DAEDALUS AND ICARUS SUMMARY

How It (Supposedly) Went Down

The Short Story
Daedalus is a brilliant inventor—the Thomas Edison of his day. Unfortunately, he angers King Minos, the
ruler of the island Crete, and he has to hightail it out of there. Desperate to flee the island, Daedalus
uses wax to build some wings for himself and his son Icarus. Daddy Daedalus warns his son to fly at a
middle height: the seawater will dampen the wings and the sun will melt them. (Not good either way.)

Icarus heeds his father's advice for a bit, but then he gets cocky. He's having so much fun flying that he
forgets the warning and flies too close to the sun. Sure enough, his wings melt, and Icarus plummets
into the sea and drowns. Daedalus is (of course) devastated by his son's death, but the show must go on.
He flies on to Sicily, where he mourns Icarus and builds a temple in honor of the god Apollo.

The Less Short Story

Daedalus is an Athenian craftsman, famous for his ability to invent and build things. Think Leonardo da
Vinci, but with more powers.
Unfortunately, he also has a jealous streak. When his nephew (Talus) invents the saw, Daedalus realizes
that the boy might be more talented than he is. Not good.
In a fit of jealousy, Daedalus throws Talos off the Acropolis, a tall monument in Athens. That'll teach him
not to invent any more carpentry tools.
Some people say that Athena saw the boy falling, and transformed him into a partridge. But others
argue that Talos died and that Daedalus tried to hide the murder by burying him. Well those are very
different endings.
Either because he was feeling guilty or because he was banished, Daedalus leaves Athens and heads to
the island of Crete.
While he's hanging out there, Daedalus befriends King Minos, the island's ruler. (It pays to have friends
in high places.)
Daedalus still has the touch in Crete and he continues his building streak. First, he builds a cow suit so
that Crete's queen (Pasiphae) can get it on with a bull. Yes, we said bull.
Pasiphae's union with the bull results in a horrible half-man, half-beast called the Minotaur. Heard of
him?
Next up, King Minos (the half-beast's step-dad) asks Daedalus to design a maze (the Labyrinth) in which
to put the terrible Minotaur. The Minotaur demands human sacrifices, and every nine years, King Minos
sends seven young men and women into the Labyrinth to meet their doom.
One of these victims sent to his death is the hero Theseus. This guy is tough and he decides to fight back
and try to kill the Minotaur.
King Minos' daughter, Ariadne, falls madly in love with Theseus. And since Daedalus built the Labyrinth,
she asks him to help Theseus safely navigate it.
Always the helpful one, Daedalus gives Theseus a ball of yarn, and tells the hero to trail it behind him,
creating a roadmap for how to get back out. Genius, we say! And sure enough, after Theseus kills the
Minotaur, he is able to escape. (He and Ariadne leave Crete together.)
King Minos is not happy with Daedalus for helping Theseus, so he locks Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in
the Labyrinth. (This seems to be his punishment of choice.)
(Some versions of the story say that King Minos actually imprisoned them in a tower. Still others say that
Minos just ordered every ship surrounding the island to be searched, making it impossible for Daedalus
and Icarus to escape. Any way you look at it, Daedalus and Icarus are trapped on Crete.)
Clearly our genius inventor won't take this sitting down. Knowing that the land and water are guarded
by King Minos' army, Daedalus decides to escape by air. Brilliant.
Daedalus uses twine, feathers, and wax to build large wings for himself and his son.
(According to Ovid, Icarus goofed around while Daddy Daedalus was making the wings. He played with
the feathers and wax and just generally got in his dad's way. Ah, kids.)
Finally, the wings are finished. Daedalus tries his set on and—OMG—they totally work. He hangs in the
air for a few seconds, flapping his fake wings. Nice!
Before putting wings on Icarus, Daedalus gives his son some warnings: he should follow him closely and
fly at a middle height. If he flies too low, the seawater will dampen the wings, and if he flies too high, the
sun will melt them. Got it? Good.
Daedalus is still a little scared about the journey: the big softy cries while tying the wings onto his son,
and gives his little guy a hug.
And off they go! Daedalus looks back at his son, cheering him on.
A bunch of people on the ground, including a shepherd and a plowman, stop their work to gaze up at
Daedalus and Icarus. They're completely blown away at the sight of two people flying in the air—they
figure that Daedalus and Icarus might be gods, since no human has ever achieved flight before. What's
up now, humans?
In all the excitement, Icarus forgets his father's warning and starts to fly higher.
Sure enough, he gets too close to the sun: the heat softens the wax, and his wings fall apart.
Icarus plummets into the sea, crying "Father, father!" on his way down. (We'll wait while you break out
the tissues.)
Daedalus tries to save his son, but it's too late—he has drowned. The only thing Daedalus can find are
feathers floating in the water.
For the first time ever, Daedalus curses his "art" (i.e., his crafting skills). That's what got him into this
mess to begin with.
