"The Little Prince" by Saint-Exupery Quiz

Answer: a hat

It was for this reason that he missed out on a possible career as an artist, and instead became a pilot. The little prince did later accuse him of drawing trees that looked like cabbages.

Answer: Sahara Desert

He was all alone in the desert, a thousand miles from any inhabited place, with hardly any water, and no mechanic.

Answer: draw a sheep

He looked up and saw a small person, neither thirsty, hungry, lost or frightened. He just wanted the pilot to draw him a sheep!

Answer: a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant

As he wasn't sure how to draw a sheep, he drew his famous Drawing Number One, and was astonished to hear the little prince angrily say that he didn't want a drawing of a snake swallowing an elephant. This is one of the first examples of the little prince's insight and intuition.

Answer: to eat baobabs

The little prince explained that the place he came from was very small, and that he needed something to eat the shoots of the terrifying baobabs. These were tree-like plants that grew very large, and threatened to make his tiny planet explode with their powerful roots.

The pilot drew several sheep, which the little prince rejected. He said they were too old or too ill. In the end, the pilot drew a box with three air holes, and the little prince was happy. He looked through the holes, and said the sheep was perfect!

Answer: Asteroid B612

He escaped from his planet with the help of migratory wild birds.

Answer: sunsets

The author discovered this when the little prince suggested they go to watch a sunset. Apparently his home was so small that he could watch the sunset whenever he liked. He said that when someone is extremely sad, they love sunsets. He claimed to have watched 44 of them one day.

Answer: vain

The flower started growing one day, and when she opened her petals she was the most beautiful and unique thing the little prince had ever seen. And she knew it! She was vain, but the little prince loved her dearly. He was worried that the sheep he was bringing home would eat her, so the pilot promised to draw a muzzle. "If someone loves a flower of which just one blossom grows among all the millions and millions of stars, it makes him happy just to look at the stars." If there is a better expression of true love somewhere, then I haven't heard it.

Answer: the lamplighter

Each planet was very strange. The King just wanted to give orders. The drunk was drinking to forget his shame that he was a drunk. The businessman was too busy counting to enjoy anything. The lamplighter lived on a tiny planet big enough only for him and his streetlamp.

He spent the entire time lighting and extinguishing his lamp, with no time for rest. The little prince liked him, as he was the only one who wasn't self-absorbed. He also liked the fact that his planet had 1440 sunsets every day. On the other planets he visited a geographer, who drew maps but never went anywhere, and a vain man, who wanted admirers.

Answer: the snake

The snake was both wise and mysterious. He claimed to be more powerful than a king, as he could send a man back to the earth from which he came.

Answer: roses

He was overcome with sorrow to discover that his flower wasn't unique after all.

Answer: he hadn't been tamed

The fox was friendly, but explained that he couldn't play until he had been tamed. "To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, 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..."

Answer: they are in too much hurry

The little prince says he doesn't have time to tame the fox, as he has to go and make some friends quickly. But the fox explains that it is only by taking the time to get to know someone, that one makes friends. He then understands that his rose is different from the roses in the garden, because of the time he has spent with her, making her unique and special to him.

Answer: walk to a spring of fresh water

Saint-Exupery makes several pointed jibes at man's obsession with speed and hurry. What is the point of time-saving devices, if they take away something worthwhile or enjoyable?

Answer: at dawn

As the fox said, what matters most is that which is invisible to the eye. "The stars are beautiful because of a flower that cannot be seen... What makes the desert beautiful, is that somewhere it hides a well..."

Answer: a year

He said the following day would be the anniversary of his landing, at almost this exact spot in the desert.

Answer: the snake

"You have good poison? You're sure that it will not make me suffer for long?" The pilot goes to shoot the snake, but it gets away.

Answer: stars that laugh

When the pilot says how much he loves the little prince's laugh, he explains that it will be his present. Every time he looks at the stars, he will imagine the little prince laughing, and will be happy. The little prince knows that the sorrow of losing his friend will fade, and the knowledge that he is laughing somewhere in the stars will be a comfort.

Answer: the snake killed him

The little prince is sorry to leave the friends he has made on Earth, but he has realised that he does indeed love his rose, and that he must return to her. He consoles himself that he will always look at the stars and know that the pilot is there somewhere, like the well in the desert.

As the fox said, "it is only with the heart that we see clearly, the essential is invisible to the eye."

Answer: send word to him that the little prince is back

The pilot discovered that he missed off part of the sheep's muzzle from the little prince's drawing. His view of the stars changes dramatically every time he looks at them - is the little prince happy there, laughing with his rose? Or is he heartbroken and lonely because the sheep has eaten her? The pilot will never know, but to him it is the most important thing in the world.