restored to the Cookie Cook when one day, as Dorothy
was seated in the royal gardens with Trot and Betsy

beside her, a gray dove came flying down and alighted
at the girl's feet.

"I am Ugu the Shoemaker," said the dove in a soft,
mourning voice, "and I have come to ask you to forgive

me for the great wrong I did in stealing Ozma and the
magic that belonged to her and to others."

"Are you sorry, then?" asked Dorothy, looking hard at
the bird.

"I am very sorry," declared Ugu. "I've been thinking
over my misdeeds for a long time, for doves have little

else to do but think, and I'm surprised that I was such
a wicked man and had so little regard for the rights of

others. I am now convinced that even had I succeeded in
making myself ruler of all Oz I should not have been

happy, for many days of quiet thought have shown me
that only those things one acquires honestly are able

to render one content."
"I guess that's so," said Trot.

"Anyhow," said Betsy, "the bad man seems truly sorry,
and if he has now become a good and honest man we ought

to forgive him."
"I fear I cannot become a good man again," said Ugu,

"for the transformation" target="_blank" title="n.转化；转变；改造">transformation I am under will always keep me
in the form of a dove. But, with the kind forgiveness

of my former enemies, I hope to become a very good
dove, and highly respected."

"Wait here till I run for my Magic Belt," said
Dorothy, "and I'll transform you back to your reg'lar

shape in a jiffy."
"No don't do that!" pleaded the dove, fluttering its

wings in an excited way. "I only want your forgiveness;
I don't want to be a man again. As Ugu the Shoemaker I

was skinny and old and unlovely; as a dove I am quite
pretty to look at. As a man I was ambitious and cruel,

while as a dove I can be content with my lot and happy
in my simple life. I have learned to love the free and

independent life of a bird and I'd rather not change
back."

"Just as you like, Ugu," said Dorothy, resuming her
seat. "Perhaps you are right, for you're cert'nly a

better dove than you were a man, and if you should ever
backslide, an' feel wicked again, you couldn't do much

harm as a gray dove."
"Then you forgive me for all the trouble I caused

you?" he asked earnestly.
"Of course; anyone who's sorry just has to be

forgiven."
"Thank you," said the gray dove, and flew away again.

End

• wicked [´wikid] a.邪恶的；不道德的 (初中英语单词)
• honestly [´ɔnistli] ad.诚实地，老实地 (初中英语单词)
• forgive [fə´giv] vt.原谅，谅解，宽恕 (初中英语单词)
• ambitious [æm´biʃəs] a.有雄心的；热望的 (初中英语单词)
• transform [træns´fɔ:m] v.转化，转变；改造 (高中英语单词)
• shoemaker [´ʃu:,meikə] n.鞋匠 (高中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• cookie [´kuki] n.家常小甜饼 (英语四级单词)
• transformation [,trænsfə´meiʃən] n.转化；转变；改造 (英语四级单词)