Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Le Petit Prince (Il Piccolo Principe)

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Fra) 1943. In Italy published by Bompiani.

(In Canada it is in "domaine public," so if you have the desire and the patience to read it in French, here you can find a complete version with the original drawings by the author, here you can read it in Italian, but without the drawings)

"To Léon Werth,

I apologize to all the children if I dedicate this book to an adult. I have a good excuse: this adult is the best friend I have in the world. I have another excuse: this adult can understand anything, even children's books. I have a third excuse: this adult lives in France and is hungry and cold. He needs to be consoled. If all these excuses are not enough for you, it will mean that I will dedicate this book to the child that this adult once was. All adults were once children (but perhaps not all of them remember it). So I am changing my dedication:

To Léon Werth, when he was a child." (A. de Saint-Exupéry)

Part One: "Draw me a Sheep"

I wake up in the morning and never know what might happen: of course, if it's 6 o’clock, it means I have to go to work, and in a sense, the surprise ends there (even if I have a fairly "dynamic" job). I go to the company cafeteria and can't decide between salad and steamed carrots. Before going home, I go to the bar, order a coffee, read the Corriere in order, then the Gazzetta, and finally, the Giornale di Vicenza. At home, I check my email (I always hope that the paper mail doesn't contain more bills), update the blog, read DeBaser, and meanwhile, I put the water for tea to boil. In the afternoon, I allow myself either some reading or an hour of "Age of Empires II." In the evening, I usually go out, even alone, if it's a day between Tuesday and Thursday I have the film club, if it's Monday, mathematics seminars for non-experts.

Twice a week I work at night, and two-three days I sleep until noon.

But don't be deceived: I live extremely day by day, and danger is my profession. I believe, as Agnelli said a few years ago, that the most immoral thing is banality, and, therefore, I look for new things every day, despite the routine. All this because years ago, as a child, that damned sheep came out sickly.

Part Two: "Above all, he missed his fourteen hundred sunsets in twenty-four hours!"

We all have a task on this earth, and it would be useless to try to escape its responsibilities. On a trip, someone told me that life is ephemeral. Everything I see, collect, take away with me... poof... one day it will no longer be. That's why I try to do what I do as best as possible. Let at least a good memory of me remain. What is more fulfilling than a normal life spent seeking beauty?

The Redhead would tell me, more poetically, that I must not limit my imagination and that one can always improve. The important thing is to have a good mattress for when you fall from the clouds. But who said that having a heart doesn't let you fully live true life? Lies of sad and angry people over nothing.

We are here, we must not be afraid: if nothing is forever, why not take advantage of it here and now?

Part Three: "I gain, said the fox, the color of wheat"

If we don't take risks, we will never be rewarded. You have to put something on the table in order to win. 

It's very easy to stay still, risk nothing, at most envy others for the beautiful things they have around them: it's easy but useless. I know that if I become attached to something when it's gone I will regret it (this was also told to me by the Maiden) and suffer like a dog, but then finding it again or remembering it in the simple things around me will be priceless. We live for moments like these: we must not fear to let our feelings go. 

They know how to come back, sooner or later.

Biographical Notes:

Writer, journalist, and aviator de Saint-Exupéry lived for 44 years on this Earth leaving behind many travel and flight articles and above all one of the most beautiful (and intelligent) children's books ever: "The Little Prince." There are no particular reasons why every child should read it, surely an adult who did not read it as a child can be recognized from ten miles away. This should be a good motivation.

In 1944 during a wartime mission, his airplane disappeared in the Mediterranean and even though in recent years it was reported that he was indeed shot down, I prefer to think that he went to visit the Little Prince on his planet. With his three volcanoes (two active and one extinct but you never know) and his Rose.

Mo.