章节正文
bushes and cactus plants were very prickly and
uncomfortable to the touch, so the Frogman commanded
the Yips to go first and break a path, so that when he
followed them he would not tear his splendid clothes.
Cayke, too, was wearing her best dress, and was
likewise afraid of the thorns and prickers, so she kept
behind the Frogman.
They made rather slow progress and night overtook
them before they were halfway down the mountain side,
so they found a cave in which they sought shelter until
morning. Cayke had brought along a basket full of her
famous cookies, so they all had plenty to eat.
On the second day the Yips began to wish they had not
embarked on this adventure. They grumbled a good deal
at having to cut away the thorns to make the path for
the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, for their own clothing
suffered many tears, while Cayke and the Frogman
traveled safely and in comfort.
"If it is true that anyone came to our country to
steal your diamond dishpan," said one of the Yips to
Cayke, "it must have been a bird, for no person in the
form of a man, woman or child could have climbed
through these bushes and back again."
"And, allowing he could have done so," said another
Yip, "the diamond-studded gold dishpan would not have
repair him for his troubles and his tribulations."
"For my part," remarked a third Yip, "I would rather
go back home and dig and polish some more diamonds, and
mine some more gold, and make you another dishpan, than
be scratched from bead to heel by these dreadful
bushes. Even now, if my mother saw me, she would not
know I am her son."
Gayke paid no heed to these mutterings, nor did the
Frogman. Although their journey was slow it was being
made easy for them by the Yips, so they had nothing to
complain of and no desire to turn back.
Quite near to the bottom of the great hill they came
upon a deep gulf, the sides of which were as smooth as
glass. The gulf extended a long distance -- as far as
they could see, in either direction -- and although it
was not very wide it was far too wide for the Yips to
leap across it. And, should they fall into it, it was
likely they might never get out again.
"Here our journey ends," said the Yips. "We must go
back again."
Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep.
"I shall never find my pretty dishpan again -- and my
heart will be broken!" she sobbed.
The Frogman went to the edge of the gulf and with his
eye carefully measured the distance to the other side.
"Being a frog," said he, "I can leap, as all frogs
do; and, being so big and strong, I am sure I can leap
across this gulf with ease. But the rest of you, not
being frogs, must return the way you came.
"We will do that with pleasure," cried the Yips and
at once they turned and began to climb up the steep
mountain, feeling they had had quite enough of this
unsatisfactory adventure. Cayke the Cookie Cook did not
go with them, however. She sat on a rock and wept and
wailed and was very miserable.
"Well," said the Frogman to her, "I will now bid you
good-bye. If I find your diamond decorated gold dishpan
I will promise to see that it is safely returned to
you."
"But I prefer to find it myself!" she said. "See
here, Frogman, why can't you carry me across the gulf
when you leap it? You are big and strong, while I am
small and thin."
The Frogman gravely thought over this suggestion. It
was a fact that Cayke the Cookie Cook was not a heavy
person. Perhaps he could leap the gulf with her on his
back.
"If you are willing to risk a fall," said he, "I will
make the attempt."
At once she sprang up and grabbed him around his neck
with both her arms. That is, she grabbed him where his
neck ought to be, for the Frogman had no neck at all.
Then he squatted down, as frogs do when they leap, and
with his powerful rear legs he made a tremendous jump.
Over the gulf he sailed, with the Cookie Cook on his
back, and he had leaped so bard -- to make sure of not
falling in that he sailed over a lot of bramble-bushes
that grew on the other side and landed in a clear space
which was so far beyond the gulf that when they looked
back they could not see it at all.
Cayke now got off the Frogman's back and he stood
erect again and carefully brushed the dust from his
velvet coat and rearranged his white satin necktie.
"I had no idea I could leap so far," he said
wonderingly. "leaping is one more accomplishment I can
now add to the long list of deeds I am able to
perform."
"You are certainly fine at leap-frog," said the
Cookie Cook, admiringly; "but, as you say, you are
wonderful in many ways. If we meet with any people down
here I am sure they will consider you the greatest and
grandest of all living creatures."
"Yes," he replied, "I shall probably astonish
strangers, because they have never before had the
pleasure of seeing me. Also they will marvel at my
great learning. Every time I open my mouth, Cayke, I am
liable to say something important.
"That is true," she agreed, "and it is fortunate your
mouth is so very wide and opens so far, for otherwise
all the wisdom might not be able to get out of it."
"Perhaps nature made it wide for that very reason,
said the Frogman. "But come; let us now go on, for it
is getting late and we must find some sort of shelter
before night overtakes us."
