XV BENNY AND THE OWL

Benny Badger¹ smiled at the owl². He thought he must be fooling.

"You're a joker, aren't you?" said Benny. "But I never should have thought it—you look so glum³."

The owl seemed somewhat displeased⁴.

"I've never made a joke yet," he declared, "though I've no doubt I could, if I should ever want to."

Benny Badger glanced from the owl to the hole, and then back again at the strange fellow.

"You don't mean to say you live here, in this hole?" Benny exclaimed.

[73]

"Certainly; I do," the owl replied sharply.

Benny Badger couldn't understand how that could be.

"But this is a prairie dog house," he protested.... "Where's the chap that built it? He must be around here somewhere."

"I don't know where he is, and I don't care where he is," the owl answered. "I drove him out of this house because I wanted to live here myself. And I didn't trouble myself to see where he went."

Benny Badger could hardly believe what the owl told him. But he noticed that the fellow had a sharp beak⁵, and sharp claws too.

"I should think you played a joke on the prairie dog," he remarked at last.

"Should you?" said the owl. "If it was a joke, it wasn't nearly as big a one[74] as I'll play on anybody that tries to drive me away from here.... I drove a snake away yesterday," he added. And he looked very thoughtfully at Benny Badger, as if he were picking out a soft place in which to sink his cruel beak.

"You needn't be so touchy," said Benny. "I'm not going to disturb you. I'm sure I shouldn't care to live in your house."

The owl was a peppery fellow. He grew angry at once.

"Why not?" he demanded. "What's the matter with my house?"

"I'll tell you," Benny replied. "It's a second-hand⁶ one. And that's bad enough. But it would be still worse if I took it away from you, because then it would be third-hand."

The owl looked daggers⁷ at him.

"You've insulted me!" he cried loudly,[75] swelling⁸ himself up—or so it seemed.

"Have I?" Benny Badger inquired. "Don't mention it! I'm sure you're quite welcome." To tell the truth, he had not the least idea what the owl meant.

Naturally, Benny's words only made the owl angrier than ever. And he became actually rude.

"If I were you," he spluttered, "until I learned better manners I would dig a hole somewhere, crawl inside it, and pull it in after me."

Now, that was a new idea—for Benny Badger. And he liked it.

"What fun that would be!" he exclaimed. "Then when I wanted to go out I'd have to dig my way again!"

The owl gave a queer cry. And looking quite discouraged, he flew off and left Benny Badger sitting there in the grass.

1 badger   

v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠

参考例句：

• Now that our debts are squared.Don't badger me with them any more.我们的债务两清了。从此以后不要再纠缠我了。
• If you badger him long enough,I'm sure he'll agree.只要你天天纠缠他，我相信他会同意。

2 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

3 glum   

adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的

参考例句：

• He was a charming mixture of glum and glee.他是一个很有魅力的人，时而忧伤时而欢笑。
• She laughed at his glum face.她嘲笑他闷闷不乐的脸。

4 displeased   

a.不快的

参考例句：

• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。
• He was displeased about the whole affair. 他对整个事情感到很不高兴。

5 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

6 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

7 daggers   

匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I will speak daggers to her, but use none. 我要用利剑一样的话刺痛她的心，但绝不是真用利剑。
• The world lives at daggers drawn in a cold war. 世界在冷战中剑拨弩张。

8 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。