!
Yes, yes!
Ah, I won't listen to her anymore.
Ah, I'd better run away,
I will take the first flight of wild geese that accept to carry me.
Well, I'm leaving.
I've cleaned out the volcanoes.
Do you want your glass globe for the night?
Goodbye.
Goodbye. And try to be happy
I wasted time.
We're so silly
when we hide
our feelings.
And now you're leaving
I ask your forgiveness.
I should have told you
long ago
how much I love you.
Go. Go away at once
I will learn without you
to love the wind,
the cool air of the night.
I will learn without you
with the caterpillars
and the butterflies
I'll be passing time.
Don't linger, goodbye,
and try to be happy.
- Here comes a subject. - But you've never seen me before!
- But all men are my subjects. - Oh, that's good.
Don't yawn!
- But I am tired… - Don't speak!
And don't sit down!
but I am tired, your Majesty,
and I'm already bored. And I think I'll leave.
No, wait…
I order you to yawn,
I order you to speak,
I order you to sit down,
and to ask me questions.
I order you to stop!
I rule over everything
which is around us,
I'm the universal monarch
of the stars and the sky
and I don't tolerate
disobedience.
My orders are reasonable,
one can trust me.
On the other hand, if I ordered
a general
to fly from a flower to another,
or if I wanted my subjects
to throw themselves into the sea,
if they didn't obey
and rebelled against me,
they would be right,
and the one to be wrong,
of course, would be me.
Authority rests
first of all on reason.
One has to ask others
what others can give.
- And over what do you rule? - Over everything.
I am an absolute and universal monarch.
And the stars obey you as well?
Of course.
I do not tolerate indiscipline.
Then, do me a favour.
Order the sun to set.
I shall command it,
but being a wise governor, I'll wait
until conditions are favourable.
And when will that be?
Tonight,
around…
twenty minutes to eight.
You will see how well I'm obeyed, then.
I see. I'm leaving now.
No, don't leave, I will make you a Minister...
of Justice.
But there's no one else on your planet!
Then you shall judge yourself.
It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.
I can judge myself anywhere
I don't need to live here. Goodbye.
No, wait...
I think that somewhere there's an old rat. I hear it at night.
From time to time you will condemn it to death,
but you will pardon it on each occasion, because it's the only one we have.
I don't like to condemn anyone to death,
and now I think I'll go away.
No.
Order me, for example, to be gone by the end of one minute.
No.
I made you my Ambassador. Go...
The grown-ups are very strange.
Here comes an admirer.
That's a conceited man.
You have a strange hat.
It is to raise in salute when people acclaim me. Clap your hands.
I like those who throw flowers at me
I like the light of the spotlights
I like flatterers, I like honours
I even like liars
when they tell me what I want to hear,
what I can achieve.
I like compliments,
the warmth of applause,
I like glory and all its considerations.
I like the patter...
If I listen to myself, I feel like there's nothing
more interesting than my voice.
I am the handsomest
I am the richest
I am the funniest.
It's me, it's me.
I am the best
on this planet
but I am the only one
to realize it.
I love it when others love me,
so clap your hands. Admire me nevertheless,
you will give me pleasure
I love it when others love me.
I admire you,
but what's the point in that?
The grown-ups are very bizarre.
What are you doing there?
You look so sad!
I can't see clearly. You are on my funny planet:
all is twisted, all is fuzzy, I'm all upside down.
For my own pain, I collect, empty bottles and full bottles.
You came here wondering what I'm doing...
- I drink to forget. - But you drink to forget what?
- Forget that I'm ashamed - Ashamed of what?
- Ashamed of drinking! - Then pour yourself another glass...
I drink to forget, to forget that I drink.
The grown-ups are very, very odd.
Hello!
Your cigarette has gone out.
Hello!
Three and two make five, five and seven make twelve,
and twelve and three make fifteen. Hello.
Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I have no time to light it again.
Twenty-six and five make thirty- one.
Then that makes five hundred and one millions, six hundred twenty-two thousand...
- ...seven hundred thirty-one. - Five hundred and one millions of what?
Oh, you're still there... Five hundred and one millions of…
- I don't remember. - Five hundred and one millions of what?
I have to work, I can't waste my time
- with balderdash. - Millions of what?
Do not disturb me. Two and five make seven. I'm a serious man.
Five hundred and one millions of what? Stars?
Millions of stars
that set lazy men to idle dreaming,
and that I count and recount.
