Spilt Milk

Boy do I love books

And I have many! I was home a few weeks ago and my mother asked me to rummage through my stuff, so heck why not, might find a treasure to two... or a shit load of stuff that I'll end up taking back with me to my newly purchased home. I ended up taking the whole cupboard set... what can I say, I love my old junk, so many memories.

I was looking through my old books I had as a kid, and one book stuck out. I knew that it was a keeper!

It's Edward Lear's classic! The Owl and the Pussycat. I was always fond of this book... not sure why, maybe it was Ruth Sanderson's artwork that attracted me to it, after all, there is nothing hotter then a cat getting hitched with a midget owl that dresses like a garden gnome. But hey! I was 5 when I had this book, I was easy to amuse.

The poem is as follows:

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl! How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?' They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose, His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.' So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.

Lovely isn't it? A owl and a pussycat fall in love, ride a pea-green boat and get married. Seemed innocent enough, but if you ask me, I think the fowl owl suckerd her into it!

A strange owl asks the pussycat to a boat ride, she looks quite shocked by the invatation, but hey! It's a boat ride, what could happen?

The owl brings luggage! Including honey, money, and a 5-pound note! The expression on the pussycat's face tells us that she should have thought this through.

What I think happened is the owl really tried to con the cat to marring him by threatening to jump overboard, kinda like that scene from Titanic. Rather then have a death on her hands, they get married by a turkey, and then have him for thanksgiving.

Ok... so I made that shit up, could you blame me? When my mom read the book to me when I was 5, my main questions where why would a bird and cat love each other? Let alone get married. My mother did not have answers to those questions, but now that I am a adult, I thought I analyze the book myself.

Edward Lear wrote 'The Owl and the Pussycat' in 1871, he was a illustrator and writer of 'nonsense poetry', meaning if you made creative shit up in the 1800's you would strike big, cuz Lear's poems where quite popular in the day.

'The Owl and the Pussycat' was special for numerous reasons. It sends the message that opposites attract. No matter how different you are, love is one thing that we all have in common, and that is more important than what movies you liked. If everyone began to think more like these people, then the world would be a better place, and we really could all go out and sail in our pea-green boats without worry of being bombed in international waters.

Simple kindness is also promoted in this poem. The Owl and Pussycat need a ring for the wedding, and run into a pig. The pig is often the symbol of greed, it never wants to share, but it gives the owl the ring for only a shilling, which is dirt-cheap regardless of what currency you use.

The reason for the turkey performing the ceremony is anyone's guess...

Edward Lear's reason for writing 'The Owl and the Pussycat'is in speculation. Most likely is was out of creative expresstion, however....

Research speculates that Lear might have been a homosexual, and 'The Owl and the Pussycat' could have been a metaphor for his love of another man. Same-sex couples where not unheard of in the 1800's but highly frowned upon. A owl and a pussycat getting married was just as odd as two women or men marrying each other during the time. The poem could have also been a metaphor for higher tolerance for parents to accept their child's spouse, no matter how different he/she is.

Regardless of the reason, Edward Lear gave the world a gift of this poem. It may sound silly, but that is half the reason people love it. This book is staying on my bookshelf.