taps into that vein of terror in this story from early
in his career, which was later filmed as an episode
of The Twilight Zoneand also provided part of the
inspiration for the movie Poltergeist(1982).
The narrator is wakened by the sound of his
daughter Tina’s crying. At first he assumes it is just
another upset stomach or bad dream, and even
when he finds that she is missing from her bed he
is not alarmed, because he can hear her crying. But
when he turns on the lights there is no sign of her,
just her voice apparently coming from nowhere.
Eventually Tina falls asleep, and her distraught
parents call a friend, who is equally dumbfounded.
A brief panic ensues when they can no longer hear
the sound of her breathing, but then it becomes
audible again from high in a closet, although once
more there is no other physical evidence of her
presence.
Rescue comes from an unlikely source. The
adults are so bound by the rational that they cannot
sense the entrance to whatever other reality Tina
has fallen into. The family dog is not similarly hin-
dered, and once allowed into the apartment, he im-
mediately vanishes in pursuit of the child. Her
father accidentally stumbles into the gateway as
well, but fortunately he fails to pass through com-
pletely, and the others are able to hold onto his legs
to prevent him from becoming lost along with the
others. This eventually results in their mutual res-
cue. Although “Little Girl Lost” is a very straightfor-
ward story with a very simple solution, it retains its
powerful impact even after multiple readings be-
cause of its appeal to one of the most primal of fears.
The Little PrinceAntoine de Saint-Exupéry
(1943)
The narrator of this charming children’s story is an
airplane pilot who meets an unusual child in the
desert, the Little Prince, who claims to have come
from another planet where everything is extremely
small. The Little Prince desires a drawing of a
sheep, and after several attempts the narrator suc-
ceeds in pleasing him. During this process the
reader is told repeatedly of the silliness of grown-
ups, who need everything to be explained and
quantified rather than described in terms that are
meaningful for children.
Their friendship continues for an indefinite
period of time. The Little Prince wonders whether
or not his sheep will be able to eat the tiny baobabs
found on his planet. The baobabs spread terribly
fast and leave no room for other plants, so it would
be very useful if the sheep could help by eating
them when they sprout. The author, who illus-
trated the book himself, provides a very graphic ex-
ample of what might happen to a tiny world if the
baobabs were not held in check. The Little Prince
might fear the baobabs, but he loves the flowers,
even when they are being vain and self-centered.
Back on his own world, he and a prized flower had
a disagreement, after which he decided to leave his
little planet, perhaps forever.
His first visit is to another tiny world ruled by
a king who has no subjects. The king insists that
the entire universe obey his commands, but only
when they are reasonable commands, and, by his
convoluted logic, everything that they choose to
do was because he commanded them to do so.
He next visits the planet of a conceited man who
considers himself the handsomest and most intelli-
gent man on that planet, which is, of course, true
since he is entirely alone. He then visits a man
who drinks to forget that he drinks, a business-
man who is obsessed with numbers, and a lamp-
lighter who obeys his standing instructions without
cavil despite the fact that the situation has
changed, making them irrelevant. Finally comes a
geographer who has never actually seen anything
to inscribe on his maps but who directs the Little
Prince to Earth.
The narrator finally realizes that the problem
with grown people is that they rush around all the
time without knowing where they truly want to be
and without enjoying the journey at all. The won-
derful simplicity and directness of the Little
Prince’s comments suggest that we lose something
precious when we cast aside our childhood and for-
get the lessons we have learned about the world.Lofting, Hugh(1886–1947)
Although Hugh Lofting was a British writer, he
spent the second half of his life in the United
States. Lofting began writing his stories of Doctor
Dolittle during World War I, and the first book ap-218 The Little Prince