Daedalus names the part of the ocean where Icarus fell the "Icarian Sea." A nice honor for a not-so-well-
behaved boy.
Still mourning, Daedalus flies onward to the Italian island of Sicily. When he gets there, he performs
funeral rites for his son (these were super important back then). Oh, and according to Ovid, a partridge
watches Daedalus as he does all this. This is no ordinary partridge, but Talos, the nephew that Daedalus
once tried to murder.
Next, Daedalus constructs a temple to Apollo (NBD), where he hangs his wings.
While living in Sicily, Daedalus strikes up a friendship with King Cocalus, the ruler of the island. When
King Minos comes searching for Daedalus, Cocalus takes pity and hides the inventor. Oh, and even
better, King Cocalus' daughters kill King Minos with scalding water, freeing Daedalus from his hunt
forever.
SUMMARY : The Gorgon’s Head
Acrisius, King of Argos received a dreadful oracle from Delphi. According to the priestess of Delphi, he
will not have a son but a grandson from whose hands he will be killed. Frightened, King Acrisius hid his
only daughter Danae from the sight of all men. Danae was locked up inside a house of bronze sunk
underground. Zeus entered into the underground chamber in the form of the shower of gold through
the roof partly opened. He appeared in front of Danae and in an instant Danae conceived a baby. Later,
Danae had given birth to a boy named Perseus. She kept her baby a secret from her own father. But
days have come and King Acrisius learned about her secret. The King ordered his people to have a chest
built for Danae and child Perseus. Danae and her child were put inside the chest and sent adrift the sea.
It bobbed in the waves until it reached the Island of Seraphos where a fisherman named Dictys noticed
the chest and took it. When he opened, he saw Danae and Perseus. The kind Dictys let them in their
house to live together with his wife. Dictys’ brother, King Polydectes was captivated with Danae’s beauty
and married her. Polydectes felt jealous over the love that Danae was giving to Perseus. To get rid of
Perseus, Polydectes sent him to a dangerous adventure that put his life in peril. The mission was to kill
Medusa, one of the three Gorgons. She has snaky hair and metal-scaled skin. Looking straight in
Medusa’s eye can turn mortals into stone. Despite the danger, Perseus agreed to embark on the
adventure in order to get his own name a glory. Hermes gave him a sword. He was also given a shield by
Athena. Hermes added that Perseus needed also the winged sandals, the helmet of invisibility, and the
magic wallet. Those three essential things were all in the possession of the Nymphs of the North.
Getting there was not easy. In order to get to the Nymphs of the North, Perseus has to go first to the
Gray Women who only could tell the direction. Perseus went to the Gray women, he snatched the eye of
the women and threatened not to return it unless they give him the direction pointing to the Nymphs of
the North. As soon as the direction was given, Perseus headed to the Island of Gorgons. He was
instructed by Athena, telling him that Medusa was the one lying closest to the seashore. With one swift
of his sword and with the help of his shield as mirror, Medusa was beheaded and her head was put
inside the magic wallet. While Perseus was making his way back home, he noticed a beautiful lady
chained on the cliff. He asked her name and why she was hanged. No reply was given by the lady.
Perseus insisted the lady to respond. She said her name was Andromeda, daughter of Ethiopian King
Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Andromeda told Perseus that her mother boasted that she was the
most beautiful than 50 lovely daughters of Nereus. As a revenge to her mother Cassiopeia, Andromeda
suffered the punishment. At any moment, then, the serpent was on its way to devour Andromeda.
Perseus told Andromeda’s parents that he would save their daughter on a condition that they will allow
him to marry her. The king and queen agreed at once and Andromeda was saved from death. He took
Andromeda to his homeland. At that time, a discus-throw competition was going on at Larissa. Perseus
joined in and when it was his turn to throw the discus, he threw it mightily and accidentally hit an old
man in the audience. It was learned that his grandfather, King Acrisius, was the one hit by the discus.
The Sound of Silence: Paul Simon - Summary and Critical Analysis
The speaker woke up in the dark night and wanted to tell somebody about his dream. He addressed the
darkness as his old friend and started to describe it as he had done before. He said that when he was
sleeping a vision left its seeds and it was deeply rooted in his brain. He could still realize the vision, but
had no words to express it.
In his restless dreams he walked alone in the narrow stresses under the light of a street lamp. When he
turned his collar, a flash of neon light would dazzle him. The light would make the scene as if it had been
in the daylight and explain the meaning of silence. In the light he would see more than ten thousand
people. They were not using the voice, but they were expressing thoughts as if by words. They were not
giving attention in hearing, but they were receiving sounds with the ears. They were writing songs
although nobody was singing them. And no one had the courage to break the silence.

