"When I was a kid I used to dream a tiger was after me. There I was, all alone, no gun, nowhere to go, not even a bally tree to climb, with the horrid brute, all teeth and hair, getting closer and closer till I could feel its hot breath on my--"
"Okay--okay," broke in Biggles impatiently. "What are you trying to do--give yourself a nervous breakdown? I gather it never caught you?"
"Not quite. I always woke up just in time."
Biggles sighed. "What a pity."
--Biggles Works It Out
Really, Biggles! You're getting to be as rude as Ginger! I love Bertie's description of his dream, though.
I love this description too. WEJ was quite good at dream descriptions - I just read one in his gardening book, The Passing Show (a nicer dream than Bertie's).
ReplyDeleteBut it could be that Biggles' remark is easily misinterpreted, as it being a pity Bertie wasn't caught by the tiger and finished off for good.
Maybe what Biggles really wanted to know was what it was like to be caught by a tiger - a sort of intellectual curiosity. Biggles was, after all, a person with an active curiosity streak which often got him in trouble.
Trouble is, though, if Bertie had been caught, he'd be unlikely to be able to tell Biggles what it was like anyway! (What's that thing about if you die in a dream...?)
ReplyDeleteThe say if you die in a dream you simply wake up....at least, that's according to "Inception"! ;)
ReplyDeletePoor Bertie - Biggles never lets politeness stand in the way of a good insult where he is concerned!
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly I'm surprised Bertie hasn't given Biggles a clip on the ear before now - though I suppose if he ever tried he wouldn't survive for very long afterwards.....
Biggles can be very rude at times..(when kicking his friends out of his flat, for example)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, SA, Biggles goes on to mention that he would have been interested to hear what would have happened if the tiger had caught Bertie, so it seems like he didn't really mean, "What a pity the tiger never got you". (Although he was very impatient at the time, as he often gets in the Air Police days. You'd think he would have mellowed in his old age, but no!)
Maybe he got more tired in his old age, trying to keep up !!!!
ReplyDeleteBiggles can get very snappy in the air police books. He was never like that in the early books. He loses his sense of fun as he ages.
ReplyDelete