The Little Prince 小王子英语版.pdf

The Little Prince

By

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
TO LEON WERTH
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating
it to a grownup. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the
world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything, even
books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is
hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I
will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-
ups were once children—although few of them remember it. And so I correct
my dedication:
TO LEON WERTH WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE BOY


I

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book,
called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of
a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the
drawing.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without
chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six
months that they need for digestion."
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some
work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My
Drawing Number One. It looked something like this:
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the
drawing frightened them. But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one
be frightened by a hat?"
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor
digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it,
I made another drawing: I drew the inside of a boa constrictor, so that the
grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explaine