"But suppose I did lose myself," said the boy; "what then?"
"I should have to tell Little John to bring all my merry men to look for you, and Maid Marian here would sit at home and cry till you were found."
"Then I will not lose myself," said Robin. And he always remembered his promise when he took his bow and arrows and, with his sword hanging from his belt, went away from the outlaws3' camp for a long ramble4.
His bow was just as high as he was himself, that being the rule in archery, and his arrows, beautifully made by Little John, were just half the length of his bow.
As to his sword, that was a dagger5 in a green shark-skin sheath given to him by Robin Hood6, who said rightly enough that it was quite big enough for him.
Maid Marian found a suitable buckle7 for the belt, one which Little John cut out of a very soft piece of deer-skin, the same skin forming the cross-belt which went over the boy's shoulder and supported his horn.
For he was supplied with a horn as well, this being necessary in the forest, and Robin Hood himself taught him in the evenings how to blow the calls by fitting his lips to the mouthpiece and altering the tone by placing his hand inside the silver rim9 which formed the mouth.
It was not easy, but the little fellow soon learned. All the same, though, he made some strange sounds at first, bad enough, Little John declared, to give one of Maid Marian's cows the tooth-ache, and frighten the herds11 of deer farther and farther away.
That was only at the first, for young Robin very soon became quite a woodman, learning fast to sound his horn, to shoot and hit his mark, and to find his way through the great wilderness12 of open moorland and shady trees.
But it was more than once that he lost his way, for the trees and beaten tracks were so much alike and all was so beautiful that it was easy to wander on and forget all about finding the way back through the sun-dappled shades.
And so it happened that one morning when the outlaw band had gone off hunting, to bring back a couple of fat deer for Robin Hood's larder13, young Robin started by himself, bow in hand, down one of the lovely beech14 glades15, and had soon gone farther than he had been before.
The squirrels dropped the beech mast and dashed away through the trees, to chop and scold at him; the rabbits started from out of the ferns and raced away fast, showing the under part of their white cotton tails, before they plunged16 into their shady burrows17; and twice over, as the boy softly passed out of the shade into some sunny opening, he came upon little groups of deer—beautiful large-eyed thin-legged does, with their fawns18—grazing peacefully on the soft grass which grew in patches between the tufts of golden prickly furze, for they were safe enough, the huntsmen being gone in search of the lordly bucks20, with their tall flattened21 horns if they were fallow deer, small, round, and sharply pointed22 if they were roes23.
There was always something fresh to see, and he who went slowly and softly through the forest saw most. At such times as this young Robin would stop short to watch the grazing deer and fawns with their softly dappled hides, till all at once a pair of sharp blue eyes would spy him out, and the jay who owned those eyes would set up his soft speckled crest24, show his fierce black moustachios, and shout an alarm again in a harsh voice—"Here's a boy! here's a boy!" and the does would leave off eating, throw up their heads, and away the little herd10 would go, nip—nip—nip, in a series of bounds, just as if their thin legs were so many springs, their black hoofs25 coming down close together and just touching26 the short elastic27 grass, which seemed to send them off again.
"I wish they wouldn't be afraid of me," young Robin said. "I shouldn't hurt them."
But the does and fawns did not know that, for as Robin said this he was fitting an arrow to his bow-string, and threatening to send it flying after the shrieking28 jay which had given the alarm. He forgot, too, that he had eaten heartily29 of delicious roasted fawn19 only a few days before.
As he wandered on through glades where the sun seemed to send rays of glowing silver down through the oak or beech leaves as if to fill the golden cups which grew beneath them among the soft green moss30, he would come out suddenly perhaps on one of the sunny forest pools, perhaps where the water was half covered with broad flat leaves, among which were silver blossoms, in other places golden, with arrow weed at the sides, along with whispering reeds and sword-shaped iris31 plants. There beneath the floating leaves great golden-sided carp and tench floated, and sometimes a fierce-eyed green-splashed pike, while over all flitted and darted32 upon gauzy wings beautiful dragon-flies, chasing the tiny gnats—blue, brown, golden, and golden-green—and now and then encountering and making their wings rustle33 as they touched in rapid flight. Then as he stood with his hand resting against a tree trunk, peering forward, a curious little head with bright crimson34 eyes divided the sedge or reeds growing in the water, its owner looking out to see if there was any danger; and as it looked, Robin could see that the bird's beak35 seemed to be continued right up into a fiat36 red plate between its eyes.
