生活，在童書裡

 Puppy And I

I met a Man as I went walking;
We got talking,
Man and I.
'Where are you going to, Man?' I said
  (I said to the Man as he went by).
'Down to the village to get some bread.
  Will you come with me?' 'No, not I.'

I met a Horse as I went walking;
We got talking,
Horse and I.
'Where are you going to, Horse, today?'
  (I said to the Horse as he went by).
'Down to the village to get some hay.
  Will you come with me?' 'No, not I.'

I met a Woman as I went walking;
We got talking,
Woman and I.
'Where are you going to, Woman, so early?'
  (I said to the Woman as he went by).
'Down to the village to get some barley.
  Will you come with me?' 'No, not I.'

I met some Rabbits as I went walking;
We got talking,
Rabbits and I.
'Where are you going in your brown fur coats?'
  (I said to the Rabbits as he went by).
'Down to the village to get some oats.
  Will you come with me?' 'No, not I.'

I met a Puppy as I went walking;
We got talking,
Puppy and I.
'Where are you going this nice fine day?'
  (I said to the Woman as he went by).
'Up in the hills to roll and play.'
  'I'll come with you, Puppy,' said I.

By A.A. Milne.

這首可愛的詩還真是有點長，謝謝你耐心讀完，詩雖然長，不過作者的遣詞用字淺顯易懂。說到A.A. Milne，可能有些人對他不太熟悉，不過，如果提到小熊維尼(Winnie-the-Pooh)，不認識這頭熊的應該沒幾人吧！是的，A.A. Milne就是《小熊維尼》的作者，就如同在《小熊維尼》裡，在這首詩裡Milne仍玩著第一人稱和第二人稱的猜謎遊戲（Who is "I"？），如果有機會再聊聊Milne在維尼熊裡大玩人稱猜謎遊戲：["Who is "I"? & Who is "you?"]。

謮完這首詩後，我馬上連想到Eric Carle的《Where Are You Going? To See My Friend!》( 2003)，以及《Do You Want to Be My Friend?》 (1971) ，故事裡的主人翁都在〝尋找〞：尋找朋友、尋找適合的玩伴。

當下突然很好奇，不知道Eric Carle在創作前，有沒有讀過這首詩。值得另外一提的是：《Where Are You Going? To See My Friend!》是Eric Carle和Kazuo Iwamura東方遇上西方合力下的結晶。

有興趣的人，不妨讀一下這二本繪本，看看和這首詩的感覺是不是有點像！

★請參閱本站關於 毛毛蟲作家 艾瑞克•卡爾〈Eric Carle〉的介紹