COLÉGIO “TYTO ALBA”

PROF. Ms. Doc. JAMIL JUNIOR = JULHO/2013                                   

TEXT:

                                              

                                         THE LITTLE PRINCE AND THE FOX

            Then the fox appeared.

            “Good Morning”, said the fox.

            “Good Morning”, the Little Prince responded politely. “Who are you?” 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.”

            “What does that mean – tame?”

            “It is something people often neglect”, said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”

            “To establish ties?”

            “Yes”, said the fox. “To me you are just a little boy and I have no need of you. And you, in turn, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox. But if you tame me, then we will need each other.”

The fox gazed at the Little Prince for a long time and said:

            “Please, tame me.”

            “What must I do to tame you?”, asked the Little Prince.

            “You must be very patient”, said the fox. “First you will sit down at a little distance from me, and will say nothing. Words are the sources of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me every day.”

            So the Little Prince tamed the fox. And then the hour of his departure came. – “Ah!” said the fox. “I will cry.”

            “It is your own fault”, said the Little Prince, “but you yourself wanted me to tame you.”

            “Good bye”, said the Little Prince.

            “Good bye”, said the fox. “And now I am going to tell you a secret: We can only see rightly with the heart; what’s essential is invisible to the eye. Men have forgotten this truth. But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

                                               (Adapted from The Little Prince.)

                                                           (By Antonie de Saint-Exupéry.)