Friday, September 02, 2022

The Little Prince And The Fox

"... At that moment the fox appeared: "Good morning." “Good morning” said the little prince kindly, turning around: but he saw no one. “I’m here,” said the voice, "... under the apple tree”. “Who are you? ” asked the little prince, “I’m a fox,” said the fox.
“Will you come to play with me? ”, the little prince proposed to her” I’m so sad.. ".

“I can’t play with you,” said the fox, “I’m not tamed.” "Oh, sorry! ”, did the little prince. “What does it mean to tame? "
“It’s something long forgotten. It means to make a bond". "Building Bonds ? ". “Sure,” said the fox, “you, until now, for me, are nothing but one boy equal to a hundred thousand little boys. And I dont need you And you don't need me either I am not for you that one fox is equal to a hundred thousand foxes. But if you tame me, we're going to need each other. You will be unique to me in the world, and I will be unique to you in the world. (... ) If you tame me my life will be like lit. I will know a footsteps noise that will be unlike any other. Other steps will make me hide underground. Yours will make me come out of the den like music.

And then look! Can you see the corn fields down there? I don't eat bread, and for me wheat is useless. The wheat fields remind me of nothing. And that's a sad thing! But your hair is gold. Then it will be wonderful when you have me tamed. The wheat that is golden, it will make me think of you. And I will love the sound of the wind in the wheat... "

The fox touched and gave a long stare at the little prince: "Please... tame me", he said.
“Volunteers, what do you need to do? ”, asked the little prince. “You need to be very patient”, replied the fox. “In principle, you will sit a little far away from me, like this, in the grass. I will stare at you and you won’t say a word. Words are a source of misunderstandings. But everyday you get to sit a little closer... ".
The little prince returned the day after tomorrow. “It would have been better to go back to the same time”, said the fox. “If you come, for example, every afternoon at four, from three I start to be happy. As time goes by my happiness will increase! But if you come I don't know when, I'll never know what time to prepare my heart... we need the rites".
“What is a ritual? ” , said the little prince. "This too is something long forgotten," said the fox. "It's what makes a day different from the other days, an hour from the other hours" (... )
So the little prince tamed the fox... And when the time for the little prince's departure was near: "Ah! '' said the fox, ''... I'm going to cry".
“It’s your fault,” said the little prince, “I didn’t mean to hurt you, but you wanted me to tame you and we became friends... ".
“It’s true,” said the fox.
“But you knew you’d cry! ” , said the little prince.
“Sure,” said the fox.
“So what do you gain out of it? "
“I earn it”, said the fox, “the color of wheat”.

Antoine of Saint-Exupery

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