LittlePrince(小王子英文原版).pdf

To Leon Werth
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it
to a grown-up. 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

[ Chapter 1 ] - we are introduced to the narrator, a pilot, and his ideas
about grown-ups


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 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 the boa constrictor, so that
the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things
explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this: