STORY II BECKIE AND THE BUNS

 The next day, after Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little bear children, had been caught in the hollow log, and their papa had to claw them out, they didn’t go to school. It was not because they were not well enough, for, after all, being stuck inside a hollow log doesn’t hurt a bear child very much. You see they have a lot of soft, fluffy¹ fur on them.

No, that wasn’t the reason Beckie and Neddie didn’t go to school. And it wasn’t because it was Saturday, either. No, it was because there was no school on account of the teacher bear having a toothache. And when a bear has the toothache he really can’t do anything. He has to go to the dentist right away.

It was so with the teacher bear.

On the outside of the school house door the bear teacher hung a white piece of birch bark, on which was printed:

NO SCHOOL TO-DAY.

I’VE GOT THE TOOTHACHE.

18“Oh, goodie!” cried Neddie when he read it, and he felt so happy that he tried to wag his little short tail, only he couldn’t.

“Why, Neddie, I’m s’prised at you!” exclaimed Tommie Kat, who, with his brother and sister, Joie and Kittie, had also come to school.

“Oh, I’m not glad ’cause teacher’s got the toothache,” said Neddie Stubtail quickly, “it’s just because there’s no school.”

“Oh, then so’m I glad,” said Kittie Kat, purring softly.

So all the animal children went home on account of the school being closed, and when Mrs. Stubtail saw Beckie and Neddie coming up to the cave-house, she exclaimed:

“Why, what does this mean?” The little bears told their mamma, and Aunt Piffy, who had just come up from down cellar, said:

“Well, if there is no (puff) school, I can (puff) hear your (puff) lessons!” You see she puffed³ because she was all out of breath.

“Oh, no, thank you,” said Neddie quickly, “we’ll have to-day’s lessons to-morrow, so we don’t have to study any now.”

Then he went out to have some fun: and one of the things he did was to watch his uncle Wigwag and Mr. Whitewash⁴, the polar bear gentleman, building a new room onto the cave-house. 19It was a room made from a big hollow log—not the same one that Neddie and Beckie had been caught in, however, but another one. Mrs. Stubtail wanted her cave-house made larger so Uncle Wigwag suggested adding on a hollow log for a sitting-room⁵.

So that’s what he and Mr. Whitewash were doing, and Neddie helped them by getting in their way every now and then, so they wouldn’t work too fast and get all tired out. Finally Uncle Wigwag said:

“Neddie, I wish you’d go to the store and get me some red paint to color this log green.” And, never thinking it was a joke, off Neddie ran.

Pretty soon after that his mamma wanted him to go to the store to get her a yeast⁶ cake, so she could make bread. But, as Neddie was not in sight, Beckie went.

On her way home with the yeast cake in her paws Beckie had to go past a house where some other bears lived. Now these bears were not nice and good. In fact they were bad, and because they were bad, and because the Stubtail family was a family of good bears the bad bears did not like them.

Why, would you believe it? Often those bad bears would take rabbit and squirrel and guinea 20pig children off to their dens⁷ and keep them there for ever and ever so long, just to be mean, you know. But none of the Stubtails, or Mr. Whitewash, or Uncle Wigwag, or Aunt Piffy would do anything like that. Maybe Uncle Wigwag would play a joke, or do something funny, but nothing that was real mean.

And once Mr. Whitewash met a little boy kitten in the woods—Joie Kat I think it was. And Joie was wiggling and squirming and twisting this way and that.

“What’s the matter, Joie?” asked Mr. Whitewash. “Have you the measles⁸?”

“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Joie, “my back itches⁹ me terribly, and I can’t reach the place to scratch it. Oh, dear!”

Now, there’s nothing worse than to have an itchy place in your back and not be able to scratch it. Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, knew that, so with his claws he gently scratched Joie’s back for him and tickled¹⁰ the little kitten boy very much.

But if Joie had met one of the bad bears, why, my goodness me, and some peanut butter on your cracker¹¹! The bad bear would, just as soon as not, have taken Joie off to his den² and made him pull chestnuts¹² out of the fire for the 21other bears to eat. That’s what it is to be a bad bear!

And that was the cave-house in the woods which Beckie had to go past on her way home from the store with the yeast cake. But she was not afraid, even of the bad bears.

However, one of the bad bears, looking out of a window in his cave-house, saw her coming and he said to his brothers:

“Ha! There’s that goody-goody little Stubtail girl! I’m going to get her in here and pull her hair!”

“How are you going to do it?” asked another bear.

“I’ll show you!” spoke¹³ the first one.

