한컴타자연습 영문내용

한컴 타자 실행 후 장문 선택하고 '불러오기'하여 미리 만들어 둔 텍스트 파일을 불러와서 연습하는 것은 알고 있으리라 봅니다.

아래 본문으로 하나씩 텍스트 파일을 만들어 사용하면 됩니다.

한꺼번에 다 하지 말고 제목 하나마다 한 파일씩 만들기 바랍니다.

 

The Selfish Giant
 Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used
to go and play in the Giant's garden.
 It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there
over the grass stook beautiful flowers like stars, and there were
twelve peach trees that in the springtime broke out into delicate blos-
soms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds
sat in the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop
their games in order to listen to them. "How happy we are here!" they
cried to each other.
 One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the
Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven
years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversa-
tion was limited, and he determined to return to his own castle. When
he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.
 "What are you doing here?" he cried in a very gruff voice, and the
children ran away.
 "My own garden is my own garden," said the Giant; "anyone can under-
stand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself." So he
built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.
 TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
 He was a very selfish Giant.
 The poor children had now nowhere to play. They tried to play in the
road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it.
They used to wander round the high wall when their lessons were over,
and talk about the beautiful garden inside. "How happy we were there!"
they said to each other.
 Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blos-
soms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was
still winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no
children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower put
its head out from the grass but when it saw the notice-board it was so
sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and
went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and
the Frost. "Spring has forgotten this garden," they cried, "so we will
live here all the year round." The Snow covered up the grass with her
great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then
they invited the North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was
wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the
chimney-pots down. "This is a delightful spot," he said, "we must ask
the Hail in a visit." So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he
rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and
then he ran round and round the garden as fast as he could go. He was
dressed in grey, and his breath was like ice.
 "I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming," said the
Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white
garden; "I hope there will be a change in the weather."
 But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden
fruit to every garden, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. "He is
too selfish," she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North
Wind and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the
trees.
 One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely
music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the
King's musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet sing-
ing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird
sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music
in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the
North Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through
the open casement. "I believe the Spring has come at last," said the
Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.
 What did he see?
 He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the
children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the
trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And
the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had
covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently
above the children's heads. The birds were flying about and twittering
with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass
and laughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner it was still
winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden and in it was stand-
ing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the
branches of the tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitter-
ly. The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow, and the
North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. "Climb up! little boy,"
said the Tree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could; but
the boy was too tiny.
 And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. "How selfish I have
been!" he said; "now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will
put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock
down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for
ever and ever." He was really very sorry for what he had done.
 So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and
went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so
frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter again.
Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears
that he did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant stole up behind
him and tool him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And
the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it,
and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the
Giant's neck, and kissed him. And the other children, when they saw
that the Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with
them came the Spring. "It is your garden now, little children," said
the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when
the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they found the Giant
playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever
seen.

 

The Elves and the Shoemaker
 There was once a shoemaker, who, through no fault of his own, became
so poor that at last he had nothing left but just enough leather to
make one pair of shoes. He cut out the shoes at night, so as to set to
work upon them next morning; and as he had a good conscience, he laid
himself quietly down in his bed, committed himself to heaven, and fell
asleep. In the morning, after he had said his prayers, and was going
to get to work, he found the pair of shoes made and finished, and stan-
ding on his table. He was very much astonished, and could not tell
what to think, and he took the shoes in his hand to examine then more
nearly; and they were so well made that every stitch was in its right
place, just as if they had come from the hand of a master-workman.
 Soon after, a purchaser entered and as the shoes fitted him very well
he gave more than the usual price for them, so that the shoemaker had
enough money to buy leather for two more pairs of shoes. He cut them
at night, and intended to set to work the next morning with fresh
spirit; when he got up they were already finished, and a customer even
was not lacking, who gave him so much money that he was able to buy
leather enough for four new pairs. Early next morning, so that he was
soon in the way of making a good living, and in the end became very
well to do.
 One night, not long before Christmas, when the shoemaker had finished
cutting out, and before he went to bed, he said to his wife,
 "How would it be if we were to sit up tonight and see who it is that
does us this service?"
 His wife agreed, and set a light to burn. Then they both hid in a
corner of the room, behind some coats that were hanging up, and then
they began to watch. As soon as it was midnight they saw come in two
neatly-formed naked little men, who seated themselves before the shoe-
maker's table, and took up the work that was already prepared, and
began to stitch, to pierce, and to hammer so cleverly and quickly with
their little fingers that the shoemaker's eyes could scarcely follow
them, so full of wonder was he. And they never left off until everyth-
ing was finished and was standing ready on the table, and then they
jumped up and ran off.
 The next morning the shoemaker's wife said to her husband, "Those
little men have made us rich, and we ought to show ourselves grateful.
With all their running about, and having nothing to cover them, they
must be cold. I'll tell you what: I will make little shirts, coats,
waistcoats, and breeches for them, and knit each of them a pair of
stocking, and you shall make each of them a pair of shoes."
 The husband consented willingly, and at night, when everything was
finished, they laid the gifts together on the table, instead of the
cut-out work, and placed themselves so that they could observe how the
little men would behave. When midnight came, they rushed in, ready to
set work, but when they found, instead of the pieces of prepared
leather, the neat little garments put ready for them, they stood a mo-
ment in surprise, and them they testified the greatest delight. With
the greatest swiftness they took up the pretty garments and slipped
them on, singing,
 "What spruce and dandy boys are we!
 No longer cobblers we will be."
 Then they hopped and danced about, jumping over the chairs and ta-
bles, and at last danced out at the door.
 From time to time they were never seen again: but it always went well
with the shoemaker as long as he lived, and whatever he took in hand
prospered.

