STORY XXVIII NEDDIE AND THE LEMON PIE

 “Ho, Neddie boy!” called Uncle Wigwag, the gentleman bear, to the little boy bear who was coming home from school, swinging his books in a strap¹ that dangled² from his paw. “Ho, Neddie boy, your mamma wants you!”

“She does?” asked Neddie. “What for?”

“To go to the store for a bushel of lemons!” said Uncle Wigwag, waltzing around on one paw, and holding the other up in the air like a jumping-jack dancing on top of a frosted cake.

“Oh, now I know you’re joking,” said Neddie, for Uncle Wigwag was a funny old bear gentleman, always playing tricks.

“Well, I am joking, just the least little bit,” admitted Uncle Wigwag, blinking both his eyes slow and careful like, so as not to get any dust in them. “But really your mamma does want you to go to the store. She told me to tell you just as soon as you came home from school.”

“What does she want?” asked Neddie. “I 224was going over to Jackie Bow Wow’s house to play football with him.”

“Your mamma wants you to go to the bakery for a lemon pie,” said Uncle Wigwag, scratching his left ear with his right paw, which is not an easy thing to do. “I just said a bushel of lemons for fun, you know. But really I think I’d like a pie with a bushel of lemons in.”

“So would I!” exclaimed Neddie. “I love lemon pie. I hope mamma wants me to get a big one, with that funny white of egg stuff and sugar on top.”

“That’s the very kind I want,” said Mrs. Stubtail, the lady bear, coming to the door just then. “Get me a large lemon meringue pie, Neddie. You see we are going to have company to-night, and really I haven’t time to bake a pie, and Aunt Piffy is so busy with dusting and sweeping⁴ that she hasn’t either. And as for asking Uncle Wigwag to make a pie, why I’m afraid he’d play some joke with it—such as putting in sawdust, or filling the top with white cotton batting.”

“Yes, I guess maybe I would,” said Uncle Wigwag, smiling at himself, which is another hard thing to do. “I will have my joke. But as long as I have told Neddie what you want of him, I suppose I may go over and see Grandfather Goosey Gander now, may I not?” asked the old 225bear gentleman, turning a peppersault as easily as a cow can blow her horn.

“Yes, I won’t need you around here, as long as I have Neddie to run on my errands,” said Mrs. Stubtail. “But don’t play too many tricks, Waggy,” she said, calling Uncle Wigwag a pet name he sometimes went by. “And be sure to be back here for supper,” went on the lady bear.

“Oh, you may be sure I’ll not miss that!” exclaimed Uncle Wigwag with a laugh. “I want some of that lemon pie Neddie is going to bring home from the baker³’s.”

So off went Uncle Wigwag to call on Grandfather Goosey Gander.

“Where is your sister Beckie?” asked Mrs. Stubtail, of Neddie, as she gave him the money to get the pie.

“Oh, she went over to Susie Littletail’s house, to talk about wax dolls, I guess,” spoke⁵ Neddie. “She told me to tell you she’ll be home to supper. I know I’ll be here to supper, anyhow,” went on Neddie, smacking⁶ his lips as he thought of the lemon pie. “Who are the company, mamma?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Silver-tip, a new family of bears who have moved into the cave across the street,” answered Mrs. Stubtail: “I want to make them feel at home.”

226“Do they like lemon pie?” asked Neddie.

“Oh, I guess so,” said Mrs. Stubtail.

“Oh, dear!” sighed the little bear cub⁷.

“Why, what’s the matter?” asked his mother.

“So many people like lemon pie,” he replied. “I’m afraid there won’t be enough to go around. There’s Uncle Wigwag, and—”

“Oh, don’t worry!” laughed Mrs. Stubtail. “You may get the largest lemon pie the baker has.”

Then Neddie felt happy, and off he went to the baker’s as fast as his paws would take him. Sometimes he ran along on just his hind⁸ feet, walking almost like a real boy and like the trained bears you see in the circus. And again Neddie would drop down on his four feet and go along that way for a while, like a little poodle doggie.

It was quite cold and there was some snow on the ground. Not as much as the time Neddie jumped into the big drift, but enough to make some snowballs. Neddie made a few in his paws, tossing them up into the air—the snowballs I mean he tossed, not his paws—and he caught the snowballs as they came down.

Pretty soon Neddie came to the baker’s, and he said:

“I want the largest lemon pie you have, if you please.”

227“All right,” said Mr. Peetie Skeezex, the baker, “you shall have it. I have a specially⁹ fine large one.”

Then he brought out from the oven the loveliest lemon meringue pie Neddie had ever seen. It was almost as large around as a Christmas drum, and on top was a lot of that white fluffy¹⁰ stuff made from eggs, and it was browned just the least little bit, and sprinkled with powdered sugar, and around the edge was some sort of curly-cue stuff like twisted rope, and the pie was as pretty as one picture and part of another one.