The speaker in his dream told the people fools and said that silence grows like a cancer. He asked them
to hear his advice and to hold their arms, but his words were like silent raindrops and had no effect on
them. Instead of listening to the speaker, the people were worshipping the neon God they made. The
neon light said that they had to follow the commands of the producers, who had advertised their
products by painting on the walls of the subway and large buildings. The light showed these things
without using a voice.

The poem 'The Sound of Silence' consists of five irregular stanzas where the poet presents the conflict
between spiritual and material value in the modern world. The poetic persona is a visionary who warns
against the lack of spiritual seriousness in modern people. The poem begins with an address by the poet
persona to the darkness. He says that he has come to talk with the darkness, because a certain vision
planted its seeds in his brain while he was sleeping. The vision still remains there as the sound of silence.
The poet wakes in his restless dream and walks alone. He arrives at a place where more than ten
thousand people are talking without speaking and hearing without listening. They are writing songs that
voices never shares and no one dares to break the silence. The poetic persona tells them that silence
grows like cancer. He asks them to hear his words and to hold his hand. But his words do not touch
them at all. Instead, the people pray and worship the neon signs. The neon sign flashes which say that
“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement hall.”

The poem can be interpreted as a bitter satire towards the materialistic tendency of the people in the
modern world. People have forgotten the real meaning and value of life. They are running after material
prosperity and physical luxury. They work hard and earn a lot. They accumulate a lot of wealth and
things but this does not make them happy. Rather they are moving further and further away from true
happiness because they have ignored the true goal of life. They debate and quarrel about worthless
things. They listen to or watch meaningless things. This is what the poet probably means by talking
without speaking and hearing without listening.

According to Simon, the multinational companies’ and the capitalist have taken the position of God.
They guide people’s choices, necessities and goals through their commercial advertisement. The Neon
signs or hoarding boards have taken the place of the Holy Scriptures. People listen to or see what these
advertisements say and work accordingly. They have neither their own voice nor their own choice. They
are obliged to choose among a few goals put forward by the industrialists. When such materialistic
waves are dominant, the voice trying to remind people what their goal should be is always subdued
(defeated). People are not willing to listen to such things, at first. Even if they listen to it they will never
follow it as they are so busy in running after the material prosperity. The poem presents a frightening
picture of the modern world doomed by the lack of spirituality and true meaning of life. It is the voice of
a visionary asking such people to be serious towards the true meaning and goal of life.
Federigo's Falcon
Summary
Squandering his wealth in an attempt to gain the affection of a beautiful woman, Federigo degli
Alberighi is left with only a small farm and a magnificent falcon. Federigo loves Monna Giovanna, a
young woman of nobility who is already married and has a son. After her wealthy husband dies, Monna
and her son travel to their country estate near the farm where Federigo lives. The boy becomes friends
with him and covets the prized falcon.

