Imaginary land. From the age of about 4 years to about the age of 7, D was greatly interested in an imaginary land which he called "Borningtown." He spent many hours peopling Borningtown, laying out roads, drawing maps of its terrain, composing and recording its language (Bornish), and writing its history and literature. He composed a lengthy dictionary—scores of pages—of the Bornish language. The origin of the words "Borningtown" and "Bornish" is not known. It seems possible that D's imaginary land may have arisen out of the mystery of being born.
Gift for music. D has had piano lessons for several years, and he has displayed remarkable ability to deal with the mathematical aspects of music. A sample is shown of his musical composition, illustrating his understanding of musical symbols and his ability to interpret through this medium. He composed music before he had any instruction in playing musical instruments. He read certain booklets which came with Ampico and decided to compose. He can compose music which he cannot himself play.
FIG 4. PART OF A COMPOSITION BY D AT AGE 8 YEARS 7 MONTHS.
[The composition is titled "Op. 1, Dog's Dance," in A Major, with a "Tempo 75," "Moderato," in 8/8 time. The composition is marked by 16th-note flourishes, eighth-note triplets, each stave occasionally briefly changing from their original clef to opposite clef (e.g., from treble to bass clef or vice versa) and back again, a dedication ("Dedicaded [sic] to 'Brutus' my aunt's dog,"), and the following directions to the pianist, mirroring the dog's activity, appearing under the bass clef: "Asleep" (1st measure), "Bell rings" (2nd measure), "Gets up" and "barks" (3rd measure) "scampers" (4th measure), "scampers back" (6th measure), "rests" (measures 7 & 8), "Hears footsteps" (9th measure), "trots" (end of 10th measure), "Ball is thrown" and "Scampers after it" (11th measure), "Ball stops" (13th measure), "He foosle-woosles it" (14th measure), "Trots back" and "Drops it" (15th measure), "Regrets it" and "Trots" (16th measure), and "Drops it" (17th measure). There are very few errors in notation for a hand-written composition of this complexity; the errors that are made appear to be simple oversights, such as using quarter-notes in a triplet instead of eighth notes, using a half note when only a quarter beat remains in the measure, and the like.]
Gifts for form and color in drawing. D's talent for color, for drawing and design, has been marked from the time he could wield a pencil. His drawings, paintings, and designs would fill a book by themselves. A sample of his original work at the age of 10 years is reproduced.
FIG. 5. DRAWN BY D AT AGE 9 YEARS 9 MONTHS.
[This is a drawing of a small bird. The beak is somewhat elongated, the legs straight, and the eye quite large, appearing similar to simplified / stylized animals on a crest.]
This conventionalized bird is a fragment from his decoration for the chest in which he kept his "scientific work" at that time. This oblong chest he painted Chinese red, with three figures on the front. These were the conventionalized bird here shown, a conventionalized nest with eggs, and a conventionalized butterfly— all painted in striking combinations of yellow, blue, green, and red.
D loves color, and one of his favorite playthings has been a sample folder of silk buttonhole twists of three hundred shades. Between the ages of 8 and 9 years he would go over and over these, classifying the colors in various ways, scoring them for beauty, and renaming them to satisfy his appreciation of them. Some of these names will give an idea of his appreciation:
spotted pale dark darking green darkling green regular green shame blue paper white spoiled pink apron blue soft light pink beau yellow meadow beauty pink visitor's green cat black alien white royalest red feeling blue