CHAPTER 20 – SECRET

The next day the little prince returns.

“It is better if you return at the same hour,” says the fox. “If you come, for example, at four in the afternoon, then at three I start to be happy. At three thirty I am more happy. At four I am very happy. I can show you how happy I am.

But if you come at different time, I don’t know when I can start to be happy. We need some rules.”

“Why do we need rules?” asks the little prince.

“The rules are important. They make one day different from other days. The rules make one hour different from other hours. For example, hunters have their rules too. They dance with the girls from the village every Thursday. So Thursday is a beautiful day. I can walk to the village with no problems. If the hunters dance on different days, I don’t know when it is holiday for me.

So the little prince spends some time with the fox every day. And when the hour of his departure is near, the fox says, “Ah! I’m sad. I want to cry.”

“It is your mistake,” says the little prince, “I don’t want to hurt you. But you want to be with me.”

“Yes, of course,” says the fox.

“But you cry!” says the little prince.

“Yes, of course,” says the fox.

“But then you get nothing!”

“I get something,” says the fox, “the colour of the corn helps me get something.”

Then the fox says, “Go and look again at the roses. You can understand now that your rose is special. Then come back to say goodbye to me. I have a present for you. The present is a secret.

The little prince goes to look at the roses again. He speaks to them.

“You are not like my rose,” the little prince says, “you are nothing to me at this moment. Nobody is connected to you and you are connected to nobody. You are like my fox on the first day, not connected to me. But the fox is my friend now, and the fox is special to me.”

Then he continues, “You are beautiful, but you are empty. Nobody wants to die for you. Of course, if somebody only walks around my rose, my rose is not special to this person. But my rose is more important to me than all the other roses because she is the rose who I give water. She is the rose who I put under the glass. She is my rose. I listen to her when she is not happy. And I listen to her when she is happy.”

The little prince returns to the fox.

“Goodbye,” he says.

“Goodbye,” says the fox. “Here is my secret. It is a simple secret. You see clearly only with the heart. What is important, eyes can’t see.”

“What is important, eyes can’t see,” repeats the little prince. He wants to remember this secret.

“The time which you spend with your rose makes your rose so important.”

“The time which I spend with my rose makes my rose so important,” says the little prince.

“People forget one truth,” says the fox. “But this truth is important. You are responsible for something what is connected to you. You are responsible for your rose.”

“I am responsible for my rose,” the little prince repeats.