Translated material
Preved, bear!
“Every life begins at birth. Any - just not mine. In any case, I don’t remember how I was born. Perhaps - purely theoretically - I came into the world from the foam of the sea or grew up in a shell like a pearl. Or maybe it fell out of the sky during a strong starfall. Only one thing is known for certain - one fine day I suddenly found myself in the middle of the ocean.”
With this pitiful monologue begins a book about the adventures of an unknown animal named Blue Bear , whose fate has certain similarities with the biography of the gray Mouse Tarasik, who set sail on a mattress. In fact, the Blue Bear family tree is no secret. Previously, in Germany there was such a popular cartoon character who was drawn in magazines and newspapers. The writer Walter Morse saved this animal from death and oblivion and came up with thirteen and a half new lives for it (the last one was reserved for legal retirement and rest after deadly adventures). At first, the Blue Bear floats alone in his walnut shell. Then, drifting along the Gulf of Zamonia, he is captured by dwarf pirates and taken care of until he grows into a serious beast. Two talkative chatter waves teach the Blue Bear to speak, and the dinosaur Max saves him from a voracious island predator. Then the Bear goes to the night academy and there he learns the necessary captain's wisdom. In addition, all of the bear's journeys are accompanied by pictures, maps and detailed scientific comments, which are taken from the "Lexicon of Explainable Wonders, Mysteries and Phenomena" compiled by Professor Abdul Filinczyk.
In general, a writer named Morse used a lot of literary sources in his book about the Blue Bear - from Lucian and Swift to Erich Raspe and JK Rowling. The bear lies worse than Munchausen, is captured by Lilliputian creatures like Gulliver, fights with gluttonous islands like the character in “True Story,” and then ends up in a wizarding school like the last Harry Potter. But these borrowings do not spoil “Thirteen and a Half Lives” in any way, so in the end no one will be against the Blue Captain living just as long: Walter Morse guaranteed the bear and his fans twenty-seven reincarnations.
Michael Bond. Paddington travels. Translation from English by Alexandra Glebovskaya. -- St. Petersburg. ABC, 2007.
Unlike the Blue Bear, known only in narrow circles, the British Paddington Bear is a real British celebrity. Born in the late 50s, he now competes in popularity with Winnie the Pooh himself, whose portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. Every young passenger, finding himself on the territory of Paddington Station, vigorously turns his head in the hope of finding in the crowd a modest bear in a ridiculous red hat with a sign “Please take care of this bear. Thank you". According to statistics, the toy analogue of this touching animal is the most purchased London souvenir.
Paddington was invented in the late 50s by journalist Michael Bond, who at that moment was renting a room near the aforementioned station and felt “as lonely and helpless in front of the London crowd as this very bear.” It is characteristic that the Paddigton Bear is a real illegal emigrant (of which there are many in London in the area of this station); he voluntarily left Deep Peru after his only relative was sent to a home for elderly bears. In England, the fate of the bear was very successful: the tramp was sheltered by the compassionate Brown family, which its members later regretted more than once.
More than one generation of Englishmen learned political correctness and tolerance from books about the adventures of Paddington Bear. The cult British series was recently translated into Russian. At the end of last year, the first two volumes were published - A Little Bear Called Paddington and The Adventures of Paddington. And only now the third one has been translated - “Paddington Travels”, dedicated specifically to the summer holidays and extreme off-season entertainment. Paddington first goes to France, where he wins a stage of the Tour de France cycling race. And then he hitchhikes across the ocean straight to Deep Peru, for Aunt Lucy’s anniversary in a home for elderly bears, where he establishes his own rules, resorting to the bearish services of a familiar ghost.
At the first meeting, Paddington Bear introduced himself as follows: “I am a very rare bear. There are very few people like me left.” All that remains is to join in: this specimen is truly extremely rare, be sure to take care of this bear.