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STORY XIV UNCLE WIGGILY GOES COASTING
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 "Oh, it's stopped snowing! It's stopped snowing! Now we can go coasting; can't we, Mother?"
"And on our new Christmas sleds! Oh, what fun!"
A boy and a girl ran from the window, against which they had been pressing their noses, looking out to see when the white flakes1 would stop falling from the sky. Now the storm seemed to be over, leaving the ground covered with the sparkling snow crystals.
"Yes, you may go coasting a little while," said Mother. "But don't stay too late. When Daddy comes to supper you must be home."
"We will!" promised the boy and girl, and, laughing in glee, they ran to get on their boots, their mittens2 and warm coats.
"I want to go coasting! Take me to slide down hill!" cried Bumps, the little sister of the boy and girl. "I want a sleigh ride."
"Oh, Bumps, you're too little!" objected Sister.
"And she'll fall down and bang herself," added Brother. In fact the "littlest girl" did fall down so often that she was called "Bumps" as a pet name.
"I won't fall down!" Bumps promised. "I'll be good! Please take me coasting?"
[Pg 94]
"I think you might take her," said Mother.
"Yes, we will," spoke3 Sister. "Come on, Bumps!"
"Well, if she falls off the sled when it's going down hill, and she gets bumped, it won't be my fault!" declared Brother.
"I—I'll be good—I won't fall!" promised Bumps. So Mother bundled her up, and out she went to the coasting hill with Brother and Sister, each of whom had a sled.
"I'm not going to give her rides on my sled all the while!" said Brother, half grumbling4.
"We'll take turns," more kindly5 suggested Sister. "Take hold of my hand, Bumps, and don't fall any more times than you can help, dear!"
"No; I won't," answered Bumps. The littlest girl was smiling and happy because she was going coasting with Sister and Brother. And she made up her mind she would try very, very hard not to fall.
On the other side of the forest, near which was the coasting hill of the children, lived Uncle Wiggily in his hollow stump6 bungalow7. From afar he had often watched the boys and girls sliding down on their sleds, but the bunny gentleman had never gone very close.
"For," he said to himself, "they might, by accident, run over me. And, though I haven't much of a tail to be cut off, I would look queer if anything should happen to my long ears. I'll keep away from the coasting hill of the boys and girls."
But not far from the bunny's bungalow was another and smaller hill, down which the animal boys and girls coasted. Of course, very few of them had such sleds as you children have, with shiny steel runners, and with the tops painted red, blue, [Pg 95] green and gold. In fact, some of the animal boys didn't bother with a sled at all.
Take Toodle and Noodle Flat-Tail, the beaver8 chaps, for instance. They just slid down hill on their broad, flat tails. And as for Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, they sat on their fuzzy tails and scooted down the hill of snow. Others of the animal children sometimes used pieces of wood, an old board or some sticks bound together with strands9 from a wild grape vine.
And about the time that Sister, Brother and Bumps went coasting, Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbits, passed the hollow stump bungalow of Uncle Wiggily Longears. The little bunnies were each pulling a sled made from pieces of birch bark they had gnawed10 from trees.
"Let's ask Uncle Wiggily to go coasting with us," spoke Susie.
"Oh, yes! Let's!" echoed Sammie. "It'll be lots of fun!"
And Uncle Wiggily was very glad to go coasting. Out of his bungalow he hopped11, his pink nose twinkling twice as fast as the shiny star on top of the Christmas tree.
"Dear me, Wiggy!" cried Nurse Jane. "You don't mean to say you're going coasting with your rheumatism12!"
"No, I'm going coasting with Sammie and Susie," the laughing bunny answered. "I haven't any rheumatism to go coasting with to-day, I'm glad to tell you." And, surely enough, he didn't need to take his red, white and blue striped crutch13.
When Sammie, Susie and Uncle Wiggily reached the coasting hill, they found there many of the animal children.
