ABSTRACT
So far as I can tell, no cultural critic or tabloid journalist has yet ascribed recent spates of joy-riding to the malign influence of a popular work of children's literature and its off-shoots. I Indeed, although borrowing and driving fast and expensive motor cars has become a more popular pastime, eventually requiring specific legislation to crirninalize this activity,2 parents have continued to permit their children to read and see dramatisations and adaptations of a classic tale3 in which a joy-rider eludes the clutches of the law, aided and abetted by friends and acquaintances. The frequency with which the story has been subjected to new adaptations and continuations can point only to the attraction children and adults alike share in observing the prowess of a single, reckless amphibian.