I am a serious man, I need
I need to own things to reassure myself.
I have to be rich in order to exist.
Millions of stars
that I can only count.
Me, who has never had dreams.
Three and two make five and five and seven make twelve
and twelve and three make fifteen.
Fifteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight
Twenty-six and five make thirty-one,
Then that makes five hundred and one millions,
six hundred and twenty-two thousand seven hundred and thirty-one…
Of stars, I know.
I saw a king who owned a star.
Kings do not own.
They reign over, it's a very different matter.
How is it possible for one to own the stars?
They belong to me,
because I was the first person to think of it.
That's true, but you can't pluck the stars
as I can pluck a flower and take it away with me.
No, but I can put them in the bank.
On a little paper I write
the number of my stars and lock it up in a drawer.
That's quite poetic,
but it's not very serious indeed.
I clean out my volcanoes and water my flower,
so it is of some use to my volcanoes and it is of some use to my flower, that I own them.
But you are of no use to the stars.
I'd like to go see other places.
There's a pretty planet.
That's a small and absurd planet.
What's the use, in the sky, of a planet which has no houses or people,
except for a street lamp and a lamplighter?
It may well be that this man is absurd,
but he's still less absurd than the rest of you
because, when he lights his street lamp,
it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower.
When he puts out his lamp, he sends the star and the flower to sleep.
It is a beautiful occupation and truly useful.
Moreover, it's beautiful. Goodbye.
The grown-ups are quite extraordinary.
Why are you putting it out?
- You had just lighted it. - Those are the orders.
I put out my lamp and light it at once
Those are the orders, good day, good night.
I light my lamp and put it out again.
Those are the orders, good day, good night.
My job is awful, I never use my brain,
I'm never free, I obey without saying anything.
Orders are orders.
Good day, good night, good day, good night.
I regret the time when I only had
to put it out in the morning and light it at night.
From year to year the planet has turned
faster and faster every day and the orders have not been changed.
Good day, good night.
And now it makes a complete turn in sixty seconds
And I don't have in this world
a moment of peace anymore. Good day, good night.
I put out my lamp and light it at once
Those are the orders, good day, good night.
I light my lamp and put it out again.
Those are the orders, good day, good night.
At least he isn't only concerned with himself.
If he had had room for two,
I would have liked to make friends with him.
And sixty sunsets an hour make…
one thousand, four hundred and forty sunsets a day!
I'll return there.
That's a big planet.
Here comes an explorer.
What's that big book? What are you doing?
I am a geographer,
and I note down the recollections of the explorers.
Your planet is beautiful.
- Are there any oceans? - I wouldn't know.
Any mountains, cities, streams, deserts?
- I wouldn't know. - But aren't you a geographer?
Exactly,
but I'm not an explorer.
Geographers are much too important to go travelling around.
They can't leave their studies,
but they receive the explorers there,
and if the recollections of any among them seem interesting,
then geographers order an inquiry
- into that explorer's moral character. - Why is that?
If the explorer told lies,
can't you see the disaster it would bring?
If he is a drunkard,
he'll see double,
he will see two mountains
where there's only one.
And you, do you come from far away?
I am going to note down your recollection,
first in pencil,
then in ink when you have furnished proofs.
- What proofs? - It is very simple.
If someone tells me, for example,
they discovered a big mountain,
I ask them to bring me
a few big stones.
Well?
Where I live, everything's small,
I have two active volcanoes,
- an extinct volcano... - I'm noting it down, one never knows.
I also have a flower.
We don't record flowers,
they are ephemeral.
We only write of eternal things,
which never die.
What does that mean, "ephemeral"?
It means…
It means… "in danger of speedy disappearance".
My flower is ephemeral,
and it has only four thorns to defend itself against the world!
And I left it all alone!
I have to learn about the deserts,
and the sources that gush from the ground,
the oceans the rivers
and the islands planted under the sea,
and I dream of volcanoes that roar
in incandescent streams,
of sailboats anchored to the waves
in the Fortieth Roaring.
I take notes.
Within a notebook,
my horizon spreads.
This office is my prison
I take notes
I don't live anything I don't see anything
I live all by proxy,
an immobile traveller
through your explorations.
I take notes,
I only write of eternal things.
I take notes,
I don't care about the precarious things
that fill up the earth and the sky,
the poems and the dictionaries.
I take notes,
but I don't know anything about my planet,
I don't even know a river,
I hardly know where my borders are...
Stuck in an office I take notes.
