介绍:
Dear readers,
I receive many letters from children and can’t answer them all. That is why I am sending you this printed reply to your letters. I’ll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.
Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte’s Web? Many years ago, I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That’s how the story of Stuart Little got started.
As for Charlotte’s Web, I like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. One day, when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save the pig’s life. I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm.
Are my stories true, you ask? No, they are imaginary tales, containing fantastic characters and events. In real life, a family doesn’t have a child who looks like a mouse. In real life, a spider doesn’t spin words in her web. In real life, a swan doesn’t blow a trumpet. But real life is only one kind of life — there is also the life of the imagination. Although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them — truth about the way people and animals feel and think and act.
Yours sincerely,
E.B. White
