IN A BRAMBLE BUSH

 Tommy walked beside Muffs in order to give directions although that was properly the work of the silent Guide. Mary trudged¹ on behind as it was her turn to carry the basket of lunch. They had passed the apple orchard² and were following the trail which might, if their play came true, lead to the Bramble Bush Man’s house. There couldn’t be a real Bramble Bush Man. At least the children couldn’t see exactly how a man could scratch his eyes out and then scratch them in again and still be wondrous³ wise. But they were looking for the impossible. The trail was narrow and crooked⁴ and held no end of mystery.

 

“Anything might happen,” Muffs said in a whisper.

 

It did seem that way. First they were in a patch of woods so thick they could hardly see the sunshine. Then there would be a grassy⁵ field; then woods again. And sometimes a rock that they could hide behind. These were the jolliest games of hide-and-seek that the children had ever played.

 

They had been in the deep woods for quite some time when Tommy stopped short.

 

“Whew!” he exclaimed. “This isn’t the path I found. See that hollow stump⁶. I never saw that before.”

 

“It’s beginning to go down hill again,” cried Mary after another five minutes of tramping.

 

13 “Do you suppose,” questioned Muffins doubtfully, “that a wondrous wise man would live in the woods as far away from other people as this?”

 

“Wise men like to be alone,” said Tommy knowingly.

 

“They like company,” contradicted Mary.

 

“I think you’re both right,” Muffins declared. “Sometimes they like to be alone and sometimes they like company. I’m that way too,” she added, seating herself on a stone to rest.

 

“Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,” sang out Tommy in his tuneless voice.

 

“That stone is not a tuffet.”

 

But this time Tommy would not quarrel with Mary. It might spoil the magic of their play. “Well,” he said slowly, “if it isn’t a tuffet, then what is?”

 

None of them knew. Such a simple little word and yet they hadn’t an idea in the world what it meant. They asked the Guide and he only stared at them out of his sharp eyes and the tap-tapping of his feet on the trail was their only answer. But the Bramble Bush Man would know.

 

“We’ll ask him, first thing,” agreed Muffins. “Then if he tells us the answer to that we’ll start asking him other things.”

 

“What other things?”

 

“Oh, millions of ’em. How to make my mother happy and what people mean by the ends of the earth.”

 

“I know what they mean by the ends of the moon,” Mary put in. “It really does have ends sometimes, just like the two ends of a horn. We could ask him why.”

 

“I know that,” said Tommy proudly. “That’s the earth’s shadow.”

 

“Is it?”

 

14 Miss Muffet gazed at him for a minute and then Mary said, “But you’re not wondrous wise ’cause you don’t know what a tuffet is.”

 

Where the trail was steep the Guide helped Muffins climb. When she grew tired she rested on his arms. She even shared her lunch with him. Soon the basket was nearly empty.

 

“We’d better save the little that’s left,” Mary suggested, “and pick berries if we’re hungry.”

 

There were plenty of berries along the path. In the cleared places tall barberry bushes grew but their bright red fruit was too sour and too filled with seeds. There were many kinds of berries that the children didn’t dare eat for fear they might be poison—and there were blackberries and tangles⁷ of brambles hanging over the trail.

 

“Now that we’ve discovered the brambles,” Tommy declared, “it will be lots easier to find the Bramble Bush Man!”

 

Muffs and Mary agreed that his house would probably be covered with blackberry vines. Half believing their play, they looked cautiously at either side of any bushes before they dared pick berries from them. The Bramble Bush Man might be cross if he caught them picking berries from his own private bushes.

 

“I think a wise man would be cross,” Muffins said.

 

But Mary, as usual, was contrary and thought he would be kind. He would have to be very old too and yet young enough to jump into brambles. They would keep on talking like that until the whole thing got too puzzling. Then they would have a game of hide-and-seek and forget it until, suddenly, the question of the Bramble Bush Man’s wisdom would bob up again.

 

They had come to a regular forest of blackberry briars and, once more, were playing hide-and-seek. Tommy was “it.”15 He had borrowed the Guide to help him hunt. They had already found Mary, and Muffs could hear them trampling⁸ in among the brambles looking for her. She crouched⁹ under a particularly tall and brambly bush and plopped a berry in her mouth to keep herself quiet.

 

“All out’s in free!” she heard them calling.

 

She scrambled¹⁰ to her feet and then, all in a flash, she saw something sparkling in the late afternoon sun. It made little flickers¹¹ of light dance across the bramble bushes. Could it be—someone’s eyes? The Bramble Bush Man’s?

 

Mary! Tommy! Come here—QUICK!!!

16 Muffs called, “Mary! Tommy! Come here—QUICK!!!”

 

They came, pushing through the brush as fast as they could and then they saw her pointing. There, with one bow looped over a bramble, were the oddest looking pair of spectacles that they had ever seen.

 

“I—I thought they were eyes at first,” Miss Muffet stammered¹².

 

“They are eyes,” said Tommy solemnly as he unhooked the bow. “Great Aunt Charlotte calls her glasses eyes and maybe the Bramble Bush Man does too.”

 

“Then whoever puts them on will be wondrous wise,” Muffs said.

 

“Let’s put them on the Guide then,” Mary suggested. “If he’s wondrous wise he can surely show us the way to the Bramble Bush Man’s house.”

 

“If he’s wondrous wise,” said Tommy, “then he is the Bramble Bush Man and it’s his house we’re looking for.”

 

1 trudged   

vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He trudged the last two miles to the town. 他步履艰难地走完最后两英里到了城里。
• He trudged wearily along the path. 他沿着小路疲惫地走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

3 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

4 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

5 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

6 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

7 tangles   

（使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Long hair tangles easily. 长头发容易打结。
• Tangles like this still interrupted their intercourse. 像这类纠缠不清的误会仍然妨碍着他们的交情。

8 trampling   

踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
• They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。

9 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

10 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 flickers   

电影制片业； （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fire flickers low. 炉火颤动欲灭。
• A strange idea flickers in my mind. 一种奇怪的思想又在我脑中燃烧了。

12 stammered   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠，结结巴巴地说，“你是什么意思？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记