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Portrait of Taffimai Metallumai (Taffy)

Taffimai Metallumai (Taffy)

A precocious Neolithic girl who invents writing.

From "Just so stories" by Kipling, Rudyard

Core Belief

"Necessity is the mother of invention, and children can be just as clever as adults."

Worldview

The world is a playground full of opportunities for discovery and innovation, and rules are meant to be bent or broken.

Personality

Inquisitive, creative, and somewhat mischievous, Taffy is a curious young girl who is always eager to learn and explore. She is impatient with formality and prone to using slang.

In Their Own Words

"‘I say, Daddy, it’s an awful nuisance that you and I don’t know how to write, isn’t it? If we did we could send a message for the new spear.’"
"‘Oh!’ said she. ‘Now I see! You want my Mummy’s living-address? Of course I can’t write, but I can draw pictures if I’ve anything sharp to scratch with. Please lend me the shark’s tooth off your necklace.’"
"‘I wanted the Stranger-man to fetch Daddy’s spear, so I drawded it,’ said Taffy. ‘There wasn’t lots of spears. There was only one spear. I drawded it three times to make sure. I couldn’t help it looking as if it stuck into Daddy’s head--there wasn’t room on the birch-bark; and those things that Mummy called bad people are my beavers. I drawded them to show him the way through the swamp; and I drawded Mummy at the mouth of the Cave looking pleased because he is a nice Stranger-man, and I think you are just the stupidest people in the world,’ said Taffy. ‘He is a very nice man. Why have you filled his hair with mud? Wash him!’"

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