The Little Prince

FABLE BY SAINT-EXUPÉRY

WRITTEN BY: Kate Lohnes Cathy Lowne

See Article History

Alternative Title: “Le Petit Prince”

The Little Prince, French Le Petit Prince, fable and modern classic by French aviator and writer Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry that was published with his own illustrations in French as Le Petit Prince in 1943. The
simple tale tells the story of a child, the little prince, who travels the universe gaining wisdom. The
novella has been translated into hundreds of languages and has sold some 200 million copies worldwide,
making it one of the best-selling books in publishing history. .

The Little Prince

The Little Prince

Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) pictured on a French stamp, circa 1998.

© catwalker/Shutterstock.com

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-44) French aviator and writer of the fable Le Petit Prince (The Little
Prince) pictured on the left, on French paper currency.

BRITANNICA QUIZ

The Little Prince

Where does the Little Prince realize that his rose is not unique?

Plot Summary

The narrator introduces himself as a man who learned when he was a child that adults lack imagination
and understanding. He is now a pilot who has crash-landed in a desert. He encounters a small boy who
asks him for a drawing of a sheep, and the narrator obliges. The narrator, who calls the child the little
prince, learns that the boy comes from a very small planet, which the narrator believes to be asteroid B-
612. Over the course of the next few days, the little prince tells the narrator about his life. On his
asteroid-planet, which is no bigger than a house, the prince spends his time pulling up baobab seedlings,
lest they grow big enough to engulf the tiny planet. One day an anthropomorphic rose grows on the
planet, and the prince loves her with all his heart. However, her vanity and demands become too much
for the prince, and he leaves.

The prince travels to a series of asteroids, each featuring a grown-up who has been reduced to a
function. The first is a king who requires obedience but has no subjects until the arrival of the prince.
The sole inhabitant of the next planet is a conceited man who wants nothing from the prince but flattery.
The prince subsequently meets a drunkard, who explains that he must drink to forget how ashamed he is
of drinking. The fourth planet introduces the prince to a businessman, who maintains that he owns the
stars, which makes it very important that he know exactly how many stars there are. The prince then
encounters a lamplighter, who follows orders that require him to light a lamp each evening and put it out
each morning, even though his planet spins so fast that dusk and dawn both occur once every minute.
Finally the prince comes to a planet inhabited by a geographer. The geographer, however, knows nothing
of his own planet, because it is his sole function to record what he learns from explorers. He asks the
prince to describe his home planet, but when the prince mentions the flower, the geographer says that
flowers are not recorded because they are ephemeral. The geographer recommends that the little prince
visit Earth.

On Earth the prince meets a snake, who says that he can return him to his home, and a flower, who tells
him that people lack roots. He comes across a rose garden, and he finds it very depressing to learn that
his beloved rose is not, as she claimed, unique in the universe. A fox then tells him that if he tames the
fox—that is, establishes ties with the fox—then they will be unique and a source of joy to each other.

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The narrator and little prince have now spent eight days in the desert and have run out of water. The two
then traverse the desert in search of a well, which, miraculously, they find. The little prince tells the
narrator that he plans to return that night to his planet and flower and that now the stars will be
meaningful to the narrator, because he will know that his friend is living on one of them. Returning to his
planet requires allowing the poisonous snake to bite him. The story resumes six years later. The narrator
says that the prince’s body was missing in the morning, so he knows that he returned to his planet, and
he wonders whether the sheep that he drew him ate his flower. He ends by imploring the reader to
contact him if they ever spot the little prince.

Analysis And Reception

The Little Prince draws unflattering portraits of grown-ups as being hopelessly narrow-minded. In
contrast, children come to wisdom through open-mindedness and a willingness to explore the world
around them and within themselves. The main theme of the fable is expressed in the secret that the fox
tells the little prince: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly: what is essential is invisible to the
eye.”

French- and English-language versions of the novella were published in 1943 (though the book did not
appear in France until 1946). Critics were unsure what to make of The Little Prince, and it was not
immediately popular. It was unclear whether the book was meant for children or adults, though British
writer P.L. Travers said that it had the necessary ingredients for a children’s book in that “it is true in the
most inward sense, it offers no explanations and it has a moral.”

