The Paper's reporter Cheng Qianqian compiled
On the eve of Christmas, J.K. Rowling has launched a heart-warming and engaging new book.
"Christmas Piggy"
J.K. Rowling's The Christmas Pig tells the story of a boy named Jack who loses his beloved toy, the Dürr Pig (DP). It's a little toy pig made of soft towel-like material with shiny black plastic eyes that Jack has loved since he was a child.
But Christmas Eve is a night of wonders and failures, a night when everything can survive — even toys. So, when Jack gets an alternative piglet, the Christmas Piglet (CP for short), the adventure really begins.
The Christmas Piglet was published in the UK on 12 October. On the occasion of the publication of the new book, J.K. Rowling was interviewed by the British Daily Mail and read excerpts from her new book. In this exclusive excerpt, the Daily Mail reveals some of the book's dazzling illustrations by popular artist Jim Field.
Rowling revealed that the holiday story was inspired by her son, David, when he was three years old and "hanging out" in a cupboard when he accidentally discovered a replacement for his favorite pig toy.
Here's an interview J.K. Rowling gave to the Daily Mail:
Rowling reads excerpts from "The Little Pig of Christmas."
Q: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind this story? What inspired you to create The Little Pig of Christmas?
Rowling: Although the story is fictional, the initial inspiration came from a real toy, or rather, a pair of toys.
My son David's favorite toy as a child, which he couldn't sleep without, was a pig, like the pig in the story, made of soft towel material and filled with beans (although the real-life toy is not called the Dole pig, this is my invention).
David likes to hide the pig in all sorts of places, so when we try to find the pig, we sometimes postpone bedtime. At one point, I was very worried that David would lose his pig, so just in case, I bought a replica.
One day, three-year-old David rummaged through the cupboard and stumbled upon the pig that had replaced it, declared it to be his brother in the original piglet, and left it behind, so they were both still with us.
The story was inspired by my fear that David might lose his beloved toy piglet forever. Gradually, I became interested in what it meant to be an alternative toy. Because I know it can never be exactly the original toy, it has many connections and memories. Slowly, the Lost Lands began to take shape.
Q: Did you have a cherished toy when you were a kid?
Rowling: My "Door Pig" is a big, blue-eyed, pink-and-white teddy bear that my grandparents bought for me. I named him Henry, from a train in Locomotive Thomas. It's still with me now, and in some places it's bald because I liked to pluck its fur when I was very young.
Q: Where did you write this story?
Rowling: In the writing room in my garden. But I remember I drew a map of the Lost Lands while we were on vacation as a family. My kids played on the beach while I curled up under umbrellas, drawing maps and thinking about the world's back-up questions.
Q: How is it different from the idea for the Harry Potter series? Is there magic in "The Little Piggy"?
Rowling: Before I started writing The Little Piggy, I knew what to expect, where to do it, and how to do it.
"Christmas Piglet" is a magical story, but very different from Harry Potter. You'll enter a world that operates according to your own unique laws of magic, with magic on Christmas Eve, but no wands and wizards.
Q: If you were asked to describe the character of Jack in three words, what words would you use?
Rowling: Jack is brave, loving, and a little confused, and even though he found himself in his adventures with the Christmas Piggy, I would describe CP in exactly the same way.
Q: Have you ever lost anything? What's the worst thing you've ever lost?
Rowling: I throw things around a lot, and that's one of the things that annoys me the most. The worst thing I've ever lost was my mother's engagement ring, and I'm still sad to think about it now.
Q: Why do you think beloved toys and objects are so important to children (and adults)?
Rowling: Psychologists refer to these precious toys as "transitional objects" that can soothe children and act as comforting stand-ins for parents when needed. But this is a fairly clinical way of looking at it.
I think they're given some kind of magic. They may have concrete forms, but we recast them in our own image, giving them our own characteristics and ideal personality.
We take care of them, and they take care of us. This special relationship is exactly what I explored in "The Little Pig of Christmas."
Illustration of "Christmas Piglet"
So now, let's enter her magical world with Rowling:
With the advent of the word "lost," everything under Jack's feet disappeared. He was falling—or rather, slowly sinking down—through what should have been the floor.
He seemed to be trapped in a thick substance, neither feeling nor seeing. The lights in the trees disappeared, and it was pitch black all around.
"Christmas Piggy?" Jack cried out in panic.
"Here I am," the voice of the Christmas piglet came from the darkness, "don't worry! That's how you get into the Lost Lands! There will be light soon! ”
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Jack saw the Christmas pig again. Like Jack, it's floating downwards.
The environment around them grew brighter and brighter until Jack realized that they were all sinking in their own golden pillars of light. There were two round holes in the wooden ceiling above them, and Jack thought it must be the floor of the world they had left—his world, where his mother lived, where everything he knew existed.
They sank, sank, sank, and now Jack noticed that he and the Christmas pig were no longer the only beings. There are thousands of people. In weightlessness, Jack was able to writhe and spin, and he saw more of it sinking.
The closest thing to Jack was a teaspoon, a bright red Christmas decoration, a dog whistling, a pair of dentures, a glove puppet, shiny coins, a long string of wire, a camera, a screwdriver, a ticket, a pair of sunglasses, a sock, a teddy bear and a reindeer wrapped up.
"You think it's impossible, don't you?" Wrapper shouted at Jack. The reindeer blinked under the wrapper and said, "She lost me for the third time tonight!" I rolled under the radiator... She panicked... As usual, she left the wrapping paper too late! ”
Before the roll of paper could speak, she changed direction and began to walk up, not down, toward the hole in the ceiling. As she stood up from Jack's sight, Wrapper shouted, "Yeah, she found me!" Good luck! Hope you can get back to it soon!"
Jack didn't answer because he was stunned by everything that was happening around him, especially the floor he could see below.
At first, he thought he was seeing a carpet of different colors, but when he looked down, he realized that there were countless things on the carpet.
He scanned the floor in fear, looking for the owner, but he didn't know what the owner looked like, and he didn't know if he was there.
The deeper Jack sank, the louder it became. Something on the floor made a series of sounds—creaking, clicking, clanging, salad salad. The sound was almost deafening.
As his surroundings grew brighter, Jack realized that he was in a huge warehouse-like building with very high brick walls and many holes in the wooden ceiling.
The things that had fallen to the ground—rubber balls, diaries, paper clips, tape measures, cameras, pens, and wallets—were all chattering in their respective circles.
Jack was mesmerized by what he saw and was surprised when he landed. His bare feet touched the warm wooden floor, and the Christmas piglet fell beside him, just down the path between a large pile of keys and umbrellas.
"We need a ticket," said the Christmas piglet briskly, "come on." ”
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Shi Gong