28 September 2009

what makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well


"Ce qui embellit le désert, (dit le petit prince,)
c'est qu'il cache un puits quelque part..."

"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur.
L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.


The prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. Not knowing how to
draw a sheep, the narrator shows the prince a picture that he had
previously drawn; a boa with an elephant in its stomach.

"No! No!", exclaims the prince. "I don't want a boa constrictor from the inside or outside. I want a sheep!..." He tries a few sheep drawings, which the prince rejects. Finally he draws a box, which he explains has the sheep inside. The prince, who can see the sheep inside the box just as well as he can see the elephant in the boa, says "That's perfect."

note to self:
Others have said the best thing to do with a desert is to leave!

8 comments:

  1. brilliant! i love the sheep in the box. imagination, the best illustrator :)

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  2. I was not prepared to think this hard on a Monday. :) Wonderful image, tho'.

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  3. Leon Werth was here!!!

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  4. Indeed! And I hope he is made to feel very welcome here.

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  5. It's weird. Whenever I read The Little Prince I get the urge to read The Sirens of Titan which then gets me stuck on Vonnegut for months on end.

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  6. I haven't read The Little Prince in years. Thanks for the reminder.
    xo

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  7. I always worry about the water quality in the well. That and the three S's - scorpions, snakes and spiders. A treacherous place the desert can be.

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