Many critics drew parallels between the characters and events of The Little Prince and the life of its
author, who wrote the book while living in New York City, having fled the turmoil of World War II in
France. Like the narrator, Saint-Exupéry was a pilot who experienced a plane crash in a desert (Libya). His
wife, Consuelo, is also said to have had erratic behaviour similar to that of the prince’s rose—a parallel
further emphasized by Consuelo’s later autobiography, The Tale of the Rose (written in 1945 and
published 2000). Thus, the narrator and little prince have been viewed as expressions of different
aspects of Saint-Exupéry himself.

The Little Prince was translated into more than 250 languages. It was also adapted into radio plays and
films—among them animated and musical versions—as well as operas, ballets, and theatre in countries
throughout the world.

 What Happens in The Little Prince?

A golden-haired little prince meets a pilot stranded in the desert. He tells the pilot that he was born on
an asteroid and has met a great many strange and interesting characters.

The little prince and the pilot bond over a drawing of a sheep inside a box. The boy tells the pilot about
the people he met on other asteroids: a drunkard, a geographer, and a man continuously lighting and
blowing out a lamp, among others.

The pilot and the prince nearly die of dehydration when it becomes hard to find water in the desert.
After walking all night, they finally find a well and drink of its sweet waters.

A year to the day after the boy's arrival, he allows himself to be bitten by a snake that he believes has the
power to send him back to his home on the asteroid.

 Related Questions and Answers for Characters in The Little Prince

What is the moral lesson of The Little Prince?

The moral is that we cannot truly understand unless we search for meaning ourselves. Someone else can
tell us about it, but we need to experience it in order to know what it means. The narrator...
Is the Little Prince Jesus?

Is the Little Prince Jesus? The short answer is, maybe. One of the great things about The Little Prince is
that it can be understood in so many different ways. One way it can be understood is as a...

In Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, what does the snake represent or teach the little prince?

The snake symbolizes death, in exactly the same way that the snake symbolizes death in the Garden of
Eden. One of the dominant themes in The Little Prince is experiences beyond the corporeal. The...

What does the sheep in The Little Prince symbolize ?

In the beginning, the sheep is simply another source of curiosity for the little prince. He was aware of the
existence of sheep and wanted to learn more about them. In his openness to knowledge and...

Describe the appearance of the little prince.

A description of a character's "appearance" might be about the way he looks (the character's physical
attributes, like "short" and "blonde") or about the circumstances in which he enters the story...

RECENTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS

THE LITTLE PRINCE

How does the Little Prince feel when he arrives on earth?

When the Little Prince first arrives on earth, he is surprised at how very big it is and wonders why he
sees no people. He learns this is because he landed on the desert and nobody lives in the...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince, why did the little prince leave his planet?

The prince chooses to leave his tiny home planet because he has grown unhappy and restless. In
Chapters 8 and 9, the prince tells the pilot about his love and dedication to a beautiful rose that...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What kind of figurative language are used in the quotes "Don’t cry when time flies by!" and "The train
roared to a stop"?

These two quotes from The Little Prince, translated from the French, are examples of metaphor. A
metaphor is a literary device defined by one object figuratively being compared to another—similes...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In what way could the Little Prince be seen as the childhood form of the pilot himself?

The Little Prince could be seen as the childhood form of the pilot who crashes in the desert because both
share the same childlike understanding of life. When the pilot, for example, shows the...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Why does the Little Prince tell the pilot not to come when he is bitten by the snake?

The Prince tells the pilot not to come because he wants to spare the pilot’s feelings. He tells the pilot
that “It’ll look like I’m suffering. It’ll look a little like I’m dying. . . ....

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

How does the story show the Little Prince is different?

The opening of the story highlights the Little Prince's difference from typical adults. When the pilot
shows him the picture he has drawn of the elephant inside the boa constrictor, the Little...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince, a sharp contrast is drawn between children and adults. What are three ways that the
characters or events of the book show this contrast?

Adults lack the imagination of children. This is shown at the beginning of the book, when the pilot shows
the adults his picture of the elephant inside of the boa constrictor. The adults uniformly...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What does the Little Prince symbolize for the pilot?

In order to fully understand what the Little Prince symbolizes for the pilot, it's important to first
understand the pilot, including his desires and needs as a character. At the beginning of the...

3 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the moral lesson conveyed in "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery?

