銀貓的漫遊天地

The Little Prince

Summary:

    A pilot who was once disappointed by grown-ups met the little prince. They met each other in the Sahara Desert, for the pilot’s plane had crashed down. The little prince asked the pilot to draw him a sheep, but the pilot let him see his drawing that had been drawn when the pilot was a child. He was surprised, because the little prince didn’t tell the same answer that every grown-up said－it’s a hat!－but understood that it was a boa which had just swallowed an elephant.

They became friends, and the pilot started to knew more about the little prince. He came from an asteroid, and traveled with the help of wild birds to escape from a rose which made him feel puzzled. There were seven planets he had been. They were inhabited by a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer, and the last planet was the Earth. Most of the people on these planets made the little prince think grown-ups were strange.

Finally, the little prince had to leave after meeting the fox and the pilot. A snake sent him home with its poison. Because, to the little prince, there was still a rose waiting for him...

Impressive Sentences:

1. People here have no imagination. They repeat whatever you say to them.
2. Trying to be witty leads to lying.
3. Language is the source of misunderstandings.

Afterthought:

“Flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love her. ”I wanted to focus on this part because it touched me a lot. The little prince always mentioned his lovely rose while talking to the pilot. When anybody said something bad about her, he retorted, and even wept because of anger and regret. He had had an impulse of going back as he knew from the geographer that his flower was ephemeral.

I was young, but I did love someone deeply like the little prince loved his rose, so I could understand how he felt. It really made no sense! The little prince didn’t know his rose loved him as well, but he still cared about her, worried about her. That’s a question whose answer I was eager to get. Why did I so care about that guy, even though I knew I would never receive the same quantity of love I gave?

I must have been tamed, just the same as the fox which was tamed by the little prince.

Love would never ask for repayment; I got this answer eventually. Yes, if the one I love also loves me, I will be much happier. But if I can’t receive the same love, it doesn’t matter. For a simple instance, do parents ask their kids for repayment? No, they don’t. They just love them, protect them, support them, and always stand on their side. That was also the way I loved. I felt sorrowful sometimes, for the person didn’t keep me in mind as I did, but I didn’t regret or get angry. To help and to support were what I should do.

That’s the true meaning of love, I thought.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why did the fox insist on being tamed by the little prince?
2. Why did the little prince love the rose even if she brought him so much unhappiness?