chapter01

Oncewhen I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called
TrueStories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa
constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

In the book it said:   “Boa constrictors swallowtheir prey whole, without

chewingit.  After that they are not able tomove, and they sleep through the six months that theyneed for digestion.”

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of thejungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making myfirst drawing. My Drawing Number One. It lookedlike this:

Ishowed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

Butthey answered:   “Frighten?  Why should any one be frightened by a

hat?”

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a pictureof a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, Imade another drawing:  I drew the insideof the boa constrictor, so that the grown-upscould see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups’ response, this time,was to advise me to lay aside my draw-
ings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or theoutside, and devote
myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic andgrammar. That is why, at
the age of six, I gave up what might have been amagnificent career as a painter.
I had been disheartened by the failure of my DrawingNumber One and my
Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,
and it is tiresome for children to be always and foreverexplaining things to
them. So then I chose another profession, and learned topilot airplanes. I have
flowna little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been
very useful to me.  At a glance I can distinguish China fromArizona.  If one
gets lost in the night, suchknowledge is valuable.

Inthe course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with mattersof consequence.  I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seenthem intimately, close at hand. Andthat hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at allclear-sighted, I tried
the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One,which I have always
kept.  I would tryto find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding.
But,whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: “Thatis a hat.”  Then I

would never talk to thatperson about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bringmyself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And thegrown-up would be greatly pleased tohave met such a sensible man.