章节正文
And butterflies, flutterbies, ships all sails;
And weasels, and ousels, and mice, and larks,
And owls, and rere-mice, and harkydarks,
All went running, and creeping, and flowing,
After the merry boy fluttering and going;
The dappled fawns fawning, the fallow-deer following,
The swallows and flies, flying and swallowing;
Cockchafers, henchafers, cockioli-birds,
Cockroaches, henroaches, cuckoos in herds.
The spider forgot and followed him spinning,
And lost all his thread from end to beginning.
The gay wasp forgot his rings and his waist,
He never had made such undignified haste.
The dragon-flies melted to mist with their hurrying.
The mole in his moleskins left his barrowing burrowing.
The bees went buzzing, so busy and beesy,
And the midges in columns so upright and easy.
But Little Boy Blue was not content,
Calling for followers still as he went,
Blowing his horn, and beating his drum,
And crying aloud, "Come all of you, come!"
He said to the shadows, "Come after me;"
And the shadows began to flicker and flee,
And they flew through the wood all flattering and fluttering,
Over the dead leaves flickering and muttering.
And he said to the wind, "Come, follow; come, follow,
With whistle and pipe, and rustle and hollo."
And the wind wound round at his desire,
As if he had been the gold cock on the spire.
And the cock itself flew down from the church,
And left the farmers all in the lurch.
They run and they fly, they creep and they come,
Everything, everything, all and some.
The very trees they tugged at their roots,
Only their feet were too fast in their boots,
After him leaning and straining and bending,
As on through their boles he kept walking and wending,
Till out of the wood he burst on a lea,
Shouting and calling, "Come after me!"
And then they rose up with a leafy hiss,
And stood as if nothing had been amiss.
Little Boy Blue sat down on a stone,
And the creatures came round him every one.
And he said to the clouds, "I want you there."
And down they sank through the thin blue air.
And he said to the sunset far in the West,
"Come here; I want you; I know best."
And the sunset came and stood up on the wold,
And burned and glowed in purple and gold.
Then Little Boy Blue began to ponder:
"What's to be done with them all, I wonder."
Then Little Boy Blue, he said, quite low,
"What to do with you all I am sure I don't know."
Then the clouds clodded down till dismal it grew;
The snake sneaked close; round Birdie Brown flew;
The brook sat up like a snake on its tail;
And the wind came up with a what-will-you wail;
And all the creatures sat and stared;
The mole opened his very eyes and glared;
And for rats and bats and the world and his wife,
Little Boy Blue was afraid of his life.
Then Birdie Brown began to sing,
And what he sang was the very thing:
"You have brought us all hither, Little Boy Blue,
Pray what do you want us all to do?"
"Go away! go away!" said Little Boy Blue;
"I'm sure I don't want you -- get away -- do."
"No, no; no, no; no, yes, and no, no,"
Sang Birdie Brown, "it mustn't be so.
"We cannot for nothing come here, and away.
Give us some work, or else we stay."
"Oh dear! and oh dear!" with sob and with sigh,
Said Little Boy Blue, and began to cry.
But before he got far, he thought of a thing;
And up he stood, and spoke like a king.
"Why do you hustle and jostle and bother?
Off with you all! Take me back to my mother."
The sunset stood at the gates of the west.
"Follow me, follow me" came from Birdie Brown's breast.
"I am going that way as fast as I can,"
Said the brook, as it sank and turned and ran.
Back to the woods fled the shadows like ghosts:
"If we stay, we shall all be missed from our posts."
Said the wind with a voice that had changed its cheer,
"I was just going there, when you brought me here."
"That's where I live," said the sack-backed squirrel,
And he turned his sack with a swing and a swirl.
Said the cock of the spire, "His father's churchwarden."
Said the brook running faster, "I run through his garden."
Said the mole, "Two hundred worms -- there I caught 'em
Last year, and I'm going again next autumn."
Said they all, "If that's where you want us to steer for,
What in earth or in water did you bring us here for?"
