Douglas learned, as one might expect, that planets come in many different shapes and sizes. Some are very rocky, and aren't very comfortable for sleeping on. Others are very rainy, which aren't very good for taking a holiday at. Some are very big, and would allow many baobab trees to grow quite comfortably. And then there are very small planets.

It was on one such small planet that the little prince and Douglas landed. It was very small indeed, only big enough - it seemed - to hold one man, a streetlamp, and the little prince.

 The Lamplighter

Antoine de Saint Exupery

Online source: The little prince

“Good morning,” the lamplighter said, and lit his streetlamp. Douglas was glad to have someone greet him a good morning, and wanted to return the greeting, but didn’t want to give away his hiding place in the little prince’s scarf.

“Why have you just lit your lamp?” asked the little prince.

“Orders,” replied the lamplighter

“How strange,” thought Douglas.

“Good evening,” the lamplighter said after a moment, and put the streetlamp out.

“I don’t understand,” thought Douglas.

“I don’t understand,” said the little prince. This took Douglas completely by surprise, as you might imagine. Have you ever had someone say something you were thinking the moment you were thinking it? If you have, then you can understand how surprised Douglas was. If you have not, then just wait, because one day you will.

“There is nothing to understand. Orders are orders. Good morning,” said the lamplighter.

Douglas began to wonder if this man was ever going to make sense. It seemed like such a trivial thing to do, what with continually lighting and putting out the streetlamp. He was the only person on the planet. Would he only be lighting and putting out the streetlamp for himself?

“I don’t have an instant's rest,” said the lamplighter.“I light my lamp and turn it out once every minute. Good evening.”

At once Douglas began to pity the lamplighter. He was so faithful in his orders, yet he did not have a moment to rest. “All I do is rest,” thought Douglas, and wondered if, when he finally stretched out of his seed, if he would be as faithful as the lamplighter.

“Good morning.”

The little prince began to explain how the lamplighter might rest. The talk between the little prince and the lamplighter of walking and strides and lighting lamps were of little interest to Douglas at the moment because something caught his attention. I should say that many somethings caught his attention.

He gazed up from the little planet with the lamplighter, and looked at all of the stars around them. He saw them twinkle in the darkness, and every now and then he would see one go out, and one come on. He very much enjoyed looking at the stars dance in the sky.

It was in that moment that Douglas realized something. Someone, somewhere, may be looking up in the sky too, and just as the lamplighter lit his streetlamp, another star would appear. Douglas thought of the many lamplighters it must take for all the stars in the sky, and he understood how important the lamplighter’s job was. If the lamplighter were not to light his streetlamp, there would be one less star. And, if there was one less star, the sky would have an empty space where a star should be.

“Good evening.”

As the little prince once again caught hold of his birds, Douglas gazed down at the lamplighter as they flew from the planet.

“I wonder if that poor lamplighter realizes the joy that he brings to people on other planets that see his light,” thought Douglas. When standing on such a small planet, the orders of a lamplighter may seem trivial, but stand on another planet and look up at the sky, and the job of the lamplighter is very important indeed.

Douglas thought about all of this, and thought about how he had felt towards the lamplighter. At first he was confused by the lamplighter, and then he pitied him. Now he neither was confused nor pitied the lamplighter. Douglas was very fond of the man who so diligently lit his streetlamp. The thought of the rose and the geographer. The rose did nothing, for she was very vain. The geographer did nothing, for he was very proud. The lamplighter did everything for others, and he, thought Douglas, was better for it.

As Douglas nestled into his hiding space in the little prince’s scarf, he faintly heard the sound of a man's voice. A man whom Douglas would always admire.

“Good morning.”

And it was the echo of that voice that lulled Douglas to sleep. Until, that is, they landed.

Author’s note: Though there is much more that happened in this story, I again chose to focus on the thoughts of Douglas, rather than dwell too much on the dialog between the little prince and the lamplighter. I needed to maintain as much of the story of Douglas, while having enough of the story of the little prince and the lamplighter to make it an actual story. There is much being talked about in the story, and the principle taught in the book is different than the one that I chose to focus on in my retelling. The book focuses on the diligent action of the lamplighter. I included the stars to help Douglas learn a different principle from the lamplighter, which is why I chose to leave out so much of the dialog.

I thought that this story would fit in well in contrast to the two stories that precede it (the rose and the geographer). The story of the lamplighter is one of the most predominate stories in the little prince, because it is the only person the little prince visits that he doesn’t consider to be ridiculous. I also thought that this would be a good story to use because the next story is the story of the pilot, and being able to have the contrast of the rose, the geographer, and the lamplighter would fit well into the final person the little prince visits, the pilot.

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