The Fox

After walking for a long time through sand, and rocks, and snow, the little prince at last came upon a road. He found himself before a garden all in bloom with roses.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," said the roses.

The little prince gazed at them. They all looked like his flower.

"Who are you?" he demanded, astonished.

"We are roses," the roses said.

He was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in a single garden! He lay down in the grass and cried.

It was then that the fox appeared.

"Good morning," said the fox.

"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."

"Who are you?" asked the little prince. "You are very pretty to look at."

"I am a fox."

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But after some thought he added: "What does that mean — 'tame'?"

"It means to create a bond," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy 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 am 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 will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me."

The fox explained that taming requires patience. You must sit a little distance away in the grass, say nothing, and sit a little closer each day. Words are the source of misunderstandings. And you must come back at the same hour each time — so that the heart of your friend knows when to be ready.

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour different from other hours."

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near, the fox said: "I shall cry."

"Then it has done you no good at all!" said the little prince.

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the colour of the wheat fields." Then he added: "Go and look at the roses again. You will understand 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."

The little prince went to look at the roses again.

"You are not at all like my rose," he told them. "No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are beautiful, but you are empty. One could not die for you. Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But in herself alone she is more important than all of you together — because she is the one I have watered. Because she is the one I have put under her glass globe. Because she is the one I have sheltered and listened to, even when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."

And he went back to the fox.

"Goodbye," he said.

"And now here is my secret," said the fox. "A very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have devoted to your rose that makes your rose so important."

"It is the time I have devoted to my rose —" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

"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."

"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.