STORY III NEDDIE AND THE BEES’ NEST

 One day, when Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little boy and girl bears, started for school, Uncle Wigwag, the funny old bear gentleman who, with Mr. Whitewash¹, the polar bear, was building a sitting-room² on to the cave-house out of a hollow tree log, said:

“Neddie, when you come back from your lessons this afternoon I shall have something for you to do.”

“All right,” answered Neddie politely, as he stood up on his hind³ legs and reached for a bunch of grapes growing on a vine in the woods. “All right, Uncle Wigwag. Do you want me to go after some blue paint to color a board pink?” and Neddie laughed.

Uncle Wigwag laughed too, for you see he was always playing jokes on Neddie and Beckie, and he remembered when he had once sent the little bear boy for the wrong kind of paint.

“No,” answered the old gentleman bear, 26“nothing like that, Neddie; I just want to take you for a walk in the woods, and have you go see Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, with me. Uncle Wiggily is going to sell his automobile⁵ and buy a new car, so maybe he’ll give us his old one.”

“Oh, joy! I hope he does!” cried Neddie.

“So do I!” exclaimed Beckie.

Then she and her brother went to school and learned their lessons, such as how to make beds in hollow stumps⁶, and how to scratch their letters on the white bark of a birch tree and how to keep out of dangerous traps, and all things like that.

And all the while Neddie was wondering whether or not Uncle Wiggily would give them his old automobile.

“If he does,” thought the little bear boy, “we can have lots of fun. It will be better than sliding down hill or eating ice cream cones⁷.”

Well, after a while, school was out, and the blackboards could take a rest and the pieces of chalk could lie down on the back of the erasers and go to sleep. Out trooped the animal children.

“Come on, Neddie!” cried Joie Kat, the kitten boy. “Let’s have a game of tag!”

“Or run a race!” added Tommie Kat.

27“No, I’ve got to go home,” said Neddie. “My uncle is going to take me with him.”

So he did not stop to play, but hurried on. Beckie, however, played with Kittie Kat and with Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl, and Alice and Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck girls.

“Well, here I am, Uncle Wigwag!” at last called Neddie, as he ran up to the old bear gentleman. “Come on!”

“Just a minute, Neddie. Sit down on this board while I saw it in two, will you? I want it for the front steps,” said Uncle Wigwag.

So Neddie, thinking nothing wrong, sat down on the board, which was placed between two stumps, resting on them. And no sooner had Neddie seated himself, than “Crack!” went the board, breaking right in the middle, and down Neddie went. But he wasn’t hurt, for Uncle Wigwag, when he played this trick, had placed a pile of soft leaves for Neddie to fall on. They were just like a cushion.

“Excuse my joke!” laughed Uncle Wigwag. You see he had nearly sawed the board in two before Neddie arrived, and when the little bear boy sat on it the pieces were just held together by a few shreds⁸ of wood. Of course, they easily broke with Neddie’s weight.

“Oh, that’s all right! I don’t mind!” laughed 28Neddie, brushing the dried leaves off his fur. “You must have your joke, I suppose, Uncle Wigwag.”

“Indeed I must,” answered the old gentleman bear. “But here is a penny for you to buy a lollypop, because you took my trick so good-naturedly.”

Then Uncle Wigwag, shaking his head, set off through the woods with Neddie to the house of Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit gentleman, to ask for the old auto⁴.

“Hum! Let me see!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, when Uncle Wigwag had asked him. “My old auto, eh? Well, I will think about it. Sit down, Mr. Wigwag, and I’ll consider it.”

“And may I go off and buy a lollypop?” asked Neddie, hoping that, by the time he came back, Uncle Wiggily would have given Uncle Wigwag the old auto.

“Yes, toddle⁹ off!” exclaimed Uncle Wigwag, so Neddie toddled¹⁰ off.

On and on he went through the woods, and pretty soon he came to a tree on the side of which he saw something sticky. A number of flies were buzzing around it, and at first Neddie thought it was flypaper. But when he went closer he smelled something sweet, and putting the tip of his paw on it, and then putting his paw 29to his mouth, Neddie found the sticky stuff on the tree was honey; just as you wet the tip of your finger when you want to see whether there is sugar or salt in the pepper dish.

