The Little Prince (93)

The Little Prince (93)

  " Yes, " I said to the little prince.
  " The house, the stars, the desert ー what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible ! "

  " I am glad, " he said, " that you agree with my fox. "

  As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more.

  I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seems to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seems to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all the Earth.

  In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to muself :  " What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible. . . "

  As his lips opened slightly with the suspicion of a half-smile, I said to myself again : " What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower ー the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep. . . "

  And I felt him to be more fragile still.
  I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind. . .

  And, as I walked so on, I found the well, at daybreak.

(93)