[Pg 96] "Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Ride on my sled!" invited one after another. "Ride on mine! Coast with me!"
"I'll take turns with each one!" promised the bunny gentleman, and so he did, riding with Sammie and Susie first, then with the Bushytail squirrel brothers, next with Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks, and so on down to Dottie and Willie Flufftail, the lamb children.
Oh, such fun as Uncle Wiggily had on the animal children's coasting hill. And on the other side of the forest, Sister, Brother and Bumps had their fun, with the real boys and girls.
At last it began to grow dusk, and when Uncle Wiggily was thinking of telling the animal children it was time for them to leave for home, up came rushing Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boys.
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily!" barked Jackie. "We were just over to the big hill, where the real boys coast, and we saw——"
"We saw a little baby girl—that is, almost a baby—in a pile of snow!" finished Peetie, for his brother Jackie was out of breath and couldn't bark any more.
"What's that?" cried Uncle Wiggily. "A real, live little girl in the snow?"
"Right in a snow drift!" barked Jackie. "All alone!"
"Why," said the bunny gentleman, as he thought it over, "she must have been coasting with her brother or sister, and maybe she fell off a sled and went down deep in the snow. And they played so hard they never missed her! But she mustn't be allowed to stay asleep in the snow. She'll freeze!"
"If she's only a little one—almost a baby—couldn't we put her on one of our sleds?" asked Sammie.
[Pg 97] "And ride her home," went on Susie.
"If we all pull together we'd be strong enough to pull a real, live girl, if she wasn't too large," quacked14 Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck.
"We'll try!" said Uncle Wiggily. "All of you take the grape-vine ropes from your sleds and follow me."
Quickly the animal children did this, taking with them only the large double sled of Neddie Stubtail, the boy bear, which was the largest sled of all. It was low and flat, and Uncle Wiggily thought it would be easy to roll a little girl up on it and pull her along.
Soon Uncle Wiggily and the animal children reached the hill where the real boys and girls had coasted. None of them was there now, all having gone home to their suppers.
"Here she is!" softly barked Jackie, leading the way to a snowbank, at the foot of the hill.
And there, sound asleep in the soft, warm snow was—Bumps!
Yes, as true as I'm telling you—Bumps!
The little girl had been sliding down with her sister, and had rolled off the sled at the bottom of the hill after about the forty-'leventh coast. And Bumps was so tired, and sleepy, from having been outdoors so long, that, as soon as she rolled from the sled into the snow, she fell asleep! Think of that!
And as Sister wanted to have a race with Brother and some of the other children, she never noticed what happened to Bumps. But there she was—in the snow asleep. Poor little Bumps!
"It will never do to leave her here!" whispered Uncle Wiggily to the animal boys and girls. "Don't awaken15 her, but roll [Pg 98] her over on Neddie's sled, and we'll pull her to her home. I know where she lives. We'll leave her in front of the door, I'll throw a snowball to make a sound like a knock, and then we can run away. Her father and mother will come out and take her in."
So all working together, pushing, pulling, tugging16 and rolling most gently, the bunny gentleman and the animal boys and girls slid Bumps upon the low sled of the bear boy. Then they fastened the grape-vine ropes to it, and, all taking hold, off they started over the snow toward the village.
It was almost dark, so no one saw the strange procession of Uncle Wiggily and his friends; and the bunny gentleman was glad of this. Right up to the home of Bumps they pulled her, and just as they got the sled in her yard Bumps opened her eyes.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" she cried when she saw all the animal children, and Uncle Wiggily, too, standing17 around her. "I'm in fairyland! Oh, how I love it!"
"Quick, Sammie—Susie—Jackie—Peetie—scoot away!" called Uncle Wiggily in animal talk, and the rabbits, squirrels, guinea pigs, ducks, bears, beavers18 and others, all hopped away through the soft snow, out of sight. Uncle Wiggily tossed a snowball at the door, making a sound like a knock, and then the bunny gentleman also hopped away, laughing to himself.