 

Rapunzel
 There once lived a man and his wife, who had long wished for a child,
but in vain. Now there was at the back of their house a little window
which overlooked a beautiful garden full of the finest vegetables and
flowers; but there was a high wall all round it, and no one ventured
into it, for it belonged to a witch of great might, and of whom all
the world was afraid. One day, when the wife was standing at the win-
dow, and looking into the garden, she saw a bed filled with the finest
rampion; and it looked so fresh and green that she began to wish for
some; and at length she longed for it greatly.
 This went on for days, and she knew she could not get the rampion,
she pined away, and grew pale and miserable. Then the man was uneasy,
and asked:
 "What is the matter, dear wife?"
 "Oh," answered she, "I shall die unless I can have some of the rampi-
on to eat that grows in the garden at the back of our house."
 The man, who loved her very much, thought to himself:
 "Rather than lose my wife I will get some rampion, cost what it will."
 So in the twilight he climbed over the wall into the witch's garden,
plucked hastily a handful of rampion and brought it to his wife. She
made a salad of it at once, and ate of it to her heart's content. But
she liked it so much, and it tasted so good, that the next day she
longed for it thrice as much as she had done before; if she was to have
any rest the man must climb over the wall once more. So he went in the
twilight again; and as he was climbing back, he saw, all at once, the
witch standing before him, and was terribly frightened, as she cried,
with angry eyes:
 "How dare you climb over into my garden like a thief, and steal my
rampion! It shall be the worse for you!"
 "Oh," answered he, "be merciful rather than just. I have only done it
through necessity; for my wife saw your rampion out of the window, and
became possessed with so great a longing that she would have died if
she could not have had some to eat." Then the witch said:
 "If what you tell me is true, you may have as much rampion as you
like, on one condition-the child that will come into the would must
be given to me. I will be kind to the child, and care for it like a
mother."
 In his distress of mind the man promised everything; and when the time
came when the child was born, the witch appeared and, giving the child
the name of Rapunzel (which is the same as rampion), she took it away
with her.
 Rapunzel was the most beautiful child in the world. When she was
twelve years old the witch shut her up in a tower in the midst of a
wood, and it had neither steps nor door, only a small window above.
When the witch wished to be let in, she would stand below and would
cry:
 "Rapunzel, Rapunzel! let down your hair!"
 Rapunzel had beautiful long hair that shone like gold. When she
heard the voice of the witch she would undo the fastening of the upper
window, unbind the plaits of her hair, and let it down twenty ells be-
low, and the witch would climb up by it.
 After they had lived thus a few years it happened that as the King's
son was riding through the wood, he came to the tower; and as he drew
near he heard a voice singing so sweetly that he stood still and lis-
tened. It was Rapunzel in her loneliness trying to pass away the time
with sweet songs. The King's son wished to go in to her, and sought
to find a door in the tower, but there was none. So he rode home, but
the sing had entered into his heart, and every day he went into the
wood and listened to it. Once, as he was standing there under a tree,
he saw the witch come up, and listened while she called out:
 "O Rapunzel, Rapunzel! let down your hair."
 Then he saw how Rapunzel let down her long tresses, and how the witch
climbed up by it and went in to her, and he said to himself:
 "Since that is the ladder, I will climb it, and seek my fortune."
And the next day, as soon as it began to grow dusk he went to the
tower and cried:
 "O Rapunzel, Rapunzel! let down your hair."
 And she let down her hair, and the King's son climbed up by it.
 Rapunzel was greatly terrified when she saw that a man had come in to
