The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Inua Ellams

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781786828712
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: History of Modern Art

Broken down in the Sahara Desert, a pilot meets an extraordinary Little Prince, travelling across time and space to bring peace to his warring planet. Inua Ellams' magical retelling of the much loved story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry turns the Little Prince into a descendant of an African race in a parallel galaxy. His journey as a galactic emigrant takes us through solar systems of odd planets with strange beings, addresses climate change and morality, and shows how even a little thing can make a big difference.

Act Two

LP flies around looking at various things, a cactus, a scorpion. He spots a PILOT tinkering with her dismantled fighter plane and flies closer, but she is so invested in her work, she doesn’t notice him. He gets off the hoverboard, unclips the two discs that make it hover from the underside – it doubles up as an amulet – wears this around his neck, and approaches the PILOT.

LP: Hello! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!

I am the Little Prince

What is this you have here

You’ve got so many things.

This one here, with big wings?

Is it a kind of bird?

Are these all of its eggs?

What’s this and that is weird!

LP picks up two nuclear missiles.

PILOT: Okay, listen, I need you to give those to me slowly, sloooowwwwwly, carefully.

LP gives them to the PILOT, who lays them down gently.

Who… what… where… how… why are you here?

LP: Oh! It’s a flying craft!

An old and ancient one.

Are these its inside parts?

And are you the airman?

PILOT: Air woman, this is my fighter jet. Don’t touch anything, I haven’t fixed it yet. Everything is laid out in a special order, they are where they need to be, from the centre to the border.

LP: So your ship is broken?

Well, I can fix it quick.

I bet it’s this big thing,

Pass me that metal stick.

PILOT: Leave it! Drop it! Read my lips! This is my method and this is my ship. Those are propellers, those are the slats, those are the spoilers and those are the flaps. They may look randomly laid without intent, but if you do this, they turn into a tent.

As she speaks, the SNAKE slithers around.

I used the flight panel as a magnifying glass to start a fire when the night-cold blasts. And I stripped my parachute to make sandbags to protect from the snakes, their slither and their fangs. So you see Little Prince, they are there for reasons, don’t move anything! Your hands where I can see them!

Beat.

I don’t know if you’re really here, or if you’ll fade away but I have a mission and I must be on my way.

The PILOT returns to work. LP looks round and picks up a stone.

LP: Can I ask a question?

Tell me, what is a snake?

I don’t think I’ve seen one

You make them sound unsafe?

The SNAKE circles as they speak.

PILOT: You don’t know what a snake is? You’re not from here are you? They are dangerous slippery creatures that don’t do any good. They are thin and long and crawl across the ground, they’ll attack any living thing that they see around. They shed their skin, they have sharp teeth, they bite and poison, don’t engage with them, resist!

LP: You make them sound scary.

They crawl on their belly?

They don’t have any legs?

Not just one? Not any?

PILOT: They should have grown some like the rest of us, they must have given in to gravitational force.

LP: Gravity! It’s strong here!

It’s weaker at my home.

I jump and float high there

but here I drop like stones.

LP drops the stone.

PILOT: You don’t like gravity?

LP: It’s the worst force to combat!

It holds everything down!

PILOT: Yeah! What is up with that?

LP laughs.

PILOT: When I was your age, all I wanted was to draw, to sketch what I imagined and the ways I saw the world. I drew an elephant inside a snake once, but the adults couldn’t see it. That’s a bad choice! Looks like an old hat? You need a proper job! So I joined the airforce, because I wanted to fly, to leave them all behind and belong to the sky. There is so much freedom!

LP: It’s quiet and it’s calm!

LP & PILOT: You hold the controls and the world is in your palm!

LP & the PILOT laugh together. LP laughs longer and the stars shimmer.

PILOT: You really are a pilot, you’re the youngest one I’ve seen. You are not from here are you? Tell me where you’ve been. Where is your aircraft? Can I take it for a spin?

LP doesn’t answer. She tickles him, he laughs. The stars shimmer and the PILOT notices this.

The stars shimmer when you laugh, you know that Little Prince?

LP: Who can know everything?

I only know I’m here.

PILOT: Come and sit beside me, are you thirsty? He...