Summary “The Little Prince”
There are works that can be read and re-read many times. The book of Antoine de Saint-Exupery “The Little Prince” is one of those. Since the first edition in 1943, it is among the most read in the world. Its author, a French pilot and writer, is an adult, and remains in the soul of a child. The book “Little Prince” tells about an unusual meeting of the pilot with the Little Prince, a guest from another planet. This work is included in the program of literature of the 6th grade.
“Little Prince” – a story in form and a fairy tale on the plot, a narrative of all understandable language about serious and eternal questions: love, friendship, loyalty and responsibility for loved ones. In order to represent the meaning and the main idea of the story, we suggest that you read the summary of “The Little Prince” by chapters online.
Main characters
The narrator is a pilot who made a forced landing in the Sahara,
The little prince is a boy who lives on a small planet and once went on a journey. He gets to know different adults who seem so strange – he himself sees the world quite differently.
Other characters
Rose is the favorite flower of the Little Prince, a creature capricious and proud.
The king is a ruler, for whom the main thing in life is power. He considers all people to be his subjects.
The ambitious is an inhabitant of one of the planets who considers himself to be the best, clever and rich, and all people his admirers.
A drunkard is an adult who drinks, trying to forget that he is ashamed of what he drinks.
A business man is a person who constantly counts the stars. He thinks it’s enough to call yourself the owner of the stars first, in order to really be them.
The lantern – the inhabitant of the smallest planet on which the Little prince has visited, lights and extinguishes his lantern every second.
A geographer is a scientist who knows nothing about his beautiful planet, because he never leaves
The snake is the first living creature seen by the Little Prince on Earth. It seems to him that the snake speaks in riddles. He offers to help the boy when he begins to miss his home.
The Fox is a friend who discovered the little prince many secrets of life. The Fox teaches his friendship and love.
Summary
Chapter 1
As a child, the narrator drew his first picture: a boa constrictor who swallowed an elephant. Adults who saw the picture, decided that it depicted a hat, and advised the boy instead of drawing to do geography and other sciences. Because of this, the child lost faith in himself.
He chose the profession of the pilot, and flew almost the whole world. He met with different adults. As soon as it seemed that a person was talking to him “in one language,” he showed him his child’s drawing – the same one, with a boa and elephant – but without exception they saw only the hat in the figure. And then the narrator had no choice but to talk with them about politics, ties and other things that they lived. On souls, there was no one to talk to.
Chapter 2
So the narrator also lived alone, until one day a breakdown in the engine forced him to land an airplane in the desert. At dawn, the asleep pilot was awakened by an unknown little man who had come from somewhere. He asked me to draw a lamb. The hero drew that single picture that he could. Imagine his surprise when the boy exclaimed that he did not need an elephant in the boa constrictor!
Trying again and again to draw a lamb, which the baby was waiting for, the pilot lost patience and drew a box. The kid was very pleased – he could see his lamb there.
This was the acquaintance of the narrator with the Little Prince.
Chapters 3-4
Kid asked a lot of questions, but when the pilot asked about himself, he pretended not to hear. From scraps of the received information it became clear that the child from another planet, and this planet is very small. Thinking, the pilot decided that his house – an asteroid B612, seen in a telescope only once – so small he was.
Chapter 5
Little by little the pilot learned something about the life of the Little Prince. So, one day it became known that there are also troubles in the baby’s house. Among plants, baobabs are often found. If you do not distinguish their sprouts from the others in time and do not weed out, they will quickly ruin the planet, tearing it to pieces with its roots.
To prevent this from happening, the Little Prince had a firm rule: “Went up in the morning, washed, cleaned up, and immediately put your planet in order.”
Chapter 6
Gradually it became clear that the baby was often sad on his planet. If “it becomes very sad, it’s good to see how the sun sets in,” said the Little Prince. There was a day when the boy looked at the sky more than forty times…
Chapter 7
On the fifth day of his acquaintance, the pilot learned the secret of the Little Prince. On his planet lived an unusual flower, which no one in the world had. He was afraid that someday, a sheep that destroys sprouts of baobabs, will eat a favorite plant.
Chapter 8
Soon the narrator learned about the flower more. The Little Prince once appeared a tiny sprout, not like other flowers. Over time, a bud grew on it, which did not open for a long time. When all the petals were opened, the kid with admiration saw a real beauty. She had a difficult character: the guest was thin and proud in nature. The boy who took everything that the beauty said was close to his heart, felt unhappy and decided to run away on a journey.
Telling the story of the flower, the Kid already understood that “it was necessary to judge not by words, but by deeds”, because the beautiful woman gave the perfume to the planet, and he could not rejoice at it and “could not love.”
Chapter 9
Before traveling, the boy carefully cleaned his planet. When he said goodbye to the beautiful guest, she suddenly asked for forgiveness, wished him happiness and confessed that she loved Little Prince.
