Manu mulls ...

On Little Prince by Manu

“Little Prince” – by Saint Exupery, one of my all-time favourite books…..one that, I believe, is seemingly addressed to children, but reaches out to anybody who seeks in it.

My favorite episode in the book is when the Prince meets the Fox, and gets enlightened about the only phenomenon that is worth knowing, love or “tame” as he calls it here.

Some of my favourite bits of their conversation:

1. Fox explaining the meaning of “TAME” to the Prince: “To me, you are nothing more than a little boy, who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you TAME me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.”
2. On the significance of taming: One ONLY understands the things that one tames.
3. Fox tells the Prince how he could be tamed: “First you will sit down at a little distance from me. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. But you will sit a little closer to me everyday”.
4. On the limitations of words: Words are the source of misunderstandings.
5. Fox’s parting gift, his secret, to the Prince: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

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In a way, this is Manu's second post in this blog. The first one, a poem, is referred in an earlier post.

- Shencottah