“Ah, ha! Honey!” cried Neddie. “I just love honey! It is better than lollypops!”

He put his red tongue on the sticky stuff, and licked off all he could reach. Then he stretched up with his paws and got more. Finally he could reach up no farther.

But he looked up, and he saw a big black lump high in the tree, and Neddie said to himself:

“That must be where the most honey is. I’ll climb up and get some, and take some home to mamma and Beckie.”

Now, Neddie could climb a tree very well. All bears can, even little baby ones, for they have sharp claws for that very thing. So Neddie got ready to climb, and before doing so he sang this little song:

“Honey, honey in a tree,

Some for you and some for me.

Oh! how I do love sweet honey,

I can get this without money!”

Then Neddie began to climb. Higher and 30higher he went in the tree, and as he went up he could smell the sweet honey more and more, and his mouth fairly watered for it.

Neddie did not stop to think that the honey was not his. All he thought of was how good it would taste, and how much he wanted it. Nor did he stop to ask himself what that funny buzzing sound was, that seemed to come from inside the tree.

“Oh, you honey!” gaily¹¹ cried Neddie, as he climbed higher.

Finally he got to the big black lump, and, surely enough, it was a pile of honeycomb, the little holes being all filled with the sweet, sticky stuff.

“Oh, this beats lollypops!” cried Neddie. “It is better even than automobiles¹².”

Neddie reached his paw into the middle of the black mass and scooped¹³ out a lot of honey. He put it in his mouth and began to chew on it. It was so good that he just had to shut his eyes.

“Oh, yum! yum!” cried Neddie.

Now, if he had had his eyes open Neddie might have seen a lot of bees flying out of the hollow honey tree. But he did not look. He was thinking too much of the sweet stuff. Out buzzed the bees, and they were very angry that some one had come to take their sweet stuff. And, small as 31they were, the bees were not afraid of Neddie, who was quite a large bear boy.

“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” went the bees. “Get away from our honey!” Then they flew at Neddie, and with their sharp stings they stung him on the end of his soft and tender nose, and on the bottom parts of his paws, where they had no fur, and on his ears; and some of the bees even snuggled down in his fur and stung him through that.

“Oh, wow!” cried Neddie, as he felt the needle-like stings. Then he opened his eyes quickly enough.

“Get away from our honey!” buzzed the bees, and Neddie was glad to slide down that tree more quickly than he had climbed up it. Oh! how his nose smarted, and his paws! He seemed on fire all over. He licked the honey off his paws, but it did not taste good any more.

“Oh, wow! Double wow!” howled poor Neddie, and then he started to run home as fast as he could. And on the way he met Uncle Wigwag, who soon knew what the matter was.

“Some cool, wet mud on your nose will stop the pain,” said the bear gentleman, and he took Neddie to a brook¹⁴ and made him a nice mud-plaster. Then Neddie felt better, but he said he would never go near a bees’ honey nest again.

32“And did Uncle Wiggily give you the auto?” asked Neddie of Uncle Wigwag on their way home.

“He is still thinking about it,” said Uncle Wigwag. “Oh, but your nose is all swelled¹⁵ up like a football, Neddie.” And so it was. But in a few days it was all better.

And in the story after this, if the horse radish doesn’t run away with the spoon-holder and scare the knives and forks off the sideboard, I’ll tell you about Beckie and the grapes.

1 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。

2 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。

3 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

4 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

5 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

6 stumps   

（被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

7 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

8 shreds   

v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件）

参考例句：

• Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮，切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

9 toddle   

v.（如小孩）蹒跚学步

参考例句：

• The baby has just learned to toddle.小孩子刚会走道儿。
• We watched the little boy toddle up purposefully to the refrigerator.我们看著那小男孩特意晃到冰箱前。

10 toddled   

v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的过去式和过去分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步

参考例句：

• It's late — it's time you toddled off to bed. 不早了—你该去睡觉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her two-year-old son toddled into the room. 她的两岁的儿子摇摇摆摆地走进屋里。 来自辞典例句

11 gaily   

adv.欢乐地，高兴地

参考例句：

• The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
• She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

12 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

15 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。