her, for she had never seen one before; but the King's son began speak-
ing so kindly to her, and told how her singing had entered into his
heart, so that he could have no peace until he had seen her herself.
Then Rapunzel forgot her terror, and when he asked her to take him for
her husband, and she saw that he was young and beautiful, she thought
to herself:
 "I certainly like him much better than the old mother Gothel," and she
put her hand into his hand saying:
 "I would willingly go with you, but I do not know how I shall get out.
When you come, bring each time a silken rope, and I will make a ladder,
and when it is quite ready I will get down by it out of the tower, and
you shall take me away on your horse." They agreed that he should come
to her every evening, as the old woman came in the daytime. So the
witch knew nothing of all this until once Rapunzel said to her
unwittingly:
 "You are much heavier to draw up, Mother Gothel, than the King's son,
who has just left me!" "O wicked child," cried the witch, "What is
this I hear! I thought I had hidden you from all the world, and you
have betrayed me!"
 In her anger she seized Rapunzel by her beautiful hair, struck her
several times with her left hand, and then grasping a pair of shears
in her right - snip, snip - the beautiful locks lay on the ground.
And she was so hard-hearted that she took Rapuzel and put her in a
waste and desert place, where she lived in great woe and misery.
 The same day on which she took Rapunzel away she went back to the
tower in the evening and made fast the severed locks of hair to the
window hasp, and the King's son came and cried:
 "Rapunzel, Rapunzel! let down your hair."
 Then she let the hair down, and the King's son climbed up, but instead
of his dearest Rapunzel he found the witch looking at him with wicked,
glistening eyes.
 "Aha!" cried she, mocking him, "you came for your darling, but the
sweet bird sits no longer in the nest, and sings no more; the cat has
got her, and will scratch out your eyes as well! Rapunzel is lost to
you; you will see her no more."
 The King's son was beside himself with grief, and in his agony he
sprang from the tower; he escaped with life, but the thorns in which
he fell put out his eyes. Then he wandered blind through the wood,
eating nothing but roots and berries, and doing nothing but lament and
weep for the loss of his dearest wife.
 So he wandered several years in misery until at last he came to the
desert place where Rapunzel lived with her twin-children that she had
borne, a boy and a girl. At first he heard a voice that he thought he
knew, and when he reached the place from which it seemed to come Rapun-
zel knew him, and fell on his neck and wept. And when her tears touch-
ed his eyes they became clear again, and he could see with them as well
as ever.
 Then he took her to his kingdom, where he was received with great joy,
and there they lived long and happily.

 

Narcissus
 Long, long ago, there lived in Greece a young boy named Narcissus.
All day long he tended his sheep in the hills, and drove them from
place to place to find the very best pasture.
 One day he came to a little stream and wanted to drink from it. The
water was very clear and reflected everything that leaned over it.
 While Narcissus was waiting for the sheep to drink, he chanced to see
his own face in the water.
 He had never seen his likeness before, and he was so pleased with the
pretty picture that he looked at it for a long time. He forgot all
about his sheep.
 The sheep waited for a long time near stream, but at last they wander-
ed away without the shepherd and were lost.
 Jupiter, the great god of that country, was very angry with Narcissus
for forgetting his sheep, and made up his mind to punish him.
 So Narcissus looked at himself very long, and when he turned to look
after his flock he found that his feet had taken root.
 He could not move nor lift his head, but had to keep it hung down.
 Then, little by little, he changed into the flower that we know so
well, the narcissus. This is why we often find this dainty flower
growing on the banks of streams and always with its pretty head hung
down.