The moral lesson conveyed in The Little Prince is that life is only worth living when it is lived for others,
not for oneself. The Little Prince lives on his asteroid in peace, taking care of his...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What are the characters' appearances in chapters 1-4 of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?
What do the appearances reveal about the characters?

In The Little Prince, author Antoine de Saint-Exupery gives no physical description of the narrator. What
we know of the narrator is that he is an adult who works as a pilot. However, we are given...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What are the dynamics in the first chapter of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery? Does this
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In Chapter One, the narrator lays out a central tension that will run throughout the book, that of the
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2 Educator Answers
THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, what is the significance of the statement, "Anything that
is essential is invisible to the eyes"?

The fox's secret, that "anything essential is invisible to the eyes," serves as a sort of "thesis" for the story.
What this means, basically, is that seeing the "truth" of things requires insight...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Why does the prince adopt a conciliatory attitude in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

To have a conciliatory attitude is to desire to "reconcile" a situation" by "overcom[ing] the distrust or

hostility of" a person, even to make the person "stop arguing with you" (Random House...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is Antoine de Saint-Exupery's purpose in using the first-person point of view to narrate The Little
Prince?

Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince contains two central themes: the importance of finding
one's child self and the importance of love. Furthermore, Saint-Exupery shows that real love can...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What do the planets visited by the little prince represent?

Although you asked what the individual planets represent, I'll say that the planets are not so important
as the people living on them. That is, the planets collectively might represent isolation...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What do the sheep, rose, snake, and adults symbolize in "The Little Prince"?

It can be hard to attach specific meanings to the things you mention. Let's consider each one: The sheep
is not even a character, really, but a desire, or, at best, a drawing. It is important that...

1 Educator Answer
THE LITTLE PRINCE

What are some possible argumentative/persuasive essay topics based on The Little Prince?

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1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince, how did the king reach the planet alone?

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how the King got there. The book doesn't say. But that is something all the inhabitants of...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Is The Little Prince an allegory, fable, fairy tale, or children's book?

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allegory is a symbolic story in which elements of the story such as characters or setting are...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Describe the appearance of the little prince.

A description of a character's "appearance" might be about the way he looks (the character's physical
attributes, like "short" and "blonde") or about the circumstances in which he enters the story...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In what ways do the children start to think as adults in Chapter 1 of The Little Prince?

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when he made two drawings and showed them to grown-ups. The adults could not understand the...

1 Educator Answer
THE LITTLE PRINCE

What was a hard decision the Little Prince had to make?

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behind his beloved rose. He departs the tiny planet because he feels he needs to broaden...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the central point or idea of The Little Prince?

The main theme of The Little Prince can be summed up, I think, by the Fox's secret, which is "One sees
clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." While at first this...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Why does the Little Prince cry when he sees the garden of roses? Does he have a reason to be unhappy?

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2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Is the Little Prince Jesus?

Is the Little Prince Jesus? The short answer is, maybe. One of the great things about The Little Prince is
that it can be understood in so many different ways. One way it can be understood is as a...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Why does the prince still seem to be alive after being bitten by a snake and having gone to another
planet?

This part can be a little hard to understand if you read the chapter just once, or too quickly. Try reading it
a couple of times, slowly. Here's what happens in that chapter: The pilot comes up to...

1 Educator Answer
THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the lesson in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

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now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is moral of chapter 4 of The Little Prince?

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THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince, what does the prince look like?

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any other known human. The narrator has crashed in the desert, and doesn't know how the...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince, is the war between the sheep and flower important? What do the sheep and the
flower represent?

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encounter with the idea of conflict and loss. Roses produce thorns to protect themselves; the...

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THE LITTLE PRINCE

What are some conflicts in The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery?

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1 Educator Answer
THE LITTLE PRINCE

How does "The Little Prince" begin?

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THE LITTLE PRINCE

What differentiates adults from children in The Little Prince?

What is interesting about the presentation of adults and children in this excellent story is the way that
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THE LITTLE PRINCE

What details from Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince should be included in an essay discussing the topic,
"The world of children seems more real and easier than that of adults"?

I would actually hesitate to say that Saint-Exupery's point is to portray a child's life as "easier," meaning
lacking in difficulty or effort and free of worry and care (Collins English...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In the story The Little Prince, why did the little prince doubt the rose?

