The Little Prince (Final Chapters 26-27)

Reading from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Aviator tells us about the departure of the Little Prince. I hope you enjoyed this reading: feel free to contact me to suggest more! Your donations and comments are a huge help to support the production of more recordings. Thank you!
(Music: Kai Engel, Theo Teravainen, Doctor Turtle.)

Transcript

The Little Prince,

Chapter 26.

Beside the well,

There was the ruin of an old stone wall.

When I came back from my work the next evening,

I saw from the distance my little prince sitting atop of that wall with his feet dangling,

And I heard him say,

Then you don't remember.

This is not the exact spot.

Another voice must have answered him before he replied to it,

Yes,

Yes.

It is the right day,

But this is not the right place.

I continued my walk towards the wall.

At no time did I see or hear anyone.

The little prince,

However,

Replied once again,

Exactly.

You will see where my track begins in the sand.

You have nothing to do but wait for me there.

I shall be here tonight.

I was only twenty meters from the wall,

And I saw nothing.

After a silence,

The little prince spoke again,

You have good poison?

You are sure that it will not make me suffer too long?

I stopped in my tracks,

My heart torn asunder,

But still I did not understand.

Now go away,

Said the little prince.

I want to get down from the wall.

I lowered my gaze to the foot of the wall,

And I leaped into the air.

There before me,

Facing the little prince,

Was one of those yellow snakes that just take thirty seconds to bring your life to an end.

Even as I was digging into my pocket to get out the revolver,

I made a running step back.

And at the noise I made,

The snake let himself flow easily across the sand,

Like the dying spray of a fountain,

And in no apparent hurry,

Disappeared with a light metallic sound among the stones.

I reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms.

His face was white as snow.

What does this all mean?

I demanded.

Why are you talking with snakes?

I had loosened the golden muffler that he always wore.

I had moistened his temples,

And had given him some water to drink.

And now,

I did not dare to ask him any more questions.

He looked at me very gravely and put his arms around my neck.

I felt his heart beating,

Like the heart of a dying bird,

Shot with someone's rifle.

I am glad that you have found what was the matter with your engine,

He said.

Now you can go back home.

How do you know about that?

I was just coming to tell him that my work had been successful beyond anything that I had dared to hope.

He made no answer to my question,

But he added,

I,

Too,

Am going back home today.

Then,

Sadly,

It is much farther.

It is much more difficult.

I realized clearly that something extraordinary was happening.

I was holding him close in my arms as if he were a little child,

And yet it seemed to me that he was rushing headlong towards an abyss and there was nothing I could do to protect him.

His look was very serious,

Like someone lost far away.

I have your sheep,

And I have the sheep's box,

And I have the muzzle.

And he gave me a sad smile.

I waited a long time.

I could see he was regaining his strength little by little.

Dear little man,

I said to him,

You are afraid.

He was afraid.

There was no doubt about that.

But he laughed lightly.

I shall be much more afraid this evening.

Once again,

I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable.

And I knew that I could not bear the thought of never hearing that laughter anymore.

For me,

It was like a spring of fresh water in the desert.

Little man,

I said,

I want to hear you laugh again.

But he said to me,

Tonight,

It will be a year.

My star,

Then,

Can be found right above the place where I came to the earth a year ago.

I said,

Little man,

Tell me that this is only a bad dream.

This story with the snake,

And the meeting place,

And the star.

But he did not answer my plea.

He said to me instead,

The thing that is important is the thing that is not seen.

Yes,

I know.

It is just as it is with a 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.

Yes,

I know.

It is just as it is with the water.

Because of the pulley and the rope,

What you gave me to drink was like music.

You remember how good it was?

Yes,

I know.

And at night,

You will look up at the stars.

Where I live,

Everywhere is so small,

And I cannot show you where my star is to be found.

It's better like that.

My star will just be one of the stars for you.

And so,

You will love to watch all the stars in the heavens.

They will all be your friends.

And besides,

I'm going to make you a present.

" He laughed again.

Ah,

Little prince.

Dear little prince,

I love to hear that laughter.

That is my present.

Just that.

It will be as it was when we drank the water.

What are you trying to say?

"'All men have the stars,

' he answered.

But they are not the same things for different people.

For some,

Who are travelers,

The stars are guides.

For others,

There are no more than little lights in the sky.

For others,

Who are scholars,

There are problems.

For my business men,

They are gold.

But all these stars are silent.

You,

You alone,

Will have the stars as no one else has them.

" What are you trying to say?

"'In one of the stars,

I shall be living.

In one of them,

I shall be laughing.

And so,

It will be as if all the stars were laughing.

When you look at the sky at night,

You,

Only you,

Will have the stars that can laugh.

'" And he laughed again.

"'It will be as if,

In place of the stars,

I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh.