 

Gulliver's Travels
　I am Lemuel Gulliver. I was born in England. When I grew up, I had a
great wish to go round the world, and in the year 1699, I got on board
a ship bound for the South Seas. For some time things went all right.
But one day a great storm drove us far to the south and at last the
ship ran on a rock and split her bow. We let down a boat and left the
wreck. But a big wave sank the boat, and I lost sight of my poor
friends.
 I swam on and on, and just when I felt I must give myself up, I found
I could touch the sand. I was now safe. When I came ashore, I lay
down in the grass, and at once went to sleep, as I was so tired.
 When I awoke, the sun was shining in the sky. I tried to rise, but,
to my surprise, I could not move hand or foot. I found my chest as
well as my arms and legs was fastened to the ground by thin but strong
cords. Even my hair was made so fast to pegs that I could not turn my
head. Soon I felt something creep up my left leg. It came over my
chest and stood near my chin. I bent down my eyes as much as I could,
and saw a little soldier about six inches tall. He had a tiny bow and
arrows in his hands.
 Then I felt many more of these small men come up, I gave such a shout
of wonder that the small people ran off in great fear.
 Some time after that, I heard a great shouting, and knew by the sound
of voices around me that more and more men were coming up. Soon I
heard loud knocks close to my ear, and found that they were building a
stage there.
 When this was made, a man, who seemed to be great, got on it, and
spoke to the men on the ground. At once about fifty of the soldiers ran
forward and cut the strings that held my head and hands. Then the man
made a long speech. Of course, I did not know what he said, but, as I
was very hungry, I showed him by sings that I wanted something to eat.
 Soon a crowd of small people brought me all kinds of meat and bread
and two casks of wine. I found they were very good.
 When I had finished eating, there came an officer of high rank, and,
by signs, he let me know that I was to go to a far-off place. Then
they gave me a drink, in which they seemed to have put a drug, and I
soon went off to sleep.
 I woke up with a loud sneeze, which made a lot of the small men run
off my chest in fear. I now found I was on a cart drawn by fifteen
hundred of the King's best horses.
 When we were near a town, which was the capital of the land known as
Lilliput, the King and his Court came out to see the wonderful sight.
 I was put in an old temple, where I was fastened by chains, but as it
was long, I could walk up and down in front of it. Great crowds were
there all day to see me, and the King and his Court were so kind as to
tell the men to bring food and drink for me. Cart-loads of food and
wine were brought at once, and the King and his Court all stood around
and watched me eating.
 After the King had gone away, the people of the town were still at
hand. Some of them were very rude, and one of them even shot an arrow
at me.
 The chief man of the guard took six of these rude men, bound them hand
and foot, and pushed them where I could reach them. Five of them I put
into my pockets, but made as if I would eat the sixth. The poor man
cried for help, and when I took out a big knife, all the people, even
the soldiers, were in great fear. But I only cut the man's bonds and
let him run away. I did the same with the rest of them, and from that
time they were all quite friendly to me.
 In the meantime I heard that the Court had had long talks as to what
was to be done with me. They were afraid that to keep and feed me
would make food and drink scarce in the land. But when the King heard
that I had set the rude men free, he said:
 "Keep him, and give him as much food and drink as he needs every day."
 When I had my meals, hundreds of people waited on me. I took up twen-
ty waiters on my big table which I had made for myself, and these men
then drew up by ropes and pulleys all the food and drink that one
hundred other servants had brought under the table.
 One day two officers came to search my pockets. I took them up in my
hand, and put them in my pockets. They found my watch and called it "a
living thing which makes a noise like a water-mill." The King made his
wise men look at it. Some of them thought it must be a god, and some a
kind of animal, but none could tell what it was.
 My pistol was also quite strange to them, and to show them how to use
it, I had to fire it in front of the King and the Court. On my shoot-
ing it, hundreds of the small people fell down as if they were dead.
The King was a brave man and stood his ground, but it took him a long
time to get his breath back.
 One of the sports the King liked best was rope-dancing, and so all the
great men of the land were great rope-dancers. It was said that the
highest official in the Court could turn head over heels on a rope
better than anyone else!
 The King also had three silk threads, one blue, another red, and the
third green. When he held out a stick, the great men would run under,
or jump over it, as the King held it up, or let it down. They had to
be quick at this, and one who did it best got the blue thread, the next
the red, and the next the green. It was great fun to me to see the
chief men of the Court do such things as these.
 One day I thought I would give the King a show. So I made a stage out
of some poles and a handkerchief. Then I put some horsemen on this,
and made them drill. This pleased the King so much that at last he
came up on the stage, and made the men drill in front of him.