(eNotes editors may only answer one question per response. If you need more help, resubmit further
questions as separate items.) The little prince begins to understand the character of his rose as...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What does the sheep in The Little Prince symbolize ?

In the beginning, the sheep is simply another source of curiosity for the little prince. He was aware of the
existence of sheep and wanted to learn more about them. In his openness to knowledge and...

2 Educator Answers
THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the role of the snake in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

The moment that best enlightens us about the role of the snake is the moment that the Little Prince first
meets the snake. The Little Prince has just arrived in the desert and is very surprised to...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, what does the snake represent or teach the little prince?

The snake symbolizes death, in exactly the same way that the snake symbolizes death in the Garden of
Eden. One of the dominant themes in The Little Prince is experiences beyond the corporeal. The...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, what will become important to the fox if he is tamed? What will
matter to the fox?

In Chapter 21, the fox asserts that if he is tamed, life will matter to him. It is important to remember that
the fox is using a different definition of tame than we normally would. The fox defines...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the setting/settings of Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

The setting of a piece of literature refers to the physical location and even historical time period in which
the action of the piece takes place. Setting can refer to a specific city, state, or...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, where do we see the prince's keen ability to notice details?

We see the little prince's keen abilities of observation and paying attention to detail in several places.
The first instance takes place when we meet the prince for the very first time. The prince...

1 Educator Answer
THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the main problem in The Little Prince? How did the characters try to solve the problem and what
is the solution?

The little prince in the story The Little Prince is searching. He doesn't completely understand what he is
searching for, so he is open to learning from everyone and everything he encounters. The...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What are the basic principles found in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

Many themes found in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince depict many different principles. In fact, it is
widely recognized that there isn't one social issue of Saint-Exupery's time that he neglected...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Can the king in Chapter 10 of Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince be compared to any historic or
contemporary figures?

The interesting thing about the king in Chapter 10 is that he is completely incapable of either passing a
reasonable law or upholding any unreasonable laws. Every decision he makes is formed with...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

In The Little Prince, would you say there is a lot of stereotyping gender? If so, examples? In The Little
Prince, would you say there is a lot of stereotyping gender? If so, examples?

My interpretation of the story would hold that there is a great deal of stereotyping of roles, not by
gender. The adults met by the little prince on each of the planets he visits bring their own...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Which events make The Little Prince a fairy tale?

A "fairy tale" is defined as being a story "about elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, or other magical
creatures." The little prince seems to be a magical being and his planet is certainly an...
1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Why is The Little Prince so important to Saint-Exupery?

The Little Prince is a very important character because its role in the story increases throughout the
narrative, and makes it a character of much greater depth and significance than one first...

2 Educator Answers

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What objects should I include in a model of the planet Earth in order to represent the prince's journey in
Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince?

If you are reconstructing the planet Earth for the little prince as he experienced it, then what you should
do is go back over the story and look at the prince's experiences on Earth as he relays...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

What is the main lesson of The Little Prince as allegory?

As an allegory Le Petit Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery expresses lessons of friendship and altruism.
Saint-Exupery once wrote, etre homme, etre responsable [to be man is to be responsible], and...

1 Educator Answer

THE LITTLE PRINCE

Is Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince political satire?

I would actually hesitate to call The Little Prince political satire. Rather than being interested in ideas or
instances related to government or power, Saint-Exupery is actually considered a...

1 Educator Answer

If you were to say to the grown-ups: “I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick, with geraniums in the
windows and doves on the roof,” they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all. You would
have to say to them: “I saw a house that cost 15,000 euros.” Then they would exclaim: “Oh, what a pretty
house that is!”
Just so, you might say to them: “The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, that he
laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists.”
And what good would it do to tell them that? They would shrug their shoulders, and treat you like a
child. But if you said to them: “The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612,” then they would be
convinced, and leave you in peace from their questions.

They are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should always show great forbearance
toward grown-up people.

But certainly, for us who understand life, figures are a matter of indifference.

I should have liked to begin this story in the fashion of the fairy-tales. I should have like to say: “Once
upon a time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was scarcely any bigger than himself, and
who had need of a sheep…”

 Story telling

To those who understand life, that would have given a much greater air of truth to my story.