"Never you mind," said Little Boy Blue;
"That's what I tell you. If that you won't do,
"I'll get up at once, and go home without you.
I think I will; I begin to doubt you."
He rose; and up rose the snake on its tail,
And hissed three times, half a hiss, half a wail.
Little Boy Blue he tried to go past him;
But wherever he turned, sat the snake and faced him.
"If you don't get out of my way," he said,
"I tell you, snake, I will break your head."
The snake he neither would go nor come;
So he hit him hard with the stick of his drum.
The snake fell down as if he were dead,
And Little Boy Blue set his foot on his head.
And all the creatures they marched before him,
And marshalled him home with a high cockolorum.
And Birdie Brown sang Twirrrr twitter twirrrr twee --
Apples and cherries, roses and honey;
Little Boy Blue has listened to me --
All so jolly and funny.
CHAPTER XXI
SAL'S NANNY
DIAMOND managed with many blunders to read this rhyme to his mother.
"Isn't it nice, mother?" he said.
"Yes, it's pretty," she answered.
"I think it means something," returned Diamond.
"I'm sure I don't know what," she said.
"I wonder if it's the same boy--yes, it must be the same--
Little Boy Blue, you know. Let me see--how does that rhyme go?
Little Boy Blue, come blow me your horn--
Yes, of course it is--for this one went `blowing his horn and beating
his drum.' He had a drum too.
Little Boy Blue, come blow me your horn;
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn,
He had to keep them out, you know. But he wasn't minding his work.
It goes--
Where's the little boy that looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.
There, you see, mother! And then, let me see--
Who'll go and wake him? No, not I;
For if I do, he'll be sure to cry.
So I suppose nobody did wake him. He was a rather cross little boy,
I daresay, when woke up. And when he did wake of himself, and saw
the mischief the cow had done to the corn, instead of running
home to his mother, he ran away into the wood and lost himself.
Don't you think that's very likely, mother?"
"I shouldn't wonder," she answered.
"So you see he was naughty; for even when he lost himself he
did not want to go home. Any of the creatures would have shown
him the way if he had asked it--all but the snake. He followed
the snake, you know, and he took him farther away. I suppose it
was a young one of the same serpent that tempted Adam and Eve.
Father was telling us about it last Sunday, you remember."
"Bless the child!" said his mother to herself; and then added aloud,
finding that Diamond did not go on, "Well, what next?"
"I don't know, mother. I'm sure there's a great deal more,
but what it is I can't say. I only know that he killed the snake.
I suppose that's what he had a drumstick for. He couldn't do it
with his horn."
"But surely you're not such a silly as to take it all for true, Diamond?"
"I think it must be. It looks true. That killing of the snake
looks true. It's what I've got to do so often."
His mother looked uneasy. Diamond smiled full in her face,
and added--
"When baby cries and won't be happy, and when father and you talk
about your troubles, I mean."
This did little to reassure his mother; and lest my reader should
have his qualms about it too, I venture to remind him once more
that Diamond had been to the back of the north wind.
Finding she made no reply, Diamond went on--
"In a week or so, I shall be able to go to the tall gentleman
and tell him I can read. And I'll ask him if he can help
me to understand the rhyme."
But before the week was out, he had another reason for going
to Mr. Raymond.
For three days, on each of which, at one time or other, Diamond's
father was on the same stand near the National Gallery, the girl
was not at her crossing, and Diamond got quite anxious about her,
fearing she must be ill. On the fourth day, not seeing her yet,
he said to his father, who had that moment shut the door of his cab
upon a fare--
"Father, I want to go and look after the girl, She can't be well."
"All right," said his father. "Only take care of yourself, Diamond."
So saying he climbed on his box and drove off.
He had great confidence in his boy, you see, and would trust
him anywhere. But if he had known the kind of place in which
the girl lived, he would perhaps have thought twice before he
allowed him to go alone. Diamond, who did know something of it,
had not, however, any fear. From talking to the girl he had
a good notion of where about it was, and he remembered the
address well enough; so by asking his way some twenty times,
mostly of policemen, he came at length pretty near the place.