Soon the boy is sick. He has one request: "Mother, if you can arrange for me to have Federigo's falcon, I
think I would get well quickly." (p. 427) Monna is well aware of Federigo's love for her, but she also
realizes how attached the man is to the falcon. Monna makes an unannounced visit to Federigo's farm.
Before she declares the purpose of her call, he decides to honor Monna with a meal.

Unfortunately, Federigo has nothing to serve her. He catches a glimpse of his falcon on its perch. He
breaks its neck and has it roasted on a spit. Monna eats the bird unaware that it is the animal she has
come to request for her son. After dining, she asks Federigo for his falcon. All he can do is weep. He then
reveals that he sacrificed the creature to provide a meal worthy of Monna. A few days later, her son
dies. After a period of sorrow and resentment, she marries Federigo.
DECAMERON SUMMARY
How It All Goes Down
X
It's Florence, Italy, 1348, and the Black Death has ravaged the city. Whole families have died.
Neighborhoods are empty. Chaos reigns and the routines of daily life have been abandoned. In the
church of Santa Maria Novella, a group of seven young gentlewomen gather to pray and discuss their
sad life, hoping to find some way of alleviating their suffering. The oldest of the group, Pampinea, hits
on a solution: road trip.

It seems like a good idea to get out of a city filled with contagion. There's nothing to do but watch the
bodies pile up and hear the news about who died. Plus, it's dangerous to stay somewhere where all
social and moral controls are gone and people are succumbing to "carnal pleasures." Better to leave for
the country and enjoy the beauty of nature where the houses are far enough apart that you're not
watching your neighbors die every time you look out the window. The prevailing medical advice at the
time suggested that healthy air and a cheerful frame of mind could decrease your chances of catching
the deadly disease.

But the ladies are afraid of traveling alone. After all, women are irrational and fickle, and without a man
in charge they won't be able to get anything done. Fortune is kind in that moment and sends three
young men of their acquaintance into the church. The ladies seize the opportunity—and the young
men—and they have their posse (brigata in Italian) ready to go.

They don't have to travel far to escape the horrors of the city, and in about two miles they reach a lovely
palace where they've arranged to stay. It has all the amenities: ample living space, servants, beautiful
gardens, nature everywhere in the form of singing birdies, gentle breezes and clear flowing water. Once
they arrive, they realize that all kinds of mischief might happen if they get bored, so they invent a
storytelling game to occupy their time. They set the rules, choose a "Queen" to rule them for the first
day, and the structure of their two-week stay is set in motion.

The ten young people spend the next two weeks (except for four days of religious observances) telling
one story per day each on a chosen theme. Each day has a new king or queen that chooses the theme
and makes arrangements for their meals and entertainment. It's the regimen of storytelling, they say,
that refreshes them and keeps them on the straight and narrow path while they're away from the city,
so that no one will gossip about them.

After telling a hundred stories on themes like the Power of Fortune, Unhappy Loves and Pranks Played
by Wives on Their Husbands—and one relo to a new palace just to mix things up—the brigata return to
the city to face their fate.

Note: In Boccaccio's day, chapter titles were really just brief descriptions of the chapter's content.
(Remember those "Friends" episodes like "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister?")
For your comfort and convenience, Shmoop has thoughtfully shortened the names of the chapters in
our Detailed Summary. For example, "Tancredi, Prince of Salerno, kills his daughter's lover and sends her
his heart in a golden chalice; she besprinkles the heart with a poisonous liquid, which she then drinks,
and so dies" helpfully becomes, simply, "Tancredi, Prince of Salerno."
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
D’Artagnan arrives in Paris and, seeking to join the king’s musketeers, goes to see their captain, Tréville.
In his haste he offends three of the best musketeers—Porthos, Athos, and Aramis—and challenges each
to a duel that afternoon. All three musketeers arrive at the appointed location at the same time to duel
with D’Artagnan. However, they are interrupted by Cardinal Richelieu’s guards. The musketeers plus
D’Artagnan happily engage the guards and beat them soundly, and D’Artagnan is accepted as a friend
and a good fighting companion.

