The Little Prince and his Little Rose

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

-      - The Fox, The Little Prince

 

      A beautiful absolute charm of a novel, The Little Prince by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry goes way up top of my most favourite reads. The nature of the supposedly ‘children’s fable’ would leave you thinking for weeks at least, with its little yet deeply thoughtful musings about childhood and the hard parts of growing up.

 

      Now although there are many lovely stories told by our Little Prince from the alien asteroid planet B612, I would like to bring you to the attention of the lonely rose that sprouted up out all of a sudden in the garden of the Prince. Although there were other flowers in the small garden, the rose stood unique with its special arrangement of flowers The Prince had never seen in other plants.

 

      As the Little Prince talked to the proud rose, he was more and more curious about it nurturing with his whole heart, learning how rare and special it was. However one day the flower had a slip of tongue, implying that it was from a planet with many others like her. The Little Prince felt betrayed. He had thought that she was the only one of herself. Disappointed, the Little Prince left the planet and his flower exploring other worlds, without saying a proper goodbye.

      As he visits different worlds, he spots a bush full of red roses such as the one he had back home.

“And he felt very unhappy. Her flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in the universe. And there were five thousand, all alike, in one garden!”

 

      Disappointed, the Prince resumes his journey with a long face. However after meeting a fox, he learns how perhaps he was wrong about the true nature of love itself. You see dear reader, there might be a million of the same flowers in the world, but what matters is the flower that you have. The Little Prince has worded it better so here it is:

 

“You are beautiful, but you are empty,” he said again. You can not die for you. Of course, my rose, an ordinary passer-by would think that she resembles you. But it alone is more important than you all, since it is she that I watered. Since it was she whom I placed under the globe, since it was she whom I sheltered by the screen. Since it is she whose caterpillars I have killed (except the two or three for butterflies). Since it is she whom I have listened to, complaining, or boasting, or even sometimes silent. Since it is my rose.”

 

        Now perhaps I am being too naïve on the subject, but the novel really helps you put things in perspective, especially in ‘complicated’ matters such as love. As the fox says, the heart is better aware of these matters than the eyes. Now we have the Little Prince trapped in the desert trying to survive with the author in hopes to return back to the stars, the home, where he could reconcile with his flower, to love it for what she really is inside, to continue nurturing and protecting it despite its flaws to the eye.

 

 

******Spoilers******

 

        At the end, The Prince accepts the snakes offer, taking its venom that gives the Little Prince the ability to reach heaven(oh). As the lifeless body of the Little Prince had disappeared, we can (with the author) hope that he has successfully returned to his planet, happy with his little rose.

 

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Until next time, dear reader!

Let me know your thoughts after reading the beautifully illustrated novel…

Lan