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Le lendemain revint le petit prince.
‘Il eût mieux valu revenir à la même heure, dit le
renard. Si tu viens, par exemple, à quatre heures de l’après-midi, dès trois heures je commencerai d’être heureux. Plus l’heure avancera, plus je me sentirai heureux. A quatre heures, déjà, je m’agiterai et m’inquiéterai; je découvrirai le prix du bonheur. Mais si tu viens n’importe quand, je ne saurai jamais à quelle heure m’habiller le coeur…. Il faut des rites…
—Qu’est-ce qu’un rite? dit le petit prince.
—C’est aussi quelque chose de trop oublié, dit le renard. C’est ce qui fait qu’un jour est diffèrent des autres jours, une heure des autres heures.’
The Little Prince returned the next day.
‘It would have been better if you had come along at the same time,’ said the fox. ‘If you come, say, at four o’clock in the afternoon, I shall start feeling happy as soon as three o’clock strikes. As the time passes, the happier I shall feel. By four o’clock, I shall already be getting excited and anxious; I shall discover the price of happiness. But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what time to get myself into the right frame of mind …. We must have rites…’
‘What is a rite?’ asked the Little Prince.
‘It is also something that is too often forgotten,’ said the fox. ‘It is what makes one day different from other days, one time of the day different from other times.’