“nothing’s perfect,” sighed the fox. “my life is monotonous. I hunt chickens; people hunt me. All chickens are just alike, and men are just alike. So I’m rather bored. But if you tame me, my life will be filled with sunshine. I’ll know the sound of footsteps that will be different from all the rest. Other footsteps send me back underground. Yours will call me out of my burrow like music. And then, look! You see the wheat fields over there? I don’t eat bread. For me, wheat is of no use whatever. Wheat fields say nothing to me. Which is sad. Bu you have hair the color of gold. So it will be wonderful, once you’ve tamed me! The wheat, which is golden, will remind me of you. And I’ll love the sound of wind in the wheat.”

______________________

The next day the little prince returned.

“It would have been better to return at the same time,” the fox said. “For instance if you come at 4 in the afternoon, I’ll begin to be happy by 3. The closer it gets to 4, the happier I”ll feel. By 4, I’ll be all excited and worried; I’ll discover what it costs to be happy! But if you come at any old time, I’ll never know when I should prepare my heart…. There must be rites.”

Antoine De Sainte-Exupéry, The Little Prince