Chapter Four
Among the Winkies
The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of
happy and contented people who are ruled by a tin
Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn is a subject of
the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But not all of
the Winkie Country is fully settled. At the east, which
part lies nearest the Emerald City, there are beautiful
farmhouses and roads, but as you travel west you first
come to a branch of the Winkie River, beyond which
there is a rough country where few people live, and
some of these are quite unknown to the rest of the
world. After passing through this rude section of
territory, which no one ever visits, you would come to
still another branch of the Winkie River, after
crossing which you would find another well settled part
of the Winkie Country, extending westward quite to the
Deadly Desert that surrounds all the Land of Oz and
separates that favored fairyland from the more common
outside world. The Winkies who live in this west
section have many tin mines, from which metal they make
a great deal of rich jewelry and other articles, all of
which are highly esteemed in the Land of Oz because tin
is so bright and pretty, and there is not so much of it
as there is of gold and silver.
Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some
till the fields and grow grains for food, and it was at
one of these far west Winkie farms that the Frogman and
Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they had
descended from the mountain of the Yips.
"Goodness me!" cried Nellary, the Winkie wife, when
she saw the strange couple approaching her house. "I
have seen many queer creatures in the Land of Oz, but
none more queer than this giant frog, who dresses like
a man and walks on his hind legs. Come here, Wiljon,"
she called to her husband, who was eating his
breakfast, "and take a look at this astonishing freak."
Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out. He
was still standing in the doorway when the Frogman
approached and said with a haughty croak:
"Tell me, my good man, have you seen a diamond-
studded gold dishpan?"
"No; nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster,"
replied Wiljon, in an equallyhaughty tone.
The Frogman stared at him and said:
"Do not be insolent, fellow!"
"No," added Cayke the Cookie Cook, hastily, "you must
be very polite to the great Frogman, for he is the
wisest creature in all the world."
"Who says that?" inquired Wiljon.
"He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman
nodded and strutted up and down, twirling his gold-
headed cane very gracefully.
"Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is
the wisest creature in the world?" asked Wiljon.
"I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke
the Cookie Cook.
"Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is
supposed to have the finest brains in all Oz. The
Wizard gave them to him, you know."
"Mine grew in my head," said the Frogman pompously,
"so I think they must be better than any wizard brains.
I am so wise that sometimes my wisdom makes my head
ache. I know so much that often I have to forget part
of it, since no one creature, however great, is able to
contain so much knowledge."
"It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom,"
remarked Wiljon reflectively, and eyeing the Frogman
with a doubtful look. "It is my good fortune to know
very little."
"I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan
is," said the Cookie Cook anxiously.
"I do not know even that," returned the Winkie. "We
have trouble enough in keeping track of our own
dishpans, without meddling with the dishpans of
strangers."
Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that
they walk on and seek Cayke's dishpan elsewhere.
Wiljon the Winkie did not seem greatly impressed by the
great Frogman, which seemed to that personage as
strange as it was disappointing; but others in this
unknown land might prove more respectful.
"I'd like to meet that Wizard of Oz," remarked Cayke,
as they walked along a path. "If he could give a
Scarecrow brains he might be able to find my dishpan."
"Poof!" grunted the Frogman scornfully; "I am greater
than any wizard. Depend on me. If your dishpan is
anywhere in the world I am sure to find it."
"If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared
the Cookie Cook in a sorrowful voice.
For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he
asked: "Why do you attach so much importance to a
uncomfortable to the touch, so the Frogman commanded
the Yips to go first and break a path, so that when he
followed them he would not tear his splendid clothes.
Cayke, too, was wearing her best dress, and was
likewise afraid of the thorns and prickers, so she kept
behind the Frogman.
They made rather slow progress and night overtook
them before they were halfway down the mountain side,
so they found a cave in which they sought shelter until
morning. Cayke had brought along a basket full of her
famous cookies, so they all had plenty to eat.
On the second day the Yips began to wish they had not
embarked on this adventure. They grumbled a good deal
at having to cut away the thorns to make the path for
the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, for their own clothing
suffered many tears, while Cayke and the Frogman
traveled safely and in comfort.
"If it is true that anyone came to our country to
steal your diamond dishpan," said one of the Yips to
Cayke, "it must have been a bird, for no person in the
form of a man, woman or child could have climbed
through these bushes and back again."
"And, allowing he could have done so," said another
Yip, "the diamond-studded gold dishpan would not have
repair him for his troubles and his tribulations."
"For my part," remarked a third Yip, "I would rather
go back home and dig and polish some more diamonds, and
mine some more gold, and make you another dishpan, than
be scratched from bead to heel by these dreadful
bushes. Even now, if my mother saw me, she would not
know I am her son."