Chapters 10-11
Very close to the baby’s planet were several asteroids, he decided to go there and learn something.
The king lived on the first planet. The monarch gave only feasible orders. For this reason, it was necessary to wait for the exact time to see the sunset. The little prince became bored – he needed to see the sunset when he wanted, at the call of his heart.
The second planet was inhabited by an ambitious man, who thought that everyone admired him. The desire of the ambitious to be smarter, prettier and richer than all seemed strange to the boy.
Chapters 12-13
The third planet belonged to a drunkard. The little prince was at a loss when he heard that he was drinking to forget about how ashamed he was because he was drinking.
The owner of the fourth planet was a business man. He was always busy: he recounted the stars in the confidence that he owned them. From him, according to the hero, there was no use.
Chapters 14-15
On the smallest planet lived a lantern, which lighted and extinguished the lantern every moment. His occupation was useful, according to the baby, because the lantern was thinking not only about himself.
The hero also visited the geographer’s planet. The scientist wrote down the stories of travelers, he never saw the seas, deserts and cities.
Chapters 16-17
The seventh planet on which the Little Prince turned out to be, was the Earth, and it was huge.
Initially, the kid did not see anyone on the planet, except for the snake. From it, he learned that not only in the desert, but among people, too, it is lonely. The snake promised to help him on that day, when the boy will be sad about his house.
Chapter 18
Wandering through the desert, the hero met a small unattractive flower. The flower did not know where to look for people – for all his life he had seen them only a few and thought that they were blown by the wind, because people did not have roots.
Chapter 19
Having climbed the mountain, which fell on the way, the Little Prince hoped to see the whole Earth and all people. But instead I saw only the rocks and heard an echo. “Strange planet!” – the kid decided, and he felt sad.
Chapter 20
As a little hero saw a garden with many roses. They looked like his beauty, and the kid stopped, amazed. It turned out that his flower is not the only one in the world and not at all special. It was painful to think about it, he sat down in the grass and cried.
Chapter 21
At that moment the Fox appeared. The little prince was going to make friends, but it turned out, first the animal needs to be tamed. Then “we will need each other… My life as if by the sun will illuminate,” – said the Fox.
Fox taught the kid that “you can learn only those things that tame,” and “to tame, you must have patience.” He revealed to the boy an important secret: “One’s heart is sharp, only one can not see the main eye,” and asked to remember the law: “You are forever responsible for all those who have tamed.” The little prince realized: the beautiful rose is the most precious, he gave her all his time and strength and he is responsible for the rose – he tamed it.
Chapter 22
Going further, the Little Prince met the switchman, who sorted the passengers. The kid asked him where and why people are going, what are they looking for? No one knew the answer, and the hero decided that “only children know what they are looking for.”
Chapter 23
Then the boy saw a merchant who sold improved pills. Thanks to this, you could save almost an hour a week, you take one pill – and you do not need to drink a week. If the baby has so many free minutes, he would just go to a living spring…
Chapter 24
The pilot drank the last of the water. Together, the boy and the adult set off on a quest for a well. When the baby was tired, he was consoled by the thought that somewhere there is his flower, and the desert is beautiful in that the springs are hidden in it. After the words of the baby about the desert, the narrator realized that he had seen the mysterious light above the sands: “Whether it is a house, a star or a desert, the most beautiful thing in them is what you will not see with your eyes.”
At dawn, the pilot with the boy in his arms reached the well.
Chapter 25
The pilot gave the baby a drink. The water was, “as a gift to the heart,” she “was born from a long journey under the stars, from the creaking of the gate, from the efforts of the hands.”
Now the friends spoke the same language and both knew that for happiness it takes very little.
The main character realized that the baby wants to return home.
Chapter 26
Having repaired the engine, the pilot returned to the well the next evening and saw that the Little Prince was talking to the snake. The pilot was very scared for the baby. After reporting that at night he could return home and protect the rose, the boy became very serious. He promised to give his grown-up friend special stars. “Each person has his own stars” – the pilot’s stars will be able to laugh.
Very soon a snake flashed by the little prince, biting him, and he fell soundlessly and slowly.
Chapter 27
The pilot never told anyone about the Little Prince. He knew – the kid returned to his house, because the next morning he was not in the sand. And now the narrator likes to watch and listen to the stars, they then quietly laugh, then cry.
Conclusion
Talking about the hero’s journey, the author speaks with us about eternal human values, the importance of preserving in life the child’s purity and naivety, about the real perception of the world. Having studied the short narration of “The Little Prince”, having got acquainted with the plot and heroes, one can move on: read the full text and feel the life-affirming beginning of the tale, where the adult hero began to hear the stars and see the world in a new way.
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