# The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - Blinkist

What’s in it for me? Uncover the magic of a timeless parable, and learn what matters most in life.

The Little Prince is often positioned as a children’s story. But its simplicity belies a profound message on friendship, adulthood, and what’s truly important in life – a message as relevant today as it was 80 years ago. No wonder it’s the second-most translated book in the world, beaten only by the Bible.

At its heart, The Little Prince is a product of its time. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – frustrated and exiled to North America amid the horrors and humiliations of World War II – wanted to present a more personal and humanizing perspective. While it’s not overtly about war, the tale makes points about love, innocence, and what we hold important in a way that only a French author in 1943 could.

Saint-Exupéry’s own experiences are scattered throughout the novella in varying degrees of metaphor. As a pilot, he really did crash-land in the Sahara desert – and the loneliness and beauty he felt during this experience could certainly have been the prince’s inception. 

This Blink will take you through the main events of this beautiful parable, with brief analyses of the themes along the way. For a very short summary of the story, you can skip to the final section. Otherwise, open your heart – and prepare to see the world through the curious eyes of the little prince.

The prince’s home, and the things we don’t understand

Our story begins with the unnamed narrator as a child, drawing – or rather trying to draw – a simple picture of a boa constrictor that has eaten an elephant. To his dismay, the grown-ups are unable to understand what he drew, mistaking it for a hat.

Fast-forward to many years in the future. After crashing his plane in the desert, the narrator meets a small, curious boy – the titular little prince – who asks for a drawing of a sheep. Unlike the grown-ups of the narrator’s past, the prince recognizes his ambiguous drawing straight away. Then, he asks if the sheep would eat bushes or a rose.

You see, the prince comes from a small asteroid – barely bigger than a house – on which he spends his days pulling up the sprouting baobab trees that threaten to overrun his planet. He would very much like the sheep to eat these weeds.

But the prince also owns a rose, who he loves dearly and would not like to come to any harm. Despite this love, he feels tormented by her vanity – she’s constantly demanding his attention, complaining of dangers, and speaking in contradictions that confuse and frustrate the prince. As he tells the narrator on Earth, “I was too young to know how to love her.”

That’s why he decided to leave. First, he cleaned out the three tiny volcanoes that also occupy his planet. Then he uprooted the last of the baobab plants. As he watered his precious flower one final time, she asked for his forgiveness, explaining that both of them had been foolish. She requested that he remove her protective glass, saying, “I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”

The prince left her proudly hiding her tears, and began the adventure that eventually led him to Earth.

ANALYSIS

Right away, we’re introduced to a theme that’s prevalent throughout the book: you often need to look under the surface to see the true meanings of things – and grown-ups are notoriously bad at this. This is shown by the adults who fail to realize there’s an elephant inside the narrator's picture of a boa constrictor.

Contrast this with the little prince’s immediate childlike acceptance and understanding of the drawing of the sheep, and you’ll see the different perspectives of adults and children. Something is lost along the way as we grow older.

As the prince continues telling the story of his home planet, we’re introduced to some more themes and symbols of the book. The baobab trees that require constant maintenance, lest they overrun the planet? These symbolize the bad habits or negative thoughts that will hurt us if we leave them unattended. It’s no stretch to see them as representing the destructive roots of Nazism that were overrunning Saint-Exupéry’s home country and the rest of Europe at the time of writing.

Which brings us to the rose – which, as usual, symbolizes love. This particular rose and the prince’s undying love for her were likely inspired by Saint-Exupéry’s wife, Consuelo. At this stage in the prince’s life, he doesn’t understand the rose. He’s frustrated by her contradictions and pushed away by her vanity. 

But as the rose wisely points out, you have to endure the caterpillars to enjoy the butterflies. In other words, you need to accept the unpleasant things in a relationship or situation if you want to get to the really good part.

The prince isn’t ready for this. As he reflects to the narrator, he was too young to love the rose, which is why he left. He still had some growing up to do, and some lessons to learn. Keep this in mind as we go back in time and follow the prince on his journey to Earth.

A journey through the stars, and the absurdity of grown-ups

Feeling disenchanted and misunderstood by the rose he loves, the little prince decides to leave the safety of his small asteroid. In the pursuit of knowledge, he visits some neighboring planets.

On the first, he meets a king. Strangely, there are no other people around for the king to rule over – and what’s more, the king only seems to give orders if his instructions are already coming to pass. For instance, he claims to rule over the stars and the sun. When asked to command the sun to set, he agrees, but only when the sun is ready – at sunset, to be exact. Amused, the prince travels to the next planet.