Gayke paid no heed to these mutterings, nor did the
Frogman. Although their journey was slow it was being
made easy for them by the Yips, so they had nothing to
complain of and no desire to turn back.
Quite near to the bottom of the great hill they came
upon a deep gulf, the sides of which were as smooth as
glass. The gulf extended a long distance -- as far as
they could see, in either direction -- and although it
was not very wide it was far too wide for the Yips to
leap across it. And, should they fall into it, it was
likely they might never get out again.
"Here our journey ends," said the Yips. "We must go
back again."
Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep.
"I shall never find my pretty dishpan again -- and my
heart will be broken!" she sobbed.
The Frogman went to the edge of the gulf and with his
eye carefully measured the distance to the other side.
"Being a frog," said he, "I can leap, as all frogs
do; and, being so big and strong, I am sure I can leap
across this gulf with ease. But the rest of you, not
being frogs, must return the way you came.
"We will do that with pleasure," cried the Yips and
at once they turned and began to climb up the steep
mountain, feeling they had had quite enough of this
unsatisfactory adventure. Cayke the Cookie Cook did not
go with them, however. She sat on a rock and wept and
wailed and was very miserable.
"Well," said the Frogman to her, "I will now bid you
good-bye. If I find your diamond decorated gold dishpan
I will promise to see that it is safely returned to
you."
"But I prefer to find it myself!" she said. "See
here, Frogman, why can't you carry me across the gulf
when you leap it? You are big and strong, while I am
small and thin."
The Frogman gravely thought over this suggestion. It
was a fact that Cayke the Cookie Cook was not a heavy
person. Perhaps he could leap the gulf with her on his
back.
"If you are willing to risk a fall," said he, "I will
make the attempt."
At once she sprang up and grabbed him around his neck
with both her arms. That is, she grabbed him where his
neck ought to be, for the Frogman had no neck at all.
Then he squatted down, as frogs do when they leap, and
with his powerful rear legs he made a tremendous jump.
Over the gulf he sailed, with the Cookie Cook on his
back, and he had leaped so bard -- to make sure of not
falling in that he sailed over a lot of bramble-bushes
that grew on the other side and landed in a clear space
which was so far beyond the gulf that when they looked
back they could not see it at all.
Cayke now got off the Frogman's back and he stood
erect again and carefully brushed the dust from his
velvet coat and rearranged his white satin necktie.
"I had no idea I could leap so far," he said
wonderingly. "leaping is one more accomplishment I can
now add to the long list of deeds I am able to
perform."
"You are certainly fine at leap-frog," said the
Cookie Cook, admiringly; "but, as you say, you are
wonderful in many ways. If we meet with any people down
here I am sure they will consider you the greatest and
grandest of all living creatures."
"Yes," he replied, "I shall probably astonish
strangers, because they have never before had the
pleasure of seeing me. Also they will marvel at my
great learning. Every time I open my mouth, Cayke, I am
liable to say something important.
"That is true," she agreed, "and it is fortunate your
mouth is so very wide and opens so far, for otherwise
all the wisdom might not be able to get out of it."
"Perhaps nature made it wide for that very reason,
said the Frogman. "But come; let us now go on, for it
is getting late and we must find some sort of shelter
before night overtakes us."
Chapter Four
Among the Winkies
The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of
happy and contented people who are ruled by a tin
Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn is a subject of
the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But not all of
the Winkie Country is fully settled. At the east, which
part lies nearest the Emerald City, there are beautiful
farmhouses and roads, but as you travel west you first
come to a branch of the Winkie River, beyond which
there is a rough country where few people live, and
some of these are quite unknown to the rest of the
world. After passing through this rude section of
territory, which no one ever visits, you would come to
still another branch of the Winkie River, after
crossing which you would find another well settled part
of the Winkie Country, extending westward quite to the
Deadly Desert that surrounds all the Land of Oz and
separates that favored fairyland from the more common
outside world. The Winkies who live in this west
section have many tin mines, from which metal they make
a great deal of rich jewelry and other articles, all of
which are highly esteemed in the Land of Oz because tin
is so bright and pretty, and there is not so much of it
as there is of gold and silver.
Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some
till the fields and grow grains for food, and it was at
one of these far west Winkie farms that the Frogman and
Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they had
descended from the mountain of the Yips.
"Goodness me!" cried Nellary, the Winkie wife, when
she saw the strange couple approaching her house. "I
have seen many queer creatures in the Land of Oz, but
none more queer than this giant frog, who dresses like
a man and walks on his hind legs. Come here, Wiljon,"
she called to her husband, who was eating his
breakfast, "and take a look at this astonishing freak."
Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out. He
was still standing in the doorway when the Frogman
approached and said with a haughty croak:
"Tell me, my good man, have you seen a diamond-
studded gold dishpan?"
"No; nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster,"
replied Wiljon, in an equallyhaughty tone.
The Frogman stared at him and said:
"Do not be insolent, fellow!"
"No," added Cayke the Cookie Cook, hastily, "you must
be very polite to the great Frogman, for he is the
wisest creature in all the world."
"Who says that?" inquired Wiljon.
"He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman
nodded and strutted up and down, twirling his gold-
headed cane very gracefully.
"Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is
the wisest creature in the world?" asked Wiljon.
"I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke
the Cookie Cook.
"Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is
supposed to have the finest brains in all Oz. The
Wizard gave them to him, you know."
"Mine grew in my head," said the Frogman pompously,
"so I think they must be better than any wizard brains.
I am so wise that sometimes my wisdom makes my head
ache. I know so much that often I have to forget part
of it, since no one creature, however great, is able to
contain so much knowledge."
"It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom,"
remarked Wiljon reflectively, and eyeing the Frogman
with a doubtful look. "It is my good fortune to know
very little."
"I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan
is," said the Cookie Cook anxiously.
"I do not know even that," returned the Winkie. "We
have trouble enough in keeping track of our own
dishpans, without meddling with the dishpans of
strangers."
Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that
they walk on and seek Cayke's dishpan elsewhere.
Wiljon the Winkie did not seem greatly impressed by the
great Frogman, which seemed to that personage as
strange as it was disappointing; but others in this
unknown land might prove more respectful.
"I'd like to meet that Wizard of Oz," remarked Cayke,
as they walked along a path. "If he could give a
Scarecrow brains he might be able to find my dishpan."
"Poof!" grunted the Frogman scornfully; "I am greater
than any wizard. Depend on me. If your dishpan is
anywhere in the world I am sure to find it."
"If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared
the Cookie Cook in a sorrowful voice.
For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he
asked: "Why do you attach so much importance to a
- safely [´seifli]
ad.安全地；平安地 (初中英语单词) - gravely [´greivli] ad.庄重地，严肃地 (初中英语单词)
- suggestion [sə´dʒestʃən] n.建议，提议；暗示 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)
- tremendous [tri´mendəs] a.可怕的；巨大的 (初中英语单词)
- marvel [´mɑ:vəl] n.令人惊异的事；奇迹 (初中英语单词)
- learning [´lə:niŋ] n.学习；学问；知识 (初中英语单词)
- fortunate [´fɔ:tʃənət] a.幸运的，侥幸的 (初中英语单词)
- wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- doorway [´dɔ:wei] n.门口 (初中英语单词)
- equally [´i:kwəli] ad.相等地；平等地 (初中英语单词)
- hastily [´heistili] ad.急速地；草率地 (初中英语单词)
- polite [pə´lait] a.有礼貌的；温和的 (初中英语单词)
- dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)
- ignorant [´ignərənt] a.无知的，愚昧的 (初中英语单词)
- attach [ə´tætʃ] v.附；使隶属；使依恋 (初中英语单词)
- accomplishment [ə´kʌmpliʃmənt] n.完成；成就；才艺 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- contented [kən´tentid] a.满足的；心满意足的 (高中英语单词)
- westward [´westwəd] a.向西的 n.西方；西部 (高中英语单词)
- jewelry [´dʒu:əlri] n.珠宝(饰物) (高中英语单词)
- astonishing [əs´tɔniʃiŋ] a.令人惊讶的 (高中英语单词)
- haughty [´hɔ:ti] a.傲慢的，高傲的 (高中英语单词)
- doubtful [´dautful] a.怀疑的，可疑的 (高中英语单词)
- cookie [´kuki] n.家常小甜饼 (英语四级单词)
- polish [´pəuliʃ] a.波兰(人)的 n.波兰语 (英语四级单词)
- emerald [´emərəld] n.纯绿宝石；翠绿色 (英语四级单词)
- fairyland [´fɛərilænd] n.仙境，奇境 (英语四级单词)
- wizard [´wizəd] n.术士；男巫 (英语四级单词)
- personage [´pə:sənidʒ] n.名流；人物，角色 (英语四级单词)
- sorrowful [´sɔrəuful] a.悲伤的，使人伤心的 (英语四级单词)
- extended [iks´tendid] a.伸长的；广大的 (英语六级单词)
- insolent [´insələnt] a.傲慢的；无礼的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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