'" And he laughed again.

"'And when your sorrow is comforted,

Time soothes all sorrows,

You will be content that you have known me.

You will always be my friend.

You will want to laugh with me.

And you will sometimes open your window,

So for that pleasure,

And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky.

'" "'Then you will say to them,

Yes,

The stars always make me laugh,

And they will think you are crazy.

I will have played a good trick on you.

'" And he laughed again.

"'It will be as if,

In place of the stars,

I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh.

'" And he laughed again.

Then he quickly became serious.

"'Tonight,

You know,

Do not come.

I shall not leave you,

' I said.

"'I shall look as if I were suffering.

I shall look a little as if I were dying.

It is like that.

Do not come to see that.

It is not worth the trouble.

I shall not leave you.

'" But he was worried.

"'I tell you,

It is also because of the snake.

He must not bite you.

Snakes are malicious creatures.

This one might bite you just for the fun of—' "'I shall not leave you.

'" But a thought came to reassure him.

"'Oh,

It's true that they have no more poison for a second bite.

'" That night,

I did not see him set out on his way.

He got away from me without making a sound.

When I succeeded in catching up with him,

He was walking along with a quick and resolute step,

And he just said to me,

"'Oh,

You're here,

' and he took me by the hand.

But he was still worrying.

"'It was wrong of you to come.

You will suffer.

I shall look as if I were dead,

And that will not be true.

'" I said nothing.

"'You understand.

It is too far.

I cannot carry this body with me.

It's too heavy.

'" I said nothing.

"'But it will be like an old abandoned shell.

There is nothing sad about old shells.

'" I said nothing.

He was a little discouraged.

"'But—' he made one more effort.

"'You know,

It will be very nice.

I,

Too,

Shall look at the stars.

All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley.

All the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink.

'" I said nothing.

"'That will be so amusing.

You will have five hundred million little bells,

And I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water.

'" And he,

Too,

Said nothing more,

Because he was crying.

"'Here it is.

Let me go on by myself.

'" And he sat down,

Because he was afraid.

Then he said again,

"'You know,

My flower,

I am responsible for her,

And she is so weak.

She is so naive.

She has four thorns of no use at all to protect herself against the whole world.

'" I,

Too,

Sat down,

Because I was not able to stand up any longer.

"'There.

Now.

That is all.

' He still hesitated a little.

And then he got up.

He took one step.

I could not move.

There was nothing but a flash of yellow close to his ankle.

He remained motionless for an instant.

He did not cry out.

He fell as gently as a tree falls.

There was not even a sound because of the sand.

Chapter 27 And now,

Six years have already gone by.

I have never told this story before.

The companions who met me upon my return were well content to see me alive.

I was sad,

But I told them.

I'm just tired.

Now,

My sorrow is comforted a little.

That is to say,

Not entirely.

But I know that he did go back to his planet,

Because I did not find his body at daybreak.

It was not such a heavy body.

And at night,

I loved to listen to the stars.

It is like 500 million little bells.

But there is one extraordinary thing.

When I drew the muzzle for the little prince,

I forgot to add the leather strap to it.

He will never be able to fasten it on his sheep.

So now I keep wondering,

What is happening on his planet?

Perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower.

I go back and forth.

One time,

I say to myself,

Surely not.

The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night,

And he watches over his sheep very carefully.

Then I'm happy.

And there is a sweetness in the laughter of all the stars.

But then,

I start thinking to myself,

At some moment or the other,

One is absent-minded,

And that is enough.

On some one evening,

He forgets the glass globe,

And the sheep goes out and without making any noise in the night.

And then the little bells are changed to tears.

Here,

Then,

Is a great mystery.

For you,

Who also love the little prince,

And for me,

Nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere,

Though we do not know where,

A sheep that we never saw has,

Yes or no,

Eaten a rose.

Look up at the sky.

Ask yourself,

Is it a yes or a no?

Has the sheep eaten the flower?

And you will see how everything changes,

And no grown-up will ever understand how this is a matter of such consequence.

This is,

To me,

The loveliest and the saddest landscape in the world.

It is the same as on the previous page,

But I have drawn it again to impress on your memory.

It is here that the little prince appeared on the earth and disappeared.

Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognize it in case you travel someday to the African desert.

And if you should come upon this spot,

Please do not hurry on.

Wait for a time exactly under the star.

Then,

If a little man appears who laughs,

Who has golden hair,

And refuses to answer questions,

You will know who he is.

Should this happen,

Please comfort me.

Send me a word that he has come back.

Reviews

Such a strange but wonderful story, and told with a voice that seems perfect for it.
It was extremely enjoyable, thank you.

Thank you so much. My son and I enjoyed listening to this classical tale together. Namaste. 🙏🏻