 For some days all went well, but one day a fierce horse made a hole in
the handkerchief, and fell through on to the ground. I had to stop my
show as I could not trust my stage any longer.
 A few days after this, the King held a review of troops. For this I
had to stand up and stretch my legs as far as I could. Then the troops
with their bands and flags marched through the arch made by my legs.
It was indeed a gay sight.
 Up to this time I had been kept in chains. How glad I was when at
last I heard I was to bo set free! But I had first to vow - not to
leave the land till the King said I might, not to tread on the small
people, and to help the King in his wars and some other things.
 As soon as I was free, I went to see the town. It had all around it a
wall two feet and a half high and one foot wide. At every ten feet
there was a strong fort where soldiers guarded the town. I took off my
coat as I was afraid the tails might brush the roofs off the houses.
Then I got over the wall, and went down the chief streets, each of them
just five feet wide. Wherever I went, the tops of the houses were full
of people watching me pass by.
 About two weeks after I was set free, a great man came from the King
and said to me:
 "Though the land seems at peace, it is not so. We are at war with the
people of Blefuscu. They are now going to send a great fleet to Lilli-
put."
 "Why are these two lands at war?" I asked.
 "The people of Lilliput," said he, "always break their eggs at the big
end. But one day the King's son cut his hand when breaking his egg in
this way. So the King ordered that in future they should break their
eggs at the small end. Some will not do this and have fled to Blefus-
cu. The Emperor there has taken their part and made war on Lilliput.
So the King now wants you to help him."
 "I am ready to do so," I answered. I found out that the sea between
these two lands was not more than six feet deep. I also made out where
the fleet lay and how large it was.
 Then I had iron hooks made, and put one on each of a lot of strong
ropes. With these in my hands I went into the sea, and in half an hour
I came where the fleet lay. When the men of the fleet saw me coming,
they shouted for fear and fled from the ships, as I had thought they
would do. I then put a hook on each ship, and tied all the ropes in a
knot at one end.
 While I was doing this, the enemy on the shore shot arrows at me, and
a great many stuck in my face and hands. So I put on my eye-glasses,
and could do my work with no risk to my eyes. I then drew the whole
fleet through the sea.
 All this time the King of Lilliput and his Court stood waiting on the
shore. They gave a great shout of joy when they saw me coming back
with the enemy's fleet. When I landed, the King was so pleased that on
the spot he gave me the highest rank in the country.
 The King was so proud of my success that he soon said to me:
 "Take the whole land of Blefoscu and make the people there break their
eggs at the small end."
 "This I will not do. I cannot help you make slaves of free men in
this way," said I.
 Now, the Emperor of Blefuscu saw that he could not hope to win. So he
sent some men to Lilliput to make peace.
 "Our Emperor says he would like to see you if you will come to his
Court," they said to me.
 "I will go," I answered.
 One day I told the King I had a wish to go to Blefuscu. He said I
might go, but his manner was so cold that I could not help noticing it.
Afterwards I found out that some men had told him false tales of my
meetings with the men from Blefuscu.
 One night a friend of mine came to see me and said:
 "You ought to leave here as soon as you can. You will be put to death
on the charge of your falsehood to the King because you have not done
as he told you to, and also you are getting ready to go to Blefuscu
though he has not sent you leave in writing. You should make your mind
what to do."
 When I heard this, I had a mind to pull down the town. But as most of
the people had been kind to me, I gave it up.
 At last I wrote a note to the King, saying that I would go to Blefuscu
for a few days, and set out at once.
 When I arrived in Blefuscu, the Emperor and his whole Court came out
to meet me, and I told them how glad I was to come to see them. They
were all very kind to me.
 When I had been there three days, I saw some large thing floating on
the sea. I swam out to it, and found it was a large boat upside down.
I soon got it to shore and had it the right side up. I was very glad
to have this boat because I knew I could easily get off in it. When
the Emperor heard this, he said he would help me fit it out.
 While we were at this, the King of Lilliput sent for me.
 "He shall be bound hand and foot, and sent back," said he.
 "I cannot bind him, and besides, he has found a great ship in which he
can leave for home," the Emperor answered.
 When my boat was ready, I laid in a large store of food, and put on
board some of the small beasts of the land. I wished to take some of
the small people as well. But the Emperor would not let me do this.
 Then I said good-bye to the Emperor and his people. As I left him,
the Emperor gave me some gold coins and his picture at full length.
 I set sail, and in two days I met a ship. To my great joy, it was an
English ship on her way home from Japan. When I was safe on board, I
told them my strange tale. At first they did not believe me. But when
I showed them my coins and my live beasts, they knew I told the truth.
 It took me some months to reach home near London.

