The Fox and the Little Prince |
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…. It was then that the fox appeared. |
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"Good morning" said the fox. |
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"Good morning" the little prince responded politely |
although when he turned around he saw nothing. |
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"I'm right here" the voice said, "under the apple tree." |
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"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, |
"You're very pretty to look at." |
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"I'm a fox", the fox said. |
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"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince, "I'm so unhappy." |
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"I can't play with you," the fox said, "I'm not tamed." |
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"Ah! Please excuse me,"said the little prince. |
But after some thought, he added: "What does that mean---'tame'?" |
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"You do not live here," said the fox, "What is it you're looking for?" |
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"I'm looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean---tame?" |
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"Men,"said the fox, "they've guns, and they hunt. It's very disturbing. |
They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?" |
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"No," said the little prince. "I'm looking for friends. What does that mean---tame?" |
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"It's an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties." |
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"To establish ties?" |
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"Just that," said the fox. "to me, you're still nothing more than a little boy |
who's 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'm 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'll be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world ..." |
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"I'm beginning to understand," said the little prince. |
"There's a flower. . .I think she has tamed me..." |
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"It is possible," said the fox. "On earth one sees all sorts of things." |
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"Oh but this is not on the earth!" said the little prince. |
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The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious. |
"On another planet?" |
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"Yes" |
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"Are there hunters on that planet?" |
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"No" |
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"Ah that's interesting! Are there chickens?" |
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"No" |
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"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox. |
But he came back to his idea. |
"My life's 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'll be as if the sun came to shine on my life. |
I shall know the sound of a step that'll 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..." |
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The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. |
"Please---tame me!" he said. |
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"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I've not much time. |
I've friends to discover, and a great many things to understand." |
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"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's no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, |
and so men have no friends any more. |
If you want a friend, tame me..." |
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"What must I do, to tame you? asked the little prince. |
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"You must be very patient," replied the fox. |
First you'll 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'll sit a little closer to me, every day..." |
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The next day the little prince came back. |
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"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..." |
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"What's a rite?" asked the little prince. |
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"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. |
"they're what make one day different from other days, one hour different from other hours. |
There's a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they danse with the village girls. |
So Thursday's 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." |
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So the little prince tamed the fox. |
And when the hour of his departure drew near… |
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"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry." |
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"It's your own fault," said the little prince. |
"I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..." |
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"Yes that is so", said the fox. |
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"But now you're going to cry!" said the little prince. |
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"Yes that is so" said the fox. |
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"Then it has done you no good at all!" |
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"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'll 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." |
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The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. |
"You're 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're 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's unique in all the world." |
And the roses were very much embarrassed. |
"You're beautiful, but you're 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's 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've 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." |
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And he went back to meet the fox. |
"Goodbye" he said. |
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"Goodbye," said the fox. |
"And now here's 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." |
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"What is essential is invisible to the eye," |
the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. |
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"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." |
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"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" |
said the little prince so he would be sure to remember. |
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"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..." |
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"I am responsible for my rose," |
the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember. |
From The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
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cd |