"What Are you reading?" I asked the other day of a blue-eyed boy of ten curled up among the sofa cushions.
he held out the book for me to see.
"Dauntless Ned among the Cannibals," he answered.
"Is it Exciting?" I inquired.
"Not Very," said the child in a matter-of-fact tone.
"But it's not bad. "
I took the book from him and read aloud at the opened page.
"In a compact mass the gigantic savages rushed upon our hero, shrieking with rage and ground fearlessly, his back to a banana tree. with a sweep of his cutlass he severed the head of the leading savage from this body , While with a back stroke of his dirk he stabbed another to the heart. But resistance against such, Ned was borne to the ground. His arms were then pinioned with stout ropes made of the fibers of the boo-booda tree. with shrieks of exultation the savages dragged our hero to an opening in the woods where a huge fire was burning, over which was suspended an enormous cauldron of bubbling oil. "Boil him, boil him!" yelled the savages, now wrought to the point of frenzy!
"that seems fairly exciting, isn't it?" I said
"oh he won't get boiled," said the little boy. "He is the hero."
So I knew that the child has already taken his first step in disillusionment of fiction.
Of Course he was quite right as to Ned. This Wonder full youth, the hero with whom we all begin an acquaintance with books, passes unhurt through a thousand perils. Cannibals, Apache Indians, Was, Battles, Shipwrecks, leave him quite unscathed. At the most Ned gets a flesh wound which is healed, in exactly one paragraph, by that wonderful drug called a 'Simple'.
But the most amazing thing about this particular hero, the boy Ned, is the way in which he turns up in all great battles and leading events of the world.
It was Ned, for example , who at the critical moment at Gettysburg turned in his saddle to General Meade and said quietly, "General, the day is ours." If it is," Answered Meade, as he folded his field glass,"You alone, Ned, Have saved it."
In the same way Ned was present at the crossing of the deal ware with Washington. thus:
"what do you see, Ned?" said Washington as they peered from the leading boat into driving snow.
"Ice," said Ned, "My Boy," Said The Great American General, And a tear froze upon his face as he spoke, "You have saved us all."
"here is Ned at Runnymede when King John with pen in hand was about to sign the Magna Carta.
"For a moment the king paused irresolute, the uplifted quill in his hand, While his crafty furtive eyes indicated That he might yet break his plighted faith with assembled barons.
Ned laid his mailed hand upon the parchment.
"Sign it," he said sternly, "or take the consequences."
The King Signed.
"Ned," Said the baron de Bohen, As he removed his iron vizor from his bronzed face,"thou hast this day save all England."
In the stories of our boyhood in which Ned figured, There was no such thing as a heroine, or practically none. At best she was broght in as an afterthought. It was announced on page three hundred and one that at the close of Ned's desperate adventures in the West indies he married the beautiful daughter of Don Diego, the Spanish governor of Portobello; Or else, at the end of the great war with Napoleon, that he married a beautiful and accomplished French girl. Whose parents had perished in the Revolution.
Ned generally married away from home. In fact his marriages were intended to cement the nations, torn asunder by Ned's military career. But sometimes he returned to his native town, all sun-burned, scarred and bronzed from battle (the Bronzing effect of being in battle is always Noted( : he had changed from a boy to a man, that is, from a boy of fifteen to a man of sixteen. In such a case Ned marries in his 76 own home town.. It is done after this fashion.
"But who is this who advances smiling to greet him as he crosses the familiar threshold of the dear old house? Can this tall, Beautiful girl be Gwendoline, the child-play-mate of his boy-hood?"
Well, can it? I ask it of every experienced reader--can it or can it no
he held out the book for me to see.
"Dauntless Ned among the Cannibals," he answered.
"Is it Exciting?" I inquired.
"Not Very," said the child in a matter-of-fact tone.
"But it's not bad. "
I took the book from him and read aloud at the opened page.
"In a compact mass the gigantic savages rushed upon our hero, shrieking with rage and ground fearlessly, his back to a banana tree. with a sweep of his cutlass he severed the head of the leading savage from this body , While with a back stroke of his dirk he stabbed another to the heart. But resistance against such, Ned was borne to the ground. His arms were then pinioned with stout ropes made of the fibers of the boo-booda tree. with shrieks of exultation the savages dragged our hero to an opening in the woods where a huge fire was burning, over which was suspended an enormous cauldron of bubbling oil. "Boil him, boil him!" yelled the savages, now wrought to the point of frenzy!
"that seems fairly exciting, isn't it?" I said
"oh he won't get boiled," said the little boy. "He is the hero."
So I knew that the child has already taken his first step in disillusionment of fiction.
Of Course he was quite right as to Ned. This Wonder full youth, the hero with whom we all begin an acquaintance with books, passes unhurt through a thousand perils. Cannibals, Apache Indians, Was, Battles, Shipwrecks, leave him quite unscathed. At the most Ned gets a flesh wound which is healed, in exactly one paragraph, by that wonderful drug called a 'Simple'.
But the most amazing thing about this particular hero, the boy Ned, is the way in which he turns up in all great battles and leading events of the world.
It was Ned, for example , who at the critical moment at Gettysburg turned in his saddle to General Meade and said quietly, "General, the day is ours." If it is," Answered Meade, as he folded his field glass,"You alone, Ned, Have saved it."
In the same way Ned was present at the crossing of the deal ware with Washington. thus:
"what do you see, Ned?" said Washington as they peered from the leading boat into driving snow.
"Ice," said Ned, "My Boy," Said The Great American General, And a tear froze upon his face as he spoke, "You have saved us all."
"here is Ned at Runnymede when King John with pen in hand was about to sign the Magna Carta.
"For a moment the king paused irresolute, the uplifted quill in his hand, While his crafty furtive eyes indicated That he might yet break his plighted faith with assembled barons.
Ned laid his mailed hand upon the parchment.
"Sign it," he said sternly, "or take the consequences."
The King Signed.
"Ned," Said the baron de Bohen, As he removed his iron vizor from his bronzed face,"thou hast this day save all England."
In the stories of our boyhood in which Ned figured, There was no such thing as a heroine, or practically none. At best she was broght in as an afterthought. It was announced on page three hundred and one that at the close of Ned's desperate adventures in the West indies he married the beautiful daughter of Don Diego, the Spanish governor of Portobello; Or else, at the end of the great war with Napoleon, that he married a beautiful and accomplished French girl. Whose parents had perished in the Revolution.
Ned generally married away from home. In fact his marriages were intended to cement the nations, torn asunder by Ned's military career. But sometimes he returned to his native town, all sun-burned, scarred and bronzed from battle (the Bronzing effect of being in battle is always Noted( : he had changed from a boy to a man, that is, from a boy of fifteen to a man of sixteen. In such a case Ned marries in his 76 own home town.. It is done after this fashion.
"But who is this who advances smiling to greet him as he crosses the familiar threshold of the dear old house? Can this tall, Beautiful girl be Gwendoline, the child-play-mate of his boy-hood?"
Well, can it? I ask it of every experienced reader--can it or can it no
The Author (Stephen Leacock)
reff : http://storylf.blogspot.com/2014/11/heroes-and-heroines-by-stephen-leacock.html
