so i was looking through my old books from when i was little so that i could bring them to the 3 yr old i will be babysitting in vermont. (more on that later, wish me luck)...
and i found a box where 1/3 of the books dealt with halloween. because i love halloween and i guess i always have. i found it odd that i had so many halloween books in comparison to others. i also had some big TaleSpin books, which i want to go read.
but mainly, i considered my all time favorite book (which i got when i was 3, coincidentally) the book is 'the elephants child'. the author is rudyard kipling. he is a racist. and an imperialist. but i still like him.
it's also about an elephant that got spanked for asking too many questions, so he sets off on an adventure to find the crocodile because his relatives (who are all different sorts of animals and not just elephants, but that is another story) told him to go ask the crocodile. then he almost gets eaten by the crocodile, but a snake helps him pull and pull. so his nose gets long. and then the elephant has a trunk. and then he spanked his relatives. then all his relatives went to go get a trunk. then they all had long trunks and could pick things up and splash mud on themselves and kill flies and they were happy elephants.
really?
is this strange? because i am starting to think this is very strange. and i think this explains a lot. this does not sound like a normal book normal children would like.
although my other favorite book was the poky little puppy's winter day or something like that. it is about cute puppies who eat oatmeal and frolick through the snow having so much fun until they go home sooo tired and happy that the poky little puppy falls asleep before he can eat his shortcake.
oh dear. i just ruined the ending. i am so sorry. i should have written a spoiler alert.
but that book sounds like a normal kid book. i think this was my cover for when my friends asked. so i could look normal. it was not the book i forced my mother to read over and over and over. maybe i just liked making her try to consistently pronounce kipling's lengthy sentences. For example:
" Then the Bi-Colored-Python-Rock-Snake came down from the bank, and knotted himself in a double-clove-hitch round the Elephant Child's hind legs, and said, "Rash and inexperienced traveler, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high tension, because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder self-propelling man-of-war with the armor-plated upper deck" (and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the Crocodile) "will permanently vitiate your future career." This is the way all Bi-Colored-Python-Rock-Snakes always talk. "
3. 3 years old. june 23rd 1989 to be exact. i still don't even know what 'vitiate' means.
i was never a normal child.
4 comments:
he is a racist. and an imperialist. but i still like him.
haha.
Have you seen the recent bbc movie about Kipling's son called My Boy Jack. It is really great. You should check it out. (unless you don't like the kid who plays Harry Potter, because he plays his son).
Awesome, purely awesome. I remember that book, actually I remember both of them. The elephant one was not my favorite although I enjoyed it. I LOVED the pokey little puppy. Loved it, but I was always angry that he didn't get his shortcake. I mean, seriously, can't anyone wake him up? Don't they know that tomorrow, when he wakes and asks for it for breakfast the answer will be "no"? The time period for allowable dessert eating is very short and should always be taken advantage of.
Hmm.. typical that I would feel that strongly about sweets. sigh.
I really, really want to read that Bi-colored python rock snake story now, if only because it mentions specifically that a double-clove hitch was used to tie the snake to the elephant's legs.
These books sound awesome. You must have been an awesome kid. When I was a kid I read books about a boy named Fudge.
I was a fat kid.
i think i remember that story!
it held no particular significance in my life or development!
but I want to read it again...
omg.
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