World War II flying ace Antoine de Saint-Exupéry disappeared somewhere over the Mediterranean, on a spy mission in '44.
Succinctly, he wrote a beautiful story that profoundly affected many, and has led to much thought in many languages.
It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me. The first time he saw my airplane, for instance...he asked me: "What is that object?" "That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane." And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly. He cried out then: "What! You dropped down from the sky?" "Yes," I answered modestly. "Oh! That is funny!" And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.