YAGUI

The Little Prince 1943

by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Chapter XXI

The Fox and the Little Prince

It was then that the fox appeared.
"good morning" said the fox.
"good morning"
the little prince responded politely
altho 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, and added,
"You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox", the fox said.
"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'?"
"you do not live here," said the fox,
"what is it you are looking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince.
"What does that mean---tame?"
"Men,"said the fox,
"they have guns, and they hunt.
It is very disturbing.
They also raise chickens.
These are their only interests.
Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince.
"I am looking for friends.
What does that mean---tame?"
"It is an act too often neglected,"
said the fox.
"It means to establish ties."
"To establish ties?"
"Just that," said the fox.
"to me, you are still nothing more than
a little boy who is 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 she has tamed me. . ."
"It is possible," said the fox.
"On earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh but this is not on the earth!"
said the little prince.
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes"
"Are there hunters on that planet?"
"No"
"Ah that's interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No"
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is 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 will be as if the sun came to shine on my life.
I shall know the sound of a step that will 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. . ."
The fox gazed at the little prince,
for a long time.
"Please---tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied.
"But I have not much time.
I have friends to discover,
and a great many things to understand."
"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 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.
"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 shall look at you out of the corner of my eye,
and you will say nothing.
Words are the source of misunderstandings.
But you will sit a little closer to me,
every day..."
The next day the little prince came back.
"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. . ."
"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.
There is a rite, for example, among my hunters.
Every Thursday they danse with the village girls.
So Thursday is 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."
So the little prince tamed the fox.
And when the hour of his departure drew near---
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince.
"I never wished you any sort of harm;
but you wanted me to tame you. . ."
"Yes that is so", said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!"
said the little prince.
"Yes that is so" said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"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 will 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."
The little prince went away,
to look again at the roses.
"You are 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 are 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 is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are 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 is 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 have 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."
And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye" he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox.
"And now here is 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."
"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 wasted for your rose
that makes your rose so important.
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--
"said the little prince
so 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.

