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Moments when the original poet in each of us created the outside world for us, by finding the familiar in the unfamiliar, are perhaps forgotten by most people; or else they are guarded in some secret place of memory because they are too much like visitations of the gods to be mixed with everyday thinking.
MILNER, QUOTED BY WINNICOTT (1971b, p. 39)
THE LITTLE PRINCE BY ANTOINE DE SAINT EXUPÉRY (1942) TELL THE story of a pilot who, because of an accident with his plane, lands in the Sahara desert and meets the little prince. This story, which has been translated into many languages and has been loved by readers young and old, evokes feelings and concerns that are important to many of us. I was impressed with how among other powerful themes The Little Prince explores uses of play, imagination, creativity, and integration. From this perspective The Little Prince impressed me as a vehicle for extending our understanding of play in child analysis. Here, my focus is primarily on noninterpretive aspects and interventions in analysis. Bibring (1954) clearly outlines different groups of basic therapeutic techniques. Technical considerations concerning interpretation and verbal insight have been discussed at length in the analytic literature. I would like to use this compelling story to illustrate the way a child uses the structure of play with the analyst in the analytic setting, that is, to play with some ideas about play. Although The Little Prince has been