I fancy I told you that my Uncle JACK was coming home from sea. I
had not seen him for six years--in fact he left England when I was a
child of four or so. As you know, I am now ten. I naturally was rather
curious to meet him. Well he is here, and I am fairly puzzled. He is
rather a nice fellow--partly educated. He is distinctly shaky with his
Classics, and has evidently forgotten half his Mathematics. However
we got on pretty well. He seemed to be interested in my lecture
upon Astronomy, and said "I seemed to be a hand at Chemistry." Well
so I am. As you know, when I was a mere child I was always fond of
experiments of an analytical character. He asked me if I had a doll,
and I suppose he referred to the old lay-figure that I was wont to
sketch before I took to studying from the nude. And now you will ask,
why I am writing to you, when both you and I are so busy--when we are
both preparing for matriculation? When we have so little spare time at
our disposal?
I will tell you. The fact is, he accuses me of ignorance in the
biographical section of my studies. He gave me the history of a
gentleman who used a blue dye for his moustache and murdered his wives
with impunity. Then he related the adventures of a lady who slept for
a hundred years from the wound of a spinning needle. I had to confess
(although a constant reader of the _Lancet_) I had never heard of the
case before. Then he recounted the adventures of a traveller who seems
to have had a life of considerable interest. This person obtained
quite a number of diamonds, with the assistance of a huge bird called
a Roc. Then he had much to say about a dwarf who defeated (in really
gallant style) several men of abnormally large stature. He laughed
when I had to confess that I had never heard of these people before.
He gave me their names. The wife-slaughterer was called _Bluebeard_;
the lady who slumbered for a hundred years, _The Sleeping Beauty_ (I
suppose she preferred to keep her anonymity); the traveller's name was
_Sindbad_, and the dwarf was _Jack the Giant-Killer_. Have you heard
of any of these people?
Your affectionate Cousin, MARY.