Chapter II

So I lived alone, with no one to talk to, until a breakdown in the Sahara desert six years ago. Something had broken in my engine. And since I had neither a mechanic nor a passenger with me, I prepared to try, by myself, to make a difficult reprieve. It was a matter of life and death. I had hardly any water to drink for a week.

The first night I fell asleep on the sand a thousand miles from any inhabited land. I was much more isolated than a castaway on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Then you imagine my surprise, at dawn, when a funny little voice woke me up. She said:

" Please draw me a sheep !

- Hein!

- Draw me a sheep… "

I jumped on my feet as if I had been struck by lightning. I rubbed my eyes well. I watched. And I saw a very extraordinary little man who looked at me gravely. This is the best portrait I later managed to make of him.

But my drawing, of course, is much less ravishing than the model. It is not my fault. I had been discouraged in my career as a painter by the grown-ups at the age of six, and I had learned nothing to draw, except closed boas and open boas.

I looked at this apparition with eyes full of astonishment. Do not forget that I was a thousand miles from any inhabited region. Now my little fellow seemed to me neither astray, nor dead of fatigue, nor dead of hunger, nor death of thirst, nor dead of fear. He had not the appearance of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any inhabited region. When I finally succeeded in speaking, I said to him:

" What are you doing here ? "

And he repeated to me, very gently, as a very serious thing:

" Please draw me a sheep… "

When the mystery is too impressive, we do not dare to disobey. As absurd as it seemed to me a thousand miles from all inhabited places and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and a pen. But I remembered that I had studied geography, history, calculation and grammar, and I told the little fellow (with a little bad humor) that I did not know how to draw. He replied,

" It does not matter. Draw me a sheep. "

As I had never drawn a sheep, I thought of him as one of the only two drawings of which I was capable. That of the boa closed. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow reply:

" No ! No ! I do not want an elephant in a boa. A boa is very dangerous, and an elephant is very cumbersome. My place is tight. I need a sheep. Draw me a sheep."

I drew.  Then 

He looked attentively, then:

" No ! That one is already very ill. Do another one. "

I drew: 

He looked attentively, then:

"No! That one is already very ill. Do another one. "

I drew: 

My friend smiled gently, indulgently:

"You see ... it's not a sheep, it's a ram. He has horns ... "

So I still refused my drawing: 

But he was refused, like the preceding ones:

"This one is too old. I want a long-lived sheep. "

Then, for lack of patience, as I was anxious to begin the dismantling of my engine, I scribbled this drawing:

Then I threw :

"That's the box. The sheep you want is in it. "

But I was much surprised to see the face of my young judge illuminated:

"That's exactly how I wanted it!" Do you think that sheep are to be found in this country?

- Why ?

- Because at home it's very small ...

- Surely that will suffice. I gave you a tiny sheep. "

He leaned his head toward the drawing:

"Not so small as that. He fell asleep… "

And so I made the acquaintance of the little prince.