| 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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Startseite 
Nach oben
Andersen, Hans Christian / Engel
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