To tame/apprivoiser

A dear friend sent me this NYT editorial. It seems that our wise French man, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, has finally landed. The Little Prince, I think, should be a mandatory read for all ambitious ideologues and unimaginative apparatchiks who dream of claiming a new century on nothing but blood lust and hot air. I only had my French copy, so here you go, one of my favorite passages. English translation at the bottom is taken from this site:


Qu’est-ce que signifie « apprivoiser » ?

---C’est une chose trop oubliée, dit le renard. Ca
signifie « créer des liens… »

---Créer des liens ?

---Bien sur, dit le renard. Tu n’es encore pour moi
qu’un petit garçon tout semblable a cent mille petite
garçons. Et je n’ai pas besoin de toi. Et tu n’as pas
besoin de moi non plus. Je ne suis pour toi qu’un
renard semblable a cent mille renards. Mais, si tu
m’apprivoises, nous aurons besoin l’un de l’autre.
Tu seras pour moi unique au monde. Je serai pur
Toi unique au monde….

….Mais le renard revint à son idée :
« Ma vie est monotone. Je chasse les poules, les hommes
me chassent. Toutes les poules se ressemblent, et tous les
hommes se ressemblent. Je m’ennuie donc un peu. Mais,
si tu m’apprivoises, ma vie sera comme ensoleillée. Je
connaîtrai un bruit de pas qui sera différent de tous les
autres. Les autres pas me font rentrer sous terre. Le tien
m’appellera hors du terrier, comme une musique. Et
puis regarde ! Tu vois, Là-bas, les champs de blé ? Je
ne mange pas de pain. Le blé pour moi est inutile. Les
champs de blé ne me rappellent rein. Et ça, c’est triste !
Mais tu as des cheveux couleur d’or. Alors ce sera
merveilleux quand tu m’auras apprivoise ! Le blé, qui
Est dore, me fera souvenir de toi. Et j’aimerai le bruit du
Vent dans le blé… »

… « S’il te plait…apprivoise-moi !dit il. »

---Je veux bien, répondit le petit prince, mais je n’ai
pas beaucoup de temps. J’ai des amis a découvrir
et beaucoup de choses a connaître.

---On ne connaît que les choses que l’on apprivoise, dit
le renard. Les hommes n’ont plus de temps de rien
connaître. Ils achètent des choses toutes faites chez les
marchands. Mais comme il n’existe point de marchands
d’amie, les hommes n’ont plus d’amis. Si tu veux un ami,
apprivoise-moi !

----Que faut-il faire ? dit le petit prince.

----Il faut être très patient, répondit le renard.

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. . ."
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," he said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All 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. . ."
"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