TEXT I

Drawing Number One

“I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them. They answered, ‘Why be scared of a hat?’ My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. Then I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so the grownups could understand. They always need explanations. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

Drawing Number Two

The grown-ups' advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why, I abandoned, at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist. I had been discouraged by the failure of my Drawing Number One and of my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again. So then I had to choose another career, and I learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown almost everywhere in the world. And, as a matter of fact, geography has been a big help to me. I could tell China from Arizona at first glance, which is very useful if you get lost during the night. So I have had in the course of my life, lots of encounters with lots of serious people. I have spent lots of time with grown-ups. I have seen them at close range... which hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.”

Source: SAINT-EXUPÉRY, Antoine. The little Prince. New York:

Mariner Books, 1943. Translated from French by Richard Howard.