Lessons on Men from “The Little Prince”: The Lamplighter

Wednesday, November 5th 2008 by Shanel Yang

The Little Prince is the classic children’s book that has many lessons to teach all of us, including adults, about the wonders of being alive, love, and friendship—and about the folly of most adults who fail to appreciate all these things. It was written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and first published in 1943.

As the story goes, the little prince was a boy who was the only human inhabitant of a tiny island. His life was simple there, filled with various chores and simple pleasures, such as watching sunsets after his work was done. Until one day, a beautiful rose appeared and he fell in love with her. But, the rose was rather moody and difficult to get along with—what we would call today, “high-maintenance.” And, so, he decided to leave her and see what he could find in the rest of the universe, as he had never before left his tiny planet.

On his adventure, he first encountered a series of men, one on each of their own tiny planets. (But, scientists would call them “asteroids.”) There were six such tiny planets/asteroids in all. Here is what the little prince found on the fifth one:

THE LAMPLIGHTER FROM THE LITTLE PRINCE

The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince couldn’t quite understand what use a street lamp and a lamplighter could be up there in the sky, on a planet without any people and not a single house. However, he said to himself, It’s quite possible that this man is absurd. But he’s less absurd than the king, the very vain man, the businessman, and the drunkard. At least his work has some meaning. When he lights his lamp, it’s as if he’s bringing one more star to life, or one more flower. When he puts out his lamp, that sends the flower or the star to sleep. Which is a fine occupation. And therefore useful.

When the little prince reached this planet, he greeted the lamplighter respectfully. “Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?”

“Orders,” the lamplighter answered. “Good morning.”

“What orders are those?”

“To put out my street lamp. Good evening.” And he lit his lamp again.

“But why have you just lit your lamp again?”

“Orders.”

“I don’t understand,” said the little prince.

“There’s nothing to understand,” said the lamplighter. “Orders are orders. Good morning.” And he put out his lamp. Then he wiped his forehead with a red-checked handkerchief. “It’s a terrible job I have. It used to be reasonable enough. I put the lamp out mornings and lit it after dark. I had the rest of the day for my own affairs, and the rest of the night for sleeping.”

“And since then orders have changed?”

“Orders haven’t changed,” the lamplighter said. “That’s just the trouble! Year by year the planet is turning faster and faster, and orders haven’t changed!”

“Which means?”

“Which means that now the planet revolves once a minute, I don’t have an instant’s rest. I light my lamp and turn it out once every minute!”

“That’s funny! Your days here are one minute long!”

“It’s not funny at all,” the lamplighter said. “You and I have already been talking to each other for a month.”

“A month?”

“Yes. Thirty minutes. Thirty days! Good evening.” And he lit his lamp.

This little prince watched him, growing fonder and fonder of this lamplighter who was so faithful to order. He remembered certain sunsets that he himself used to follow in other days, merely by shifting his chair. He wanted to help his friend.

“You know … I can show you a way to take a rest whenever you want to.”

“I always want to rest,” the lamplighter said, for it is possible to be faithful and lazy at the same time.

The little prince continued, “Your planet is so small that you can walk around it in three strides. All you have to do is walk more slowly, and you’ll always be in the sun. When you want to take a rest just walk … and the day will last as long as you want it to.”

“What good does that do to me,” the lamplighter said, “when the one thing in life I want to do is sleep?”

“Then you’re out of luck,” said the little prince.

“I am,” said the lamplighter. “Good morning.” And he put out his lamp.

Now that man, the little prince said to himself as he continued on his journey, that man would be despised by all the others, by the king, by the very vain man, by the drunkard, by the businessman. Yet he’s the only one who doesn’t strike me as ridiculous. Perhaps it’s because he’s thinking of something beside himself. He heaved a sigh of regret and said to himself, again, That man is the only one I might have made my friend. But his planet is really too small. There’s not room for two …

What the little prince dared not admit was that he most regretted leaving that planet because it was blessed with one thousand, four hundred forty sunsets every twenty-four hours!

CONCLUSION

This one is an honest but hardworking man. All he does is follow orders, no matter how unreasonable. But, when the little prince tells him how he can perform his task more easily, he doesn’t even want to try his suggestion because he admits all he really wants to do is sleep! Even when he used to have “all day for his affairs” and “all night to sleep,” he deemed that “reasonable enough,” but nothing more. To him, that was not terrifically wonderful leisure time in which to first dream big dreams and then to go after them. No, he merely filled his days with whatever “his affairs” were (and that sounds pretty mundane to me) and used his nights always “for sleeping.” A boring man with a boring life, no matter how much—or how little!—of it was filled with mindless labor. There are many people like him on our own planet Earth, too. (For example, see “Lessons on Boredom from ‘The Joy of Not Working.’”)

If you don’t want to end up like him, listen when people suggest ways to make your work easier. And, dream of more than merely sleeping! Sleeping is great and necessary to replenish our bodies and minds, especially our imagination so we can envision better futures. But, there is so much more to life than not working and merely sleeping! Find your big dream—your burning desire—then you will be motivated enough to stop following unreasonable orders and performing mostly meaningless tasks just because you want to be a good employee/citizen/etc. Instead, follow your heart because you want to be a great person! Because life is the greatest miracle there is in the universe, and to be a great human being is to fully appreciate that gift and to make the most of it! Don’t waste your life! It’s just too rare and, hence, too precious. Start with the realization that life itself is a miracle and your greatest, most valuable, possession. Now, how would like to use whatever you have left of it? Surely, not lighting too many more lamps? I hope! : )

If you want a copy of The Little Prince for your own personal library, click here.

[For “Lessons on Men from ‘The Little Prince’: The King,” click here.]

[For “Lessons on Men from ‘The Little Prince’: The Very Vain Man,” click here.]

[For “Lessons on Men from ‘The Little Prince’: The Drunkard,” click here.]

[For “Lessons on Men from ‘The Little Prince’: The Businessman,” click here.]

[For “Lessons on Men from ‘The Little Prince’: The Geographer,” click here.]

[For “Lessons on Men from ‘The Little Prince’: Here on Earth,” click here.]

[For all the “Lessons from ‘The Little Prince,’” click here.]

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[For “Love Letter from ‘Griffin & Sabine,’” click here.]

[For “Lessons from the ‘Sunscreen Speech,’” click here.]

[For entire “Lessons On” series, click here.]