The Twits. Roald Dahl. POOTLED.epub

Published 1979.



The Twits is a humorous children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was written in 1979, and first published in 1980. The Twits was adapted for the stage in 2007.

The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl's desire to "do something against beards", because he had an acute hatred of them. The first sentence of the story is, "What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!"



A hideous, vindictive, spiteful couple known as the Twits live together in a brick house without windows. They continuously play practical jokes on each other out of hatred for one another. They also keep a family of pet monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps. The Twits, who are retired circus trainers, are trying to form the first up-side-down monkey circus, leaving the monkeys to stand on their heads for hours on end. If they don't do what Mr. Twit says, Mrs. Twit beats them with her cane. Mr. Twit also coats tree limbs with a strong sticky glue in hopes of catching birds which Mrs. Twit makes into a bird pie. The monkeys try to warn the birds, but since the monkeys speak in an African language, the English birds cannot understand them, so the poor birds wind up boiling in Mrs. Twit's pie. One week, the Roly-Poly bird flies in from Africa to visit the monkeys, and acting as an interpreter of languages, keeps the birds from sitting on any place where Mr. Twit spreads the glue. Mr. Twit tries several times to catch the birds, spreading the glue on an increasing amount of perches, but the Roly-poly bird changes his warning to reflect the new traps. Tired of chasing the birds, the Twits decide to buy guns to kill the birds. The Muggle-Wumps, tired of being forced to stand on their heads, with the help of the birds, use Mr. Twit's powerful glue to attach the couple's furniture to their ceiling while they are away to trick them into thinking that they are upside-down and that their ceiling is actually their floor. The birds also smear glue on the Twit's heads, and the glue permanently affixes them to the ground so that they catch the "Terrible Shrinks" (the disease that Mr. Twit had convinced Mrs. Twit that she had earlier in the book), resulting in them shrinking away into nothing, leaving the Muggle-Wumps free to escape.



Roald Dahl (/ˈroʊ.ɑːl ˈdɑːl/; Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɾuːɑl dɑl]; 13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide.



Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults and he became one of the world's best-selling authors. He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the British Book Awards' Children's Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".



Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic content, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. His books champion the kind-hearted, and feature an underlying warm sentiment. Dahl's works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George's Marvellous Medicine. His adult works include Tales of the Unexpected.



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