The last policeman he questioned looked down upon him from the summit
of six feet two inches, and replied with another question, but kindly:
"What do you want there, my small kid? It ain't where you was bred,
I guess."
"No sir" answered Diamond. "I live in Bloomsbury."
"That's a long way off," said the policeman.
"Yes, it's a good distance," answered Diamond; "but I find my way
about pretty well. Policemen are always kind to me."
"But what on earth do you want here?"
Diamond told him plainly what he was about, and of course the man
believed him, for nobody ever disbelieved Diamond. People might
think he was mistaken, but they never thought he was telling a story.
"It's an ugly place," said the policeman.
"Is it far off?" asked Diamond.
"No. It's next door almost. But it's not safe."
"Nobody hurts me," said Diamond.
And weasels, and ousels, and mice, and larks,
And owls, and rere-mice, and harkydarks,
All went running, and creeping, and flowing,
After the merry boy fluttering and going;
The dappled fawns fawning, the fallow-deer following,
The swallows and flies, flying and swallowing;
Cockchafers, henchafers, cockioli-birds,
Cockroaches, henroaches, cuckoos in herds.
The spider forgot and followed him spinning,
And lost all his thread from end to beginning.
The gay wasp forgot his rings and his waist,
He never had made such undignified haste.
The dragon-flies melted to mist with their hurrying.
The mole in his moleskins left his barrowing burrowing.
The bees went buzzing, so busy and beesy,
And the midges in columns so upright and easy.
But Little Boy Blue was not content,
Calling for followers still as he went,
Blowing his horn, and beating his drum,
And crying aloud, "Come all of you, come!"
He said to the shadows, "Come after me;"
And the shadows began to flicker and flee,
And they flew through the wood all flattering and fluttering,
Over the dead leaves flickering and muttering.
And he said to the wind, "Come, follow; come, follow,
With whistle and pipe, and rustle and hollo."
And the wind wound round at his desire,
As if he had been the gold cock on the spire.
And the cock itself flew down from the church,
And left the farmers all in the lurch.
They run and they fly, they creep and they come,
Everything, everything, all and some.
The very trees they tugged at their roots,
Only their feet were too fast in their boots,
After him leaning and straining and bending,
As on through their boles he kept walking and wending,
Till out of the wood he burst on a lea,
Shouting and calling, "Come after me!"
And then they rose up with a leafy hiss,
And stood as if nothing had been amiss.
Little Boy Blue sat down on a stone,
And the creatures came round him every one.
And he said to the clouds, "I want you there."
And down they sank through the thin blue air.
And he said to the sunset far in the West,
"Come here; I want you; I know best."
And the sunset came and stood up on the wold,
And burned and glowed in purple and gold.
Then Little Boy Blue began to ponder:
"What's to be done with them all, I wonder."
Then Little Boy Blue, he said, quite low,
"What to do with you all I am sure I don't know."
Then the clouds clodded down till dismal it grew;
The snake sneaked close; round Birdie Brown flew;
The brook sat up like a snake on its tail;
And the wind came up with a what-will-you wail;
And all the creatures sat and stared;
The mole opened his very eyes and glared;
And for rats and bats and the world and his wife,
Little Boy Blue was afraid of his life.
Then Birdie Brown began to sing,
And what he sang was the very thing:
"You have brought us all hither, Little Boy Blue,
Pray what do you want us all to do?"
"Go away! go away!" said Little Boy Blue;
"I'm sure I don't want you -- get away -- do."
"No, no; no, no; no, yes, and no, no,"
Sang Birdie Brown, "it mustn't be so.
"We cannot for nothing come here, and away.
Give us some work, or else we stay."
"Oh dear! and oh dear!" with sob and with sigh,
Said Little Boy Blue, and began to cry.