D’Artagnan settles into his new life, hoping to soon become a musketeer, and rents an apartment above
the shop of Monsieur Bonacieux. However, he finds himself in the middle of the foulest plot in France.

Cardinal Richelieu and the evil Milady de Winter are trying to discredit Queen Anne in the eyes of King
Louis XIII and the country, thus ultimately giving Richelieu more power over the king. The queen is trying
to repel the amorous advances of the English duke of Buckingham. And Constance, Bonacieux’s wife, has
become the trusted messenger between the queen and Buckingham, as well as a victim of Richilieu who
sees her as an avenue to expose the queen. D’Artagnan becomes involved when he meets Milady and is
smitten by her charms and when Constance asks him for help and he is smitten again.

About this time, Athos, to distract D’Artagnan from thoughts of Milady and Constance, tells him about a
man who married a woman whom he later learned was a convicted thief. He believes the evil woman is
now dead. The man is, of course, Athos, but he doesn’t tell D’Artagnan that.

Next, Richilieu, through Milady and his henchman Rochefort, trick Buckingham into coming to Paris.
Buckingham goes to the queen’s chambers, but she refuses his love. He asks for a remembrance, and
the queen gives him twelve diamond studs; then, with Constance and D’Artagnan’s help, he leaves
England safely. Even though Richilieu doesn’t trap Buckingham this time, his spies inform him of these
happenings.

Still plotting to trap Queen Anne, Richelieu suggests King Louis give a ball ten days hence at which the
queen can wear the diamond studs the king has given her, and he sends Milady to London to steal the
jewels from Buckingham. Learning of the ball,the queen writes to Buckingham to return the jewels to
her, and she asks D’Artagnan to take the letter to England. D’Artagnan enlists the help of Athos, Porthos,
and Aramis; and the four race off to England.

The four friends soon are separated, but D’Artagnan eventually arrives in London; however, when
Buckingham gives D’Artagnan the diamond studs, they discover two are missing. Buckingham realizes
that Milady, who arrived earlier, has managed to steal them, but he commands a jeweler to make
duplicates, and arranges to hand over the complete set to D’Artagnan at the dock in the morning.

The next morning, Milady arrives at the dock first and tries to get the jewels, but Buckingham will not
give her the studs, so Milady stabs him. D’Artagnan arrives, preventing her from stealing the jewels, but
not in time to prevent Buckingham’s death.

Milady hurries back to Paris ahead of D’Artagnan and tells Richelieu of her partial success: she believes
that, even if D’Artagnan brings the jewels, two will be missing. The king arrives at the ball and notes the
absence of the queen’s diamond studs. He demands she get them, saying he will come back when she is
properly dressed. With time running out, D’Artagnan finally arrives and gives the queen the jewels—the
original ten, plus the two new ones. The king returns, and the queen is happily wearing all twelve
diamonds.

In the meantime, the queen has sent Constance to a convent where she can be safe from the cardinal.
She tells this to D’Artagnan, but Milady overhears and hurries off to seek revenge. D’Artagnan gathers
up his three friends, and the race is on again. Milady, disguised, arrives at the convent before the
musketeers and secretly pours poison into a glass of wine and urges Constance to drink. The four friends
arrive as Milady rushes out, and Constance dies in D’Artagnan’s arms.

Finally, the four catch up with Milady. They accuse her of her various crimes and pass sentence of
death—and Athos recognizes her as his long-ago wife whom he thought was dead. However, Milady
cheats them of revenge by stabbing herself. The musketeers kneel and ask for God’s forgiveness on all
of them.
A Day in the Country Summary
A beautiful, moving story about two orphaned siblings named Fyolka and Danilka and a cobbler named
Terenty who were together in the woods after Terenty rescued Danilka when his hand was stuck into a
hole in a tree. In just one day, Danilka's life changed after learning a lot of things from Terenty.