Here, he meets a conceited man who demands admiration. The little prince indulges him, but wonders aloud what’s so interesting about that. 

On to the next planet, where he visits a drunkard with a circular explanation for his drinking habit – he drinks to forget that he’s ashamed of his drinking. Even more puzzled by the behavior of grown-ups, the prince travels to the fourth planet.

This asteroid contains a businessman who’s constantly counting. The prince discovers that the man is counting the stars, which he claims to own. The prince points out the absurdity of owning something that can’t be touched – the prince owns a flower and the volcanoes on his planet, and he is of use to them because he takes care of them. What use is the businessman to the stars?

The fifth planet is the smallest of all. It contains a single lamp, and a lamplighter who lights and extinguishes the lamp every few minutes – the tiny planet makes for short nights. The man is exhausted from never having more than a few minutes rest, but he’s dedicated to his task and continues it unquestioningly. The prince leaves him to his futile work.

He finally reaches the sixth planet, where he finds a geographer. This man is meticulously mapping out every feature of the land – lakes, forests, mountains – into a book. The prince is excited to finally see a reasonable profession. But he quickly learns that the geographer doesn’t actually know anything about his own planet. He’s not an explorer; in fact, he never leaves his desk.

The prince asks about flowers, with his rose in mind. The geographer explains that they’re of no interest to him because they’re ephemeral. Feeling a pang of regret for his home and his impermanent love, the prince asks where he should go next.

The geographer suggests that he visit Earth.

ANALYSIS

Each of these planets contains a single man whose existence has been reduced to a single function. The little prince’s encounter with them is a parable highlighting the complexities or contradictions of human nature, as well as societal flaws in general.

The king illustrates the inherent emptiness of power when it’s removed from human connection. The conceited man shines light on the pointlessness of living a superficial life.

The drunkard and the businessmen are living an equally meaningless existence – trapped in a vicious cycle, or hanging importance on things that are simply not real.

Likewise, the lamplighter has become so obsessed with completing his task that he’s lost sight of its initial purpose. And the geographer? For all his theoretical knowledge, he knows nothing about his own world because he doesn’t have any direct experience.

What does the prince learn from these people? As he repeats at the end of each meeting, “The grown-ups are certainly very odd.” These serious and busy men are caught up in pointless, ironic, or simply bizarre activities – all the while acting like what they do is of utmost importance or necessity.

Stop and think: In what ways are you like that businessman and his endless counting? Or the lamplighter with his strict adherence to an outdated task?

On that note, what actually is important? The little prince is about to find out.

Taming a fox, and a lesson on friendship

The prince eventually arrives on planet Earth, landing in the middle of an African desert. He’s promptly greeted by a yellow snake who speaks in riddles.

When the little prince comments on how lonely it is in the desert without people, the snake points out that it’s also lonely among people. The prince remarks that the snake is no thicker than a finger – and it retorts that it’s more powerful than the finger of a king. The snake claims it can take the prince back home to his asteroid with just a single bite.

The prince leaves the snake – for now – and continues across the desert, looking for people.

He encounters a garden that’s blooming with thousands of roses no different from his flower back home. He’s distraught; he thought that his rose was unique. Sadly, he reflects on how he believed he was rich with his beautiful, unique flower – but it was nothing more than a common rose. He lies down on the ground and weeps.

At this point, a fox appears. The little prince, in need of a friend, asks the fox to play with him. The fox responds that he isn’t tame, meaning he’s never established any ties. To the fox, the prince is the same as a hundred thousand other boys. But if the prince tames him, he thinks, then they’ll need each other – and suddenly, the boy will be unique. So the fox asks the prince to tame him.

The process is long. But eventually, the fox is tamed and becomes the prince’s friend.

When the prince has to leave, the fox begins to cry. The prince wonders what the point of taming him was if the end result was sadness. In response, the fox asks the prince to return to the garden with thousands of roses. There, the prince realizes that his flower is indeed unique. Unlike all these roses, he has tamed her – and been tamed by her in return.

As they say goodbye, the fox tells the prince one last secret: the essential things in life can’t be seen with the eyes – only with the heart – and you become responsible for what you tame.

Now aware of the responsibility he has for his rose, the little prince moves on.

ANALYSIS

In this part of the story, we see the prince learn the lessons that he left his home to discover. They’re put into context by the snake he meets as soon as he arrives on Earth. Unlike the foolish, confused grown-ups the prince met on the other six planets, the snake is confident and decisive about its place in the world. It represents the permanence and certainty of death – a reminder that we’re all mortal and shouldn’t waste our time.

