"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "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..." (...)
"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..." (...)
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.
(The Little Prince, Chapter 21)
以前說過了, 友好畢先生的大兒子最喜歡到LIFT口「伏」搭緊LIFT上佢地屋企的我 (不是我的專利項目! 他所有親友都會中伏的... ), 久而久之, 每次搭緊LIFT的時候, 我都會期待著、想著畢大B今次又會在哪個位置「伏」我, 又邊期待著、邊回想他見到我中伏後的大笑聲。
想著也覺快樂, 繼而又更期待。
有那麼一次, 開LIFT, 竟!!然!!無!!人!! 咩事?! (原來大B未食完飯, 被綁牢在椅上, 動彈不得), 我有說不出的失落。
又有那麼一次, 有兩個人跟我同LIFT, 我一直在想, 一陣點算呢…果然, 一開LIFT門, 畢大B在大叫歡迎我。我想, 一定嚇壞了我身後的女士們。
上星期, 如常地貢上畢家, 如常地在LIFT裡期待著大B的出現…
一開LIFT門 (慢慢打開來…5CM…10CM…), 竟然是畢先生抱著沉默而永遠笑咪咪的小B在歡迎我!
我一時反應不來, 竟然叫了出來! 呀!! 大B呢? 去左邊? 點解會咁嘅? (又係未食完飯…)
狐狸、馴養和期待, 就是這麼一回事。
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