This short story is touching. Anton Chekhov's powerful prose explores a child's desire to learn more
about the world and to live in a normal society where childhood experiences should be explored. It's a
real life expressed through every spectrum, with deep and entertaining dialogues that will somehow
give you unexpected emotions. The writing is simplistic yet the message imparted in the story tugs the
heart.
How odin lost his eye
Set in Asgard with the God Odin, the story narrates the sacrifice Odin made to save his people.

To protect his people from the attack of the ice giants, Odin aspired to see the future. Doing this
required him to drink the water from a well protected by Mimir, a figure of knowledge and wisdom in
Norse mythology. Odin readily drank the water, however, Mimir also required an eye to see the future.
Odin immediately plucked his eye and gave it to Mimir.

The vision he saw was one of much death and sorrow for humans, however they would also be saved
from their fortune by a great promise.

As commemoration of his loyalty and dedication to the people, Odin's eyes rests at the bottom of
Mimir's well.
SUMMARY OF KEESH
In the story, Keesh was a strong and healthy boy, his father was died when he was 13. So he and his
mother became poor life.
The author use so many sentences to show that Keesh was a brave boy. He said to all the adults in the
tribe that he was divided into the meat of the old and hard bone of the majority. Because adult people
were surprised the vast offensive, after a fierce quarrel he decided to go hunting by himself.
The story also has a turning point. Hunting him three days did not return to the village, people shout this
thing, he brought a bear and two cubs alone. Several hunting later, he always brought back many bears.
They suspected that he had used the dark magic.
No one knows why he always brought so many bears back. So the tribe sent someone to follow him. But
just found out that he let the bear to eat ,after the bear died. Finally Keesh told everyone he use the way
that to hurts the bear’s guts to kill the bear. He was hunting with wisdom.
The author use other’s mouses and eyes to tell the reader that keesh was a smart boy.
He’s writing skill is very good. But some details are not enough. The thing he did successful is that he
gave some great characters to keesh. Just use a few sentence, to show us how’s keesh’s character.
Although Jack London is a successful writer, but there are also something not good enough. There are
something that we have never know, likes the dark magic. That’s not needed in this story.
Voice of a Mountain
Voice of a Mountain is a documentary of the lives of rural Guatemalan coffee farmers who took up arms
against their government in a civil war that lasted 36 years. This documentary explores Guatemala's dark
history from the perspective of those who saw armed revolution as their only hope for change in a
poverty-ridden nation under years of military dictatorship. Ex-combatants talk about the bleak reality of
the country that led to their involvement in the war, and the response of genocide from the Guatemalan
government against its people. The documentary gives insight into their motives for joining an armed
conflict as interviews reveal personal accounts of struggle, hope, tragedy, and the fruits of their
resistance.
To Build a Fire Summary
A man travels in the Yukon (near the border of current day Alaska) on an extremely cold morning with a
husky wolf-dog. The cold does not faze the man, a newcomer to the Yukon, who plans to meet his
friends by six o'clock at an old claim. As it grows colder, he realizes his unprotected cheekbones will
freeze, but he does not pay it much attention. He walks along a creek trail, mindful of the dangerous,
concealed springs; even getting wet feet on such a cold day is extremely dangerous. He stops for lunch
and builds a fire.

The man continues on and, in a seemingly safe spot, falls through the snow and wets himself up to his
shins. He curses his luck; starting a fire and drying his foot-gear will delay him at least an hour. His feet
and fingers are numb, but he starts the fire. He remembers the old-timer from Sulphur Creek who had
warned him that no man should travel in the Klondike alone when the temperature was fifty degrees
below zero.

The man unties his icy moccasins, but before he can cut the frozen strings on them, clumps of snow
from the spruce tree above fall down and snuff out the fire. Though building a fire in the open would
have been wiser, it had been easier for the man to take twigs from the spruce tree and drop them
directly below on to the fire. Each time he pulled a twig, he had slightly agitated the tree until, at this
point, a bough high up had capsized its load of snow. It capsized lower boughs in turn until a small
avalanche had blotted out the fire.

The man is scared, and sets himself to building a new fire, aware that he is already going to lose a few
toes from frostbite. He gathers twigs and grasses. His fingers numb and nearly lifeless, he unsuccessfully
attempts to light a match. He grabs all his matches--seventy--and lights them simultaneously, then sets
fire to a piece of bark. He starts the fire, but in trying to protect it from pieces of moss, it soon goes out.

