All this time, we never really understood "The Little Prince."

"If you can come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock, I will start to feel happy."

"All grown-ups were once children, but only a few remember them."

"Only with your heart can you see clearly. Essential things are invisible to the naked eye."

-"The Little Prince Trilogy 1: The Little Prince")

"The Little Prince", this "fairy tale" story with only more than 20,000 words, has reached the top of the list of "Classic Books in the History of Mankind". Translated into more than 300 languages, it has more than 400 million readers worldwide, and its reading rate is second only to the "Bible".

Everyone has found a certain kind of truth in "The Little Prince". But do we really understand the truth behind the appearance of "The Little Prince"?

The little prince said, ‘the desert is beautiful because there is a well hidden somewhere in it. The reason why "The Little Prince" is deeply moving is also because it has a deeper meaning than a fairy tale on the surface. And these meanings are buried in the prequel of "The Little Prince"-"The Wind and Sand Stars" and "Night Flight".

That complete, comprehensive, and true "Little Prince" is actually "The Little Prince Trilogy".

Now, let us re-enter the story of The Little Prince. Every detail in "The Little Prince" can correspond to the actual events around Saint-Exupéry. And his own stories are written in "The Wind and Sand Stars" and "Night Flight".

"The adults suggested that I put aside these pictures of pythons with their belly open or closed. It's better to focus on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. In this way, when I was six years old, I gave up the painter. A wonderful career... I had to choose another career, so I learned to fly an airplane."-"The Little Prince Trilogy 1: The Little Prince", Chapter One

Saint-Exupéry, the author of "The Little Prince", was the first group of pilots in human history. He has been eager to take risks since he was a child, and flew into the sky for the first time with a pilot when he was 12 years old.

At 21 years old, Saint-Exupéry, who has longed for the sky since childhood, finally had a chance to realize his dream. He was enlisted for military service, but due to limitations during his service, he could only serve as a ground maintenance officer in the army. He had to take various measures to study flight courses diligently. Finally, on June 18, 1921, he walked into the long-awaited cockpit. On December 31 of the same year, Anthony passed the assessment and officially obtained the Air Force pilot qualification.

At the age of 26, Saint-Exupéry joined France Latcoel Airways and was responsible for flying postal aircraft. Since then, he has become the first batch of pilots in human history.

At the age of 30, Saint-Exupéry was stationed in Argentina and was responsible for opening up South American routes. There, he and his companions repeatedly fought the storm and rubbed shoulders with the god of death, and finally realized the pioneering work of human night flight. "Night Flight" describes this unforgettable experience.

"I live alone like this. There is no one who can really talk about it. Until six years ago, my plane made a forced landing in the Sahara Desert. My engine broke down... The water I brought with me was barely enough to drink. Eight days. On the first night, I slept in this great desert far away from the world. I was more isolated from the world than the victims lying on a small raft in the sea."-"Little Prince Trilogy 1: Little The Prince, Chapter Two

This plot comes from the personal experience of Saint-Exupéry himself, and is described first-hand in "The Wind and Sand and Stars".

On December 30, 1935, he participated in the flight competition from Paris to Saigon. After flying for 19 hours and 44 minutes, the plane unfortunately crashed into the Sahara Desert due to a malfunction. Both he and the mechanic miraculously survived the crash, but it was followed by the challenge of severe desert heat and severe dehydration.

"The petrol and engine oil tanks have exploded, and the water storage tank has exploded. Sand has drunk all the water. We found half a liter of coffee in a damaged thermos pot and a quarter liter in another. White wine. We filtered these liquids and mixed them together. We also found a little grape and an orange. But I made a calculation in my heart: "Walking against the big desert sun, these will be gone in less than five hours... …'("The Little Prince Trilogy 2: Wind and Sand Stars")

When the little food and water were exhausted, they soon had hallucinations and saw the mirage. On the second or third day, they were dehydrated to the point where they could not shed a drop of sweat. It was not until the fourth day that a Bedouin found them while riding a camel and they were finally rescued.

"The really important thing is something we can't imagine in advance. Each of us has experienced this: the most ardent joy may appear in the place where it is the least likely to appear."-"The Little Prince Trilogy 2: Wind, Sand and Stars" 》

"I don't want people to come and read my book lightly. When I tell this story, there is a trace of melancholy in my heart. My friend has been away with his sheep for six years. The reason why I am here Here is a detailed description of him, so as not to forget him. Forgetting friends is a sad thing."-"The Little Prince Trilogy 1: The Little Prince", Chapter 4

In "The Little Prince", at a critical moment, it was the little prince, a cute little fellow, who accompanied "I" through the long night, over the edge of death, and found a well in the desert. The little prince is like the self in Saint-Exupery's consciousness.