But before he got far, he thought of a thing;
And up he stood, and spoke like a king.
"Why do you hustle and jostle and bother?
Off with you all! Take me back to my mother."
The sunset stood at the gates of the west.
"Follow me, follow me" came from Birdie Brown's breast.
"I am going that way as fast as I can,"
Said the brook, as it sank and turned and ran.
Back to the woods fled the shadows like ghosts:
"If we stay, we shall all be missed from our posts."
Said the wind with a voice that had changed its cheer,
"I was just going there, when you brought me here."
"That's where I live," said the sack-backed squirrel,
And he turned his sack with a swing and a swirl.
Said the cock of the spire, "His father's churchwarden."
Said the brook running faster, "I run through his garden."
Said the mole, "Two hundred worms -- there I caught 'em
Last year, and I'm going again next autumn."
Said they all, "If that's where you want us to steer for,
What in earth or in water did you bring us here for?"
"Never you mind," said Little Boy Blue;
"That's what I tell you. If that you won't do,
"I'll get up at once, and go home without you.
I think I will; I begin to doubt you."
He rose; and up rose the snake on its tail,
And hissed three times, half a hiss, half a wail.
Little Boy Blue he tried to go past him;
But wherever he turned, sat the snake and faced him.
"If you don't get out of my way," he said,
"I tell you, snake, I will break your head."
The snake he neither would go nor come;
So he hit him hard with the stick of his drum.
The snake fell down as if he were dead,
And Little Boy Blue set his foot on his head.
And all the creatures they marched before him,
And marshalled him home with a high cockolorum.
And Birdie Brown sang Twirrrr twitter twirrrr twee --
Apples and cherries, roses and honey;
Little Boy Blue has listened to me --
All so jolly and funny.
CHAPTER XXI
SAL'S NANNY
DIAMOND managed with many blunders to read this rhyme to his mother.
"Isn't it nice, mother?" he said.
"Yes, it's pretty," she answered.
"I think it means something," returned Diamond.
"I'm sure I don't know what," she said.
"I wonder if it's the same boy--yes, it must be the same--
Little Boy Blue, you know. Let me see--how does that rhyme go?
Little Boy Blue, come blow me your horn--
Yes, of course it is--for this one went `blowing his horn and beating
his drum.' He had a drum too.
Little Boy Blue, come blow me your horn;
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn,
He had to keep them out, you know. But he wasn't minding his work.
It goes--
Where's the little boy that looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.
There, you see, mother! And then, let me see--
Who'll go and wake him? No, not I;
For if I do, he'll be sure to cry.
So I suppose nobody did wake him. He was a rather cross little boy,
I daresay, when woke up. And when he did wake of himself, and saw
the mischief the cow had done to the corn, instead of running
home to his mother, he ran away into the wood and lost himself.
Don't you think that's very likely, mother?"
"I shouldn't wonder," she answered.
"So you see he was naughty; for even when he lost himself he
did not want to go home. Any of the creatures would have shown
him the way if he had asked it--all but the snake. He followed
the snake, you know, and he took him farther away. I suppose it
was a young one of the same serpent that tempted Adam and Eve.
Father was telling us about it last Sunday, you remember."
"Bless the child!" said his mother to herself; and then added aloud,
finding that Diamond did not go on, "Well, what next?"
"I don't know, mother. I'm sure there's a great deal more,
but what it is I can't say. I only know that he killed the snake.
I suppose that's what he had a drumstick for. He couldn't do it
with his horn."
"But surely you're not such a silly as to take it all for true, Diamond?"
"I think it must be. It looks true. That killing of the snake
looks true. It's what I've got to do so often."
His mother looked uneasy. Diamond smiled full in her face,
and added--
"When baby cries and won't be happy, and when father and you talk
about your troubles, I mean."
This did little to reassure his mother; and lest my reader should
have his qualms about it too, I venture to remind him once more
that Diamond had been to the back of the north wind.
