FIVE The Second Adventure of the Rainbow Cat

 THE Rainbow Cat went on and on until at last he came to the country of the Tree-goblins. The Tree-goblins are happy people; they live in the trees like birds, though they can’t fly. They are indeed very friendly with the birds, and they understand the bird language, so that they are able to send one another messages without any need of the post—which is very convenient!

When winter comes the goblins go and live in their caves underground. It is a great change after the trees, and they are always delighted when spring returns again.

There are no animals in Tree-goblin-land, but the Rainbow Cat was an old friend here too, and was received as kindly¹ as in Cloud-land.

The Tree-goblins are rather funny little creatures; they like to keep themselves to themselves, as the saying goes, and there are not even any fairies living in their country. But they are on very friendly terms with the fairy folk, and[43] their principal occupation is making fairy clothes.

These are the tiniest, finest little garments imaginable, and they are made of all sorts of pretty things. Spider thread, of course, and moonbeams, and softest silk from silk-worms, and flower-petals² dipped in magic wells so that they cannot fade, and thistledown, and moss-velvet, and foam³, and lichen—oh, there is no end to the things that are used to make clothes for the fairies.

 

And when they are finished the birds carry them to the fairies and bring back orders. Sometimes, when it’s a very special occasion, the fairies come to be fitted or to choose the stuffs and the styles, but not often.

They are easy to fit and easy to suit, and the birds do the ordering most satisfactorily.

The Rainbow Cat liked being in Tree-goblin-land very much indeed.

He lived in a beautiful copper-beech⁴. When the morning sun shone through the leaves his little house was filled with a lovely rosy⁵ light[44] which was most pleasing and becoming. Every morning a chorus of little birds sang songs to him for his delight, and every evening they lulled⁶ him to sleep with soft lullabies.

They thought him a very grand and beautiful person, and so indeed he was.

When he had been in Tree-goblin-land for two or three days the Chief of the Goblins came to see him one morning early. He was in great trouble.

The Queen of the Fairies had sent an order for rose-coloured shoes, dozens and dozens of pairs. She wanted all the Court to wear rose-coloured shoes at her next party, and her next party was to take place in three days.

“We could get the work done,” said the Chief Goblin anxiously, “it isn’t that. But we haven’t got the material. You see, the roses aren’t out yet. There’s been a great run on pink lately and we’ve used up all the pink flowers and all our other stuffs of that colour. We’ve scarcely got an inch of rose-colour of any kind, and we ought to start at once. It’ll take us all our time to get them made. It would be dreadful to disappoint the Queen. What are we to do?”

The Rainbow Cat was more than willing to help, but he felt that it was a difficult matter.

“How soon must you have the stuff?” he asked.

“This afternoon would be the very latest,” said the goblin.

[45]“I’ll see what I can do,” said the Rainbow Cat. “I have an idea or two. Don’t worry, it’ll be all right. Meet me here at noon, and I’ll let you know what I’ve done.”

The Chief Goblin went away feeling considerably⁷ relieved. The Rainbow Cat seemed so wise, just the kind of person to think of something helpful in an emergency.

And sure enough at twelve o’clock he came to meet the Chief of the Goblins with a cheerful twinkle in his dark blue eye.

“I’ve been making a few inquiries,” he said. “But I want to make sure that my information is correct. Sit down, and let us have a little quiet talk.”

The Chief of the Goblins sat down and waited eagerly. He felt more and more hopeful.

“Is it true,” said the Rainbow Cat, “is it true that the crooked⁸ hawthorn⁹ tree in the Weeshy Glen is very bad-tempered¹⁰?”

“Quite true,” said the Chief Goblin. “Nobody dares go near him, he’s such a cross, cantankerous¹¹ creature. Lots of the hawthorns¹² are very nice indeed, and we’re very fond of them. But he’s unbearable¹³. He’ll give any one a nasty scratch if he gets half a chance, he’s so spiteful.”

“Is it true,” continued the Rainbow Cat, “that he’s jealous of the other trees because he can’t[46] grow tall and big like them, and reach up to the sky?”

“Quite true,” said the Chief Goblin. “He makes every one round him miserable¹⁴ with his grumbling¹⁵ and scolding.”

“H’m,” said the Rainbow Cat, and he folded his arms and sat lost in thought for a few minutes.

“Would the petals of the hawthorn tree do to make fairy shoes of?” he said at last.

“Beautifully,” said the Chief Goblin. “But they’re white.” (For at that time all hawthorn blossom was white, both in Fairyland and everywhere else.)

“Quite true,” said the Rainbow Cat. “Can you lend me a mandolin?”

“Yes, I think I can,” said the goblin, and he ran off and came back very soon with a beautiful mandolin all inlaid with silver and ivory and mother-of-pearl.

“Thank you,” said the Rainbow Cat. “I think that in half an hour or so I shall be able to let you have all the rose-coloured petals you want.” And he hung the mandolin round his neck and set off into the forest.