The man decides to kill the dog and puts his hands inside its warm body to restore his circulation. He
calls out to the dog, but something fearful and strange in his voice frightens the dog. The dog finally
comes forward and the man grabs it in his arms. But he cannot kill the dog, since he is unable to pull out
his knife or even throttle the animal. He lets it go.

The man realizes that frostbite is now a less worrisome prospect than death. He panics and runs along
the creek trail, trying to restore circulation, the dog at his heels. But his endurance gives out, and finally
he falls and cannot rise. He fights against the thought of his body freezing, but it is too powerful a vision,
and he runs again. He falls again, and makes one last panicked run and falls once more. He decides he
should meet death in a more dignified manner. He imagines his friends finding his body tomorrow.

The man falls off into a comfortable sleep. The dog does not understand why the man is sitting in the
snow like that without making a fire. As the night comes, it comes closer and detects death in the man's
scent. It runs away in the direction of the camp, "where were the other food-providers and fire-
providers."
The Last Leaf Summary
This beautifully inspirational tale deals with unselfish sacrifice - how one man was prepared to sacrifice
his own well-being and use his talent to save the life of another.

Two artists, Johanna (Johnsy) and Sue share an apartment in an artists' community which is soon
invaded by a malicious disease which spreads its deadly influence, mowing down many members in this
struggling but auspicious society. Johnsy is infected and soon gives up hope for survival. She pins...
The Little Prince
Now an adult himself, the narrator has become a pilot, and, one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara, far
from civilization. Here, the narrator is greeted by a young boy whom he refers to as "the little prince".
Upon encountering the narrator, the little prince asks him to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him
his old picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets
correctly. After three failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the frustrated narrator simply draws a box,
claiming that there is a sheep inside the box. Again, to the narrator's surprise, the prince exclaims that
this is exactly the drawing he wanted. The prince has a strange habit of avoiding directly answering any
of the narrator's questions. The prince is described as wearing a scarf and having golden hair and a
lovable laugh.

Over the course of eight days stranded in the desert, while the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the
little prince recounts the story of his life, an account that is often triggered by his preoccupation with
the sheep. The prince begins by describing life on his tiny home planet: in effect, an asteroid the size of a
house (the asteroid was "named" B-612 by people on Earth, but the Prince called it "asteroid 325"; a
real asteroid was named after the fictional asteroid). The asteroid's most prominent features are three
minuscule volcanoes (two active, and one dormant or extinct) as well as a variety of plants. The prince
describes spending his earlier days cleaning the volcanoes and weeding unwanted seeds and sprigs that
infest his planet's soil; in particular, pulling out baobab trees that are constantly on the verge of
overrunning the surface. "Catastrophe" the little prince would call it. The prince wants a sheep to eat
the undesirable plants, but is warned by the narrator that a sheep might also eat roses with thorns.
Upon hearing this, the prince tells of his love for a mysterious rose that began growing on the asteroid's
surface some time ago. The prince says he nourished the rose and listened to her when she told him to
make a screen or glass globe to protect her from the cold wind. Although the prince fell in love with the
rose, he also began to feel that she was taking advantage of him, and he resolved to leave the planet to
explore the rest of the universe. Although the rose finally apologized for her vanity and the two
reconciled, she encouraged him to go ahead with his journey. The prince misses his rose and claims that
he only needs to look at the millions of stars to be reminded of his rose, since his rose is on one of them.

The prince has since visited ten other planets, each of which was inhabited by a single, irrational,
narrow-minded adult, each meant to critique an element of society. They include: a king with no
subjects; a vain man who believes himself the most admirable person on his otherwise uninhabited
planet; a drunkard who drinks to forget the shame of being a drunkard; a businessman who is blind to
the beauty of the stars and instead endlessly counts them in order to "own" them all (critiquing
materialism); a lamplighter who wastes his life blindly following orders and extinguishing and relighting
a lamp once a minute; and an elderly geographer.