translation/interpretation please.....

[SHATOUSHKA]

ok... i'm going to post a short story... read
it, tell me how you interpret it. if you've
read it before... read it again. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

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<font size=30>PIERRE</font>
by maurice sendak

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PROLOGUE:

There once was a boy named pierre
who only would say, "i don't care!"
read his story, my friend,
for you'll find at the end
that a suitable moral lies there.

CHAPTER ONE:

on day his mother said
when pierre climbed out of bed,
"good morning, darling boy,
you are my only joy."
pierre said,
"i don't care!"

"what would you like to eat?"
"i don't care!"
"some lovely cream of wheat?"
"i don't care!"
"don't sit backwards on your chair."
"i don't care!"
"Or pour syrup on your hair."
"i don't care!"

"you are acting like a clown."
"i don't care!"
"and we have to go to town."
"i don't care!"
"don't you want to come, my dear?"
"i don't care!"
"would you rather stay right here?"
"i don't care!"

so his mother left him there.

CHAPTER TWO:

his father said,
"get off your head or i will march you up to bed!"
pierre said,
"i don't care!"
"i would think that you could see--"
"i don't care!"
"your head is where your feet should be!"
"i don't care!"

"if you keep standing upside down--"
"i don't care!"
"we'll never ever get to town."
"i don't care!"
"if only you would say I CARE."
"i don't care!"
"i'd let you fold the folding chair."
"i don't care!"

so his parents left him there.
they didn't take him anywhere.

CHAPTER 3

now, as the night began to fall
a hungry lion paid a call.
he looked pierre right in the eye
and asked him if he'd like to die.
pierre said,
"i don't care!"

"i can eat you, don't you see?"
"i don't care!"
"and you will be inside of me."
"i don't care!"
"then you'll never have to bother--"
"i don't care!"
"with a mother and a father."
"i don't care!"

"is that all you have to say?"
"i don't care!"
"then i'll eat you, if i may."
"i don't care!"

so the lion ate pierre.

CHAPTER 4

arriving at home at six o'clock,
his parents had a dreadful shock!
they found the lion sick in bed
and cried, "pierre is surely dead!"

they pulled the lion by the hair.
they hit him with the folding chair.
his mother asked, "where is pierre?"
the lion answered, "i don't care!"
his father said, "pierre's in there!"

CHAPTER 5

they rushed the lion into town.
the doctor shook him up and down.
and when the lion gave a roar--
pierre fell out upon the floor.
he rubbed his eyes and scratched his head
and laughed because he wasn't dead.

his mother cried and held him tight.
his father asked, "are you all right?"
pierre said, "i'm feeling fine,
please take me home, its half past nine."
the lion said, "if you would care
to climb on me, i'll take you there."
then everyone looked at pierre
who shouted, "yes, indeed i care!!"

the lion took them home to rest
and stayed on as a weekend guest.

[soulfilms]

that a person can be indifferent up until it affects them and their safety, from which then they take an active interest. so, selfishness?

i know what i want to say but i don't have the words to say it today. that was my first impression. perhaps i'll read it again in a leisurely pace and maybe i could be more articulate later.