I shouldn't have listened to it.
Never listen to flowers.
Only look at them and breathe their fragrance.
My flower perfumed all my planet,
but I didn't know how to take pleasure in it.
That tale of claws, which disturbed me so much,
should have filled me with tenderness.
I couldn't understand.
I should have judged it by deeds
and not by words.
It cast her fragrance and her radiance over me.
I shouldn't have run away.
I should have guessed all the affection that lay behind its rough words.
Flowers are so contradictory.
I was too young to know how to love it.
We don't record such things.
What place would you advise me to visit now?
Planet Earth.
It has a good reputation.
The seventh planet will then be the Earth.
The Earth is not just an ordinary planet,
One can count there a hundred and eleven kings
not forgetting the black king.
- How strange… - Seven thousand geographers,
nine hundred thousand businessmen
seven million and a half drunkards
three hundred eleven million conceited men,
that is to say
two billions grown-ups.
The Earth in this universe
with its elementary particles,
this mystery of the atmosphere.
Its seas, its deserts
a light drop of mud lost in the air,
where the people stand upright,
hung on to the light of their lonely star.
An angry planet in the solar system,
revolutionary
is what the Earth is, with its light-years
and its lamplighters.
To give you an idea of the size of the Earth,
I will tell you that before the invention of electricity
it was necessary to maintain there, over the whole of the six continents,
a veritable army
of four hundred and sixty-two thousand, five hundred and eleven
lamplighters.
Seen from a slight distance,
that would make a splendid effect.
The Earth
a light drop of mud lost in the air
where the people stand upright
for the time of lightning.
The Earth in this universe
ridiculous and proud
particular
which doesn't like to keep quiet,
this nourishing mother
that buries us
is the Earth
the Earth.
Those are sheep! I'll go there!
ACT II
We want to believe in eternal things
to forget all the precarious things
that fill up the earth and the sky,
the poems and the dictionaries
because we are ephemeral,
near our end, which threatens us,
chain explosions,
love and temporary glory.
Ephemeral.
If only we had enough wisdom
to take things less seriously
and learn to be more detached...
Ephemeral
in love with the temporary madness
which makes us hope for heaven
and yet, ties us to the ground.
Ephemeral,
in our prayers we find a meaning to our destinies
so uncertain...
We want to believe in eternal things
to forget all the precarious things
that only remind us
of our condition of mortals.
Ephemeral,
trapped by the greenhouse effect
like fragile bugs who were just born
to die out in the daylight.
Ephemeral.
If we only had enough wisdom
to take things less seriously
and to learn to be more detached...
Ephemeral,
in love with the temporary madness
which makes us hope for heaven
and yet, ties us up to the ground.
Ephemeral,
to finally end up in the desert
being not bigger than a grain of sand.
Good evening.
What planet is this on which I have come down?
This is the Earth; this is Africa.
Where are the human beings?
This is the desert
There are no people in the desert.
The Earth is large.
I know, there are two billions of inhabitants
and an army of 472511 lamplighters
on six continents, which would make a splendid effect if seen from a distance,
like an opera ballet.
First the lamplighters
- from New Zealand, from Australia… - Careful...
when one wishes to play the wit,
he sometimes wanders a little from the truth.
You'll give a false idea of the planet
to those who don't know it.
Human beings occupy a very small space upon Earth.
If all its inhabitants stood upright and were crowded together,
they could all be piled up
on the smallest Pacific island.
The grown-ups will never believe you.
They think they're as important as the baobabs.
I wonder if the stars are set alight
so that one day each one of us may find their own again.
Look at my planet,
it's right there above us.
How far away it is…
It's beautiful. But what has brought you here?
I have been having some trouble with a flower.
A flower?
No, that's a flower with three petals,
a flower of no account at all. Mine is ephemeral.
Where are the men? It is a little lonely in the desert.
It is also lonely among men.
You're a strange animal. You have no legs.
You cannot even travel.
Oh, I could carry you farther than any ship could take you.
Whatever I touch,
I send back to the earth from whence it came.
You are pure, you come from a star, but you move me to pity.
You are so weak on this earth made of granite.
I can help you some day, if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can...
Oh, I understand you very well.
But why do you always speak in riddles?
I solve them all.
- Hello. - Hello.
- Where are the men? - Oh, the men!
I think there are six or seven of them in existence.
I saw them, several years ago,
but no one ever knows where to find them.