Above is an excerpt from one of my favorite novellas, “The Little Prince” by French aviator and writer
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which implicitly gives a great definition and provides a strong rationale for
storytelling.

petit_prince

Indeed, many people like facts and figures, but those numbers become more meaningful if you embed
them into a context that appeals to their emotion. For many professional speakers this should be no
surprise at all. Anyone familiar with Aristotle’s ancient art of rhetoric knows that a well-balanced mix of
ethos, pathos and logos motivates and persuades your audience – and makes your presentation
memorable.

In their book, “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die,” Chip and Dan Heath describe an
experiment with students at Stanford University. All pupils had to prepare and deliver a one-minute
persuasive speech. After everyone had finished their talk, the students were asked to rate each other on
the effectiveness of the presentations and write down the key points they remembered.
On average, the presenters used 2.5 figures in their one-minute speeches

Only about 1 out of 10 used a personal story to make their point

63% of the class remembered details from the speeches that used stories

But only 5% of the audience remembered the statistics

The little prince had it right. Figures are a matter of indifference and, to those who understand life (and
IMHO to all the rest of us too), a good story can give a much greater air of truth.

 The Big Lesson of a Little Prince: (Re)capture the Creativity of Childhood

By Maria Konnikova on March 18, 2012

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

~William Wordsworth, 1802

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“Once upon a time, there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was barely larger than he, and
who needed a friend.”* That’s how Antoine de Saint-Exupéry would have liked to begin his story of the
Little Prince. To those who understand life, he says, that sort of a beginning would have rung far more
true than any other.

But he doesn’t begin that way. He can’t. For, you see, adults wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t
understand at all. For them, for the little prince to be real there must be proof positive. Numerical,
preferably. Asteroid B 612. That’s more like it. Now we get a sense of the man. His age? Weight? Height?
Even better. But the sound of his voice? His preferred games? Whether he once collected butterflies?
Irrelevant and unimportant considerations that could do little to shed light on the party in question.

That, at least, is the dichotomy presented in Saint-Exupéry’s classic, Le Petit Prince. On the one hand, we
have the children, those like the narrator’s young self, inspired by a zoology text to draw a boa
constrictor who has swallowed an elephant, or like the Little Prince of the title, who would very much
like a picture of a sheep to take back to his planet. A sheep, preferably, who eats baobabs but not roses.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the adults, those who think the boa constrictor resembles
an old floppy hat—and not a very well executed one, at that—and who urge the young narrator to
pursue a Real Career and advise the Little Prince on the importance of counting every star, following
routine, obeying orders, lighting a gas lamp at the proper time of day, even if it happens to be once a
minute.

In Saint-Exupéry’s world, the adults seem the absurd ones, going nowhere quickly and persisting
stubbornly in mindless pursuits – even when they no longer have any idea of why they pursue them. And
it’s from the petit gentilhomme, as the narrator terms him, and from his guileless friends, the fox and the
rose, that we get any sense of wisdom, of what is and is not important, of the questions that are worth
asking—and the ones that aren’t.

The juxtaposition is necessarily exaggerated (we are in the realm of fable, after all). But Saint-Exupéry’s
larger point about creativity and thought is difficult to overstate: as we age, how we see the world
changes. It is the rare person who is able to hold on to the sense of wonderment, of presence, of sheer
enjoyment of life and its possibilities that is so apparent in our younger selves. As we age, we gain
experience. We become better able to exercise self-control. We become more in command of our
faculties, our thoughts, our desires. But somehow, we lose sight of the effortless ability to take in the
world in full. The very experience that helps us become successful threatens to limit our imagination and
our sense of the possible. When did experience ever limit the fantasy of a child?

But it’s not that we aren’t capable of seeing a boa constrictor in place of a hat; it’s just that we don’t
choose to do it. Think back to your childhood. Chances are, if I asked you to tell me about the street
where you grew up, you’d be able to recall any number of details. The colors of the houses. The quirks of
the neighbors. The smells of the seasons. How different the street was at different times of day. Where
you played. Where you walked. Where you were afraid of walking. I bet you could go on for hours.

