3 JUNE 1960, Page 13

LITTLE BLACK QUIBBA

SIR,—I must write in defence of The Story of Little Black Quibba, so maligned by Leslie Adrian last week. I wonder if he/she is a parent and if he/she knows that the author, Helen Bannerman, wrote The Story of Little Black Quihba, and the rest of the series, to amuse her own children on long Indian train journeys? For the last few months our own three-year-old has demanded the two books men- tioned by Leslie Adrian, as her bed-time story with-

out ill-effects. The good are always rewarded and the, wicked punished—where is the moral confusion? To alter Leslie Adrian's words, it is worth taking an extremely thorough look at your child before giving it this sort of story.—Yours faithfully,