「早安！」狐狸說。
「早安！」小王子很有禮貌地回答，不過當他轉過頭去，卻什麼也沒看到。
那個聲音說：「我在這裡，在蘋果樹下。」
「我是一隻狐狸。」狐狸說。
小王子提議說：「來跟我玩吧！我很不快樂。」
狐狸說：「我不能跟你玩，我還沒被馴養。」
「啊，什麼？」小王子想了一會兒後，又問：「『馴養』是什麼意思啊？」
狐狸說：「你不是住在這裡的人，你在這裡找什麼？」
小王子說：「我在找人，『馴養』是什麼意思？」
狐狸說：「你在找人嗎？他們有槍，而且會打獵，很令人不安，不過他們也養雞，這是他們對我來說唯一的好處，你也在找雞嗎？」
小王子說：「不，我在找朋友。『馴養』是什麼意思？」
「這是一種經常被忽視的行為，意思就是『建立關係...』」狐狸說。
「建立關係？」小王子反問。
狐狸說：「的確是這樣。對我來說，你只不過是個小男孩，跟其他成千上萬的小孩沒什麼兩樣，我不需要你，而你也不需要我。對你而言，我也只不過是一隻狐狸，跟其他成千上萬的狐狸沒啥兩樣。但假如你馴養我，我們就彼此需要，你對我而言，將是世界上獨一無二的，而我對你而言，也是世界上獨一無二的...」
小王子說：「我開始有點懂了。有一朵花....我想我被那朵花馴養了...」
狐狸說：「這是可能的。在地球上什麼事都有...」
「哦！不過這不是在地球上發生的事。」小王子說。
狐狸似乎感到困惑，但又很好奇，他問：「那是在其他星球？」
「是的。」小王子說。
「那個星球上有獵人嗎？」狐狸問。
「沒有。」小王子說。
「那真有趣，那…那個星球有雞嗎？」狐狸問。
「沒有。」小王子說。
狐狸嘆了口氣說：「唉，沒有十全十美的事。」
然後狐狸又說：「我的生活很單調，我獵取雞，人類獵取我。所有的雞都一個樣，所有的人也都一個樣，因此我感到有些厭煩了。如果你馴養我，我的生命將充滿陽光，我會認出你的腳步聲，如果聽到其他人的腳步聲，我會躲進洞裡深處，只有你的腳步聲能像音樂般把我從洞裡叫喚出來。你看那邊的麥田，你看到了嗎？我不吃麵包，麥子對我一點用也沒有，那些麥田對我來說什麼也不是，這真令人傷心。但是你有金色的頭髮，想想看…如果你馴養了我，這是多美妙的一件事！那些金色的麥子會我想起你，而我也會愛上吹過麥田的風聲...」
狐狸注視著小王子很久之後說：「請你馴養我吧！」
小王子說：「我很願意。但我沒有很多時間，我要去找朋友，我還有很多事要理解。」
狐狸說：「馴養要理解的事情只有一樣。人類不需要時間去理解任何事情，他們在商店就能夠買到現成的東西，只是沒有任何商店販賣友誼，所以人類沒有朋友。如果你想要朋友，那麼就馴養我吧！」
「馴養你？那我要怎麼做？」小王子問。
狐狸回答說：「你要很有耐心。首先你得先坐得離我有點距離，像這樣，坐在草地上。然後我會用眼角瞄你，你什麼都不要說。語言是誤會的開始，不過你每天可以坐得離我近一點...」
第二天小王子又來了。
狐狸對他說：「你最好每天在同一時間來。比方說，每天下午四點來，這樣的話，我從下午三點就會開始覺得開心。而且隨著時間到來，我會越來越覺得開心。四點一到，我就開心到坐立不安！我會讓你知道我有多開心！但如果你來的時間不一定，我就不曉得該在什麼時候做好心理準備來迎接你...我們該有一個節日。」
「什麼節日？」小王子問。
就這樣，小王子馴養了那隻狐狸，但隨著分離的時刻越來越近，那狐狸說：「啊！我會哭的。」
小王子說：「這都是你的錯。我從不希望用任何方式傷害你，但是你要我馴養你的。」
「沒錯，的確是這樣。」狐狸說。
「而你現在想哭。」小王子說。
「沒錯，的確是這樣。」狐狸說。
「馴養你，對你一點好處也沒有！」小王子說。
狐狸說：「我得到好處了，因為那些麥田的顏色。」然後牠又說：「你再去看看那些玫瑰花，就會明白了，你的玫瑰花的確是世界上獨一無二的。當你回來跟我道別時，我再告訴你一個祕密，作為臨別的禮物。」
小王子去看些玫瑰花了。
他對那些玫瑰花說：「妳們並不完全像我的那朵玫瑰花，妳們對我而言什麼也不是。沒有人馴養妳們，而妳們也沒有馴養過任何人。妳們就像我第一次見到的那隻狐狸，當時牠只是成千上萬的狐狸當中的一隻。但是現在我們成了朋友，牠對我而言是獨一無二的了。」那些玫瑰花感到很尷尬。
小王子接著又說：「妳們都很美麗，但是妳們都很空虛，沒有人會為妳們而死。當然了，也許有個路人會想：我有一朵玫瑰花長跟妳們一模一樣。但即使單獨一個她，也比數百個全部的妳們對我來得重要。因為她是我灌溉的，是我把她放在玻璃罩下的；因為我給她一個屏風擋風，為了她，我殺死許多毛毛蟲（只留下兩三隻變成蝴蝶）；因為我聽過她抱怨、吹牛，甚至有些時候我只是看著她默不作聲；因為她是我的玫瑰花。」
於是他又重新回到狐狸那裡。
「再見！」小王子說。
狐狸說：「再見！這就是我的祕密，很簡單的秘密：真正重要的東西不是用眼睛可以看得見的，只有用心靈才能看得清楚。」
「真正重要的東西不是用眼睛可以看得見的。」小王子重複說著，以便牢牢的記在心裡。
「因為你對你的玫瑰花的付出，讓玫瑰花因此變得重要。」
「我為我對你的玫瑰花的付出...」小王子重覆的說，以便牢牢記在心裡。
狐狸說：「人們總是忘記這個真理。但是你不該忘掉它，你要永遠對你所馴養的事物負責，你對你的玫瑰花有責任...」
「我對我的玫瑰花有責任...」小王子重複地說，以便牢牢記在心裡。
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, 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 that 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 that she has tamed me . . ."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the 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 is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the 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 come 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 already 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 to be 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 from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance 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 him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarassed.
"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 she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever 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 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.
註：《小王子》是法國童話，法文原書名為Le Petit Prince，作者是聖艾修伯里，1943年在紐約出版，被譯成超過 180種語言，銷售量超過8千萬冊，還有拍成電影和動畫片、改編成話劇和音樂劇演出。
圖片出處：http://www.odaha.com
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