--- description: Author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had his own real encounter with the desert title: The True Events That Inspired 'The Little Prince' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3783419b6d9267/69888aafab6d7795f86a8cf9/exupery.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The True Events That Inspired _The Little Prince_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 4, 2016 3:00 PM CUT  circa 1935: French airman and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 - 1944), who was killed in a reconnaissance flight over North Africa during World War II. circa 1935: French airman and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 - 1944), who was killed in a reconnaissance flight over North Africa during World War II.Hulton Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 4, 2016 3:00 PM CUT With _The Little Prince_ [coming to Netflix on Friday](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/05/27/the-little-prince-netflix-trailer-release-date/85025128/ "undefined"), more than 70 years will have passed since TIME, in reviewing the story on which the film is based, called author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry the “most metaphysical of aviators.” And, though the story of the Little Prince and his voyages among the planets is clearly fiction, Saint-Exupéry’s own experiences as a pilot helped inspire that tale. On the most obvious level, the plane crash that begins the story, through which the narrator meets the title character, mirrors a real mishap that left the author stranded in the Sahara in the mid-1930s, while on his way from Paris to Saigon on an airmail run. As TIME would [later](http://time.com/vault/issue/1960-06-13/page/122/ "undefined") describe, “Characteristically, while waiting to be rescued in the desert, he kept himself company with his musings, later spun the incident into his delightful children’s tale, _The Little Prince_.” He ended up walking many miles in the desert before being rescued by a passing Bedouin. Before Saint-Exupéry got around to _The Little Prince_, he described his ordeal in the 1939 book [_Wind, Sand and Stars_](https://books.google.com/books?id=hoIRBgm7ej8C&dq=saint+exupery+sahara+plane+crash+bedouin+rescue&source=gbs%5Fnavlinks%5Fs "undefined"). The harrowing experience in the desert is marked by multiple hallucinations and mirages, and imaginary encounters with strange creatures. (“I walked with my eyes to the ground,” he wrote, “for the mirages were more than I could bear.”) But _Wind, Sand and Stars_ tells of more than just a narrative inspiration for _The Little Prince_. It also, as explained TIME’s 1939 [review](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-06-26/page/83/ "undefined") of the book, hints at the philosophy that would help _Prince_ become one of the most enduring fables of the 20th century. --- > “” --- In [1944](http://time.com/vault/issue/1944-08-14/page/78/ "undefined"), Saint-Exupéry disappeared while on a wartime reconnaissance flight over Europe. The wreckage of his plane was [discovered](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3606903.stm "undefined") at sea almost exactly 60 years later, but what happened to him remains a mystery. **_Read the full 1943 review of_** **The Little Prince,** **_here in the TIME Vault:_** [Adult Fairy Tale](http://time.com/vault/issue/1943-04-26/page/102/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255854/little-prince-1943-history-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255854/little-prince-1943-history-2/"},"headline":"The True Events That Inspired The Little Prince","datePublished":"2016-08-04T15:00:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:50:24.874Z","description":"Author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had his own encounter with the desert","url":"https://time.com/4255854/little-prince-1943-history-2/","keywords":["Books","movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3783419b6d9267/69888aafab6d7795f86a8cf9/exupery.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0c3783419b6d9267/69888aafab6d7795f86a8cf9/exupery.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Saint-Exupery","caption":"Saint-Exupery","creditText":"Hulton Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255854/little-prince-1943-history-2/","name":"The True Events That Inspired The Little Prince"}}]}] ```