Review: The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)

Review: The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) — A Behind-the-Scenes Story

28.

And so the Little Prince left the Earth. He departed from a planet where 111 kings, 7,000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 drunkards, and 311,000,000 vain men lived — a planet also home to one fox and one pilot.

As the laws of the universe maintain their constancy, the Little Prince had to retrace the path that had brought him to Earth. He passed the geographer's planet, the planet of the lamplighter, and the businessman's planet. They were all still absorbed in their appointed tasks, and the Little Prince's heart was heavy with thoughts of his rose.

As he neared the fourth planet back from Earth — Asteroid 327, the drunkard's planet — the drunkard set down the bottle he had been drinking from and beckoned to the Little Prince with a wave of his hand.

"Come here for a moment."

The Little Prince was in a hurry to return to his home planet where his rose waited, but it was hard to refuse the drunkard's gesture. The boy was courteous, and the gesture looked so pitifully lonely. Just then, the sun was setting on the drunkard's planet, and the Little Prince decided to rest there a while and watch the sunset he loved.

"You're still drinking," the Little Prince said, with a sigh.

"Indeed I am. And where are you coming from?" the drunkard asked, holding up a glass that glinted in the evening light.

"From a planet called Earth."

"Is that so? You've been somewhere nice. I suppose I can't resist raising a glass to that!"

The drunkard rummaged around and produced another glass.

"How beautiful. It really sparkles!"

The Little Prince gazed admiringly at the glass reflecting the golden sunset.

"Indeed. It's a crystal glass. But be careful — it breaks very easily. Beautiful things are fragile things."

The drunkard grew distant, as if recalling some memory from long ago.

"But I'm not thirsty. Besides, I don't know how to drink alcohol."

The Little Prince politely declined the drunkard's offer.

But the drunkard paid no attention to his words, poured the drink into the crystal glass, and said:

"Everyone is always thirsty for something."

The Little Prince was puzzled, but the drunkard didn't seem like a bad person, so he quietly accepted the crystal glass and took a sip.

"This isn't alcohol?"

The drunkard smiled and replied:

"When did I say it was? You saw how I looked and assumed it must be alcohol. But what's important is invisible to the eye. And sometimes what appears before the eye is not the truth."

"That's something the fox said too. What's visible isn't necessarily the truth?"

"That's right. Would you like to hear my story?"

29.

The Drunkard's Story

My name is Life's Truth. Would you like to hear my story?

I was once a young boy.

Everything in the world was beautiful, and life was precious.

I had a small, beautiful planet of my own, with two small active volcanoes and one dormant one. Unknown wildflowers and grasses grew across it, and occasionally a great baobab tree would spring up. I had to uproot the baobab trees regularly — back then I was certain they would destroy my planet if I let them grow.

And there was one small, delicate rose. I loved her, and intoxicated by her fragrance, I would gaze at the sunsets. My days were peaceful, and that peace felt like it would last forever.

Then one day I set out on a journey.

I visited many small planets.

Among them were a king's planet, a businessman's planet, and a geographer's planet.

I thought them all strange.

They chased things that didn't exist, caught in vanity and self-deception.

Then I reached the planet called Earth. Enormously large, complex, and beautiful.

There I met a small fox.

We grew closer, little by little, and became friends.

We tamed each other and fell in love.

We were special. Just the sight of a wheat field would call to mind the fox's golden fur.

I was happy.

Then one day I happened to see the fox hunting.

She caught a small, adorable lamb and killed it.

The white lamb's neck was stained with red.

The fox said this was her "life." But I became frightened of the fox.

The thought entered my mind that one day she might sink her teeth into my throat.

I fled from the fox. I couldn't understand her "life."

I ran from the fox and went to a city full of people. It was terribly crowded. Surrounded by so many human smells, I felt like a lost child. I felt like one of the countless unnamed stars that exist in the universe but catch no one's eye.

I met people. And I told them my story. They nodded and told me their stories in return. They said that people tame each other, part, grieve, heal, and go on living that way. Sometimes the whole universe seems to explode, but then after a few days a new universe is born, they said. Back then, I was young. I was frightened of the fox, and at the same time I was heartbroken because of her. The sight of a wheat field made my chest ache, and I agonized over whether to go back to her.

I wondered how people bore such heavy burdens. I thought they must suffer every day with these kinds of struggles, like I did. But their lives weren't a one-dimensional existence centered on "love."

They met each other as lovers, as family, as friends, as colleagues, and sometimes they lived in the worlds of "work" or "dreams." I learned that life was not a single event unfolding on a flat plane but a story made in three dimensions.

I decided to continue traveling.

So I revisited the king's planet, the businessman's planet, the geographer's planet, the vain man's planet, the lamplighter's planet, and many others. And I listened to their stories. Beyond what my eyes could see of their behavior and what my ears could hear of their words, I listened to the stories their lives carried within them. They stopped what they were doing and talked with me through the night over drinks. I became their friend. I came to understand, at least a little, their actions and their lives.

And when I returned home after the long journey, my planet had gone barren. Both volcanoes had become dormant. The wildflowers and the rose had withered and disappeared. My heart was hollow. The dry aching grief of losing what I had once loved lodged itself in a corner of my chest.

So I began to drink. First to mourn the flower I had lost. Then in longing for the fox I had parted from. Then for the lives of all the people I had met. I am drinking until I have paid my respects to every one of their lives. Slowly, like feeling a pulse, I am tracing each of their lives one sip at a time.

Some will look at me and see a wretched drunkard.

But what you see is not the whole truth.

That shabby man sleeping at Seoul Station was once the president of a thriving company, with children he loved. And their lives are not something anyone can mock or hold in contempt. They are each faithful to their place in life.

30.

When the long story ended, the Little Prince nodded.

"But aren't you ashamed of how you look, sir?"

"Ashamed? Of course I am. But a shame that has a reason becomes experience."

"Little Prince, I want you to know this: there are things in the world as precious as the 'relationships' and 'love' you hold dear. Just as your planet is precious to you, each person's planet is precious to them.

Can you say with certainty that the special feeling you have for your fox or your rose will never change? Perhaps nothing is eternal. What you once believed to be "truth" may find its expiration date at some point.

And perhaps good and evil cannot truly be judged. You cannot say that the baobab tree you uprooted was born as evil, destined to destroy your planet. Ask yourself whether you ever tried to have a conversation with the baobab tree rather than the rose. Couldn't you have brought a baobab seed to Earth?

To think only of what is precious to you — and to believe that what you believe is the truth — that is the fatal foolishness that belongs to the innocence of youth.

The king you met, the businessman, the geographer — they were all once young boys. But we cannot always remain boys. Perhaps they lost much of their purity as they met people and lived their lives. But what they gained in return was the wisdom and refinement of life. And we have no right to judge that.

When I was drinking with the vain man, he said something to me.

'Every person is living every person's life,' he said. Even someone you think of as trivial and insignificant is living their best life in their own way. I hope you will face life with a bigger and more generous heart."

With these words, the drunkard passed out.

The Little Prince sat alone, filling the crystal glass, and thought.

He supposed he would have to start traveling again.