英文版：
Once when I was six years old， I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle, called True Stories. It showed a boa constrictor swallowing a wild beast.
Here is a copy of the drawing.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this:
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.
But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.
中文版：
我六岁那年曾在一本关于丛林的书上看到过一幅绝妙的图画，名为 《真实故事》 。那幅画描绘了一条巨蟒，吞下了一只野兽。 下面是那张图画的复制品：
书里说： “巨蟒会把它的猎物整个全部吞下，而不需要先将其咬碎。吞下后，蟒蛇便不能再动弹，得休息六个月来进行消化。”
对丛林中的那些冒险事迹我深思熟虑之后，就开始用彩色铅笔画画，然后我终于完成了第一幅图画，我的《图画一号》 . 它看起来大概是这个样子：
我把作品展示给成年人们看，还问他们，看到这张画有没有感到害怕？
但他们回答说： “害怕什么？又不是帽子。”
我的画可不是一幅帽子的画。 它是一幅描绘巨蟒吞食大象的图画。