The wind blows them away,
they have no roots. That makes their lives very difficult.
- Good-bye. - Good- bye.
I am going to climb this high mountain.
- You know… ouch! - Oh, sorry!
I'd never seen a mountain like this.
I've got three volcanoes which come up my knees.
Your knees?
From its top, I'll be able to see the whole planet at one glance,
and all the people.
- Hello. - Hello… Hello… Hello…
- Who are you? - Who are you… Who are you…
- Be my friends... - My friends…
- I am all alone. - I am all alone.
- Hello. - Hello… Hello… Hello…
- Who are you? - Who are you… Who are you…
- Be my friends... - My friends…
- I am all alone. - I am all alone.
This Earth is a strange planet
It's all dry, pointed and salty,
and the people have no imagination,
they repeat whatever one says to them…
- Hello. - Hello… Hello… Hello…
- Who are you? - Who are you… Who are you…
- Be my friends... - My friends…
- I am all alone. - I am all alone.
- Alone... - Alone...
On my planet I had a flower.
She was always speaking...
Ah! I've just got up.
Ah! I beg your pardon.
Ah! My hair is a mess.
But I was born at the same moment as the sun.
Ah! If it doesn't bother you too much,
Ah! Could you bring me
the breakfast?
I would like a few drops of dew.
My flower told me that in all the universe
she was the only one of her kind. But it wasn't true.
There are thousands like her.
Ah! If my flower saw you she would be very much annoyed
and to avoid being laughed at
she would cough and pretend she's dying.
And I'd be forced to pretend that I was nursing her back to life
otherwise, to humble myself also,
she would really allow herself to die.
I thought I was rich with a flower that was unique
but all I have is a common rose. That, and my volcanoes
doesn't make me a very great prince.
Ah! With my four thorns,
Ah! I won't let anyone take me,
I am not afraid of tigers.
They can come any time, I know how to defend myself.
Ah! I am always a little cold.
Ah! I fear droughts.
I'd like someone to think of my needs so much...
Perhaps you have a screen?
I thought I was rich with a flower that was unique
but all I have is a common rose.
That, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees,
and one of which is perhaps extinct forever,
doesn't make me a very great prince…
Hello!
Hello! Who are you? You look very pretty.
I'm a fox.
Come and play with me, I'm so sad.
I can't play with you,
I am not tamed.
Excuse me. What does that mean, "tame"?
You do not live here...
- What is it that you are looking for? - I'm looking for men.
What does that mean, "tame"?
Men… They have guns and they hunt.
It's an embarrassing thing.
They also raise chickens. These are their only interests.
Are you looking for chickens?
I'm looking for friends.
What does that mean, "tame"?
It is an act too often neglected.
It means to establish ties.
- To establish ties? - Just that.
You're nothing more than a little boy to me
who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys,
and I don't need you. And you don't need me too,
I'm nothing more than a fox to you, like a hundred thousand other foxes.
But if you tame me, we shall need each other.
To me, you'll be unique in all the world,
To you, I shall be unique in all the world.
There's a flower... I think that it has tamed me.
It's possible.
On the Earth one sees all sorts of things.
Oh, but this is not on the Earth.
- On another planet? - Yes.
Are there any hunters on that planet?
- No. - That's interesting!
- Are there chickens? - No.
Nothing is perfect.
Please,
tame me.
I would really like to,
but I don't have much time,
I have friends to discover
and a lot of things to understand.
One only understands the things that one tames.
If you want to play with me
you have to tame me
and establish a tie little by little,
so we can get close to each other,
otherwise, to me you'll be
nothing more than a little boy.
And to you, who don't know me,
I'll be nothing more than a fox.
Tame me please
if you need a friend,
and in the end
you'll be unique to me.
But if you tame me
my life will shine like the sun
I'll recognize the sound of your footsteps,
and they'll call me out of my burrow,
and the golden wheat fields
will remind me of you.
I shall love the sound of the wind
that will blow in those fields.
Tame me please
if you need a friend,
and in the end
you'll be unique to me.
One only understands
the things that one tames.
But men have no more time
to stop for a while when they meet.
They look for all ready made things,
but there's no shop where one can buy friends,
where all ready made friendship is sold.
So men have no friends anymore.
Tame me please
if you need a friend,
and in the end
you'll be unique to me.
We'll meet at a fixed hour
and dress out our hearts
and the moments we share
will teach me the price of happiness.
What should I do?
You must be very patient.
