The story follows a young prince who visits various planets, including Earth , and addresses themes of loneliness , friendship , love , and loss.
Despite its style as a children's book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults, and human nature. To determine if grownups are as enlightened as a child, the narrator shows them a picture depicting a boa constrictor that has eaten an elephant.
The adults always reply that the picture represents a hat, so he knows to only talk of "reasonable" things to them, rather than the fanciful. The narrator becomes an aircraft pilot, and one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara desert, far from civilization. The narrator must fix his airplane before his supply of water runs out.
Here, he is greeted by a young boy nicknamed "the little prince. The prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him the picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets correctly.
After three failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the frustrated narrator draws a crate, claiming the sheep is inside. This turns out to be the exact drawing the prince wanted.
