Tikumu's letter

Press, 3 May 1977, Page 14

Tikumu's letter

Dear Children, I wonder how many of you are calm sort of people. If you do not become ' flustered in dangerous situations and can balance steadily, who knows, you may become tight-rope walkers when you grow up.

I was looking at a picture of a famous French tight-rope walker of the nineteenth century recently. His name was Blondin and he used to walk along a tight-rope carrying soldiers piggyback. And once he trundled a live lion across the tight-rope in a w'heelbarrow.

However, his most spectacular feats were a series of hair-raising stunts over the Niagara Fails. He crossed and recrossed them many times walking along a narrow rope high above the surging waters to the amazement of onlookers. One slip and he would have fallen to certain death.

Blondin’s acts on the tight-rope over the Niagara Fails included standing on his head, crossing in a sack blindfold, and walking shackled like a Siberian slave.

In spite of the danger, he was always calm — in fact not only calm, but hungry. For on one occasion he paused halfway across the rope, and sat down and cooked himself an omelette. He ate it too. Then he stood up and continued his journey across the tight-rope, this time on stilts.

Blondin said that there was no secret in his skill. His success lay in his complete confidence and in his perfect balance. However, I myself prefer both feet on solid ground. Do you? Tikumu