STORY XXIII NEDDIE PLAYS THE PIANO

 “Come, Neddie!” cried Mamma Stubtail, the lady bear, one day, as she went to the door of the cave-house and looked out in front where Neddie, the little boy bear, was playing football. “It’s time to practice your music lesson, Neddie.”

“Oh, dear!” cried the little bear boy. “I wish I was a player-piano!”

“What a funny wish!” said Beckie, who was taking her doll, Elizabeth Jane Huckleberrypie, out for a walk.

“Why do you want to be a player-piano, Neddie?”

“Then I wouldn’t have to practice my music lesson,” said the little bear boy.

However, since his mamma had called him, Neddie started to go in. Then Tommie and Joie Kat, the kitten boys, and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the puppy¹ dog boys, called to him:

“Where you going, Neddie?”

184“I have to practice my music lesson,” he answered, and he went into the cave-house, but he didn’t feel very happy. He sat down to the piano, and he began to play:

“Tinkle-tinkle tinkle-tink!

Dum-te dum-dum dum-dum doo!

Plinko-plunko smasho-bang!

How I wish that I was through!”

That’s the kind of a tune² Neddie had to play for his exercise music practice lesson, and really he didn’t do it well at all. For you see he was anxious to go back to play football with the boy animals.

And that’s often the way it is when real boys and girls have to practice music lessons. I wish it were not so, for there is nothing nicer in this world than music, and in order to play it well you have to practice. And some day, if you take music lessons, you’ll be glad that you did run up and down the piano keyboard with your fingers when you had much rather be out having games with your friends. For it is very nice to be able to play tunes³.

But Neddie didn’t think so as he sat on the piano stool⁴, drumming away, and looking at the clock, every now and then to see when his time 185would be up, so that he could go out and play with his animal friends.

Finally the clock struck five and Neddie finished his practice with a bang. It wasn’t music at all, but he did not care.

“Hurray!” he cried. “Practice is over. Now I can have some fun!”

Out of doors he rushed and more than ever he wished he were a player-piano, so that all he’d have to do would be to jump up and down with his feet when he wanted music. That is a good way to make nice sounds, too, on the player-piano, and I can play one or two pieces myself, that way. But, oh, how I wish I could play by hand!

However, Neddie’s friends were glad to see him come out again. They played football and nearly broke the window in Mrs. Wibblewobble’s duck pen, so that she had to run out and call to them:

“Now, boys, you must go right away from here. Play football somewhere else.”

So Neddie, the little bear boy, and his friends had to move along and look for a vacant lot where they could kick around their football without breaking any windows.

That night, when Mr. Stubtail, the bear papa, came home, he asked Neddie:

186“Did everything go all right in school to-day?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Neddie politely.

“And when you came home did you practice your music lesson?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Neddie, and he was glad he had not skipped it, as he sometimes did.

“Very good,” said Mr. Stubtail. “Then on Saturday afternoon I will take you and Beckie to a nice moving picture show.”

“Oh, joy!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws.

“Oh, happiness!” said Neddie, and he was glad again that he had not missed his music practice.

Well, that night, after Neddie had finished his home school-work, he wanted to sit up a little longer to read a fairy story. His mamma let him do this, but when it came time for Neddie to go to bed, he had not finished the story. So he begged:

“Oh, can’t I stay up just a little longer, mamma?”

Then, as he had been such a good boy, Mrs. Stubtail said that he might, so Neddie settled down into the deep-cushioned easy chair, and read all about how the pink fairy turned herself into a pumpkin⁵ and rolled down hill so the giant couldn’t make a Jack-o’-lantern of her.

And then quite a lot of things happened. Mrs. 187Kat, the mother of Tommie and Joie and Kittie Kat, came in to call on Mrs. Stubtail. And Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat⁶ lady, came to ask Aunt Piffy what the old lady bear did for dyspepsia when she ate cheese for supper. And Grandfather Goosey Gander came in to play a game of Scotch⁷ checkers with Uncle Wigwag, while Mr. Whitewash⁸, the Polar bear, went out to look for a cake of ice on which to sleep, for, he always liked things cold, you know.

And there were so many things going on that no one thought anything about Neddie. There he sat in the big chair, reading the fairy story until he fell asleep. Then, as it happened, all the company went home at once and in a hurry, and when Papa and Mamma Stubtail locked up the cave-house, and put the cat down cellar⁹, no one thought that Neddie was asleep in the big chair. His sister Beckie had gone up to bed some time ago, and every one thought Neddie was in bed also.