From the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery



Extracto del cuento clasico "El Principito"
por Antoine de Saint Ex��pery, 1943

CAP��TULO XXI

EL PRINCIPITO Y EL ZORRO

Entonces apareci�� el zorro:
�����Buenos d��as! ���dijo el zorro.
�����Buenos d��as! ���respondi�� cort��smente el principito que se volvi�� pero no vio nada.
���Estoy aqu��, bajo el manzano ���dijo la voz.
�����Qui��n eres t��? ���pregunt�� el principito���. ��Qu�� bonito eres!
���Soy un zorro ���dijo el zorro.
���Ven a jugar conmigo ���le propuso el principito���, ��estoy tan triste!
���No puedo jugar contigo ���dijo el zorro���, no estoy domesticado.
�����Ah, perd��n! ���dijo el principito.
Pero despu��s de una breve refl exi��n, a��adi��:
�����Qu�� significa "domesticar"?
���T�� no eres de aqu�� ���dijo el zorro��� ��qu�� buscas?
���Busco a los hombres ���le respondi�� el principito���. ��Qu�� significa "domesticar"?
���Los hombres ���dijo el zorro��� tienen escopetas y cazan. ��Es muy molesto! Pero tambi��n cr��an
gallinas. Es lo ��nico que les interesa. ��T�� buscas gallinas?
���No ���dijo el principito���. Busco amigos. ��Qu�� significa "domesticar"? ���volvi�� a preguntar el
principito.
���Es una cosa ya olvidada ���dijo el zorro���, significa "crear v��nculos... "
�����Crear v��nculos?
���Efectivamente, ver��s ���dijo el zorro���. T�� no eres para m�� todav��a m��s que un muchachito igual a otros cien mil muchachitos y no te necesito para nada. Tampoco t�� tienes necesidad de m�� y no soy para ti m��s que un zorro entre otros cien mil zorros semejantes. Pero si t�� me domesticas, entonces tendremos necesidad el uno del otro. T�� ser��s para m�� ��nico en el mundo, yo ser�� para ti ��nico en el mundo...
���Comienzo a comprender ���dijo el principito���. Hay una flor... creo que ella me ha domesticado...
���Es posible ���concedi�� el zorro���, en la Tierra se ven todo tipo de cosas.
�����Oh, no es en la Tierra! ���exclam�� el principito.
El zorro pareci�� intrigado:
�����En otro planeta?
���S��.
�����Hay cazadores en ese planeta?
���No.
�����Qu�� interesante! ��Y gallinas?
���No.
���Nada es perfecto ���suspir�� el zorro.
Y despu��s volviendo a su idea:
���Mi vida es muy mon��tona. Cazo gallinas y los hombres me cazan a m��. Todas las gallinas se
parecen y todos los hombres son iguales; por consiguiente me aburro un poco. Si t�� me domesticas, mi vida estar�� llena de sol. Conocer�� el rumor de unos pasos diferentes a todos los dem��s. Los otros pasos me hacen esconder bajo la tierra; los tuyos me llamar��n fuera de la madriguera como una m��sica. Y adem��s, ��mira! ��Ves all�� abajo los campos de trigo? Yo no como pan y por lo tanto el trigo es para m�� algo in��til. Los campos de trigo no me recuerdan nada y eso me pone triste. ��Pero t�� tienes los cabellos dorados y ser�� algo maravilloso cuando me Domestiques! El trigo, que es dorado tambi��n, ser�� un
recuerdo de ti. Y amar�� el ruido del viento en el trigo.
El zorro se call�� y mir�� un buen rato al principito:
���Por favor... domest��came ���le dijo.
���Bien quisiera ���le respondi�� el principito ��� pero no tengo mucho tiempo. He de buscar amigos y
conocer muchas cosas.
���S��lo se conocen bien las cosas que se domestican ���dijo el zorro���. Los hombres ya no tienen tiempo de conocer nada. Lo compran todo hecho en las tiendas. Y como no hay tiendas donde vendan amigos, los hombres no tienen ya amigos. ��Si quieres un amigo, domest��came!
�����Qu�� debo hacer? ���pregunt�� el principito.
���Debes tener mucha paciencia ���respondi�� el zorro���. Te sentar��s al principio un poco lejos de
m��, as��, en el suelo; yo te mirar�� con el rabillo del ojo y t�� no me dir��s nada. El lenguaje es fuente de
malos ent endidos. Pero cada d��a podr��s sentarte un poco m��s cerca...
El principito volvi�� al d��a siguiente.
���Hubiera sido mejor ���dijo el zorro��� que vinieras a la misma hora. Si vienes, por ejemplo, a las
cuatro de la tarde; desde las tres yo empezar��a a ser dichoso. Cuanto m��s avance la hora, m��s feliz me
sentir��. A las cuatro me sentir�� agitado e inquieto, descubrir�� as�� lo que vale la felicidad. Pero si t�� vienes
a cualquier hora, nunca sabr�� cu��ndo preparar mi coraz��n... Los ritos son necesarios.
�����Qu�� es un rito? ���inquiri�� el principito.
���Es tambi��n algo demasiado olvidado ���dijo el zorro���. Es lo que hace que un d��a no se
parezca a otro d��a y que una hora sea diferente a otra. Entre los cazadores, por ejemplo, hay un rito. Los
jueves bailan con las muchachas del pueblo. Los jueves entonces son d��as maravillosos en los que
puedo ir de paseo hasta la vi��a. Si los cazadores no bailaran en d��a fijo, todos los d��as se parecer��an y yo
no tendr��a vacaciones.
De esta manera el principito domestic�� al zorro. Y cuando se fue acercando el d��a de la partida:
�����Ah! ���dijo el zorro���, llorar��.
���Tuya es la culpa ���le dijo el principito���, yo no quer��a hacerte da��o, pero t�� has querido que te
domestique...
���Ciertamente ���dijo el zorro.
�����Y vas a llorar!, ���dijo ��l principito.
�����Seguro!
���No ganas nada.
���Gano ���dijo el zorro��� he ganado a causa del color del trigo.
Y luego a��adi��:
���Vete a ver las rosas; comprender��s que la tuya es ��nica en el mundo. Volver��s a decirme
adi��s y yo te regalar�� un secreto.
El principito se fue a ver las rosas a las que dijo:
���No son nada, ni en nada se parecen a mi rosa. Nadie las ha domesticado ni ustedes han domesticado a nadie. Son como el zorro era antes, que en nada se diferenciaba de otros cien mil zorros.
Pero yo le hice mi amigo y ahora es ��nico en el mundo.
Las rosas se sent��an molestas oyendo al principito, que continu�� dici��ndoles:
���Son muy bellas, pero est��n vac��as y nadie dar��a la vida por ustedes. Cualquiera que las vea podr�� creer indudablemente que m�� rosa es igual que cualquiera de ustedes. Pero ella se sabe m��s importante que todas, porque yo la he regado, porque ha sido a ella a la que abrigu�� con el fanal, porque yo le mat�� los gusanos (salvo dos o tres que se hicieron mariposas ) y es a ella a la que yo he o��do quejarse, alabarse y algunas veces hasta callarse. Porque es mi rosa, en fin.
Y volvi�� con el zorro.
���Adi��s ���le dijo.
���Adi��s ���dijo el zorro���. He aqu�� mi secreto, que no puede ser m��s simple : s��lo con el coraz��n
se puede ver bien; lo esencial es invisible para los ojos.
���Lo esencial es invisible para los ojos ���repiti�� el principito para acordarse.
���Lo que hace m��s importante a tu rosa, es el tiempo que t�� has perdido con ella.
���Es el tiempo que yo he perdido con ella... ���repiti�� el principito para recordarlo.
���Los hombres han olvidado esta verdad ���dijo el zorro���, pero t�� no debes olvidarla. Eres
responsable para siempre de lo que has domesticado. T�� eres responsable de tu rosa...
���Yo soy responsable de mi rosa... ���repiti�� el principito a fin de recordarlo.

THIS IS MY YAGUI