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It was then that the fox appeared.
"Come and play with me," suggested the little prince.
"I can't play with you," said the fox. "I am not tame."
"Oh! I beg your pardon," said the little prince. Then, after a moment's thought,
he added: "What does 'tame' mean?"
"Something that is frequently neglected," said the fox. "It means 'to create
ties'."
"To create ties?"
"Precisely," said the fox. "To me, you are still only a small boy, just like
a hundred thousand other small boys. And I have no need of you. And you in turn have no need of me. To you, I'm just a fox
like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you shall be unique in the
world. To you, I shall be unique in the world."
"I'm beginning to understand," said the little prince. "I know a flower... I
think she must have tamed me..."
The fox resumed his train of thought: "My life is very monotonous. I run after
the chickens; the men run after me. All the chickens are the same; all the men are the same. Consequently, I get a little
bored. But if you tame me, my days will be filled with sunlight. I shall know the sound of a footstep different from all the
rest. Other steps make me run to earth. Yours will call me out of my foxhole, like music. You see the fields of corn? Well,
corn is of no use to me. On the other hand, your hair is the color of gold. So think how wonderful it will be when you have
tamed me. The corn, which is golden, will remind me of you. And I shall come to love the sound of the wind in the field of
corn..."
"Please," he said, "tame me!"
"I should like to," replied the little prince, "but I don't have much time.
I have friends to discover and many things to understand."
"One only ever understands what one tames. People no longer have the time to
understand anything. They buy everything ready-made from the shops. But there is no shop where friends can be bought, so people
no longer have friends. If you want a friend, tame me!"
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the time for him to leave was approaching:
"Oh!" said the fox. "I am going to cry."
"It's your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any harm;
but you wanted me to tame you..."
"I know," said the fox.
"And now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"I know," said the fox.
"So you have gained nothing from it at all!"
"Yes, I have gained something," said the fox. "Go and look at the roses again.
You will understand that yours is, after all, unique in the world. Then come back and say goodbye to me; as a present I will
tell you a secret."
The little prince returned to the fox after a while.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "Now here is my secret very simply: you can see things
clearly with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye. It is the time you have wasted on your rose that makes
your rose so important. People have forgotten the truth, but you must not forget. You become responsible, forever, for what
you have tamed."
- Excerpt from "The little prince"
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