"Now I always have a look around, when I am in some new place. Somehow, he has become my new habit", he says.
And I just melt.
This very good friend of mine is talking about looking for new, exotic editions of "The Little Prince" for my collection while traveling and/on being abroad for some time for whatever reason, and knowing that he remembers me and my special game makes me feel seen, loved and appreciated.
Collecting the book has been a serendipitous idea, something that I would not have expected and yet kept me company all these years, almost fifteen years by now.
And now, after so many years, my collection looks like this:
According to the most recent data, the book has been translated into more than 350 languages and dialects worldwide.
Therefore, as crazy as this could sound, with over 70 books and dialects I own only around 20% of all available languages "The Little Prince" has been even translated into.
There are still many languages to be collected, many books to be found, many languages to be explored.
And yet...
I am not in a hurry.
The collection thought me, among other things, how to be patient. How to wait for the right moment, the right person, the right interaction. It helped me realize that things happen when the time is right and that trying very hard to make things happen is not always the best strategy.
Collecting the book has been a serendipitous idea, something that I would not have expected and yet kept me company all these years, almost fifteen years by now.
And now, after so many years, my collection looks like this:
[My collection of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
as it is in June 2020: over 100 books
in around 70 languages and dialects]
Therefore, as crazy as this could sound, with over 70 books and dialects I own only around 20% of all available languages "The Little Prince" has been even translated into.
There are still many languages to be collected, many books to be found, many languages to be explored.
And yet...
I am not in a hurry.
The collection thought me, among other things, how to be patient. How to wait for the right moment, the right person, the right interaction. It helped me realize that things happen when the time is right and that trying very hard to make things happen is not always the best strategy.
[Both very rare languages in Western Europe,
even if in different ways: The Little Prince
in Rajasthani and... in Sardinian]
Even more useful, the collection thought me how to appreciate even more all my friends, my loved ones, all the acquaintances and the ex-colleagues and the neighbors, all the people that have been part of my life, it doesn't matter if for one hour or for many years, and that played the game with me over the years. And I want to thank all of them, once more.
I will keep looking for the book when I am visiting a new place, I will keep asking friends if they can have a look for me, I will keep playing a very special kind of treasure hunt while being at some flea market, and yet...
This can wait. Almost everything can wait, when we are sure that we have plenty of time for it and that we will get there, eventually. Or somewhere just as good.
This one is for Xiuming, which made me discover The Little Prince Museum located in Hakone, a Japanese small town from the Kanagawa Prefecture.
The museum official website describes the unusual place this way:
The world's only museum devoted to The Little Prince. It was created as part of the worldwide celebration of the birth centennial of author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The museum, which explores Saint-Exupéry’s life, also features a French townscape and European garden.
Well, what can I say?
This museum is on my bucket list now, for better times. At some point. In a hopefully near future, where we will be able to think about the present pandemic like we think about the scary things from the past that we left behind us.
Tags: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le petit Prince, The Little Prince, Literature, Book collection, Collecting, The Little Prince Museum
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