No place like home
| BOSTON
Characters in children's books often talk about home. Can you identify the books from which these excerpts were taken?
1. If you could fly to France in one minute, you could go straight into the sunset, right from noon. Unfortunately, France is too far away for that. But on your tiny planet, my little prince, all you need do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like... "One day," you said to me, "I saw the sunset 44 times!"
2. He could see her just as if she were there, the sable and white of her coat gleaming in the sun, her eyes bright, her tipped ears thrust forward.... Her tail would move in welcome, and her mouth would be drawn back in the happy "laugh" of a dog. Then they would race home-home- home-running through the village....
3. The two swans flew high and fast, 10,000 feet above the earth. They arrived at last at the little pond ... where Louis had been hatched. This was his dream - to return with his love to the place in Canada where he had first seen the light of day.
4. You can imagine the scene that followed - the embraces, the kisses, the questions, the answers ... and the fond exclamations! When they had eventually calmed down a bit, and had gotten home, Mr. Duncan put the magic pebble in an iron safe. Some day they might want to use it, but really, for now, what more could they wish for?
5. Home. It has rained twice. But there is still dust. The corn still rattles in the wind. The green of Maine seems to be only a dream. When we came home by train, we passed trees and hills and lakes filled with water. But the prairie is home, the sky so big it takes your breath away, the land like a giant quilt tossed out.
6. When we returned, the other sisters came out to hear how I had behaved myself.... After this I was driven every day for a week or so, and ... it was quite decided to keep me and call me by my old name.... Joe is the best and kindest of grooms. My troubles are all over, and I am at home.
ANSWERS
(1) "The Little Prince," by Antoine de Saint-Exupry (1943); (2) "Lassie Come Home," by Eric Knight (1940); (3) "The Trumpet of the Swan," by E.B. White (1970); (4) "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble," by William Steig (5) "Skylark," by Patricia MacLachlan, (1994); (6) "Black Beauty," by Anna Sewell (1890).
(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society
