The Little Prince “You must be very patient,” replied the fox.

“First you will sit

down at a little distance from me — like that — in the grass. I
(excerpt) shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you
will sit a little closer to me, every day…”
It was then that the fox appeared.
“Good morning,” said the fox. The next day the little prince came back.
“Good morning,” the little prince responded politely, although “It would have been better to come back at the same hour,”
when he turned around he saw nothing. said the fox. “If, for example, you come at four o’clock in the
“I am right here,” the voice said, “under the apple tree.” afternoon, then at three o’clock I shall begin to be happy. I
“Who are you?” asked the little prince, and added, “You are shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four
very pretty to look at.” o’clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall
“I am a fox,” said the fox. show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I
“Come and play with me,” proposed the little prince. “I am so shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet
unhappy.” you… One must observe the proper rites…”
“I cannot play with you,” the fox said. “I am not tamed.”
“Ah! Please excuse me,” said the little prince. “What is a rite?” asked the little prince.
But, after some thought, he added: “Those also are actions too often neglected,” said the fox.
“What does that mean — ‘tame’?” “They are what make one day different from other days, one
“You do not live here,” said the fox. “What is it that you are hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my
looking for?” hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So
“I am looking for men,” said the little prince. “What does that Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as
mean — ‘tame’?” the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every
“Men,” said the fox. “They have guns, and they hunt. It is very day would be like every other day, and I should never have
disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only any vacation at all.”
interests. Are you looking for chickens?” So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his
“No,” said the little prince. “I am looking for friends. What does departure drew near —
that mean — ‘tame’?” “Ah,” said the fox, “I shall cry.”
“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to “It is your own fault,” said the little prince. “I never wished you
establish ties.” any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…”
“‘To establish ties’?” “Yes, that is so,” said the fox.
“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more “But now you are going to cry!” said the little prince.
than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little “Yes, that is so,” said the fox.
boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have “Then it has done you no good at all!”
no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a “It has done me good,” said the fox, “because of the color of
hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we the wheat fields.” And then he added: “Go and look again at
shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all
world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…” the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will
“I am beginning to understand,” said the little prince. “There is make you a present of a secret.”
a flower… I think that she has tamed me…” The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
“It is possible,” said the fox. “On the Earth one sees all sorts of “You are not at all like my rose,” he said. “As yet you are
things.” nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one.
“Oh, but this is not on the Earth!” said the little prince. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious. like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my
“On another planet?” friend, and now he is unique in all the world.”
“Yes.” And the roses were very much embarrassed.
“Are there hunters on this planet?” “You are beautiful, but you are empty,” he went on. “One
“No.” could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would
“Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?” think that my rose looked just like you — the rose that belongs
“No.” to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the
“Nothing is perfect,” sighed the fox. hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have
But he came back to his idea. watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass
“My life is very monotonous,” the fox said. “I hunt chickens; globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the
men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars
are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies);
you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled,
shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing.
the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the Because she is my rose.”
ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And And he went back to meet the fox.
then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat “Goodbye,” he said.
bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have “Goodbye,” said the fox. “And now here is my secret, a very
nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me “What is essential is invisible to the eye,” the little prince
back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
in the wheat…” “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. rose so important.”
“Please — tame me!” he said. “It is the time I have wasted for my rose —” said the little
“I want to, very much,” the little prince replied. “But I have not prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things “Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox. “But you must
to understand.” not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you
have tamed. You are responsible for your rose…”
“One only understands the things that one tames,” said the “I am responsible for my rose,” the little prince repeated, so
fox. “Men have no more time to understand anything. They that he would be sure to remember.
buy things all ready-made at the shops. But there is no shop
anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no
friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me…”
“What must I do, to tame you?” asked the little prince.