Vince Ivan F. Libao I – Archimedes

“My encounter with the Little Prince”

(1) The next planet was inhabited by parents. On it was a three – seater sofa where the parents are seated.
(2) “Hello,” greeted the Little Prince.
(3) The parents looked at each other, delighted to see the Little Prince. Then, they got up from their sofa and hurriedly hugged the prince.
(4) Shocked as he was, for he was hugged by strangers, he stood still. Until one of the parents spoke, “we are so glad that you are finally home child; were so worried about you.”
(5) “You called me child?” The Little Prince was confused.
(6) “Yes, my child”, answered one of the parents, and then continued, “We are parents. She (referring to the other parent) is the mother, I am the father and you, my dear, are our child.”
(7) “But I don’t have parents in our planet”, replied the little Prince.
(8) “Oh”, the mother said. “Since you are here in our planet, we shall be your parents and you shall be our child.”
(9) Still the little Prince is puzzled. He threw his questions again. He had lots of questions in mind to ask. “What do parents do? And what do I have to do as a child?”
(10) “Parents look after their children from their time of existence until the time that they can stand on their own. We pamper and take care of the children, and see to it that they are safe and teach them do the right thing so that they will grow up to be a good man, and most of all, we love our children.”, answered the father.
(11) The Little Prince, confused, said “I do the same to my flower. Am I a parent, too?”
(12) “Sort of. But the flower cannot become a parent when he grows up.” The mother answered. “But you, my child, when you grow up, you will become a parent yourself”.
(13) “I see. But what do I do as a child?” again asked the Little Prince. He would not let go of the question unless it is answered.
(14) The mother replied patiently, “You have to obey your parents, my child”.
(15) “Obey?” the Little Prince was apprehensive about the word. This is the first time he heard of it.
(16) “Yes, my child, obey means you should follow everything that we asked you to do and not to do”, Said the father.
(17) “Are you a king? You seem to be giving orders,” said the little Prince.
(18) “We are not ‘king’. We are simply parents who want to make sure our child will not get into trouble.” The father replied.
(19) I know someone who always follows orders. He must be a very good child.
(20) “Maybe…but once you are a child and you follow or not your parents’ orders, you will still be their child and you will still be loved by them. You will follow your parents’ orders because you love them in return and that you know that it will be for your own benefit. Unlike the one you know, he follows orders for the sake of complying with the one in authority. Once he failed to follow an order, he will be cast out from the system.”
(21) The little Prince was so astonished with how the parents love and protect their children .How he wished he stays here and be a child of these parents forever, be loved and protected by them. Until, he noticed something. The planet has no children, only the parents are there. So, the Little Prince asked the parents, “Please forgive me, mother and father, (he remembered how the parents are called) but I don’t see any of your children. Where are they?”
(22) The parents suddenly became sad.” Our children have grown up. Some were able to live by themselves, others have become parents now. We really miss them,” answered the mother.
(23) The Little Prince looked at the parents. He thought of how great these parents are. Aside from the teacher and lamplighter, these parents thought of others, their child, that is, another selfless type of creature that he met in his journey. He then gave them a comforting smile and realized its time for him to go. So, he bade them goodbye.
(24) The mother hastily asked, “Why, don’t you like to be our child?”
(25) The Little Prince smiled and told her, “Thank you, mother, I already am.”
(26) Realizing they could not keep the little Prince from leaving, they hugged him again and whispered to him, “take care, child, remember, we always love you.”
(27) The little Prince was really touched, he almost cried. He felt the same thing when he left the fox who became his friend. As he remembered his friend, he realized that he has just been tamed by these parents. And so here he is again taking the risk of weeping a little, just like the parents do for they have considered the little Prince as their child.
(28) The Little Prince, concealing his sadness, smiled at them again and left.