فصل اول

Chapter one

Once when I was six I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle, called True Stories. It showed a boa constrictor swallowing a wild beast. Here is a copy of the picture.

In the book, it said: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing. Afterward they are no longer able to move, and they sleep for six months they need for digestion.”

In those days I thought a lot about jungle adventures, and eventually managed to make my first drawing, with a colored pencil. My drawing Number One looked like this:

I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them.

They answered, “Why should anyone be scared of a hat?”

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. Then I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so the grown-ups could understand. They always need explanations.

My drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar.

That is why I gave up, at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist. I had been discouraged by the failure of my drawing Number One and of my drawing Number Two.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to explain over and over again.

So then I had to choose another career. I learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown almost everywhere in the world. And, as a matter of fact, geography has been a big help to me.

I could tell China from Arizona at first glance, which is very useful if you get lost during the night.

So I have met, in the course of my life, lots of serious people. I have spent lots of time with grownups. I have seen them at close range. which hasn’t improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I encountered a grown-up who seemed to be intelligent, I would experiment on him with my drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I wanted to see if he really understood anything.

But he would always answer, “That’s a hat.” Then I wouldn’t talk about boa constrictors or jungles or stars.

I would put myself on his level and talk about bridge and golf and politics and neckties. And my grown-up was glad to know such a reasonable person.