So upstairs in the cave-house went all the big folks, not knowing that Neddie was in the chair. And there he stayed until it got real late and dark. And, oh, so quiet was it in the house! Why, you could have heard a pin drop, if any one had let one fall.

All of a sudden Neddie awakened¹¹. He sat up 188with a jump, and looked all around in the dark. Of course he couldn’t see anything, for it was all black.

Then, hardly knowing where he was, Neddie rubbed his eyes with his paws, but still he could scarcely see. Then he noticed a little light from the street lamp outside, shining in through the window, and he could tell where he was.

“Why!” he exclaimed, “I’m home, in my own house! I fell asleep in the big chair. Huh! I guess I’d better go up to bed!”

Neddie stretched himself, and was wondering if he could find his room in the dark, without waking every one up, including Mr. Whitewash, who was asleep on a cake of ice, when, all of a sudden, Neddie heard a noise. It was right under the window, near which he had been sleeping, and he listened to a voice, saying:

“Now we’ll break in through the back door, and we’ll take Neddie and Beckie and carry them off to our den¹⁰ and never let them out again.”

“Yes, that’s just what we’ll do,” answered another voice, and then Neddie tiptoed to the window, and looking out he saw two bad old lions that had run away from a circus. They were coming to get Neddie and Beckie.

“Oh, what shall I do?” thought Neddie.

189“Those lions can easily break into our house. And if I call out to papa and mamma now the lions will hear me and they’ll jump in through the window and get me before I have a chance to run.

“Oh, what can I do? How can I scare those lions away?”

Just then Neddie heard a tiny mousie run up and down on the piano keys, making a little tinkling¹² sound. This made the little bear boy think of something.

“I have it!” he whispered to himself in the darkness. “I’ll go in to the piano, and I’ll play the loudest bang-bang tune I know. Maybe the lions will think it’s thunder and lightning and guns shooting off, and they may be afraid and run away!”

So Neddie stole into the piano room and, all of a sudden, he banged his paws down on the loud keys as hard as he could. Then he played on the tinkle-tinkle keys, and again on the thunder notes. The lions, who were just going to break into the cave-house, heard the noise. They had never heard music in the dark night before, and they thought it was thunder and lightning.

“Oh! wow!” cried one lion, “we’re going to be caught in a storm! Come on home to our cave!”

“I’m with you!” growled¹³ the other lion, shivering, 190and away they ran, as frightened as could be, because Neddie remembered enough of his music lesson to make a thunder sound that he had practiced several times.

“And I’m never going to make a fuss¹⁴ about practice again,” he said. “Music is a good thing, after all. It scares lions away.”

Of course everybody in the cave-house woke up when Neddie played the piano, and when he told his papa and mamma why he did it, to drive away the lions, they said he had done just right.

Then everything got quiet, and Neddie finished his sleep in bed. And nothing more happened. So, pretty soon, if the trolley¹⁵ car doesn’t run off the track and bunk¹⁶ into the dishpan and make a big dent¹⁷ in it, I’ll tell you about Neddie and Beckie going to a party.

1 puppy   

n.小狗，幼犬

参考例句：

• You must school your puppy to obey you.你要训练你的小狗服从你。
• Their lively puppy frisks all over the house.他们的小狗在屋里到处欢快地蹦跳。

2 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

3 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 stool   

n.凳子；粪便；根株；v.长出新枝，排便

参考例句：

• The stool is steady enough.这个凳子很稳。
• The boy was straining at stool.那个男孩在用力大便。

5 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

6 muskrat   

n.麝香鼠

参考例句：

• Muskrat fur almost equals beaver fur in quality.麝鼠皮在质量上几乎和海獭皮不相上下。
• I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice.我看到一只麝鼠从冰里面钻出来。

7 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

8 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。

9 cellar   

n.地窖，地下室，酒窖

参考例句：

• He took a bottle of wine from the cellar.他从酒窖里拿出一瓶酒。
• The little girl hid away in the cellar.小姑娘藏在地下室里。

10 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。

11 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 tinkling   

n.丁当作响声

参考例句：

• I could hear bells tinkling in the distance. 我能听到远处叮当铃响。
• To talk to him was like listening to the tinkling of a worn-out musical-box. 跟他说话，犹如听一架老掉牙的八音盒子丁冬响。 来自英汉文学

13 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 fuss   

n.过分关心，过分体贴，大惊小怪，小题大作

参考例句：

• My mother makes a fuss of me every time I come home.我每次回家，母亲总对我体贴备至。
• Stop all this fuss and do your homework.别大惊小怪了，去做你的家庭作业吧。

15 trolley   

n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车

参考例句：

• The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
• In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆，书籍是放在台车上搬动的。

16 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

17 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。