What I resent the most, however, is the naturalness and panache with which the narrator describes the discovery of the black baby in a package delivered by the mail man and the naming and appropriation of the baby (Jim Knopf) by the white lady Frau Waas who lives there. Jim Knopf is domesticated and regularly washed (although not educated - that would either be too dangerous or no good at all) and is taught the language and the habits of the few inhabitants in Lummerland so that he easily becomes one of them. From then on, his darkness is rarely mentioned and what takes centre stage are the adventures he encounters on his journey with his darkened best friend Lukas the train driver. The story is, in effect, a wonderful travel narrative that awakens the imagination of a child and her/his appetite for adventure and risk-taking. However, dubious and downright harmful representations of the other - Black, Asian - are harmlessly interspersed in the story and this is where the problem lies - the gullible, vulnerable, impressionable child reader absorbs them easily and they float around in the imaginary, and are reinforced in different ways in different picture books that are widely available and are shared and loved and read in the system here (homes, schools, libraries), so that after a few years, the reader can proudly appropriate these 'harmless' references as 'truth' about the peoples described!.
Lucia Vidales Foreign and Familiar
Having stated these reservations, I would still like to quote a beautiful and telling passage from Michael Ende's Jim Knopf Part 1 in which Lukas and Jim arrive in the land of Mandala and are invited by one of the inhabitants (who turns out to be a 1 year old child!) to a meal. Food has long been a motivator to bring cultures together or set them apart. We attach nationalities to food and associate certain ingredients/dishes with certain cultures or countries - Iberian ham to Spain, curry to India, kebap to Turkey and so on. We are also enchanted, disgusted or amused by different specialty dishes in different parts of the world - fried insects, snails and frog legs, dog and other wild animals, alligators, etc. Food is such an intrinsic part of a culture and people and here, in the following passage, we see how familiarity, expectation, fear of the unknown, reciprocal distrust are all nicely packed in the conversation between the inhabitant of Mandala (inviting the foreign guests to a meal) and Lukas the train driver (curious to know what there is to eat):
'Und was darf ich den ehrenwerten Fremdlingen nun zu essen bringen?'
'Ja', meinte Lukas ein wenig ratlos, 'was gibt's denn?'
Der kleine Gastgeber begann eifrig aufzuzählen:
'Vielleicht hundertjährige Eier auf einem zarten Salat aus Eichhörnchenohren? Oder möchtet ihr lieber gezuckerte Regenwürmer in sauerer Sahne? Sehr gut ist auch Baumrindenpüree mit geraspelten Pferdehufen überstreut. Oder hättet ihr gern gesottene Wespennester mit Schlangenhaut in Essig und Öl? Wie wäre es mit Ameisenklößchen auf köstlichem Scheneckenschleim? Sehr empfehlenswert sind auch geröstete Libelleneier in Honig oder zarte Seidenraupen mit weich gekochten Igelstacheln. Vielleicht zieht ihr aber knusprige Heuschreckenbeine mit einem Salat aus pikanten Maikäferfühlern vor?'
After exchanging glances with his travel companion Jim and explaining to their host Ping Pong that they have only just arrived in Mandala and need time to adjust to all those surely delicious delights (squirrel ears, earth worms, mashed tree bark, horse shoes, snail sauce and ant rolls, dragon fly eggs, silk worms, tender hedgehog prickles, beetle antennae or grasshopper legs) Lukas the train driver tries to get Ping Pong to offer him something of comfort and familiarity:
Gibt es denn nicht vielleicht etwas ganz einfaches?, asks Lukas
to which Ping Pong replies, 'Oh doch!...zum Beispiel panierte Pferdeäpfel in Elefanten-Sahne'.
'Ach nein', sagte Jim, 'so was meinen wir nicht. gibt's denn nicht irgendwas Vernünftiges?'
'Irgendwas Vernünftiges?', fragte Ping Pong ratlos.
But then Ping Pong's face lights up and he adds, 'Zum Beispiel Mäuseschwänze und Froshlaichpudding.. das ist das Vernünftigste, was ich kenne'.
But Jim isn't convinced with the exotic offfer and tries again to explain to Ping Pong what he means by a reasonable meal:
'Ich meine zum Beispiel einfach ein großes Butterbrot'.
But Ping Pong returns a confusing look and admits he doesn't know what Butter and Bread is.
Lukas tries again - 'Oder Bratkartoffeln mit Spiegelei'.
But Ping Pong shakes his head. Nope, never heard of potato and eggs!
Lukas goes on - how about a piece of Swiss cheese?, and his mouth is already watering.
Now Ping Pong is appalled - but that's mouldy milk! 'Would you all really want to eat something like that?, he asks, dismayed.
Then Lukas finally remembers that they are in Mandala and in Mandala there is rice. They would love to have some nice plain rice! When Ping Pong hurries to get them their dainty dish, Lukas reminds him- - without beetles or shoe laces if possible!
The little bowls are hurriedly brought out and the next dilemma begins - eating rice with chopsticks! They soon give up and pick up the tiny bowls directly to their mouths - es gab roten Reis, grünen Reis und schwarzen Reis, süßen Reis, scharfen Reis und gesalzenen Reis, Reisbrei, Reisauflauf und Puffreis, blauen Reis, kandierten Reis und vergoldeten Reis.
What an enchanting passage into the world of food and culture. What constitutes a simple dish? A sensible dish? Bread and Butter! Everyone must know about bread and butter or potatoes with eggs! It is in this fascinating world of food where we can reflect our insecurities and fear of the unknown, our narrowness and inhibitions, our taboos and prejudices, our retinence and yes...where we can also find common ground, a space to discover and love, to cross our established boundaries and make the foreign familiar!
