Chapter 1 🔊✎

When I was six years old, I once saw an amazing picture in a book about life in the jungle, called “True Stories”. 🔊✎ It showed a boa constrictor who was swallowing an animal. 🔊✎ Here is a copy of the picture: 🔊✎

And here’s what it said in the book: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole without chewing it. 🔊✎ After that, they are unable to move and they sleep for the six months it takes them to digest it.” 🔊✎ I thought a lot about the adventures of the jungle, and after a while I took a coloured pencil and drew my first picture. 🔊✎ My picture number 1. It looked like this: 🔊✎

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups and I asked them if my drawing scared them. 🔊✎

But they answered: “Scared? Why would I be scared of a hat?” 🔊✎

My drawing wasn’t supposed to be a hat. It was supposed to be a boa constrictor who had swallowed an elephant. So I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, to help the grown-up people understand. 🔊✎ You always have to explain things to them. 🔊✎ My drawing number 2 looked like this: 🔊✎

The grown-up people told me I should stop drawing pictures of boa constrictors from the outside and the inside and instead concentrate on geography, history, maths and English. 🔊✎ So at the age of six I had to give up my brilliant career as a painter. 🔊✎ I was too discouraged by the way people treated my drawing number 1 and my drawing number 2. 🔊✎ Grown-up people never understand anything on their own. 🔊✎ It’s so tiring for children to go on and on explaining everything. 🔊✎

I had to find something else to do, and I learned to fly planes. I’ve flown all over the world. 🔊✎ And it’s true, geography has been pretty useful. At a glance, I can tell China from Arizona. That’s handy if you’ve got lost during the night. 🔊✎

During my life, I’ve come into contact with a whole bunch of serious people. 🔊✎ I’ve met a lot of grown-ups. I’ve got to know them well. 🔊✎ It hasn’t improved my opinion of them much. 🔊✎

When I find one who seems a bit different from the others, I try the experiment of showing them my drawing number 1, which I’ve always kept. I want to know if they really understand anything. 🔊✎ But they always answer: “It’s a hat.” 🔊✎ So then I don’t talk to them about boa constrictors or jungles or stars. 🔊✎ I go down to their level. I talk to them about bridge and golf and politics and neckties. 🔊✎ And the grown-up is very happy to find I’m a serious person too. 🔊✎