He meets a strange, pretty animal that greets him from under an apple tree. It is a fox.
The Little Prince asks the fox to play with him. Fox tells him, "I cannot play with you because I have not been tamed."
The Little Prince does not know the meaning of this word "tamed".
He has to ask three times before the fox tells him that "to be tamed" is "to establish ties."
How is that done? It takes time, the fox instructs. If the Little Prince wishes to tame him, he must meet him in the meadow at a certain time every day and sit at a certain distance. Each day, the Little Prince may move a little closer. In this way, the fox is eventually tamed and is able to reveal the secret of life.
It's a lovely story, from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved
fable The Little Prince, known to most of us from childhood. The
secret the fox is about to give is one of the great moments
of clear and simple revelation in world literature. But he can only give it
when he has been "tamed".
Now it seems improbable that any fox would ask to be tamed in the sense of being house-broken or put on a leash or made to obey commands. The critical word "tamed" is a correct, but imperfect, translation of Saint-Exupéry's original term apprivoisé. In French, “to tame” an animal (or person) in the sense of making them submissive is dompter; to turn something wild into a domesticated being is domestiquer.
Apprivoiser has a different lilt. In early medieval French usage, it means to make something less savage (but not domesticated), to make something alien more familiar. For the poet-prince Charles d’Orléans, apprivoiser is to make someone gentler, softer, more tractable. The fox tells the Little Prince that the way to bring this about is créer liens, to make links or ties.
Now it seems improbable that any fox would ask to be tamed in the sense of being house-broken or put on a leash or made to obey commands. The critical word "tamed" is a correct, but imperfect, translation of Saint-Exupéry's original term apprivoisé. In French, “to tame” an animal (or person) in the sense of making them submissive is dompter; to turn something wild into a domesticated being is domestiquer.
Apprivoiser has a different lilt. In early medieval French usage, it means to make something less savage (but not domesticated), to make something alien more familiar. For the poet-prince Charles d’Orléans, apprivoiser is to make someone gentler, softer, more tractable. The fox tells the Little Prince that the way to bring this about is créer liens, to make links or ties.
Synonyms for apprivoisier
might include “to gentle” or “to befriend”. As the fox uses the word,
it is about establishing the kind of connection that will make your relationship unique. Once gentled (apprivoisé) the fox is no longer one of a thousand foxes that hunt
chickens and are pursued by hunters; he is your special friend. Once a rose has
befriended you, it is no longer one of a hundred thousand roses; it is your rose.
“Here is my secret,” the fox,
befriended, says to the Little Prince. “It is very simple. You can only see
clearly with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes."
Fox has two more secrets, all of them things that humans have forgotten.
“It is the time you lost for the sake of the rose that made the rose so important.”
Then, never to be forgotten: Tu deviens responsible pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé. “You are responsible, forever, for everything you have gentled. You are responsible for your rose.”
Fox has two more secrets, all of them things that humans have forgotten.
“It is the time you lost for the sake of the rose that made the rose so important.”
Then, never to be forgotten: Tu deviens responsible pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé. “You are responsible, forever, for everything you have gentled. You are responsible for your rose.”
I think of an old white oak, a tree that I know that knows
me. Its image shines in my mind as the Little Prince’s rose shines in his. When
I need to know whether other thoughts or visions are to be trusted, I sometimes
let the oak rise and rustle in my inner senses, to confirm or caution.
I think of the red-tailed hawk who dropped from the sky to guide me and, as I came to know, to do something more: to befriend me and, in its own wildness, to gentle me. Elle m’a apprivoisé.
I think of how Death has come to me, over and over, in personal guise, sometimes as a Hindu god who speaks in the accent of an Oxbidge-educated maharajah. In gentling me, Death has found it amusing to play the gentleman. Now I see the brilliance of the French translators of The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead in devising the title Apprivoiser la Mort par le Rêve for my book. “To Gentle Death through Dreaming.”
I think of the red-tailed hawk who dropped from the sky to guide me and, as I came to know, to do something more: to befriend me and, in its own wildness, to gentle me. Elle m’a apprivoisé.
I think of how Death has come to me, over and over, in personal guise, sometimes as a Hindu god who speaks in the accent of an Oxbidge-educated maharajah. In gentling me, Death has found it amusing to play the gentleman. Now I see the brilliance of the French translators of The Dreamer’s Book of the Dead in devising the title Apprivoiser la Mort par le Rêve for my book. “To Gentle Death through Dreaming.”
This made me cry. The word tame never felt right. This is so much more meaningful. Also, the act of gentling or befriending also gentles and befriends ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI was googling to confirm that the french word, apprivoiser, was not the same as tamed. I've never thought that. Brought me to your post, which was wonderful to read. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow. So deep and beautiful. Thank you. The French certainly do have their own singular, unmistakable flair. I am also amazed, smitten and amused by the French edition cover art of your book. Is it only me who sees a pun? From what I can make out, that's Rousseau dreaming below while King Tut and his friends are doing a line dance above...(?)
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful to have learned of The Little Prince Story and its wisdom. I'm currently living with my Grandma due to my Grandpa having passed away in 2020 and shortly before he died he tamed a feral cat that one day showed up on his farm. At first, this cat would not come near him or anyone else but now it's such a loving and playful cat. When I play with this cat and hold her I truly feel the love of my Grandpa and what is essential in the deeper meaning of my relationship with this cat he named Boots.
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