章节正文
asleep. Seeing this, the Canary tucked her head under
her wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and the Brown
Bear did not disturb them until morning came and it was
broad daylight.
"I'm hungry," said Woot, when he wakened, for his
knapsack of food had been left behind at the castle.
"Then let us travel on until we can find something
for you to eat," returned the Scarecrow Bear.
"There is no use in your lugging my cage any
farther," declared the Canary. "Let me out, and throw
the cage away. Then I can fly with you and find my own
breakfast of seeds. Also I can search for water, and
tell you where to find it."
So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the golden
cage and the Canary hopped out. At first she flew high
in the air and made great circles overhead, but after a
time she returned and perched beside them.
"At the east in the direction we were following,"
announced the Canary, "there is a fine forest, with a
brook running through it. In the forest there may be
fruits or nuts growing, or berry bushes at its edge, so
let us go that way."
They agreed to this and promptly set off, this time
moving more deliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guided
their way during the night, now found the sunshine very
trying to his big eyes, so he shut them tight and
perched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, which
carried the Owl's weight with ease. The Canary
sometimes perched upon the Green Monkey's shoulder and
sometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and in this
manner they traveled in good spirits across that valley
and into the next one to the east of it.
This they found to be an immense hollow, shaped like
a saucer, and on its farther edge appeared the forest
which Polychrome had seen from the sky.
"Come to think of it," said the Tin Owl, waking up
and blinking comically at his friends, "there's no
object, now, in our traveling to the Munchkin Country.
My idea in going there was to marry Nimmie Amee, but
however much the Munchkin girl may have loved a Tin
Woodman, I cannot reasonably expect her to marry a Tin
Owl."
"There is some truth in that, my friend," remarked
the Brown Bear. "And to think that I, who was
considered the handsomest Scarecrow in the world, am
now condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast, whose
only redeeming feature is that he is stuffed with
straw!"
"Consider my case, please," said Woot. "The cruel
Giantess has made a Monkey of a Boy, and that is the
most dreadful deed of all!"
"Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear,
eyeing Woot critically. "I have never seen a pea-green
monkey before, and it strikes me you are quite
gorgeous."
"It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary,
fluttering from one to another with a free and graceful
motion, "but I long to enjoy my own shape a gam."
"As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I have
ever seen -- except, of course, Ozma," said the Tin
Owl; "so the Giantess did well to transform you into
the loveliest of all birds, if you were to be
transformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy,
and have a fairy wisdom: do you think we shall be able
to break these enchantments?"
"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied the
Canary, again perching on the Green Monkey's shoulder
and turning one bright eye thoughtfully toward her
questioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that none of her
transformations can ever be changed, even by herself,
but I believe that if we could get to Glinda the Good
Sorceress, she might find a way to restore us to our
natural shapes. Glinda, as you know, is the most
powerful Sorceress in the world, and there are few
things she cannot do if she tries."
"In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let us
return southward and try to get to Glinda's castle. It
lies in the Quadling Country, you know, so it is a good
way from here."
"First, however, let us visit the forest and search
for something to eat," pleaded Woot. So they continued
on to the edge of the forest, which consisted of many
tall and beautiful trees. They discovered no fruit
trees, at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into the
forest depths and the others followed close behind him.
They were traveling quietly along, under the shade of
the trees, when suddenly an enormous jaguar leaped upon
them from a limb and with one blow of his paw sent the
little Brown Bear tumbling over and over until he was
stopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm.
The Tin Owl shrieked: "Hoot -- hoot!" and flew straight
up to the branch of a tall tree, although he could
scarcely see where he was going. The Canary swiftly
darted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkey
sprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a high
perch of safety.
The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded
the little Brown Bear, which slowly got upon its feet
and asked reproachfully:
"For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying to
do?"
"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar
with a snarl, "and I believe I've succeeded. You ought
to make a delicious meal -- unless you happen to be old
and tough."
"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast,"
said the Bear, "for I'm only a skin stuffed with straw,
and therefore not fit to eat."
"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice;
"then you must be a magic Bear, or enchanted, and I
must seek my breakfast from among your companions."