When the prince sees the garden of roses, the value of his own flower is initially diminished. It’s only when the fox teaches him about the value of taming – that is, of establishing a connection with something – that the prince understands his rose is unique specifically because it’s his. And that’s what the fox means when he says eyes are useless at identifying the essential things in life – these can only be seen with the heart. 

He adds, “It is the time you wasted for your rose that makes it so important.” In any relationship, true meaning comes from dedicating time and attention to the other – be it a partner, pet, friend, or plant. Because the prince spent so long nurturing and caring for his rose, she’s invaluable to him.

This is the prince's most important lesson. And with that, he’s now ready to return home.

Returning home, and the secret to happiness

Before the little prince can return home, he comes across two new characters. First, there’s a switch operator who’s controlling fast-moving trains full of people. They’re going nowhere important, and all the passengers are fast asleep – except for the children, who are eagerly looking out the windows.

The prince observes that the children know what they’re looking for. He comments on the importance they place in a toy as simple as a doll, and how they cry when it’s taken away.

Next, the prince meets a merchant who’s selling a pill that eliminates the need to drink water – saving 53 minutes a week. The prince muses that if he had 53 minutes to spare, he would spend them walking toward a source of fresh water.

Finally, the prince’s story coincides with that of our narrator. After being lost together for eight days, dying of thirst, they start looking for a well – an unlikely discovery in the desert.

They reflect on the beauty of the sand and the stars. The prince says that the stars are beautiful because of a flower that can’t be seen – knowing that his flower is out there somewhere. Similarly, the desert is beautiful because it’s hiding a well. After all, as the fox pointed out, true beauty can’t be seen, only felt.

Miraculously, the pair comes across a well, and the water is sweeter and more nourishing than anything they’ve drunk before.

The prince then reveals his plan – he’s going to let the snake bite him, which will return him to his home and his beloved rose. By now, the narrator has become very fond of the prince; he’s heartbroken at the thought of him leaving.

But the prince tells him to look for his planet among the stars. Because his planet is too small to see, it will be just one of many bright spots in the sky – so the narrator should look at all the stars and be happy, the prince says. And then he laughs a beautiful laugh: a parting gift for his friend.

The little prince walks away and is bitten by the snake. The narrator tries to find him the next day, but the prince’s body has disappeared. 

ANALYSIS

The conclusion reexamines some of the story’s main themes, now through the eyes of a wiser and more mature prince. First, the close-mindedness of grown-ups is demonstrated by the children on the train, who are eagerly enjoying the world while the adults sleep.

Next is the fact that the prince would rather “waste” time searching for water than take a pill that would extinguish his thirst. This revisits the fox’s lesson – that the effort we put into something is what makes it valuable.

Things move from the surreal fairytale of the prince’s story to the real world, as we’re taken back to the narrator and the fight for survival. Until now, the narrator represented the grown-ups – concerned with grown-up things like fixing his plane and other matters of “importance.” 

But as his affection for the prince grows, he begins to see the world through his little friend’s eyes – and that’s when his life begins to change. It’s only when the narrator believes that the well exists that he can find it. The unnaturally sweet water represents the fresh beauty of self-discovery.

At that point, the prince decides to leave the narrator – but not before comforting him with the fact he’ll be out there in the stars, which imbues them with meaning.

What are your stars? What are the things that hold meaning not because of what you can see, but because of what you can feel in your heart?

That’s the foundation on which The Little Prince encourages you to look at everything – your life, your relationships, a child’s drawing. That’s the path to happiness.

Oh, and if you ever find a small, golden-haired boy in the desert, do let the narrator know. He misses him dearly.

Final summary

After crashing his plane in the Sahara desert, a pilot encounters a curious and strange boy – the little prince – who recounts his amazing story. The prince comes from a tiny planet, where he spends his time pulling up baobab seedlings and tending to a rose he loves with all his heart.

In his story, the prince visits several other planets, each with one occupant whose life has been reduced to a single task: a king, a conceited man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, and a geographer. He leaves each planet more confused by the bewildering ways of grown-ups.

Upon reaching Earth, he encounters a snake who promises to return him home, a rose garden that makes him rethink his love, and a fox who teaches him about friendship.

The prince and the pilot are lost in the desert for eight days, but they manage to find a well of cool, refreshing water. Still, the prince yearns to return to his planet and rose – and reveals that he’ll let the snake bite him so he can go home. 

After bidding the pilot an emotional farewell, the prince tells him not to watch. The next day, the pilot searches for the prince’s body. It has disappeared, but he knows he can always find the little prince in the starry sky.