So he went to the cupboard and got a lot of sweet buns. Bears, you know, love buns almost more than anything else. If ever you see some tame bears in a cage or in a park give them a few buns, and see how they enjoy them. That is, if the keeper lets you, not otherwise.

So this bad bear, who wanted to pull Beckie’s hair, just because she was good, threw a bun out of his window. It fell close to the little bear girl, who looked at it in surprise.

“Ha!” she exclaimed, “that is strange! I wonder if it is raining buns from the sky?” She looked up, but she could see none falling 22from the clouds, and because the bad bear who had thrown the bun was hiding behind the window curtains Beckie could not see him, either.

“Well, I’ll eat it,” the little animal said, and she did, for it was a good bun, even if a bad bear did throw it.

“Ha!” said one of the bad bears to his brother, “I don’t see how you’re going to get her in here to pull her hair just by tossing buns at her.”

“You just watch,” said the first bad bear.

Then he threw another bun, when Beckie wasn’t looking, and this one he did not toss quite so far. It fell nearer to the cave-house of the bad bears.

“Oh joy!” cried Beckie, seeing the second bun, “someone is very good to me to-day!”

Ah! If she had only known.

“See!” exclaimed one bad bear to the other, “that’s how I’m going to get Beckie in here! Every bun she picks up will bring her closer and closer to us, and soon I can jump out and grab her!”

Oh, wasn’t he the bad old bear!

Well, Beckie ate the second bun, and then came a third one, sailing through the air.

“Why, it surely is raining buns!” cried 23Beckie in delight. “I mustn’t eat them all. I’ll save some to take home to Neddie.”

So she began to put the buns in her pocket, and she never noticed that each one she picked up brought her nearer and nearer and nearer to the cave of the bad bears.

The last bun was almost on their doorstep, and, just as Beckie reached over for it, the bad bear jumped out and grabbed her.

“Oh dear!” cried poor Beckie Stubtail.

But the bad bears did not get a chance to take her into their house. Just as they were going to do it along came Mr. Whitewash, the kind polar bear. He was looking for Neddie to tell him Uncle Wigwag was only joking about the red paint to make a log green. And then Mr. Whitewash saw the bad bear grab Beckie who had picked up the buns.

And what do you think Mr. Whitewash did?

Why, the big, brave white polar bear went right up to the bad black bear and he cuffed¹⁴ him on the ears with his broad paws, and pushed him back inside his own house, and then he tickled that furry¹⁵ creature in the ribs¹⁶ until the bad bear had to laugh whether he wanted to or not, and then Mr. Whitewash just grabbed Beckie up under his paw and hurried away home 24with her. And, oh, how angry the bad bears were, because they could pull no one’s hair.

“Beckie, you must be very careful about going near that bear house again,” said her mamma when she heard the story.

“I will, but, anyhow, I got the buns,” said Beckie, as she gave Neddie some.

So that’s all now, if you please, but the next story will be about Neddie and the bees’ nest—that is, if the nutmeg grater doesn’t scratch the piano and make it cry when the rubber doll tries to play a song on it.

1 fluffy   

adj.有绒毛的，空洞的

参考例句：

• Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。
• The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

2 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

3 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 whitewash   

v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰

参考例句：

• They tried hard to whitewash themselves.他们力图粉饰自己。
• What he said was a load of whitewash.他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。

5 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

6 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

7 dens   

n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋

参考例句：

• Female bears tend to line their dens with leaves or grass. 母熊往往会在洞穴里垫些树叶或草。 来自辞典例句
• In winter bears usually hibernate in their dens. 冬天熊通常在穴里冬眠。 来自辞典例句

8 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

9 itches   

n.痒( itch的名词复数 )；渴望，热望v.发痒( itch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His wool shirt always itches him. 他的羊毛内衣总是使他发痒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This wool shirt itches my back. 这件羊毛衫使我背上发痒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

11 cracker   

n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干

参考例句：

• Buy me some peanuts and cracker.给我买一些花生和饼干。
• There was a cracker beside every place at the table.桌上每个位置旁都有彩包爆竹。

12 chestnuts   

n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马

参考例句：

• A man in the street was selling bags of hot chestnuts. 街上有个男人在卖一包包热栗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Talk of chestnuts loosened the tongue of this inarticulate young man. 因为栗子，正苦无话可说的年青人，得到同情他的人了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

13 spoke   

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。

14 cuffed   

v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She cuffed the boy on the side of the head. 她向这男孩的头上轻轻打了一巴掌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mother cuffed the dog when she found it asleep on a chair. 妈妈发现狗睡在椅子上就用手把狗打跑了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

16 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。