 

The Wind and the Sun
 The North Wind was rushing along and blowing the clouds as he passed.
 "Who is so strong as I?" he cried. "I am even stronger than the
sun."
 "Can you show that you are stronger?" asked the Sun.
 "A traveler is coming over the hill," said the Wind. "Let us see
which of us can first make him take off his long cloak. The one who
succeeds will prove himself the stronger."
 The North Wind began first. He blew a gale, tore up trees, and raised
clouds of dust. But the traveler only wrapped his cloak more closely
about him, and kept on his way.
 Then the Sun began to shine. He drove away the clouds and warmed air.
Higher and higher he climbed in the blue sky, shining in all his glory.
 "What a fine day we are having after the blow!" said the traveler, as
he threw off his cloak.

 

The Little Prince
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for
dedicating it to a grown-up.
I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world.
I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything, even
books about children.
I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and
cold.
He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will
dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew.
All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember
it. And so I correct my dedication:
Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a bo
ok, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It
was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an
animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole,
without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they
sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And
after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first
drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether
the drawing frightened them.
But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by
a hat?"
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa
constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were
not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the
inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it
clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number
Two looked like this:
The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside
my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the
outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic
and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might
have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened
by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing
Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and
it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining
things to them.
So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes.
I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true
that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can
distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such
knowledge is valuable.
In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with
a great many people who have been concerned with matters of
consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen
them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my
opinion of them.
Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted,
I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which
I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a
person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would
always say:
"That is a hat."
Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or
primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level.
I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and
neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such
a sensible man.
So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk
to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara,
six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with
me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt
the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life
or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.
The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles
from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked
sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine
my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little
voice. It said:
"If you please-- draw me a sheep!"
"What!"
"Draw me a sheep!"
I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes
hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraord-
inary small person, who stood there examining me with great
seriousness. Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was
able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less
charming than its model.
That, however, is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my
painter's career when I was six years old, and I never learned
to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the
inside.
Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting
out of my head in astonishment. Remember, I had crashed in the
desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region. And yet my little
man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands,
nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing
about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the
desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last
I was able to speak, I said to him:
"But-- what are you doing here?"
And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of
a matter of great consequence:
"If you please-- draw me a sheep..."
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd
as it might seem to me, a thousand miles from any human habitation
and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper
and my fountain-pen. But then I remembered how my studies had been
concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar,
and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not
know how to draw. He answered me:
"That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep..."
But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two
pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor
from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow
greet it with,
"No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor.
A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant
is very cumbersome. Where I live, everything is very small. What I
need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep."
So then I made a drawing.
He looked at it carefully, then he said:
"No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another."
So I made another drawing.
My friend smiled gently and indulgently.
"You see yourself," he said, "that this is not a sheep. This is a
ram. It has horns."
So then I did my drawing over once more.
But it was rejected too, just like the others.
"This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time."
By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry
to start taking my engine apart. So I tossed off this drawing.
And I threw out an explanation with it.
"This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside."
I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young
judge:
"That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep
will have to have a great deal of grass?"
"Why?"
"Because where I live everything is very small..."
"There will surely be enough grass for him," I said. "It is a very
small sheep that I have given you."
He bent his head over the drawing:
"Not so small that-- Look! He has gone to sleep..."
And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.
It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little
prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the on
es I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little
by little, everything was revealed to me.
The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw
my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked
me:
"What is that object?"
"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my air
plane."
And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.
He cried out, then:
"What! You dropped down from the sky?"
"Yes," I answered, modestly.
"Oh! That is funny!"
And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which
irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.
Then he added:
"So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?"
At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery
of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:
"Do you come from another planet?"
But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently, without taking his
eyes from my plane:
"It is true that on that ya can't have come from very far away..."
And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking
my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation
of his treasure.
You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-
confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort,
therefore, to find out more on this subject.
"My little man, where do you come from? What is this 'where I liv
e,' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?"
After a reflective silence he answered:
"The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that
at night he can use it as his house."
"That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too,
so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to."
But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:
"Tie him! What a queer idea!"
"But if you don't tie him," I said, "he will wander off somewhere,
and get lost."
My friend broke into another peal of laughter:
"But where do you think he would go?"
"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."
Then the little prince said, earnestly:
"That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small!"
And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added:
"Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far..."
I had thus learned a second fact of great importance: this was
that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger
than a house!
But that did not really surprise me much. I knew very well that
in addition to the great planets-- such as the Earth, Jupiter,
Mars, Venus-- to which we have given names, there are also hundreds
of others, some of which are so small that one has a hard time
seeing them through the telescope. When an astronomer discovers one
of these he does not give it a name, but only a number. He might
call it, for example, "Asteroid 325."
I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the
little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612.
This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That
was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.
Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a
Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death,
should change to European costume. So in 1920 the astronomer gave
his demonstration all over again, dressed with impressive style
and elegance. And this time everybody accepted his report.
If I have told you these details about the asteroid, and made a
note of its number for you, it is on account of the grown-ups and
their ways. When you tell them that you have made a new friend,
they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They
never say to you, "What does his voice sound like? What games does
he love best? Does he collect butterflies?" Instead, they demand:
"How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh?
How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do
they think they have learned anything about him.
If you were to say to the grown-ups: "I saw a beautiful house made
of rosy brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the
roof," they would not be able to get any idea of that house at
all. You would have to say to them: "I saw a house that cost
$20,000." Then they would exclaim: "Oh, what a pretty house that
is!"
Just so, you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince
existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he was
looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof
that he exists." And what good would it do to tell them that? They
would shrug their shoulders, and treat you like a child. But if
you said to them: "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612,"
then they would be convinced, and leave you in peace from their
questions.
They are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children
should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people.
But certainly, for us who understand life, figures are a matter
of indifference. I should have liked to begin this story in the
fashion of the fairy-tales. I should have like to say: "Once upon a
time there was a little prince who lived on a planet that was
scarcely any bigger than himself, and who had need of a sheep..."
To those who understand life, that would have given a much greater
air of truth to my story.
For I do not want any one to read my book carelessly. I have
suffered too much grief in setting down these memories. Six years
have already passed since my friend went away from me, with his
sheep. If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I
shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one
has had a friend. And if I forget him, I may become like the
grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...
But I am not at all sure of success. One drawing goes along all
right, and another has no resemblance to its subject. I make some
errors, too, in the little prince's height: in one place he is
too tall and in another too short. And I feel some doubts about the
color of his costume. So I fumble along as best I can, now good,
now bad, and I hope generally fair-to-middling.
In certain more important details I shall make mistakes, also. But
that is something that will not be my fault. My friend never
explained anything to me. He thought, perhaps, that I was like hims
elf. But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls
of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to
grow old.
As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about
the little prince's planet, his departure from it, his journey. The
information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall
from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard, on the third
day, about the catastrophe of the babas.
This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the
little prince asked me abruptly-- as if seized by a grave doubt-- "
It is true, isn't it, that sheep eat little bushes?"
"Yes, that is true."
"Ah! I am glad!"
I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat
little bushes. But the little prince added:
"Then it follows that they also eat babas?"
I pointed out to the little prince that babas were not little
bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even
if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd
would not eat up one single babas.
The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
"We would have to put them one on top of the other," he said.
But he made a wise comment:
"Before they grow so big, the babas start out by being little."
"That is strictly correct," I said. "But why do you want the sheep
to eat the little babas?"
He answered me at once, "Oh, come, come!", as if he were speaking
of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a
great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.
Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little
prince lived-- as on all planets-- good plants and bad plants. In
consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seed
s from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in
the heart of the earth's darkness, until some one among them is
seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will
stretch itself and begin-- timidly at first-- to push a charming
little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only
a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it
grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one
must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant
that one recognizes it.
Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the
home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the babas.
The soil of that planet was infested with them. A babas is
something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you
attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It
bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is
too small, and the babas are too many, they split it in pieces...