The Little Prince Catching a Flock of Migratory Birds

Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Online Source: Photobucket

It just so happened that the little prince caught hold of a passing flock of birds, and started on his adventure. Nestled within the little prince's scarf, Douglas started along the adventure too. He watched the different parts of the universe come and go as they flew.

"If only the planets and things could wave to us as we flew by," thought Douglas. As great as their adventure was thus far, a friendly face now and then would make the loads of nothingness more bearable. They would cross a comet that seemed to wave with its tail, but that was about it.

And then one day, they landed on a planet - a somewhat large planet - inhabited by a lone man. He sat at a very large desk, and before him sat a very large book, upon which the man wrote.

"How exciting," thought Douglas, "someone who may have a story to tell us on our journey." Douglas liked stories, and thought that this man, what with his very large desk and his very large book, must have some exciting ones to tell.

The Geographer

Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Online Source: The Little Prince

"Ah, here comes an explorer," said the man when he looked up and saw the little prince. The little prince, and Douglas of course, sat down on the large desk. The man began to ask the little prince where he came from, but the little prince merely asked a question of his own.

"What is that big book? What do you do with it?"

"I'm a geographer," the man answered. The geographer then began to explain what a geographer was.

"How interesting," thought Douglas, "a man who knows where all the seas and mountains and rivers and deserts are. How exciting that must be. On the asteroid I only knew of where a volcano and a rose and a boy were. There was so much I did not know."

The little prince asked a question, and interrupted Douglas' thoughts.

"Your planet is very beautiful. Does it have any oceans? And mountains? And cities and rivers and deserts?"

To all of these questions the geographer only said, "I couldn't say." This took Douglas by surprise, and he could tell that it took the little prince by surprise by the way he fidgeted around.

"I'm not an explorer," said the geographer, "A geographer is too important to go wandering about. He never leaves his study." This terribly confused Douglas. What was so important about sitting at a desk that make it so the geographer would not explore his own planet? He had an entire world that was his own, yet he made his desk his world.

"How sad," thought Douglas, "to have so much, but only know so little. This man has so much on his planet to see, yet he pays more attention to his position than his planet. And all because he thinks himself too important."

Douglas thought about the rose, and how important she thought she was. Yet she was not alone. She had the little prince to care for her. The geographer cared for his title, yet it could not care for him in return.

"How lonely it must be to be a geographer," thought Douglas, glad at the fact that he was a seed, and not an old man sitting at a very large desk scribbling in a very large book.

Amidst the thoughts and ponderings of Douglas, the geographer and the little prince were having a conversation. It must not have been a very pleasant conversation, because not soon after, the little prince caught his flock again, and continued on his journey when they came across a rather small planet

Author's note: One of the distinct changes that I made to this story was the order of the planets visited by the little prince. In the book, the geographer is actually the last planet that the little prince visits before coming to earth. I chose to put the geographer as the first planet that the little prince and Douglas visit. I thought that the story of the geographer was a rather dynamic story, and should be placed at the beginning of my storybook. I wanted to show the contrast between the rose and the geographer. In putting the story of the geographer first, I thought that it would also be easier to draw more of a contrast between characters that would follow the visit to the geographer, rather than the other way around. I did leave out a lot of the dialog between the geographer and the little prince that is found in the book. I felt that the dialog, while more revealing of the relationship between the little prince and the rose, wouldn't really add to my retelling. I wanted to focus more on Douglas and his thoughts and feelings, rather than expound on the relationship between the little prince and the rose.

Bibliography: Antoine De Saint-Exupery (1943). The Little Prince