Antoine, on friends
"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."