With this he raised his lean head to look up at the
Tin Owl and the Canary and the Monkey, and he lashed
his tail upon the ground and growled as fiercely as any
jaguar could.
"My friends are enchanted, also," said the little
Brown Bear.
"All of them?" asked the Jaguar.
"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat
him. The Canary is a fairy -- Polychrome, the Daughter
of the Rainbow -- and you never could catch her because
she can easily fly out of your reach."
"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked the
Jaguar hungrily. "He is neither made of tin nor stuffed
with straw, nor can he fly. I'm pretty good at climbing
trees, myself, so I think I'll capture the Monkey and
eat him for my breakfast."
Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch
on the tree, became much frightened, for he knew the
nature of jaguars and realized they could climb trees
and leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats. So
he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast
as he could go, catching at a branch with his long
monkey arms and swinging his green body through space
to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree, and so
on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes
fixed steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got
his feet tangled in the Lace Apron, which he was still
wearing, and that tripped him in his flight and made
him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed one
huge paw upon him and said grimly:
I've got you, now!"
The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Woot
remember its magic powers, and in his terror he cried
out: "Open!" without stopping to consider how this
command might save him. But, at the word, the earth
opened at the exact spot where he lay under the
Jaguar's paw, and his body sank downward, the earth
closing over it again. The last thing Woot the Monkey
saw, as he glanced upward, was the Jaguar peering into
the hole in astonishment.
"He's gone!" cried the beast, with a long-drawn sigh
of disappointment; "he's gone, and now I shall have no
breakfast."
The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him,
and the little Brown Bear came trotting up and asked:
"Where is the monkey? Have you eaten him so quickly?"
"No, indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappeared
into the earth before I could take one bite of him!"
And now the Canary perched upon a stump, a little way
from the forest beast, and said:
"I am glad our friend has escaped you; but, as it is
natural for a hungry beast to wish his breakfast, I
will try to give you one."
"Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather small
for a full meal, but it's kind of you to sacrifice
yourself to my appetite."
"Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," said
the Canary, "but as I am a fairy I know something of
magic, and though I am now transformed into a bird's
shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast that will
satisfy you."
"If you can work magic, why don't you break the
enchantment you are under and return to your proper
form?" inquired the beast doubtingly.
"I haven't the power to do that," answered the
Canary, "for Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess who transformed
me, used a peculiar form of yookoohoo magic that is
unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of my
own fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you a
breakfast."
"Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good, or
relieve the pangs of hunger I now suffer?" asked the
Jaguar.
"I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?"
"Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast.
"Rabbits! No, indeed. I'd not allow you to eat the
dear little things," declared Polychrome the Canary.
"Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded the
Jaguar.
"Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary,
indignantly. "The squirrels are my especial friends."
"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin
one, you know, but a real meat owl."
"Neither beast nor bird shall you have," said
Polychrome in a positive voice.
"Give me a fish, then; there's a river a little way
off," proposed the Jaguar.
"No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you,"
returned the Canary.
"Then what in the world do you expect me to
her wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and the Brown
Bear did not disturb them until morning came and it was
broad daylight.
"I'm hungry," said Woot, when he wakened, for his
knapsack of food had been left behind at the castle.
"Then let us travel on until we can find something
for you to eat," returned the Scarecrow Bear.
"There is no use in your lugging my cage any
farther," declared the Canary. "Let me out, and throw
the cage away. Then I can fly with you and find my own
breakfast of seeds. Also I can search for water, and
tell you where to find it."
So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the golden
cage and the Canary hopped out. At first she flew high
in the air and made great circles overhead, but after a
time she returned and perched beside them.
"At the east in the direction we were following,"
announced the Canary, "there is a fine forest, with a
brook running through it. In the forest there may be
fruits or nuts growing, or berry bushes at its edge, so
let us go that way."
They agreed to this and promptly set off, this time
moving more deliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guided
their way during the night, now found the sunshine very
trying to his big eyes, so he shut them tight and
perched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, which
carried the Owl's weight with ease. The Canary
sometimes perched upon the Green Monkey's shoulder and
sometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and in this
manner they traveled in good spirits across that valley
and into the next one to the east of it.
This they found to be an immense hollow, shaped like
a saucer, and on its farther edge appeared the forest
which Polychrome had seen from the sky.
