To Bear Or Not To Bear

I have been reading PG Wodehouse since I was a teen, and his books remain an eternal favourite. The layers of comedic complication that the stories have simply overshadow the simple, and sometimes formulaic, plots that they are based on. The principal charm that his work holds is the humour and the wit, often conveyed in a somewhat obtuse language.

Here's an example that I stumbled upon in one of the fan sites. The author had himself used this to highlight how he and Shakespeare treated a similar situation - the predicament of a man who suddenly discovers that something unpleasant (a bear, no less!) is standing behind him.

Here's how Shakespeare treated it -

"... Farewell!
A lullaby too rough. I never saw
The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour!
Well may I get aboard! This is the chase:
I am gone for ever.
(Exit pursued by a bear.)''

And here's the PG Wodehouse version. To the uninitiated (and therefore the unfortunate, in my opinion), Bertie Wooster is a recurring protagonist in many of his stories. He is "wealthy and scatterbrained" and often manages to get into awkward and impossible situations, from which he is rescued by his valet, Jeeves. Now, read on :-)

"Touch of indigestion, Jeeves?''
"No, Sir.''
"Then why is your tummy rumbling?''
"Pardon me, Sir, the noise to which you allude does not emanate from my interior but from that of that animal that has just joined us.''
"Animal? What animal?''
"A bear, Sir. If you will turn your head, you will observe that a bear is standing in your immediate rear inspecting you in a somewhat menacing manner.''

I pivoted the loaf. The honest fellow was perfectly correct. It was a bear. And not a small bear, either. One of the large economy size. Its eye was bleak and it gnashed a tooth or two, and I could see at a g. that it was going to be difficult for me to find a formula.

"Advise me, Jeeves,'' I yipped. "What do I do for the best?''
"I fancy it might be judicious if you were to make an exit, Sir.''
No sooner s. than d. I streaked for the horizon, closely followed across country by the dumb chum. And that, boys and girls, is how your grandfather clipped six seconds off Roger Bannister's mile.

Laughter, as they say, is the best medicine and in that sense Wodehouse's works can be considered to be no less than a veritable pharmacy :-)

PS: I hope I have not infringed upon any copyright by quoting the above!