"Next to his house was a piece of broken board which had: "TRESPASSERS W…" on it. When Christopher Robin asked the Piglet what it meant, he said it was his grandfather's name, and had been in the family for a long time. Christopher Robin said you couldn't be called Trespassers W, and Piglet said yes, you could, because his grandfather was, and it was short for Trespassers Will, which was short for Trespassers William. And his grandfather had had two names in case he lost one. Trespassers after an uncle, and William after Trespassers."

Winnie the Pooh


 This one small paragraph from a children's book, epitomizes the beauty of using found objects, their strength and their power.

When Piglet so adamantly maintained that the found remains of a 'Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted' sign next to his house had once belonged to his grandfather, he ascribed this found object with a complex invented past with which to convince both himself and his audience.

At first it is just Piglet's innocence and the humour that strikes you. But this really belies the hidden sadness, the sadness of a small knitted piglet who feels so alone and insignificant in the Hundred Acre Wood, that he feels to combat those feelings, he has to create an entire bogus ancestry to give him credence and a feeling of belonging and a reason to be taken seriously among his peers.

I am not that little knitted piglet. I am merely a kindred spirit of his.