It was then that the fox appeared.
就在這當兒，跑來了一只狐貍。

"Good morning," said the fox.
“你好。”狐貍說。

"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
“你好。”小王子很有禮貌地回答道。他轉過身來，但什么也沒有看到。

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
“我在這兒，在蘋果樹下。”那聲音說。

"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
“你是誰？”小王子說，“你很漂亮。”

"I am a fox," said the fox.
“我是一只狐貍。”狐貍說。

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."
“來和我一起玩吧，”小王子建議道，“我很苦惱……”

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
“我不能和你一起玩，”狐貍說，“我還沒有被馴服呢。”

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.
“啊！真對不起。”小王子說。

But, after some thought, he added:
思索了一會兒，他又說道：

"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
“什么叫‘馴服’呀？”

"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"
“你不是此地人。”狐貍說，“你來尋找什么？”

"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
“我來找人。”小王子說，“什么叫‘馴服’呢？”

"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?"
“人，”狐貍說，“他們有槍，他們還打獵，這真礙事！他們唯一的可取之處就是他們也養雞，你是來尋找雞的嗎？”

"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
“不，”小王子說，“我是來找朋友的。什么叫‘馴服’呢？”

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."
“這是已經早就被人遺忘了的事情，”狐貍說，“它的意思就是‘建立聯系’。”

"'To establish ties'?"
“‘建立聯系’？”

"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…"
“一點不錯，”狐貍說。“對我來說，你還只是一個小男孩，就像其他千萬個小男孩一樣。我不需要你。你也同樣用不著我。對你來說，我也不過是一只狐貍，和其他千萬只狐貍一樣。但是，如果你馴服了我，我們就互相不可缺少了。對我來說，你就是世界上唯一的了；我對你來說，也是世界上唯一的了。”

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower… I think that she has tamed me…"
“我有點明白了。”小王子說，“有一朵花……，我想，她把我馴服了……”

"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."
“這是可能的。”狐貍說，“世界上什么樣的事都可能看到……”

"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.
“啊，這不是在地球上的事。”小王子說。

The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
狐貍感到十分蹊蹺。

"On another planet?"
“在另一個星球上？”

"Yes."
“是的。”

"Are there hunters on this planet?"
“在那個星球上，有獵人嗎?”

"No."
“沒有。”

"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
“這很有意思。那么，有雞嗎？”

"No."
“沒有。”

"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
“沒有十全十美的。”狐貍嘆息地說道。

But he came back to his idea.
可是，狐貍又把話題拉回來：

"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 ea t 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…"
“我的生活很單調。我捕捉雞，而人又捕捉我。所有的雞全都一樣，所有的人也全都一樣。因此，我感到有些厭煩了。但是，如果你要是馴服了我，我的生活就一定會是歡快的。我會辨認出一種與眾不同的腳步聲。其他的腳步聲會使我躲到地下去，而你的腳步聲就會像音樂一樣讓我從洞里走出來。再說，你看！你看到那邊的麥田沒有？我不吃面包，麥子對我來說，一點用也沒有。我對麥田無動于衷。而這，真使人掃興。但是，你有著金黃色的頭發。那么，一旦你馴服了我，這就會十分美妙。麥子，是金黃色的，它就會使我想起你。而且，我甚至會喜歡那風吹麥浪的聲音……”

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
狐貍沉默不語，久久地看著小王子。

"Please-- tame me!" he said.
“請你馴服我吧！”他說。

"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."
“我是很愿意的。”小王子回答道，“可我的時間不多了。我還要去尋找朋友，還有許多事物要了解。”

"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…"
“只有被馴服了的事物，才會被了解。”狐貍說，“人不會再有時間去了解任何東西的。他們總是到商人那里去購買現成的東西。因為世界上還沒有購買朋友的商店，所以人也就沒有朋友。如果你想要一個朋友，那就馴服我吧！”

