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第二天，小王子来到原地。"最好是在同一时间赴约，"狐狸说，"比方说，你定在下午四点钟来，那我从三点钟开始就会感到高兴。会面的时刻愈是临近，我就愈发感到高兴。一到四点钟，我就会激动起来，兴奋起来，我会认识到要获得幸福是要付出代价的！可是，如果你什么时候来压根就没准儿，那我就不知道该在什么时候酝酿我的心情…… 会面就得有会面的讲究。" "什么叫做'讲究'呀？”小王子问。 "这也是被人忘得一干二净的事啦。"狐狸说，"某种讲究，就可以使得某一个日子、某一个时辰有别于其他的日子、其他的时辰。举个例子来说，与我为敌的那些猎人就有一种讲究，他们每逢星期四一定要去跟村里的姑娘跳舞。于是，星期四就成了妙不可言的一天啦，我就可以到处闲逛，一直逛到葡萄园里。而如果那些猎人什么时候都要去跳舞，那么，天天就都一个样啦。" 就这样，小王子驯养了狐狸。不久，他们分手的时候临近了，狐狸伤感地说： "唉，我会哭的……” "那你就不对了，"小王子说，"我不希望你伤心，你该记得，是你要我驯养你的……” "当然是我要求的。"狐狸说。 "那你还要哭什么！”小王子说。 "我当然要哭。"狐狸说。 "你这样岂不是得不偿失！” "我还是有收获的，因为，我可以从小麦的金黄色感受到美感了。"狐狸说。接着，它又说："你再去看看那些玫瑰花吧，你就会明白你家里的那一朵玫瑰才是世上独一无二的。然后你再回来和我告别，到时候我要送你一件礼物。告诉你一个秘密。" 小王子去看望了那些玫瑰。他对她们说："你们和我家里那朵玫瑰完全不一样。你们算不上什么。谁也没有培植过你们，你们也没有跟任何人建立感情。你们就像我还不认识那只狐狸时一样。那时，它与世上成百上千只狐狸一样，跟我毫无交情。但后来，我和它成为了朋友，现在，在世界上，它对我而言就是独一无二的一只狐狸了。" 听了小王子一席话，那些玫瑰花都感到很不舒服。小王子又继续说：你们长得很漂亮，但是你们却很空虛。谁也不会为你们献出生命。至于我自己的那朵玫瑰，一个普通的路人当然会以为她与你们并没有什么不同。但是，只她一朵花儿就比你们所有花儿加在一起还要重要得多。因为我给她浇过水，因为我用罩子保护过她，用屏风给她挡过风，因为我为了她才杀死那些毛毛虫（两三条将变为蝴蝶的除外），因为我倾听过她的抱怨，她的自吹自夸，而当她一声不吭时，则和她默默相对，总而言之，一句话，因为她是我的玫瑰。" 而后，小王子又回来跟狐狸道别，他说："别了！” "别了！”狐狸说，"我要告诉你的秘密，其实很简单，那就是：人只能用心灵去观察，去感受。要知道，光靠肉眼，是不可能看到本质的东西的。" | "光靠肉眼，不可能看到本质的东西。"小王子重复说了一遍，为的是牢牢记在心里。 "你为自己的那朵玫瑰花费了一些时间，她才对你变得重要。" "我为我的那朵玫瑰花费了时间……”为了牢牢记住，小王子又重复一遍。 "地球人忘记了这个真理，"狐狸说，"但你不应该忘记。凡是你培植过、驯养过的一切，你对它们是负有责任的。你要对你那朵玫瑰尽心尽责……” "我要对我的那朵玫瑰尽心尽责……”为了牢记在心，小王子又重复了一遍。 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, T 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 1 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 1 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 1 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. |
