Selections from The Little Prince

These three short passages come from Katherine Woods's 1943 English translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince: the request for a sheep, the fox's secret, and the responsibility that follows taming. This page translates Woods's wording as it appears in those excerpts. Only the brief source lines under discussion are reproduced.

The source title stays in English because Phi has no ordinary word for the rank prince. The Phi title takes another route: thiku miona lue silero, the small person from the stars. It describes this figure within the story rather than minting a reusable rank.

Translation

The sheep request rests mostly on Phi's grammar. In the fox's secret, the heart is the instrument of right seeing. The last passage keeps taming as taming and uses naseru, obligation, for the responsibility that follows.

The request

pi no wei mia ta mophira kire.

Word-by-word gloss: [POL [IMP [[DAT 1SG] [one sheep] shape]]].

Literal English: (Please draw one sheep for me.)

woods: "If you please—draw me a sheep!"

The secret

sheno mia kupela nosa ha nai. ha kupela ru siloma nai.

Word-by-word gloss: [ADD [[1SG secret] now [PROX be]]]. [[PROX secret] [INTS simple] be].

Literal English: (And now my secret is here. This secret is very simple.)

woods: "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret:

miona li roe korua po theali nila.

Word-by-word gloss: [person [RESTR [INS heart]] [POT [fitting see]]].

Literal English: (A person can see rightly only with the heart.)

woods: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;

whu noetha nai roe mirae se po ma nila.

Word-by-word gloss: [REL [essential be]] [INS eye] [PASS POT NEG see].

Literal English: (What is essential cannot be seen with the eye.)

woods: what is essential is invisible to the eye."

The responsibility

thia wei whu thia woenu ki ka kelu nolika naseru pa phelu. thia theula thimu ha naseru phelu.

Word-by-word gloss: [2SG [DAT [[REL [2SG tame [PFV CAUS become]]] animal]] obligation [INCH hold]]. [2SG [UNIV time] [PROX obligation] hold].

Literal English: (You begin to have an obligation to the animal you have tamed. You always have this obligation.)

woods: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."

Complete translation

thiku miona lue silero

pi no wei mia ta mophira kire.

sheno mia kupela nosa ha nai. ha kupela ru siloma nai. miona li roe korua po theali nila. whu noetha nai roe mirae se po ma nila.

thia wei whu thia woenu ki ka kelu nolika naseru pa phelu. thia theula thimu ha naseru phelu.

Translation limits

Woods's wording	Phi treatment	Remaining distance
The Little Prince	source title beside `thiku miona lue silero`, small person from the stars	Phi describes the figure but does not reproduce the inherited rank.
If you please	polite imperative `pi no`	Woods uses a conditional courtesy; Phi marks courtesy directly on the instruction.
draw me a sheep	shape one sheep for me	`kire` includes drawing in its range, while its broader gloss remains shape.
And now here is	`sheno mia kupela nosa ha nai`, my secret is here now	Phi states the discourse addition, current time, and near-speaker location separately.
a very simple secret	`ha kupela ru siloma nai`, this secret is very simple	Phi gives the apposition its own complete sentence instead of asking a colon to hold it open.
see rightly	`theali nila`, see in a fitting way	`theali` judges fit to purpose and circumstance; Woods's adverb can also suggest correctness.
invisible to the eye	cannot be seen with the eye	Phi uses a passive action under negated possibility rather than an invisible adjective.
what you have tamed	the animal you have caused to become tame	The explicit animal narrows Woods's open relative, but it also gives the Phi relative an audible end before `naseru`.
responsible	`naseru pa phelu`, begin to hold an obligation	Phi makes responsibility an obligation arising under the fox's teaching; willingness remains unstated.
forever	`thia theula thimu ha naseru phelu`, you always have this obligation	Phi repeats the obligation in a complete sentence and gives the unbounded duration adverbial scope.