Summary: Chapter XXVI
The following day, the pilot returns from fixing his plane
to see the little prince sitting on the wall of a ruin beside the
well. The prince is discussing plans for that evening with someone
who cannot be seen, and the topic of poison is mentioned. The prince
asks his unseen companion to leave so the prince can get off the
wall, and when the narrator looks down, he sees a snake. It is the
same snake who greeted the prince when he first arrived on Earth.
The narrator draws his gun, but the snake escapes, and the narrator
is left to take care of the prince, who is pale and frightened.
The prince congratulates the pilot on having fixed his plane, and
when the narrator asks the prince how he knows about his plane,
the prince says only that he will be going on a much longer, more
difficult journey.
The prince says he will be even more afraid that night
and tries to console the narrator by pointing to the stars and saying
they will all have a special, unique meaning for the narrator now
that he knows someone who lives among them. Then the prince becomes
serious again and asks the pilot not to accompany him that night.
The prince cautions that it will look as if he is dying. Also, he
does not trust the snake to stop at just one bite and is worried
that the snake would bite the pilot as well.
That night the little prince sneaks off by himself, but
the narrator catches up and refuses to abandon him. The prince assures
the narrator that he will be fine, that his dead body will just
be an empty shell too heavy for the prince to take to the heavens
with him. The narrator is not convinced, and even the prince grows
less certain of his reasoning and finally breaks down in tears.
Growing more frightened, the little prince explains that his rose
needs him, and then falls silent. The snake strikes at the prince’s
ankle, and he falls so gently that he does not make a sound.
Summary: Chapter XXVII
Look up at the sky. Ask yourself, “Has
the sheep eaten the flower or not?” And you’ll see how everything changes.
And no grown-up will ever understand how such a thing could be so
important!
See Important Quotations Explained
Six years later, the narrator reflects on the fate of
his friend. He knows the prince made it back to his planet because
the morning after the snake bit the prince, he could not find the
prince’s body. The narrator’s friends are glad to have him back
again, and when he looks at the stars, he hears the sounds of many
tiny bells.
The narrator worries, however, since he forgot to draw
a strap on the sheep’s muzzle, which means it may eat the rose.
He sometimes reassures himself that the prince would never let such
a thing happen, but then he thinks that accidents can happen, and
the sound of bells turns into the sound of tears. He admits that
his emotions are a puzzle, as they certainly are for all of us who
also loved the little prince. All the same, when he looks up at
the sky, the question of whether the sheep has eaten the rose or
not has changed the way he sees everything. He remarks, rather incredulously,
that a grown-up will never understand this concern.
In a short epilogue, the narrator shows the same illustration
of the desert landscape he showed in his final chapter, only he
leaves out the prince. He calls his final picture the saddest and
loveliest landscape in the world. He asks us to keep an eye out
for this landscape if we are ever in the Sahara and to linger under
the stars for a while if we do see it. The narrator asks us to lessen
his sadness by sending immediate word if we happen to meet the little
prince.
Analysis : Chapters XXVI–XXVII
For us, as for the narrator, the story of the little prince
ends in mystery. We are left to figure out whether the prince has
managed to save his rose. At times, the narrator is sure that the
prince’s life on his planet is a happy one. Other times, the narrator
hears only the sound of tears. The only thing that is certain is
that one of the prince’s first questions, about whether the sheep
will eat his rose, has emerged in the end as the most important
question of all.
The narrator does not downplay the deep pain he felt
because of his friendship with the little prince. Although the narrator
mentions that he has other friends, the departure of this one has
taken as much from him as it has given him. The story has no qualms
about the fact that losing a loved one is painful, and its ending
offers no consolation that the narrator’s wounds will heal. On one
level, these final chapters are an allegory about dealing with the
death of a loved one.
In spite of all this sadness, however, the story staunchly
insists that relationships are worth the trouble. The fox and the
narrator may both lose the little prince, but their world is enhanced
nevertheless—wheat fields and night skies come alive. To emphasize
this positive aspect of lost relationships, the narrator describes
his desolate final drawing of the barren landscape where the prince
fell as both the saddest and the loveliest place in the world. The
Little Prince, though it deals with serious and even upsetting
issues, emphasizes the idea that good can be derived from sad events.
The little prince learns that his rose must die, but this knowledge
fires his love for her. The relationship between the narrator and
the prince reaches new levels of intensity only after the prince
makes it clear that he will depart.