At first you'll sit down
at a little distance from me,
I'll look at you out of the corner of my eye…
- And… - And you won't say anything.
Words are the source of misunderstandings.
But day after day,
you will to sit a little closer to me.
- I'm going to leave. - Oh!
I shall cry.
It's your fault. I never wished you any sort of harm,
but you wanted me to tame you.
- Yes, that is so. - But now you're going to cry!
- Yes, that is so. - Then it has done you no good at all!
It has done me good
because of the colour of the wheat.
Go and look again at the roses.
You'll understand now that yours is unique.
You are not at all like my rose.
even if an ordinary passer-by
could claim the opposite.
You are nothing,
no one has tamed you,
you haven't tamed anyone.
If you don't make friends
you aren't unique in all the world.
You're beautiful but you are empty.
One could not die for you,
and in herself alone, my rose
is more important than all of you,
because it's she that I have watered
because it's she that I have protected
because it's she that I have listened to, because she's my rose.
Before leaving I'll tell you a secret:
it is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
We need to understand that what is essential
is invisible to the eye.
If men have forgotten this truth,
you must not forget it.
It's the time you have spent with your rose
that makes your rose so important.
You become responsible forever
for what you have tamed.
Then I am responsible for my rose forever,
- because it's she that I have watered - Watered...
- because it's she that I have protected - Protected...
because it's she that I have listened to. Because she's my rose.
Because she's your rose.
- because it's she that I have sheltered. - Sheltered...
- because it's she that I have reassured. - Reassured...
because it's she that I have loved. Because she's my rose.
Because she's your rose.
Because it's her,
because she's my rose.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
Don't forget my secret.
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly
What is essential is invisible to the eye.
It's the time you have spent with your rose…
It's the time I have spent with my rose…
- …that makes your rose so important. - …that makes my rose so important.
What is essential is invisible… with the heart.
Fox? Fox?
Fox?
- Hello! - Hello!
- What do you do here? - I'm a railway switchman.
I sort out travellers in bundles of a thousand,
I send off the trains that carry them,
Now to the right, now to the left.
They're in a hurry. What are they looking for?
Not even the locomotive engineer knows that,
They're already coming back.
Those aren't the same ones. It is an exchange.
Weren't they satisfied where they were?
No one is ever satisfied where he is.
Are they pursuing the first travellers?
They are pursing nothing at all.
They're asleep in there,
or at least they are yawning.
Only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes
Only the children know what they're looking for.
They waste their time over a rag doll,
and it becomes very important to them.
And if anybody takes it away from them, they cry.
They are lucky.
Come and get the pills by Doctor Wish,
come and get the pills against thirst!
- Hello! - Hello!
- And you, who are you? - I sell pills
that quench thirst.
Come and get the pills by Doctor Wish,
come and get the pills against thirst!
Come and get the pills by Doctor Wish,
you only need to swallow one a week,
and you'll no longer feel the need to drink.
Why are you selling those pills?
Because they make people save time.
Come and get the pills by Doctor Wish,
come and get the pills against thirst!
You only need to swallow one a week
and you'll no longer feel any need to drink.
Come and get the pills by Doctor Wish,
you can save fifty-three minutes per week,
according to experts.
And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?
Well... I don't know! You can do... anything you like.
If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I like,
I'd walk at my leisure towards a fountain.
I'll go back to the desert.
I like the desert better.
Draw me a sheep.
But what are you doing there?
Draw me a sheep. It's for my flower,
to protect it from the baobabs.
But I also need a muzzle,
to protect my flower from the sheep.
You know, it also eats thorns...
Do you understand? I'm responsible for my rose.
Eighth day in the desert.
No more water.
No chance to find a well
in this immensity.
You're thinking about your rose.
It shines on you like the light of a lamp,
even when you're asleep.
The stars are beautiful
because of a flower that cannot be seen.
I love the desert.
I've always loved the desert.
One see nothing, hears nothing,
and yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams.
What makes the desert beautiful,
is that it hides a well somewhere.
Then you're thirsty too?
Water can be good for the heart.
Let's look for a well, then.
At random, in the desert?
What are you looking at?
At the reflection of the well in the stars.
Softly
I'll carry him with me like a treasure.
When he's asleep
I'll feel what's hidden behind appearance,
behind the body.
To take the road, to walk again
to look for the stream
to find the wells
of rainwater.
To follow a star
to find our way back a thousand times
in the desert.
To hold the hand that knows the path
on this earth.
