William Joyce au National Book Festival de 2011 (en anglais)
I will watch over the children of Earth,
Guide them safely from ways of harm,
Keep happy their hearts, brave their souls, and rosy their cheeks.
I will guard with my life their hopes and dreams,
For they are all that I have, all that I am,
And all that I will ever be.
"Morris Lessmore aimait les mots. Les histoires. Les livres. Page après page, il remplissait scrupuleusement le livre de sa vie."
Of course you know the Guardians of Childhood. You’ve known them since before you can remember, and you’ll know them till your memories are like twilight.
Morris tried to keep the books in some sort of order, but they always mixed themselves up. The tragedies needed cheering up and would visit with the comedies. The encyclopedias, weary of facts, would relax with the comic books and fictions. All in all it was an agreeabl jumble.
But the mermaids knew a way to help their friend. They came from the sea with a sweet lullaby. « Dreams, sweet dreams, be in the sand you hold. They banish all the darkling fears and fill the night with gold »
"Morris Lessmore se courbait et se ridait. Les livres, eux, ne changeaient pas. Leurs histoires restaient identiques."
Watch over our child. Guide him safely from the ways of harm.
Keep happy his heart, brave his soul, and rosy his cheeks.
Guard with your life his hopes and dreams,
For he is all that we have, all that we are,
And all that we will ever be.
Morris s'efforçait de maintenir un certain ordre, cependant les livres finissaient toujours par se mélanger. Éprouvant le besoin de se réjouir, les tragédies rendaient visite aux comédies. Lassées par les faits, les encyclopédies aimaient à se détendre auprès des bandes dessinées ou des romans. Somme toute, c'était là un agréable bazar.
As they came, he grabbed each nightmare and said, « You are not real. You are not true. You are nothing. »
A pas lents, Morris pénétra dans une salle
aussi accueillante que mystérieuse.
Des milliers de pages y palpitaient,
et le doux murmure d'innombrables
histoires différentes lui parvenait
comme autant d'invitations à l'aventure.