eat?" said the Jaguar in a scornful tone.

"How would mush-and-milk do?" asked the
Canary.

The Jaguar snarled in derision and lashed his tail
against the ground angrily

"Give him some scrambled eggs on toast, Poly,"
suggested the Bear Scarecrow. "He ought to like that."

"I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering her
wings she made a flight of three circles around the

stump. Then she flew up to a tree and the Bear and the
Owl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump had appeared

a great green leaf upon which was a large portion of
scrambled eggs on toast, smoking hot.

"There!" said the Bear; "eat your breakfast, friend
Jaguar, and be content."

The Jaguar crept closer to the stump and sniffed the
fragrance of the scrambled eggs. They smelled so good

that he tasted them, and they tasted so good that he
ate the strange meal in a hurry, proving he had been

really hungry.
"I prefer rabbits," he muttered, licking his chops,

"but I must admit the magic breakfast has filled my
stomach full, and brought me comfort. So I'm much

obliged for the kindness, little Fairy, and I'll now
leave you in peace."

Saying this, he plunged into the thick underbrush and
soon disappeared, although they could hear his great

body crashing through the bushes until he was far
distant.

"That was a good way to get rid of the savage beast,
Poly," said the Tin Woodman to the Canary; "but I'm

surprised that you didn't give our friend Woot a magic
breakfast, when you knew he was hungry."

"The reason for that," answered Polychrome, "was
that my mind was so intent on other things that I quite

forgot my power to produce food by magic. But where is
the monkey boy?"

"Gone!" said the Scarecrow Bear, solemnly. "The earth
has swallowed him up."

Chapter Nine
The Quarrelsome Dragons

The Green Monkey sank gently into the earth for a
little way and then tumbled swiftly through space,

landing on a rocky floor with a thump that astonished
him. Then he sat up, found that no bones were broken,

and gazed around him.
He seemed to be in a big underground cave, which was

dimly lighted by dozens of big round discs that looked
like moons. They were not moons, however, as Woot

discovered when he had examined the place more
carefully. They were eyes. The eyes were in the heads

of enormous beasts whose bodies trailed far behind
them. Each beast was bigger than an elephant, and three

times as long, and there were a dozen or more of the
creatures scattered here and there about the cavern. On

their bodies were big scales, as round as pie-plates,
which were beautifully tinted in shades of green,

purple and orange. On the ends of their long tails were
clusters of jewels. Around the great, moon-like eyes

were circles of diamonds which sparkled in the subdued
light that glowed from the eyes.

Woot saw that the creatures had wide mouths and rows
of terrible teeth and, from tales he had heard of such

beings, he knew he had fallen into a cavern inhabited
by the great Dragons that had been driven from the

surface of the earth and were only allowed to come out
once in a hundred years to search for food. Of course

he had never seen Dragons before, yet there was no
mistaking them, for they were unlike any other living

creatures.
Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring

around, and the owners of the big eyes returned his
look, silently and motionless. Finally one of the

Dragons which was farthest away from him asked, in a
deep, grave voice:

"What was that?"
And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front

of the Green Monkey, answered in a still deeper voice:
"It is some foolish animal from Outside."

"Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside
the great one. "I'm hungry."

"Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons, in a reproachful
chorus; and then the great one said chidingly: "Tut-

tut, my son! You've no reason to be hungry at this
time."

"Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten
anything in eleven years."

"Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon,
sleepily opening and closing his eyes; "I haven't

feasted for eighty-seven years, and I dare not get
hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who

eat between meals should be broken of the habit."
"All I had, eleven years ago, was a rhinoceros, and

that's not a full meal at all," grumbled the young one.
"And, before that, I had waited sixty-two years to be

fed; so it's no wonder I'm hungry."
"How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own

dangerous position in his interest in the conversation.
"Why, I'm -- I'm -- How old am I, Father?" asked the

little Dragon.
"Goodness gracious! what a child to ask questions. Do

you want to keep me thinking all the time? Don't you
know that thinking is very bad for Dragons?" returned

the big one, impatiently.
"How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon.

"About six hundred and thirty, I believe. Ask your
mother."

"No; don't!" said an old Dragon in the background;
"haven't I enough worries, what with being wakened in

the middle of a nap, without being obliged to keep
track of my children's ages?"

"You've been fast asleep for over sixty years,
Mother," said the child Dragon. "How long a nap do you

wish?"
"I should have slept forty years longer. And this

strange little green beast should be punished for
falling into our cavern and disturbing us."

"I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was
going to fall in," explained Woot.

"Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon,
"and you have carelessly wakened our entire tribe; so

it stands to reason you must be punished."
"In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a

little.
"Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no

hurry, are you?" asked the great Dragon.
"No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much

rather you'd all go to sleep again, and punish me when
you wake up in a hundred years or so."

"Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon.
"He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one

Green Monkey would only serve to make you hungry for
more, and there are no more."

"Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep,"
protested another Dragon, yawning in a fearful manner,

for when he opened his mouth a sheet of flame leaped
forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of its

way.
In his jump he bumped against the nose of a Dragon

behind him, which opened its mouth to growl and shot
another sheet of flame at him. The flame was bright,

but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror and
sprang forward with a great bound. This time he landed

on the paw of the great Chief Dragon, who angrily
raised his other front paw and struck the Green Monkey

a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through the air and
fell sprawling upon the rocky floor far beyond the

place where the Dragon Tribe was grouped.
All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and

aroused, and they blamed the monkey for disturbing
their quiet. The littlest Dragon darted after Woot and

the others turned their unwieldy bodies in his
direction and followed, flashing from their eyes and

mouths flames which lighted up the entire cavern. Woot
almost gave himself up for lost, at that moment, but he

scrambled to his feet and dashed away to the farthest
end of the cave, the Dragons following more leisurely

because they were too clumsy to move fast. Perhaps they
thought there was no need of haste, as the monkey could

not escape from the cave. But, away up at the end of
the place, the cavern floor was heaped with tumbled

rocks, so Woot, with an agility born of fear, climbed
from rock to rock until he found himself crouched

against the cavern roof. There he waited, for he could
go no farther, while on over the tumbled rocks slowly

crept the Dragons -- the littlest one coming first
because he was hungry as well as angry.

The beasts had almost reached him when Woot,
remembering his lace apron -- now sadly torn and soiled

-- recovered his wits and shouted: "Open!" At the cry a
hole appeared in the roof of the cavern, just over his

head, and through it the sunlight streamed full upon
the Green Monkey

The Dragons paused, astonished at the magic and
blinking at the sunlight, and this gave Woot time to

climb through the opening. As soon as he reached the
surface of the earth the hole closed again, and the boy

monkey realized, with a thrill of joy, that he had seen
the last of the dangerous Dragon family

He sat upon the ground, still panting hard from his
exertions, when the bushes before him parted and his

former enemy, the Jaguar, appeared.
"Don't run," said the woodland beast, as Woot sprang

up; "you are perfectly safe, so far as I am concerned,
for since you so mysteriously disappeared I have had my

breakfast. I am now on my way home to sleep the rest of
the day."

"Oh, indeed!" returned the Green Monkey, in a tone
both sorry and startled. "Which of my friends did you

manage to eat?"
"None of them," returned the Jaguar, with a sly grin

had a dish of magic scrambled eggs-on toast -- and it
wasn't a bad feast, at all. There isn't room in me for

even you, and I don't regret it because I judge, from
your green color, that you are not ripe, and would make

an indifferent meal. We jaguars have to be careful of
our digestions. Farewell, Friend Monkey. Follow the

path I made through the bushes and you will find your
friends."

With this the Jaguar marched on his way and Woot took
his advice and followed the trail he had made until he

• flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
• portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)
• savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
• intent [in´tent] a.专心致志的 n.意图 (初中英语单词)
• monkey [´mʌŋki] n.猴子 v.乱弄；胡闹 (初中英语单词)
• gently [´dʒentli] ad.温和地；静静地 (初中英语单词)
• swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
• enormous [i´nɔ:məs] a.巨大地，很，极 (初中英语单词)
• elephant [´elifənt] n.象 (初中英语单词)
• driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• unlike [,ʌn´laik] a.不同的 prep.不象... (初中英语单词)
• silently [´sailəntli] ad.寂静地；沉默地 (初中英语单词)
• dragon [´drægən] n.龙 (初中英语单词)
• opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)
• punish [´pʌniʃ] vt.(惩)罚；痛击；折磨 (初中英语单词)
• chatter [´tʃætə] vi.&n.饶舌；闲聊 (初中英语单词)
• fearful [´fiəfəl] a.可怕的；担心的 (初中英语单词)
• terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
• thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
• sunlight [´sʌnlait] n.日光 (初中英语单词)
• thrill [θril] v.震惊；激动；刺激 (初中英语单词)
• mysteriously [mis´tiəriəsli] ad.神秘地；故弄玄虚地 (初中英语单词)
• farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
• solemnly [´sɔləmli] ad.严肃地，庄严地 (高中英语单词)
• underground [,ʌndə´graund] ad.&a.地下(的) (高中英语单词)
• cavern [´kævən] n.大山洞；大岩洞 (高中英语单词)
• motionless [´məuʃənləs] a.静止的；固定的 (高中英语单词)
• carelessly [´kɛəlisli] ad.粗心地；疏忽地 (高中英语单词)
• clumsy [´klʌmzi] a.笨拙的；粗俗的 (高中英语单词)
• woodland [´wudlənd] n.树林，林地 (高中英语单词)
• perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
• indifferent [in´difrənt] a.不关心的；中立的 (高中英语单词)
• canary [kə´neəri] n.金丝雀 (英语四级单词)
• underbrush [´ʌndəbrʌʃ] n.矮树丛 (英语四级单词)
• beautifully [´bju:tifəli] ad.美丽地；优美地 (英语四级单词)
• farthest [´fɑ:ðist] ad.&a.最远(的) (英语四级单词)
• scornful [´skɔ:nful] a.轻蔑的，藐视的 (英语六级单词)
• derision [di´riʒən] n.嘲笑，嘲弄 (英语六级单词)
• woodman [´wudmən] n.伐木工 (英语六级单词)