Lost and bewildered one hopes
to look for the stream
to find the wells
of rainwater
dead tired.
To touch the sky
to see what's essential
to look for the stream
to find the wells
of rainwater
dead tired.
To touch the sky
to see what's essential
in the Great Bear
or in the infinity.
To look for the meaning of life.
How strange. That's not like the wells of the Sahara.
There's a pulley, a rope, and a bucket...
It's like a well in a village,
but there is no village here.
Do you hear? We have wakened the well
and it's singing.
I am thirsty for this water. Give me some of it to drink.
It's as sweet as some special festival treat.
It's something different from ordinary nourishment.
Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars,
the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms…
It's good for the heart, like a present.
When I was a child,
the lights of the Christmas tree,
the music of the midnight Mass,
the sweetness of the smiling faces
made the Christmas presents I received radiant.
The men where you live
raise five thousand roses in the same garden,
and yet don't find what they're looking for.
They don't find it.
And yet what they're looking for
could be found in one single rose or in a little water.
But their eyes are blind.
One must look with the heart.
Then you don't remember...
Yes, yes it's the right day,
but this is not the place.
You just have to wait for me, I'll be there tonight.
Have you got good poison?
Are you sure that it will not make me suffer too long?
What does it mean? Why are you talking with snakes?
Draw me a muzzle
for my sheep.
Don't forget I'm responsible for my rose.
Yes...
You aren't fair,
I can only draw boas from the inside
- and boas from the outside. - Oh that will do!
Children understand…
Little fellow,
do you have plans that I do not know about?
You know, my descent to the Earth,
tomorrow will be its anniversary...
I came down very near here.
Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you
eight days ago you were strolling along like that, alone,
a thousand miles from any inhabited region?
You were on your way back to the place where you landed.
Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?
Tonight, it will be a year.
My star will be right above the place
where I came to the Earth, a year ago.
The snake has promised… to help me.
You know, we'll meet every day.
It will be as it is with the flower.
If you love a flower that lives on a star,
it is sweet to look at the sky at night.
- All the stars are a-bloom with flowers. - Of course.
It will be as it is with the water.
What you gave me to drink was like music,
because of the sound of the pulley and the rope.
- Do you remember? It was good. - It was.
You'll look up at the stars at night.
My home is too small for me to show you.
My star will just be one of the stars, for you.
But since I shall be laughing in one of them, then
it will be as if all the stars were laughing,
it will be as if, instead of the stars, I've given you
a heap of little bells which know how to laugh.
My Little Prince who come from the sky,
from the stars and the swallows
you knew how to give back wings
to my illusions of mortal.
I came down out of nowhere
out of an unknown planet.
I'll leave
but I'll never forget you.
We'll meet every day
in this wilderness of stones.
What's essential is invisible
to the eye of insensitive souls.
And even if I leave the scene
and even if I seem dead
you'll know it won't be true
because we have all eternity.
We all have a rose in our hearts,
volcanoes that frightened us
and sunsets
our ancient demons and our wonders.
We'll meet every day
in this wilderness of stones
where what's essential is invisible
to the eye of insensitive souls.
To us, who understand life,
to be important doesn't matter..
We only wanted a friend
even if we'll have to let him go one day.
We'll meet every day
in this wilderness of stones
where what's essential is invisible
to the eye of insensitive souls.
I came down out of nowhere,
out of an unknown planet.
I'll leave
but I'll never forget you.
Don't come. I shall look sick.
I shall look as if in pain.
I shall look as if I were dead,
and that won't be true.
Do you understand? It's too far away.
I can't carry this body with me,
it's too heavy.
But it will be like an old abandoned shell.
I won't leave you.
There's nothing sad about old shells...
It will be very nice, you know.
I'll look up at the stars as well.
All stars will be wells with a rusty pulley.
All the stars will pour me some water.
You know, I'm responsible for my flower.
It's so weak.
It only has four thorns to protect itself against the world.
There now. That's all.
The loveliest and saddest
landscape in the world
is the place where he vanished
like the lightning which disappears
in a flash,
in one second,
exactly as he had appeared.
But if one day your wanderings take you
to this desert,
if you find yourselves
right under that star,
wait a little, if by chance
you see a child coming towards you.
If his hair is golden,
you will know who he is.
Be kind then,
don't leave me in sadness,
send me word that he has come back.
The loveliest and saddest
landscape of the world
is the place where you vanished.
# Translation and synching: lyliakar #