"Come to think of it," said the Tin Owl, waking up
and blinking comically at his friends, "there's no
object, now, in our traveling to the Munchkin Country.
My idea in going there was to marry Nimmie Amee, but
however much the Munchkin girl may have loved a Tin
Woodman, I cannot reasonably expect her to marry a Tin
Owl."
"There is some truth in that, my friend," remarked
the Brown Bear. "And to think that I, who was
considered the handsomest Scarecrow in the world, am
now condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast, whose
only redeeming feature is that he is stuffed with
straw!"
"Consider my case, please," said Woot. "The cruel
Giantess has made a Monkey of a Boy, and that is the
most dreadful deed of all!"
"Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear,
eyeing Woot critically. "I have never seen a pea-green
monkey before, and it strikes me you are quite
gorgeous."
"It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary,
fluttering from one to another with a free and graceful
motion, "but I long to enjoy my own shape a gam."
"As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I have
ever seen -- except, of course, Ozma," said the Tin
Owl; "so the Giantess did well to transform you into
the loveliest of all birds, if you were to be
transformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy,
and have a fairy wisdom: do you think we shall be able
to break these enchantments?"
"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied the
Canary, again perching on the Green Monkey's shoulder
and turning one bright eye thoughtfully toward her
questioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that none of her
transformations can ever be changed, even by herself,
but I believe that if we could get to Glinda the Good
Sorceress, she might find a way to restore us to our
natural shapes. Glinda, as you know, is the most
powerful Sorceress in the world, and there are few
things she cannot do if she tries."
"In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let us
return southward and try to get to Glinda's castle. It
lies in the Quadling Country, you know, so it is a good
way from here."
"First, however, let us visit the forest and search
for something to eat," pleaded Woot. So they continued
on to the edge of the forest, which consisted of many
tall and beautiful trees. They discovered no fruit
trees, at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into the
forest depths and the others followed close behind him.
They were traveling quietly along, under the shade of
the trees, when suddenly an enormous jaguar leaped upon
them from a limb and with one blow of his paw sent the
little Brown Bear tumbling over and over until he was
stopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm.
The Tin Owl shrieked: "Hoot -- hoot!" and flew straight
up to the branch of a tall tree, although he could
scarcely see where he was going. The Canary swiftly
darted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkey
sprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a high
perch of safety.
The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded
the little Brown Bear, which slowly got upon its feet
and asked reproachfully:
"For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying to
do?"
"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar
with a snarl, "and I believe I've succeeded. You ought
to make a delicious meal -- unless you happen to be old
and tough."
"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast,"
said the Bear, "for I'm only a skin stuffed with straw,
and therefore not fit to eat."
"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice;
"then you must be a magic Bear, or enchanted, and I
must seek my breakfast from among your companions."
With this he raised his lean head to look up at the
Tin Owl and the Canary and the Monkey, and he lashed
his tail upon the ground and growled as fiercely as any
jaguar could.
"My friends are enchanted, also," said the little
Brown Bear.
"All of them?" asked the Jaguar.
"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat
him. The Canary is a fairy -- Polychrome, the Daughter
of the Rainbow -- and you never could catch her because
she can easily fly out of your reach."
"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked the
Jaguar hungrily. "He is neither made of tin nor stuffed
with straw, nor can he fly. I'm pretty good at climbing
trees, myself, so I think I'll capture the Monkey and
eat him for my breakfast."
Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch
on the tree, became much frightened, for he knew the
nature of jaguars and realized they could climb trees
and leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats. So
he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast
as he could go, catching at a branch with his long
monkey arms and swinging his green body through space
to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree, and so
on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes
fixed steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got
his feet tangled in the Lace Apron, which he was still
wearing, and that tripped him in his flight and made
him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed one
huge paw upon him and said grimly:
I've got you, now!"
The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Woot
remember its magic powers, and in his terror he cried
out: "Open!" without stopping to consider how this
command might save him. But, at the word, the earth
opened at the exact spot where he lay under the
Jaguar's paw, and his body sank downward, the earth
closing over it again. The last thing Woot the Monkey
saw, as he glanced upward, was the Jaguar peering into
the hole in astonishment.