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
“那么應當做些什么呢？”小王子說。

"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…"
“應當非常耐心。”狐貍回答道，“開始你就這樣坐在草叢中，坐得離我稍微遠些。我用眼角瞅著你，你什么也不要說。話語是誤會的根源。但是，每天，你坐得靠我更近些……”

The next day the little prince came back.
第二天，小王子又來了。

"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…"
“最好還是在原來的那個時間來。”狐貍說道，“比如說，你下午四點鐘來， 那么從三點鐘起，我就開始感到幸福。時間越臨近，我就越感到幸福。到了四點鐘的時候，我就會坐立不安；我就會發現幸福的代價。但是，如果你隨便什么時候來，我就不知道在什么時候該準備好我的心情……應當有一定的儀式。”

"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
“儀式是什么？”小王子問道。

"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."
“這也是一種早已被人忘卻了的事。”狐貍說，“它就是使某一天與其他日子不同，使某一時刻與其他時刻不同。比如說，我的那些獵人就有一種儀式。他們每星期四都和村子里的姑娘們跳舞。于是，星期四就是一個美好的日子！我可以一直散步到葡萄園去。如果獵人們什么時候都跳舞，天天又全都一樣，那么我也就沒有假日了。”

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
就這樣，小王子馴服了狐貍。當出發的時刻就快要來到時：

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
“啊！”狐貍說，“我一定會哭的。”

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…"
“這是你的過錯，”小王子說，“我本來并不想給你任何痛苦，可你卻要我馴服你……”

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
“是這樣的。”狐貍說。

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
“你可就要哭了！”小王子說。

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
“當然羅。”狐貍說。

"Then it has done you no good at all!"
“那么你什么好處也沒得到。”

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added:
“由于麥子顏色的緣故，我還是得到了好處。”狐貍說。然后，他又接著說：

"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."
“再去看看那些玫瑰花吧。你一定會明白，你的那朵是世界上獨一無二的玫瑰。你回來和我告別時，我再贈送給你一個秘密。”

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
于是小王子又去看那些玫瑰。

"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."
“你們一點也不像我的那朵玫瑰，你們還什么都不是呢！”小王子對她們說。“沒有人馴服過你們，你們也沒有馴服過任何人。你們就像我的狐貍過去那樣，它那時只是和千萬只別的狐貍一樣的一只狐貍。但是，我現在已經把它當成了我的朋友，于是它現在就是世界上獨一無二的了。”

And the roses were very much embarrassed.
這時，那些玫瑰花顯得十分難堪。

"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 I 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 I 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 even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose."
“你們很美，但你們是空虛的。”小王子仍然在對她們說，“沒有人能為你們去死。當然羅，我的那朵玫瑰花，一個普通的過路人以為她和你們一樣。可是，她單獨一朵就比你們全體更重要，因為她是我澆灌的。因為她是我放在花罩中的。因為她是我用屏風保護起來的。因為她身上的毛蟲（除了留下兩三只為了變蝴蝶而外）是我除滅的。因為我傾聽過她的怨艾和自詡，甚至有時我聆聽著她的沉默。因為她是我的玫瑰。”

And he went back to meet the fox.
他又回到了狐貍身邊。

"Goodbye," he said.
“再見了。”小王子說道。

"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."
“再見。”狐貍說。“喏，這就是我的秘密。很簡單：只有用心才能看得清。實質性的東西，用眼睛是看不見的。”

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
“實質性的東西，用眼睛是看不見的。”小王子重復著這句話，以便能把它記在心間。

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
“正因為你為你的玫瑰花費了時間，這才使你的玫瑰變得如此重要。”

"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
“正因為你為你的玫瑰花費了時間……”小王子又重復著，要使自己記住這些。

"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…"
“人們已經忘記了這個道理，”狐貍說，“可是，你不應該忘記它。你現在要對你馴服過的一切負責到底。你要對你的玫瑰負責……”

"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
“我要對我的玫瑰負責……”小王子又重復著……

（來源：愛詞霸 編輯：丹妮）