As children, we are remarkably aware. We absorb and process information at a speed that we’ll never
again come close to achieving. New sights, new sounds, new smells, new people, new emotions, new
experiences: we are learning about our world and its possibilities. Everything is new, everything is
exciting, everything engenders curiosity. And because of the inherent newness of our surroundings, we
are exquisitely alert; we are absorbed; we take it all in. Who knows when it might come in handy?

But as we grow older, the blasé factor increases exponentially. Been there, done that, don’t need to pay
attention to this, and when in the world will I ever need to know or use that. Before we know it, we have
shed that innate attentiveness, engagement, and curiosity for a host of passive, mindless habits. And
even when we want to engage, we no longer have that childhood luxury. Gone are the days where our
main job was to learn, to absorb, to interact; we now have other, more pressing (or so we think)
responsibilities to attend to and demands on our minds to address. And as the demands on our attention
increase—an all too real concern as the pressures of multitasking grow in the increasingly 24/7 digital
age—so, too, does our actual attention decrease. As it does so, we become less and less able to know or
notice our own thought habits, and more and more allow our minds to dictate our judgments and
decisions, instead of the other way around.

In 2010, a group of psychologists decided to test experimentally the intuitive notion that, as we leave our
childhood selves behind, we leave also some of that creative inspiration that is the basis of original ideas,
innovative thought, and prescient discovery. They asked a group of college students to write a short
essay: Imagine school is cancelled for today. What would you do, think, and feel?

All students answered the same question. But for one group, a single sentence was added to the
instruction: You are seven years old.

After approximately five minutes of writing, each participant was asked to complete a version of the
Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (specifically, the abbreviated version for adults). The average
performance was about as expected—with one major exception. Those participants who were in the
seven-year-old condition exhibited significantly higher levels of originality in thought. Both their verbal
and figural responses left their more adult-minded counterparts in the dust.

Imagining yourself a child, it seems, can quite literally make your mind more flexible, more original, more
open to creative input and more capable of generating creative output—a nice complement to past
findings that laughter and positive mood have much the same effect.

And is it so surprising? After all, J. M. Barrie did write: “What is genius? It is the power to be a boy again
at will.” (True, he did create the quintessential ever-child, Peter Pan—but not so Charles Baudelaire,
whose Fleurs du Mals is anything but a children’s book, and who echoed Barrie closely when he wrote,
“Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man's physical
means to express itself, and with the analytical mind that enables it to bring order into the sum of
experience, involuntarily amassed.” Baudelaire’s assessment, in fact, may be closer to the truth of the
matter: the ability to capture the childlike openness and curiosity, but to combine it also with the
experience and depth a child could not possibly possess.)

***

In the French version of the book, Saint-Exupéry never actually uses the term “adult” to describe his
uncomprehending elders. He terms them les grandes personnes. Big people. Not once does he call them
anything else.

That’s not a coincidence. It’s a crucial distinction. What matters, in the end, is the attitude, not the age.
You can have children who are grandes personnes, just as you can have adults who aren’t. The question
is one of mindset, of a way of looking at the world. It has little to do with age as such—only insofar as
age tends to bring out a more staid attitude in many of us.

In the earlier study, the researchers found one more thing: it wasn’t just the seven-year-old thinkers who
performed better. So did those individuals who scored higher on a measure of openness to experience.
The effects were additive: someone who was more open-minded still derived benefit from the childhood
thought manipulation, but could perform creatively—albeit not quite to the same extent—even absent
that instruction.

Mindset is flexible. We don’t have to be grandes personnes forever, even if we’re well down that path
already. And, like the Saint-Exupéry of the story, we can be as grande as ever when fixing our airplane—
as serious a pursuit as there can be in the middle of a desert, thousands of miles from inhabited land—
and as much of a budding illustrator of threatening baobabs and sheep in boxes when we so wish. That’s
the beauty of a mindset. We have the power to change it at will, if only we so choose.

***

How old is the Little Prince? We never do find out. We know he has hair of gold. That his laugh is like the
sparkle of the stars. That he loves a rose. That he tamed a wise fox and made him his friend. And at the
end of the day, isn’t that all that really matters?

Parts of this piece were adapted from my forthcoming book on Sherlock Holmes, to be published by
Viking in 2013.

All Little Prince illustrations from original version of "Le Petit Prince": copyright 1943 by Harcourt Brace &
Company, renewed 1971 by Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry.