Summary: Chapter XXIII
The little prince then meets a salesclerk who is selling
pills invented to quench thirst. The merchant explains that taking
the pills means a person never has to drink anything, which can
save as many as fifty-three minutes a day. The prince replies that
if he had an extra fifty-three minutes, he would spend them by walking
very slowly toward a cold fountain.
Analysis: Chapters XXI–XXIII
The episode with the fox requires a note on Saint-Exupéry’s
use of the verb “tame.” In English, this word connotes domestication
and subservience. But the French have two verbs that mean “to tame.” One,
“domestiquer,” does, in fact, mean to make a wild animal subservient
and submissive. The Little Prince, however, uses
the verb “apprivoiser,” which implies a more reciprocal and loving
connection. The distinction between these two words is important,
since the original French word does not have the connotations of
mastery and domination that unfortunately accompany the English
translation.
The fox’s disclosure of his secret neatly sums up a moral
that runs through the novel: that which is secret is also what is
most important. Beginning with the narrator’s insistence that the
hidden image in Drawing Number One is the most important one, the
significance of secrecy is hinted at throughout The Little
Prince, but the fox’s words make it explicit. In 1939,
Saint-Exupéry wrote, “Don’t you understand that somewhere along
the way we have gone astray? . . . we lack something essential,
which we find it difficult to describe. We feel less human; somewhere
we have lost our mysterious prerogatives.” This “something essential,”
and these “mysterious prerogatives” are the invisible secrets that
the fox urges the prince to value.
The fox’s lessons must be learned rather than taught,
and when the fox reveals his secret, he really only confirms what
the prince has already learned for himself in his explorations.
The little prince’s journey allows him to explore himself as well
as the world around him, but the fox shows that even the hardiest
of explorers need validation. The fox is a mentor figure who points
out the important things the prince has learned and helps him clear
his thoughts. When the fox explains what it means to be tamed, the
prince realizes that he has already been tamed by his rose, even
though he didn’t know that the process had a name. The fox urges
the prince to revisit the rose garden, but the prince learns the
second part of the fox’s secret—that the time he has devoted to
his rose is what makes her unique—on his own.
After stressing in Chapter XXI that devoting time to
one another is what creates the special bonds between different
beings, The Little Prince offers two examples of
time poorly spent, where technology speeds people along at the expense
of things that have genuine value. The trains race by at lightning
speed, but only the children are able to appreciate what is worthwhile
about the trip. The switchman points out that all their moving does
not make the grown-ups any happier. The salesclerk with his water
pills also emphasizes time-saving, telling the prince that his pills
can save people up to fifty-three minutes a day. The little prince’s
retort that these extra minutes would best be put to use walking
slowly toward a cool fountain undermines the purpose of the salesman’s
thirst-quenching product.