He turned back in time to see the door open and Sister, Brother, Daddy and Mother rush out.
"Oh, here's Bumps, now!" cried Brother. "We must have forgotten and left her at the hill."
"Oh, that's what we did!" exclaimed Sister.
[Pg 99] "Yes, but how did she get home?" asked Mother. "She never walked, I'm sure!"
"And look at the queer wooden sled!" said Sister.
"Who brought you home, Bumps?" asked Daddy.
"A—a nice bunny man, and some little bunnies, and squirrels, and a little bear boy and some ducks and chickens and little lambs and—and——" But Bumps was out of breath now.
"Oh, she's been asleep and dreamed this!" laughed Brother. "Some man must have found her and put her on this board for a sled, to bring her home."
"Nope!" declared Bumps, "it was a bunny! It was a funny bunny!"
"Bring her in the house!" laughed Mother. "She must have been dreaming!"
But we know it wasn't a dream; don't we? And if the strawberry shortcake doesn't go swimming with the gold fish in the lemonade and catch cold, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the picnic.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 flakes d80cf306deb4a89b84c9efdce8809c78     
小薄片( flake的名词复数 ); (尤指)碎片; 雪花; 古怪的人
参考例句:
  • It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
  • It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。
2 mittens 258752c6b0652a69c52ceed3c65dbf00     
不分指手套
参考例句:
  • Cotton mittens will prevent the baby from scratching his own face. 棉的连指手套使婴儿不会抓伤自己的脸。
  • I'd fisted my hands inside their mittens to keep the fingers warm. 我在手套中握拳头来保暖手指。
3 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
4 grumbling grumbling     
adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的
参考例句:
  • She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
  • We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。
5 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
6 stump hGbzY     
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 bungalow ccjys     
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句:
  • A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。
  • The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子,搬进了小平房。
8 beaver uuZzU     
n.海狸,河狸
参考例句:
  • The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
  • A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。
9 strands d184598ceee8e1af7dbf43b53087d58b     
n.(线、绳、金属线、毛发等的)股( strand的名词复数 );缕;海洋、湖或河的)岸;(观点、计划、故事等的)部份v.使滞留,使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 gnawed 85643b5b73cc74a08138f4534f41cef1     
咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 ); (长时间) 折磨某人; (使)苦恼; (长时间)危害某事物
参考例句:
  • His attitude towards her gnawed away at her confidence. 他对她的态度一直在削弱她的自尊心。
  • The root of this dead tree has been gnawed away by ants. 这棵死树根被蚂蚁唼了。
11 hopped 91b136feb9c3ae690a1c2672986faa1c     
跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花
参考例句:
  • He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
  • He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车,向市区开去。
12 rheumatism hDnyl     
n.风湿病
参考例句:
  • The damp weather plays the very devil with my rheumatism.潮湿的天气加重了我的风湿病。
  • The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
13 crutch Lnvzt     
n.T字形拐杖;支持,依靠,精神支柱
参考例句:
  • Her religion was a crutch to her when John died.约翰死后,她在精神上依靠宗教信仰支撑住自己。
  • He uses his wife as a kind of crutch because of his lack of confidence.他缺乏自信心,总把妻子当作主心骨。
14 quacked 58c5d8f16b25062c8081d3d2ae05aa7f     
v.(鸭子)发出嘎嘎声( quack的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
15 awaken byMzdD     
vi.醒,觉醒;vt.唤醒,使觉醒,唤起,激起
参考例句:
  • Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
  • Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。
16 tugging 1b03c4e07db34ec7462f2931af418753     
n.牵引感v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉,样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
  • She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他,一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句
17 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
18 beavers 87070e8082105b943967bbe495b7d9f7     
海狸( beaver的名词复数 ); 海狸皮毛; 棕灰色; 拼命工作的人
参考例句:
  • In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
  • Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的,蜜蜂是这样做的,人也是这样做的。


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