In the book 'the little prince' by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, I found the expression 'I ask the indulgence of the children'. What's the meaning of that?
I'm not sure if it means 'I ask the children for forgiveness' or 'I ask for the children's pardon'.
Here is the full sentence:
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up.
Do you think the words "forgiveness" and "pardon" are strong and don't work?
Best Answer
The two suggested interpretations of the original sentence are:
There is no real difference in meaning here. "Pardon" is perhaps slightly stronger.
is a bit milder than either. It is about the same as
"Indulgence" is a slightly more formal, slightly more old-fashioned word, but that is mostly just the author's style. Also here, he is asking to be "excused" for something that (I believe) no one would have thought of objecting to until the author mentioned the issue. The word choice seems to me to fit that slightly artificial situation.