Miranda Mary Piker: Dahl's Lost Poem
A poem called "Miranda Mary Piker" was left out of the original edition of Roald Dahl's 1964 classic, *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*. Read it here!
Jan 25, 2016
Roald Dahl, the beloved children's author known for the delicate balance of whimsy and wickedness in his tales, was prolific when it came to writing letters to teachers and students. At the 2015 ROADSHOW event in Little Rock, a former children's librarian brought in an archive of letters from the author, one of which featured a draft of a poem called "Miranda Mary Piker" that was excluded from the original edition of his 1964 classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Collectibles expert James Supp explained that Dahl had developed numerous characters for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that were ultimately edited out, including the particularly troublesome child this poem describes. It is a cautionary stanza about Miranda Mary Piker — in the Oompa Loompas' familiar cadence — with amusingly ominous couplets like "So we said why don't we fix her/In the peanut-brittle mixer."
The poem was eventually published for the first time in The Times of London in 2005 and included in The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets, which features an entire deleted chapter about Miranda from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, later published as a short story called "Spotty Powder."
Below, you can compare the version of the poem as it was published in the book with the very similar text that was included in the letter featured on ROADSHOW. The full archive of letters including this poem, Supp said, would bring $2,500 to $3,500 at auction.
Miranda Mary Piker (as featured on ROADSHOW)
"Oh Miranda Mary Piker How could anybody like her, Such a rude and disobedient little kid! So we said why don't we fix her In the peanut-brittle mixer, Then we're sure to like her better than we did. Soon this child who is so vicious Will have gotten quite delicious, And her father will have surely understood That instead of saying, 'Miranda, Oh, the beast, I cannot stand her!' He'll be saying, 'Oh, how crunchy and how good!'"
Miranda Mary Piker (As published)
"Oh, Miranda Mary Piker, How could anybody like her, Such a rude and disobedient little kid, So we said why don't we fix her In the Peanut-Brittle Mixer, Then we're sure to like her better than we did. Soon this girl who was so vicious Will have gotten quite delicious And her parents will have surely understood That instead of saying, 'Miranda, 'Oh the beast we cannot stand her!' They'll be saying, 'Oh, how tasty and how good!'"
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Dylan Hayley Leavitt was ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's digital associate producer from 2012 to 2017.
