"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But The Fox came back to his thought:
"My Life is monotonous.
I chase the chickens; the men chase me.
All the chickens look the same,
and all the men look the same.
I get a little tired.
But if you tame me, my life will brighten up.
I will know the sound of footsteps that will be different from all others. The others make me go underground. Yours will call me out of my burrow like music.
And then look!
You see, down there, the fields of wheat?
I don't eat bread. Wheat is useless to me.
The fields of wheat don't remind me of anything.
And that, that is sad!
But you have hair the colour of gold.
Then it will be marvelous once you have tamed me!
The wheat, which is golden, will make me remember you.
And I will love the sound of the wind in the wheat..."
The Fox became quiet and looked for a long time at the little prince:
"Please… tame me!" he said.
"I'm willing to,” answered the little prince, "but I don't have a lot of time. I have friends to find and a lot of things to learn."
"You only really know the things you tame," said The Fox. "Men no longer have time to really know anything. They buy ready. made things at stores. But since there aren't any stores for friends, men no longer have friends. If you want a friend, tame me!"
"What do I have to do?" asked the little prince.
"You have to be very patient," The Fox replied.
"First you sit at a little distance from me, like that, in the grass.
I look at you out of the corner of my eye and you don't say anything.
Language is the source of misunderstandings. But each day, you will be able to sit a little closer..."
The little prince returned the next day.
"It would be better if you come back at the same time," said the fox. "If you come, for example, at four in the afternoon, as soon as it is 3 o'clock I will begin to feel happy.
As the time gets closer, the happier I will feel.
At four o'clock I will right away be restless and worried: I will discover the price of happiness!
But if you come at any old time, I will never know what time to prepare my heart.. it's necessary to have rituals."
"What is a 'ritual'? asked the little prince.
"It's also something that has been too much forgotten," said the fox.
"It is something that makes one day different from the other days, one hour from other hours.
There is a ritual, for example, among the hunters.
They dance every Thursday with the girls of the village. Then every Thursday is a marvelous day!
I go walking right up to the grape vines.
If the hunters danced at any old time, the days would all seem the same, and I would never have a holiday."
AND SO THE LITTLE PRINCE tamed The Fox.
And when the time for his departure came near:
"Ah!" said the fox. "I am going to cry."
"It's your fault," said the little prince. "I didn't want to hurt you, but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Oh, certainly," said the fox.
"But you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Oh, certainly," said the fox.
"Well, then you aren't any better off!"
"I'm better off because of the color of the wheat," said the fox.
Then he added: "Go look again at the roses. You will understand that yours is unique in all the world. Come back to tell me goodbye, and I will give you a gift of a secret."
THE LITTLE PRINCE went off to look at the roses again.
"You are not at all similar to my rose, you aren't anything special," he told them.
"No one has tamed you and you have not tamed anyone. You are like my fox was. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand others. But I made friends with him, and he is now unique in all the world."
And the roses were very embarrassed. "You are beautiful but you are empty," he told them. "No one would die for you. Oh, for sure, a casual passerby would think my rose resembled you.
But she alone is more important than all of you, because it is her that I have watered.
Because it is her that I have put under the glass globe.
Because it is her that I have sheltered with the windscreen.
Because it is her for whom I have killed the caterpillars (except for the two or three saved for butterflies).
Because it is her that I have listened to complaining, or bragging, or even sometimes remaining silent.
Because she is My Rose."
AND HE CAME back to the fox: "Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "Here is my secret. It is very simple: you only truly see with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes
"What is essential is invisible to the eyes," repeated the little prince, in order to remember.
"It's the time that you have spent on behalf of your rose that makes your rose so important."
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