This was done by somebody who was barely literate

The latest New Yorker Magazine has an interview with author Daniel Pinkwater regarding the furor over the Pearson test question that has been the subject of a few posts on this blog. The header quote comes directly from Mr. Pinkwater. Apparently the original tale did not include a pineapple at all, but instead had an eggplant as one of the main characters. According to Pinkwater, "If a pineapple were funnier, I would have written a pineapple in the first place.". Read the whole article here.