“Oh, yum-yum!” cried Neddie when he saw the lemon pie. He could not help it, and he could hardly stop from taking a taste. But the baker knew what hungry bear boys might do to a lemon pie, so Mr. Peetie Skeezex put the lemon pie in a paper and tied it very tight.

“There you are, Neddie,” he said to the little bear boy. “There’s your pie. Hurry home with it.”

“I will,” answered Neddie. “We’re going to have it for supper. We’ve got company coming.”

“Fine!” said Mr. Skeezex, giving Neddie a sweet cake to keep him from getting too hungry on the way home with the pie. I guess the baker was afraid that maybe Neddie might bite the pie, 228just to see if it were real. But if Neddie had a sweet cake of his own to nibble¹¹ on, this might not happen.

Neddie started for home, carrying the big lemon pie as carefully as the milkman brings in a bottle of cream for the cat, and the little boy bear was about half way to the cave-house, when, all of a sudden, while he was thinking how he could get two pieces of pie for supper, all at once out from behind a mulberry bush jumped an old sea lion.

“Bur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!” roared the sea lion, shaking his whiskers from side to side. “Bur-r-r-r-r!”

“Oh, dear!” cried Neddie, standing¹² still with the lemon pie, he was so frightened. “Oh, dear!”

“Bur-r-r-r-r-r! Wow! Woff! Snuff! Bur-r-r-r!” growled¹³ the sea lion. “Don’t be afraid, little bear boy.”

Well, now, I leave it to you, wouldn’t anybody be afraid to be stopped on their way home with a lemon pie for supper—stopped by a sea lion who growled like that? I guess they would. Neddie Stubtail was, anyhow. And by rights, that sea lion ought to have been in the ocean where he belonged. But the ocean was so cold, on account of the ice being in it, that the sea lion had flopped¹⁴ 229out. And now he was going to catch Neddie. Oh, dear!

“Don’t be afraid,” said the sea lion to Neddie. “I am not going to hurt you. What have you there?”

“A lemon pie, if you please,” answered Neddie, his teeth chattering¹⁵.

“Bur-r-r-r-r!” growled the sea lion. “Give it to me. I am very fond of lemon pie. I like it better than lollypops.”

“But, if you please,” said Neddie, “this pie is for supper. We have company coming.”

“That matters not to me,” said the sea lion. “Give me that pie!”

And then brave Neddie, thinking he must save the pie, whatever else happened, gave a big jump. Right over the sea lion’s head he went, and then how Neddie ran for home!

“Ha! You can’t get away like that!” cried the sea lion, and after Neddie he flopped. Well, Neddie ran as fast as he could, and the sea lion flopped as fast as he could, and the bad creature had almost caught the little bear boy when, all at once part of the lemon pie slipped off the bottom crust.

Right through a hole in the bag it went, and into the path it fell, and before the sea lion could stop himself he had slipped on the slippery lemon 230stuff of the pie and head over flippers he went, slipping and sliding, until he came to the top of a hill, and he fell over that and down into a bramble briar bush, and he didn’t get out for a week and a day.

So Neddie was saved, and he got safely home with the rest of the pie, and only a little bit had fallen off, so there was enough left for him and for Beckie and the company, and even for Uncle Wigwag.

So that’s the story of Neddie and the lemon pie and if the iceman doesn’t take our refrigerator home with him to keep his little pussy¹⁶ cat warm in, I’ll tell you next about Beckie and the cold birdie.

1 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

2 dangled   

悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• Gold charms dangled from her bracelet. 她的手镯上挂着许多金饰物。
• It's the biggest financial incentive ever dangled before British footballers. 这是历来对英国足球运动员的最大经济诱惑。

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

5 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。

6 smacking   

活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• He gave both of the children a good smacking. 他把两个孩子都狠揍了一顿。
• She inclined her cheek,and John gave it a smacking kiss. 她把头低下，约翰在她的脸上响亮的一吻。

7 cub   

n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人

参考例句：

• The lion cub's mother was hunting for what she needs. 这只幼师的母亲正在捕猎。
• The cub licked the milk from its mother's breast. 这头幼兽吸吮着它妈妈的奶水。

8 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。

9 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

10 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。

11 nibble   

n.轻咬，啃；v.一点点地咬，慢慢啃，吹毛求疵

参考例句：

• Inflation began to nibble away at their savings.通货膨胀开始蚕食他们的存款。
• The birds cling to the wall and nibble at the brickwork.鸟儿们紧贴在墙上，啄着砖缝。

12 standing   

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。

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 flopped   

v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽，一屁股坐到椅子上。
• It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地，出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

16 pussy   

n.(儿语)小猫，猫咪

参考例句：

• Why can't they leave my pussy alone?为什么他们就不能离我小猫咪远一点？
• The baby was playing with his pussy.孩子正和他的猫嬉戏。