Un oiseau as translated in 'The Little Prince' |
How large a bird should we imagine when the narrator likens the heartbeat of the little prince to that of a dying bird? Since the little prince himself is not very large, we can presumably rule out a large bird like an ostrich or an albatros. Powerful predators like eagles or scavengers like vultures would also be rather inappropriate.
On the other hand, too small a size would also be incongruous. After all, we are talking of a bird whose heart is still beating after being shot with a carabine or rifle. It's hard to imagine much being left of a sparrow or a wren after being hit by a bullet. It would take a reasonably-sized bird to survive the shot and still have a beating heart.
Given that the bird was hit by a bullet from a rifle, it is most likely the type of bird that people with rifles hunt -- in other words, a game bird. That means birds like ducks or pheasants, medium-sized birds that could survive a rifle shot without being totally obliterated. But that doesn't stop many translators from assuming that the little prince's heart was beating like that of a very small bird.
In the Chinese translations, oiseau or 'bird' is translated as follows:
| Form | Pronunciation | Rough gloss | From the French |
From the English |
Source unclear |
Total |
| 小鳥 / 小鸟 | xiǎo-niǎo | 'little bird' | 11 |
14 |
0 |
25 |
| 鳥兒 / 鸟儿 | niǎor | 'birdie' | 6 |
6 |
1 |
13 |
| 鳥 / 鸟 | niǎo | 'bird' | 6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
| 小鳥兒 / 小鸟儿 | xiǎo-niǎor | 'little birdie' | 0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 麻雀 / 麻雀 | máquè | 'sparrow' | 0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Total | 23 |
22 |
1 |
46 |
What is striking is the number of translators -- over half -- that use 小鳥 / 小鸟 xiǎo-niǎo or 'little bird'. While the term 小鳥 / 小鸟 xiǎo-niǎo refers to a small bird, it also has a sense of endearingness or cuteness.
Besides 小鳥 / 小鸟 xiǎo-niǎo, a quarter of translators use the diminutive form 鳥兒 / 鸟儿 niǎor. This also refers to a small bird, although without being quite as explicit as 小鳥 / 小鸟 xiǎo-niǎo. It usually refers to a small bird that can fly, often the kind of bird that is kept in cages. (In the table I've translated 鳥兒 / 鸟儿 niǎor as 'birdie'. However, the Chinese word doesn't carry the childish connotations of 'birdie' in English. The only things that the two share in common is the use of a simple suffix -- 兒 / 儿 -r or '-ie' -- to express the notion of smallness.)
One translator goes even further and specifies the type of bird, a sparrow (麻雀 / 麻雀 máquè).
That leaves only six translators who use the simple word 鳥 or 鸟 niǎo meaning 'bird'.
Presumably the reason for the emphasis on smallness and cuteness is a feeling that Saint Exupéry's simile calls up an image of a small, pathetic, helpless creature. A larger bird such as a duck, a swan, or a pheasant (for instance) wouldn't arouse the same feelings of pity.
By some strange quirk, all six of those who use the simple word 鳥 / 鸟 niǎo are translating from the French. That is, six translators translate oiseau as 鳥 / 鸟 niǎo, but not a single translator renders 'bird' as 鳥 / 鸟 niǎo! It seems strange that one third of translators from the French would use 鳥 / 鸟 niǎo, but none at all from English. Could it be that oiseau in French conjures up images of a larger bird than 'bird' in English!?
Turning to the Japanese translations, a slim majority of translators (eight out of 15) use the word 鳥 tori meaning 'bird'. Seven use 小鳥 ko-tori meaning 'small bird'. This is roughly the same ratio as that between 鳥 / 鸟 niǎo and 小鳥 / 小鸟 xiǎo-niǎo. Japanese doesn't have a word like Chinese 鳥兒 / 鸟儿 niǎor that incorporates smallness in a suffix.
| 鳥 | tori | 8 |
| 小鳥 | ko-tori | 7 |
Unlike Chinese or Japanese, chim in Vietnamese appears to be perfectly adequate for expressing the meaning of oiseau. All translators use the word chim.
| chim | 5 |
So there you have it. At least half of the Chinese and Japanese translators use compound words explicitly meaning 'small bird'. And another quarter of the Chinese translators use a word with a suffix that implies smallness.
One can only wonder at the reasons for this. Possible explanations that spring to mind are:
1. Since 'The Little Prince' has been identified as a 'children's story', the image of a cute bird is considered most appropriate.
2. These cultures do not have as prominent a tradition of game hunting as in the West. The idea that the injured bird might be a duck that has been shot by a hunter is less likely to occur to Chinese or Japanese translators.
Interestingly, the two Japanese translators who use the word 猟銃 ryōjū 'hunting rifle' both use 鳥 tori 'bird'.