Finding she made no reply, Diamond went on--
"In a week or so, I shall be able to go to the tall gentleman
and tell him I can read. And I'll ask him if he can help
me to understand the rhyme."
But before the week was out, he had another reason for going
to Mr. Raymond.
For three days, on each of which, at one time or other, Diamond's
father was on the same stand near the National Gallery, the girl
was not at her crossing, and Diamond got quite anxious about her,
fearing she must be ill. On the fourth day, not seeing her yet,
he said to his father, who had that moment shut the door of his cab
upon a fare--
"Father, I want to go and look after the girl, She can't be well."
"All right," said his father. "Only take care of yourself, Diamond."
So saying he climbed on his box and drove off.
He had great confidence in his boy, you see, and would trust
him anywhere. But if he had known the kind of place in which
the girl lived, he would perhaps have thought twice before he
allowed him to go alone. Diamond, who did know something of it,
had not, however, any fear. From talking to the girl he had
a good notion of where about it was, and he remembered the
address well enough; so by asking his way some twenty times,
mostly of policemen, he came at length pretty near the place.
The last policeman he questioned looked down upon him from the summit
of six feet two inches, and replied with another question, but kindly:
"What do you want there, my small kid? It ain't where you was bred,
I guess."
"No sir" answered Diamond. "I live in Bloomsbury."
"That's a long way off," said the policeman.
"Yes, it's a good distance," answered Diamond; "but I find my way
about pretty well. Policemen are always kind to me."
"But what on earth do you want here?"
Diamond told him plainly what he was about, and of course the man
believed him, for nobody ever disbelieved Diamond. People might
think he was mistaken, but they never thought he was telling a story.
"It's an ugly place," said the policeman.
"Is it far off?" asked Diamond.
"No. It's next door almost. But it's not safe."
"Nobody hurts me," said Diamond.
- running [´rʌniŋ]
a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词) - spider [´spaidə] n.蜘蛛；三角架 (初中英语单词)
- whistle [´wisəl] v.吹哨 n.口哨；汽笛 (初中英语单词)
- rustle [´rʌsl] v.&n.(使)沙沙作响 (初中英语单词)
- sunset [´sʌnset] n.日落；晚霞 (初中英语单词)
- purple [´pə:pl] n.紫色 a.紫(红)的 (初中英语单词)
- hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
- wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
- meadow [´medəu] n.草地；牧场 (初中英语单词)
- mischief [´mistʃif] n.伤害；故障；调皮 (初中英语单词)
- venture [´ventʃə] n.投机 v.冒险；敢于 (初中英语单词)
- remind [ri´maind] vt.提醒；使记(想)起 (初中英语单词)
- gallery [´gæləri] n.画廊；美术馆；长廊 (初中英语单词)
- anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
- anywhere [´eniweə] ad.无论何处；任何地方 (初中英语单词)
- policeman [pə´li:smən] n.警察 (初中英语单词)
- plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- upright [´ʌprait] a.直立的 ad.直立地 (高中英语单词)
- flicker [´flikə] n.&v.闪烁；忽隐忽现 (高中英语单词)
- flattering [´flætəriŋ] a.谄媚的；奉承的 (高中英语单词)
- dismal [´dizməl] a.灰暗的；阴郁的 (高中英语单词)
- naughty [´nɔ:ti] a.顽皮的；下流的 (高中英语单词)
- serpent [´sə:pənt] n.大毒蛇；阴险的人 (高中英语单词)
- uneasy [ʌn´i:zi] a.不安的；不自在的 (高中英语单词)
- reassure [,ri:ə´ʃuə] vt.使放心 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- mistaken [mis´teikən] mistake的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- birdie [´bə:di] n.小鸟 (英语四级单词)
- hustle [´hʌsəl] v.猛挤；催促 n.乱堆 (英语四级单词)
- jostle [´dʒɔsəl] v.&n.推，撞，挤(人) (英语四级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
- calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
- twitter [´twitə] vi.(鸟)吱吱叫 n.鸟鸣 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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