it
was then that the fox appeared.
"good
morning" said the fox.
"good
morning"
the
little prince responded politely
although
when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I
am right here" the voice said, "under the apple
tree."
"who
are you?" asked the little prince, and added,
"You
are very pretty to look at."
"I
am a fox", the fox said.
"Come
and play with me,"
proposed
the little prince, "I am so unhappy."
"I
cannot play with you," the fox said,
"I
am not tamed."
"AH
please excuse me," said the little prince.
But
after some thought, he added:
"what
does that mean---'tame'?"
"you
do not live here," said the fox,
"what
is it you are looking for?"
"I
am looking for men," said the little prince.
"What
does that mean---tame?"
"Men,"
said the fox,
"they
have guns, and they hunt.
It
is very disturbing.
They
also raise chickens.
These
are their only interests.
Are
you looking for chickens?"
"No,"
said the little prince.
"I
am looking for friends.
What
does that mean---tame?"
"It
is an act too often neglected,"
said
the fox.
"It
means to establish ties."
"To
establish ties?"
"Just
that," said the fox.
"to
me, you are still nothing more than
a
little boy who is just like
a
hundred thousand other little boys.
And
I have no need of you.
And
you, on your part, have no need of me.
To
you I am nothing more
than
a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.
But
if you tame me, then we shall need each other.
To
me, you will be unique in all the world.
To
you, I shall be unique in all the world. . ."
"I
am beginning to understand,"
said
the little prince.
"There
is a flower. . .I think she has tamed me. . ."
"It
is possible," said the fox.
"On
earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh
but this is not on the earth!"
said
the little prince.
The
fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On
another planet?"
"Yes"
"Are
there hunters on that planet?"
"No"
"Ah
that's interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No"
"Nothing
is perfect," sighed the fox.
But
he came back to his idea.
"My
life is very monotonous," he said.
"I
hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All
chickens are just alike,
and
all the men are just alike.
And
in consequence, I am a little bored.
But
if you tame me,
it
will be as if the sun came to shine on my life.
I
shall know the sound of a step that will be
different
from all the others.
Other
steps send me hurrying back
underneath
the ground.
Yours
will call me, like music out of my burrow.
And
then look:
you
see the grain-fields down yonder?
I
do not eat bread.
Wheat
is of no use to me.
The
wheat fields have nothing to say to me.
And
that is sad.
But
you have hair that is the color of gold.
Think
how wonderful that will be
when
you have tamed me!
The
grain, which is also golden,
will
bring me back the thought of you.
And
I shall love to listen
to
the wind in the wheat. . ."
The
fox gazed at the little prince,
for
a long time.
"Please---tame
me!" he said.
"I
want to, very much," the little prince replied.
"But
I have not much time.
I
have friends to discover,
and
a great many things to understand."
"One
only understands the things that one tames,"
said
the fox.
"
Men have no more time to understand anything.
They
buy things all ready made at the shops.
But
there is no shop anywhere
where
one can buy friendship,
and
so men have no friends any more.
If
you want a friend, tame me. . ."
"What
must I do, to tame you?
asked
the little prince.
"You
must be very patient," replied the fox.
First
you will sit down
at
a little distance from me
-like
that-in the grass.
I
shall look at you out of the corner of my eye,
and
you will say nothing.
Words
are the source of misunderstandings.
But
you will sit a little closer to me,
every
day...
The
next day the little prince came back.
"It
would have been better to come back
at
the same hour," said the fox.
"If
for example, you came at four o'clock
in
the afternoon,
then
at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy.
I
shall feel happier and happier
as
the hour advances.
At
four o'clock,
I
shall be worrying and jumping about.
I
shall show you how happy I am!
But
if you come at just any time,
I
shall never know at what hour
my
heart is ready to greet you. . .
One
must observe the proper rites. . ."
"What
is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those
also are actions too often neglected,"
said
the fox.
"they
are what make one day
different
from other days,
one
hour different from other hours.
There
is a rite, for example, among my hunters.
Every
Thursday they dance with the village girls.
So
Thursday is a wonderful day for me!
I
can take a walk as far as the vineyards.
But
if the hunters danced at just any time,
every
day would be like
every
other day,
and
I should never have any vacation at all."
So
the little prince tamed the fox.
And
when the hour of his departure drew near---
"Ah,"
said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It
is your own fault," said the little prince.
"I
never wished you any sort of harm;
but
you wanted me to tame you. . ."
"Yes
that is so", said the fox.
"But
now you are going to cry!"
said
the little prince.
"Yes
that is so" said the fox.
"Then
it has done you no good at all!"
"It
has done me good," said the fox,
"because
of the color of the wheat fields."
And
then he added:
"go
and look again at the roses.
You
will understand now
that
yours is unique in all the world.
Then
come back to say goodbye to me,
and
I will make you a present of a secret."
The
little prince went away,
to
look again at the roses.
"You
are not at all like my rose," he said.
"As
yet you are nothing.
No
one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one.
You
are like my fox when I first knew him.
He
was only a fox
like
a hundred thousand other foxes.
But
I have made a friend,
and
now he is unique in all the world."
And
the roses were very much embarrassed.
"You
are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on.
"One
could not die for you.
To
be sure, an ordinary passerby would think
that
my rose looked just like you
--the
rose that belongs to me.
But
in herself alone she is more important
than
all the hundreds of you
other
roses: because it is she that I have watered;
because
it is she
that
I have put under the glass globe;
because
it is for her
that
I have killed the caterpillars
(except
the two or three we saved
to
become butterflies);
because
it is she that I have listened to,
when
she grumbled, or boasted,
or
even sometimes when she said nothing.
Because
she is MY rose."
And
he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye"
he said.
"Goodbye,"
said the fox.
"And
now here is my secret, a very simple secret:
It
is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what
is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What
is essential is invisible to the eye,"
the
little prince repeated,
so
that he would be sure to remember.
"It
is the time you have wasted for your rose
that
makes your rose so important.
"It
is the time I have wasted for my rose--
"said
the little prince
so
he would be sure to remember.
"Men
have forgotten this truth," said the fox.
"But
you must not forget it.
You
become responsible, forever,
for
what you have tamed.
You
are responsible for your rose. . ."
"I
am responsible for my rose,"
the
little prince repeated,
so
that he would be sure to remember.