"He's gone!" cried the beast, with a long-drawn sigh
of disappointment; "he's gone, and now I shall have no
breakfast."
The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him,
and the little Brown Bear came trotting up and asked:
"Where is the monkey? Have you eaten him so quickly?"
"No, indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappeared
into the earth before I could take one bite of him!"
And now the Canary perched upon a stump, a little way
from the forest beast, and said:
"I am glad our friend has escaped you; but, as it is
natural for a hungry beast to wish his breakfast, I
will try to give you one."
"Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather small
for a full meal, but it's kind of you to sacrifice
yourself to my appetite."
"Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," said
the Canary, "but as I am a fairy I know something of
magic, and though I am now transformed into a bird's
shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast that will
satisfy you."
"If you can work magic, why don't you break the
enchantment you are under and return to your proper
form?" inquired the beast doubtingly.
"I haven't the power to do that," answered the
Canary, "for Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess who transformed
me, used a peculiar form of yookoohoo magic that is
unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of my
own fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you a
breakfast."
"Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good, or
relieve the pangs of hunger I now suffer?" asked the
Jaguar.
"I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?"
"Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast.
"Rabbits! No, indeed. I'd not allow you to eat the
dear little things," declared Polychrome the Canary.
"Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded the
Jaguar.
"Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary,
indignantly. "The squirrels are my especial friends."
"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin
one, you know, but a real meat owl."
"Neither beast nor bird shall you have," said
Polychrome in a positive voice.
"Give me a fish, then; there's a river a little way
off," proposed the Jaguar.
"No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you,"
returned the Canary.
"Then what in the world do you expect me to
- disturb [di´stə:b]
vt.扰乱；使不安；打乱 (初中英语单词) - monkey [´mʌŋki] n.猴子 v.乱弄；胡闹 (初中英语单词)
- overhead [´əuvə,hed] ad.当头 a.在头上的 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- promptly [´prɔmptli] ad.敏捷地；即时地 (初中英语单词)
- sunshine [´sʌnʃain] n.日光，阳光 (初中英语单词)
- immense [i´mens] a.广大的，无限的 (初中英语单词)
- dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)
- maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
- wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词)
- restore [ri´stɔ:] vt.(使)恢复；修复 (初中英语单词)
- enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
- instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)
- delicious [di´liʃəs] a.美味的，可口的 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- fiercely [´fiəsli] ad.凶猛地，残忍地 (初中英语单词)
- capture [´kæptʃə] vt.&n.捕获；俘获；夺取 (初中英语单词)
- neighboring [´neibəriŋ] a.邻近的；接壤的 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- upward [´ʌpwəd] a.&ad.向上(的)；以上 (初中英语单词)
- disappointment [,disə´pɔintmənt] n.失望；挫折 (初中英语单词)
- peculiar [pi´kju:liə] a.特有的；奇异的 (初中英语单词)
- hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- deliberately [di´libərətli] ad.故意地；慎重地 (高中英语单词)
- transform [træns´fɔ:m] v.转化，转变；改造 (高中英语单词)
- thoughtfully [´θɔ:tfuli] ad.深思地；体贴地 (高中英语单词)
- southward [´sauθwəd] a.&n.向南方向(的) (高中英语单词)
- rainbow [´reinbəu] n.彩虹 (高中英语单词)
- hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)
- downward [´daunwəd] a.下降的，向下的 (高中英语单词)
- clatter [´klætə] n.&v.喧嚷；骚动 (高中英语单词)
- deprive [di´praiv] vt.剥夺，使丧失 (高中英语单词)
- positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)
- canary [kə´neəri] n.金丝雀 (英语四级单词)
- traveled [´trævəld] a.见面广的；旅客多的 (英语四级单词)
- saucer [´sɔ:sə] n.茶托；浅碟 (英语四级单词)
- reasonably [´ri:zənəbli] ad.有理地；合理地 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- scamper [´skæmpə] vi.浏览；涉猎 n.蹦跳 (英语四级单词)
- conjure [´kʌndʒə] v.祈求；召(鬼)；变魔术 (英语四级单词)
- especial [i´speʃəl] a.特别的，特殊的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
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