The above is a scan from a bygone Christmas card of ours, which was a montage with Rat and Piggy contemplating the Universe on a clear night. I was looking for something else in the plan-chest just now, but found this instead.Some of you loyal followers will remember that I have one drawer in the plan chest which is stuffed full of Rat drawings, some of which are too obscene to be shown in this blog, let alone adapted into a children's story-book, as my 'step-daughter' has suggested in the past. This one is charming enough though, eh? I like the idea of the two animals trying to get to grips with life, the universe and everything, when the smallest conundrum down here on earth is too much for their little brains to cope with.
Eventually (actually, quite quickly), they give up and simply gawp in wonder, as we all must.
I read a letter in one of the Astronomy magazines I used to buy, and it was from a man who - one clear and dark night - asked his 8 year old daughter to look through the large telescope he had just bought, which was trained on the vast, deep-sky vista above them. His daughter climbed up, looked through the 'scope, got down, then burst into tears. He asked her what was the matter, and she said:
"Oh, Daddy - it's too beautiful. I don't deserve it."
There are a lot of things I too don't deserve, but I grasp them anyway. I was unaware that 8 year old girls were so philosophical. Of course, she's RIGHT.
ReplyDeleteI know what she means.
ReplyDeleteThat's a strange understanding of it, from my point of view, Cro. How can she not deserve something of which she is a part? It's as if she has taken on the responsibility for all the wrong-doing in the world - aged 8! Her comment almost brings me to tears every time I remember it.
ReplyDeletePoor girl. Gorgeous card though.
ReplyDeleteI loved your rat drawings
ReplyDeleteas for the car...... sky watching is almost as good as cloud watching!!!!!
Just lovely.
ReplyDeleteLove the story and it's so true. And only an eight year old girl would say something so beautiful. m.
ReplyDeleteMy sentiments exactly, that last sentence Tom. I used to be quite interested in astronomy but found it just so very mind-bending that I couldn't come to terms with it.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a beautiful image of the imagined night sky. Your story resonates with the scene in an H G Wells novel where the father shows his child the sunset. The child is so delighted that he/she says, " Oh do it again, please do it again!" Sadly I can't remember which novel as I read them so long ago. But am madly Googling them now.
ReplyDelete"Please do it again" - ! We request the same performance from 'God' on a daily basis!
ReplyDelete