Presently he came to the Weeshy Glen, sat down a little way off from the hawthorn tree where its thorns could not possibly touch him,[47] tuned¹⁶ up his mandolin, and began to sing this little song:

“The oak tree raises his arms on high,

The pine tree reaches up to the sky,

The slender birch is a lady fair,

The poplar has a most elegant air.

But tell, oh tell me now, who is this

Small and stunted¹⁷ and all amiss?

Who can he be? oh, who can he be?

This squat¹⁸ little, odd little, strange little tree?”

It wasn’t very kind of the Rainbow Cat, but the hawthorn tree was a very disagreeable fellow, you must remember, and nobody could ever do anything to punish him because every one was so afraid of his sharp thorns.

Anyway, by the time the Rainbow Cat had got to the end of the first verse, the hawthorn tree was very angry. He could hardly contain himself, and he trembled all over with the temper he was in.

The cat hardly looked at him, but went cheerfully on with his song.

This was the second verse:

“The elm tree stands like a stately king,

The leaves of the alder¹⁹ dance and sing,

My lady beech is a courtly dame²⁰,

The chestnut’s lamps are a shining flame.

But tell me, tell me, who can he be

That scarcely reaches up to their knee?

Hoary²¹ of head and crooked of limb,

What on earth is the matter with him?”

[48]The hawthorn tree had grown more and more furious as the song went on. The Rainbow Cat finished up with a beautiful trill when he got to “the matter with him,” but the hawthorn tree was in no mood to admire his fine singing. So great was his rage that he grew pinker and pinker and pinker, and he shook so violently that all his petals were shaken down. They fell all round him like a shower of rosy rain.

The Rainbow Cat waited no longer. He ran off as hard as he could to the Chief of the Goblins, still singing as he went, and told him that he would find all the stuff he wanted in the Weeshy Glen.

So the Queen got the rose-coloured shoes after all, and the Tree-goblins were most grateful to the Rainbow Cat, and begged him to stay with them as long as he liked.

But he thanked them and said he must continue his travels.

They wanted to load him with presents, but all he would take was a little bottle of water from the magic well. This water has fairy powers. If you rub it on your eyes you can see through stone walls, which is sometimes very convenient, and the Rainbow Cat was quite pleased to have some.

They also insisted that he should keep the mandolin. This he finally consented to do. And ever since that time there have always been pink hawthorn trees as well as white.

1 kindly   

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。

2 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

4 beech   

n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的

参考例句：

• Autumn is the time to see the beech woods in all their glory.秋天是观赏山毛榉林的最佳时期。
• Exasperated,he leaped the stream,and strode towards beech clump.他满腔恼怒，跳过小河，大踏步向毛榉林子走去。

5 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

6 lulled   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They lulled her into a false sense of security. 他们哄骗她，使她产生一种虚假的安全感。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The movement of the train lulled me to sleep. 火车轻微的震动催我进入梦乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

8 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。

9 hawthorn   

山楂

参考例句：

• A cuckoo began calling from a hawthorn tree.一只布谷鸟开始在一株山楂树里咕咕地呼叫。
• Much of the track had become overgrown with hawthorn.小路上很多地方都长满了山楂树。

10 bad-tempered   

adj.脾气坏的

参考例句：

• He grew more and more bad-tempered as the afternoon wore on.随着下午一点点地过去，他的脾气也越来越坏。
• I know he's often bad-tempered but really,you know,he's got a heart of gold.我知道他经常发脾气，但是，要知道，其实他心肠很好。

11 cantankerous   

adj.爱争吵的，脾气不好的

参考例句：

• He met a crabbed,cantankerous director.他碰上了一位坏脾气、爱争吵的主管。
• The cantankerous bus driver rouse on the children for singing.那个坏脾气的公共汽车司机因为孩子们唱歌而骂他们。

12 hawthorns   

n.山楂树( hawthorn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• With beating hearts, they descended through the hawthorns. 于是他们怀着忐忑不安的心情，穿过山楂丛，走下山坡。 来自辞典例句
• Some trees, such as junipers, cherries, and hawthorns, produce fruits that are eaten by birds. 有些树种如桧柏、樱桃和山楂结出能被鸟类吞食的浆果。 来自辞典例句

13 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

14 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

15 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。

16 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。

18 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

19 alder   

n.赤杨树

参考例句：

• He gave john some alder bark.他给了约翰一些桤木树皮。
• Several coppice plantations have been seeded with poplar,willow,and alder.好几个灌木林场都种上了白杨、柳树和赤杨。

20 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

21 hoary   

adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的

参考例句：

• They discussed the hoary old problem.他们讨论老问题。
• Without a word spoken,he hurried away,with his hoary head bending low.他什么也没说，低着白发苍苍的头，匆匆地走了。