这是一则关于友谊的寓言。友谊让人摆脱了孤独与寂寞，使生活充满情趣和欢乐，但同时也让人懂得了离别和忧伤。小王子觉得星星是很美的，因为上面有一朵别人看不到的玫瑰花;狐狸觉得稻子的颜色很美，因为小王子有着和稻子一样的金发……

圣埃克苏佩里的经典童话《小王子》一次又一次地教会我们：生命，友谊，执著与真诚。

By Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

安妮 选译

Chapter 21 (Excerpt)

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,’ said the 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’?”

“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… ”

“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 colour 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。”

“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 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…

“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。

这时来了一只狐狸。

“早上好，”狐狸说。

“早上好，”小王子彬彬有礼地回答。他转过身，却没看到什么人。

“我在这儿呢，苹果树底下，”这声音提醒他。

“你是谁?”小王子问道，“你长得真漂亮。”

“我是一只狐狸，”狐狸回答道。

“和我一起玩吧，”小王子向狐狸建议，“我苦恼极了。”

“我不能和你玩，”狐狸说，“我还没有被你驯养呢。”

“啊!对不起，”小王子说道。但是他思索了一会儿，又说：“‘驯养’是什么意思?”

“你不是本地人，”狐狸说道，“你来这儿找寻什么呢?”

“我正在找人，”小王子答道，“‘驯养’是什么意思?”

“人，”狐狸说道，“人有枪，他们会打猎。这可真讨厌。他们养鸡。这两件事是他们唯一的爱好。你也寻找鸡吗?”

“不，”小王子说道，“我是来找朋友的。‘驯养’是什么意思呢?

“它是经常被人们遗忘的一种行为，”狐狸答道，“它的意思是‘建立联系’。”

“建立联系?”

“当然了，”狐狸说道，“对我来说，你与其他成千上万个小男孩没什么区别。我不需要你，你也不需要我。对你来说，我与其他成千上万只狐狸毫无差别。但是，如果你驯服了我，我们就谁也离不开谁了。那时候，对我来说，在这个世界上你就是独一无二的。而对你而言，我也是这个世界上独一无二的……”

“我有点明白了，”小王子说，“我有一朵花……我想，她已经驯服了我……”

“这是可能的，”狐狸说，“在这个地球上，什么千奇百怪的事情都有可能发生……”

“我的生活单调乏味，”狐狸说，“我捉鸡，人捉我。所有的鸡都是一模一样的，所有的人也都是一模一样的。因此，我感到有些厌烦了。但是如果你驯服了我，我的生活将会充满阳光和欢乐。我将会分辨出一种与众不同的脚步声。听到别的脚步声，我会急急忙忙躲进地下洞穴。而唯独你的脚步声会像音乐一样，唤我出洞。再说，你瞧瞧，你看到那边的麦田了吗?我从来不吃面包，小麦也对我毫无用处。麦田也不会使我产生任何联想。这是多么可悲啊!但是，你有一头金黄色的头发。一旦你驯养我，想象一下那该是多美好的事啊：那金黄色的小麦会让我联想起你来。于是，我也会喜欢听穿过麦田的风声……”

狐狸盯着小王子看了很久。“请你……请你驯养我吧!”狐狸最后说道。

“我很想驯养你，”小王子回答道，“但是我没有那么多时间。我得去找朋友，还要去学习理解许多许多的事情。”

“只有被人们驯服了的事物，才能被人们所理解，”狐狸说道，“人们再也没有时间去认识新的事物了。他们总是到商店里买现成的东西。但是，世界上还没有贩卖友谊的商店，因此人们再也没有朋友了。要是你想交一个朋友，就请驯养我吧……”

“驯养你，那我应该怎么做呢?”小王子问道。

“你必须很耐心，”狐狸答道，“首先，你坐在草地上，离我有一些距离——就像这样。我偷偷地用眼角观察你，你什么也别说。言语是误会的根源。但是，你每天都可以坐得离我更近一些……”

第二天，小王子又来了。

“你最好每天都在同一个时刻过来，”狐狸说道，“比如说你下午四点来，那我从三点开始就会感到快乐。离四点越近，我就会越来越快乐。四点一到，我就会坐立不安。我会让你看到我究竟有多快乐!但是如果你来的时间不固定，我就不知道该什么时候开始准备迎接你……我们应该遵循正确的仪式……”

“什么是仪式?”小王子问道。

“这也是经常被人遗忘的行为，”狐狸说，“所谓仪式，就是使某一天不同于其他日子，使某一时刻不同于其他时刻。比如说，捉我的那些猎人们就有一个仪式。每逢周四，他们都和村里的姑娘们跳舞。因此，周四成为了一个多么美妙的日子啊!我可以外出散步，直到葡萄园边上。如果猎人们随便什么时候都跳舞，每天都如此，那我也就没有休息的时候了。”

就这样，小王子驯服了狐狸。然而，分别的时刻就要到了——

“你再去看看那些玫瑰花吧。你一定会明白，你的那朵花为什么是天下独一无二的玫瑰了。然后再回到我的身边向我告别，那时我将赠予你一个秘密作为离别礼物。”

于是小王子就跑去看那些玫瑰花。“你们一点也不像我的那朵玫瑰花，”他说道，“对我而言，你们什么都不是。没有人驯养过你们，你们也没有驯养过别人。你们就像我第一次见到狐狸一样，它那时和其他成千上万的狐狸没什么区别。但是，现在它成为了我的朋友，现在它就是世界上独一无二的狐狸了……”

说完，小王子回到了狐狸的身边。

“再见，”他说道。

“再见，”狐狸回应道，“这就是我的秘密，它很简单：只有心灵才能洞察一切，事物的本质是肉眼无法看到的。”

“事物的本质是肉眼无法看到的，”小王子重复着这句话，要把它记在心间。

“人们已经忘记了这个真理，”狐狸说，“但是你千万不要忘记：你要对你驯服过的一切永远负责，你要对你的那朵玫瑰花负责……”

“我要对我的那朵玫瑰花负责……”小王子重复着这句话，要把它记在心间。