"So I was daydreaming there. I think everything can adapt to the surrounding environment. Even if a person knows that he will die in thirty years, he will not be gloomy forever because of it. Thirty years, three days... this is just a point of view. The problem... When I don’t see the illusion in the distance, I will create a mirage by myself...” ("Little Prince Trilogy 2: Wind, Sand and Stars")

"Ah! Little prince, this is how I learned about your melancholy life bit by bit. For a long time, your only pastime was to watch the gentle sunset.... "Everyone knows that America is here. At noon, France is dusk. If you can get to France within a minute, you can see the sunset. Unfortunately, France is too far away. But, on your little planet, you only need to move your chair a few steps. In this way, you can always see the afterglow of the sunset you want to see... "'You know... When a person is very sad, he likes to watch the sunset...' "So, the day you watched the sunset forty-four times, it was very Sad? "The little prince did not answer."-"The Little Prince Trilogy 1: The Little Prince", Chapter 6

In 1943, when Saint-Exupéry wrote "The Little Prince", Europe was shrouded in the smoke of World War II, and he was exiled in the United States and lived in New York. He was depressed and depressed, and missed his hometown of France very much. He often works in the company of cigarettes and espresso, drawing illustrations and handwriting with watercolor pencils. In the end, he completed the peculiar, poetic and sad "Little Prince". The little prince standing alone on the small planet is like himself alone in a foreign land. After completing "The Little Prince", he resolutely decided to return to Europe and join the Allied North African battlefield.

"The flower is for people to see and smell. This flower makes my planet scent pleasant, but I don’t know how to enjoy this beauty.... She gave me the scent and illuminates my whole person. . I should have guessed the tenderness behind her clumsy little tricks. The flowers are always so inconsistent! Unfortunately I was too young at the time to know how to love her."-"Little Prince Three" Part 1: The Little Prince, Chapter 8

The prototype of the delicate rose on the planet of the little prince is Saint-Exupéry’s wife, Consuelo. In 1931, at a lecture dedicated to French writers and entertainers, Saint-Exupéry met the Salvadoran girl Consuelo, and within a few hours of getting to know her, he announced that he would marry her.

In April 1931, the two officially married after 7 months of meeting each other. But being a pilot’s wife is not as simple as imagined, and there are often frictions in their married lives. Anthony has no concept of financial management, while Consuelo is profligate, so that their lives are often very difficult. Anthony has a weird character, and Consuelo is unpredictable. Anthony complained that Consuelo didn't care about herself and never brought herself into her social circle; Consuelo thought that Anthony was very domineering and had no freedom at all. In the long run, both of them have cheated.

They do not trust each other and often sneered at each other. The two often ran away from home and even separated. The heavy economic pressure also made both of them out of breath. Three years after the marriage, the relationship between the two became tense, and the red light in their marriage life also lit up. Moreover, Kangsuello has severe asthma, just like the rose in "The Little Prince" will keep pretending to cough to attract the little prince's attention and constantly make the little prince feel guilty.

They loved each other fiercely, but they tortured each other. There were often conflicts and they could not stay together for long, but she was still the most important person in his life. "Once a person makes a choice, he will be satisfied with the accident in his life, he will love his choice, and he will be subject to accident, just like love." ("Little Prince Trilogy 3: Night Flight")

"I saw a yellow light flashing around his ankle. For an instant, he was motionless. He didn't yell. He fell slowly like a tree. Because it was in the desert, there was not even a sound. ."-"The Little Prince Trilogy 1: The Little Prince", Chapter 26

The description at the end of "The Little Prince" has broken the hearts of countless people. Where did the little prince go in the end? do you died? Or back to his planet B612? This has almost become the ultimate question.

The year after "The Little Prince" was published, on July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupéry was about to perform his ninth mission to the airspace east of Lyon, his childhood hometown. It was sunny that day, and Saint-Exupéry boarded the cockpit vigorously. After taking off from the northeast of Corsica into the sky over the Mediterranean, he disappeared without a trace and never returned. He left the earth like a little prince.

It wasn't until 44 years later, in 1988, that his pilot bracelet was salvaged from the bottom of the sea, with his wife's name and the address of the New York publisher of "The Little Prince" engraved on it, we didn't know where the little prince had gone.

"Things that give meaning to life can also give meaning to death." (The Little Prince Trilogy 2: Wind, Sand and Stars)

Yes, when we finish reading "The Little Prince Trilogy" in full, and while stepping in depth and spying on a great soul, we will find that the little prince is actually the incarnation of Saint-Exupéry himself.