[Illustration: Robin stood with his hand resting against a tree trunk.]
Then it came sailing out, swimming by means of its long thin legs and toes, coming right into the opening, looking of a dark shiny brownish green, all but its stunted37 tail, the under part of which was pure white, with a black band across.
Little John told him afterwards that it was a moor-hen, even if it was a cock bird. It was, not this which took so much of Robin's attention, but the seven or eight little dark balls which followed it out along one of the lanes of open water, swimming here and there and making dabs38 with their little beaks39 at the insects gliding40 about the top.
It was so quiet and seemed so safe that directly after the reeds parted again and another bird swam out from among the sheltering reeds. Robin knew this directly as a drake, but he had never before seen one with such a gloriously green head, rich chestnut-colored breast, soft gray back, or glistening41 metallic42 purple wing spots.
Robin could have sent a sharp-pointed arrow at this beautiful bird, and perhaps have killed it, for he knew well that roast duck or drake is very nice stuffed with sage43 and onions, and with green peas to eat therewith; but he never thought of using his bow, and he was content to feast his eyes upon the bird's beauty and watch its motions.
The drake took no notice of the moor-hen and her dusky dabs, but swam right out in the middle, seemed to stand up on the water, stretching out his neck and flapping his wings so sharply that something right on the other side moved suddenly, and Robin saw that there was another bird which he had not seen before—a long-necked, long-legged, loose-feathered gray creature with sharp eyes and a thin beak, standing44 in the water and staring eagerly at the drake as much as to say:
"Quaik?"
"Wirk—wirk—wirk!" said the drake.
"Quack46, quack, quack, quack!" came from out of the reeds, and a brown duck came sailing out, followed by ten little yellow balls of down with flat beaks, swimming like their mother, but in a hurried pop-and-go-one fashion, in and out, and round and round, and seeming to go through country dances on the water in chase of water beetles47 and running spiders or flies, while the duck kept on uttering a warning quack, and the drake, who, first with one eye and then with the other, kept a sharp look up in the sky for falcons48 and hawks49, now and then muttered out a satisfied "Wirk—wirk—wirk!"
Robin was Just thinking how beautiful it all was, when the danger for which the drake was watching in the sky suddenly came from the water beneath.
One of the downy yellow dabs had swum two yards away from the others and his mother, after a daddy long-legs which had flown down on to the surface of the water, and had opened its little flat beak to seize it, when there was a whirl in the water, a rush and splash, and two great jaws50 armed with sharp teeth closed over the duckling, which was visible one moment, gone the next, and Robin drew an arrow out to fit to his bow-string.
But he was too late to send it whizzing at the great pike, which had given a whisk with its tail and gone off to some lair51 in the reeds to peacefully swallow the young duck, while the rest followed their quacking52 father and mother back to the shelter of the reeds, rushes, and sedge, where the moor-hen and her brood were already safe, while, startled by the alarm, the heron bent53 down as it spread its great gray wing's, sprang up, gave a few flaps and flops54, and began to sail round above the pool till it grew peaceful again, when, stretching out its legs, the heron dropped back into the water, stood motionless gazing down with meditative55 eyes as if quite satisfied that no fish would touch it, and then, flick56!
It had taken place so rapidly that Robin hardly saw the movement, but certainly the heron's beak was darted in amongst the bottoms of the reeds where they grew out of the water, and directly afterwards the bird straightened itself again, to stand up with a kicking green frog in its scissor-shaped beak.
Then there was a jerk or two, which altered the frog's position, and the beak from being only a little way open was shut quite close, and a knob appeared in the heron's long neck, went slowly lower and lower, and then disappeared altogether.
Then the heron shuffled57 its wings a little as if to put the feathers quite straight, said "Phenk" loudly twice over, and shut one eye.
For the bird had partaken of a satisfactory dinner, and was thinking about it, while young Robin sighed and thought it seemed very dreadful; but the next moment he was watching a streak58 of blue, which was a kingfisher with a tiny silver fish in its beak, and thinking he was beginning to feel hungry himself.
So he left the side of the pool with another sigh, the noise he made sending off the great gray heron, and after a little difficulty he found his way back to the outlaws' camp and his own dinner, which, oddly enough, was not roast buck8 or fawn, but roast ducks and a fine baked pike, cooked in an earthen oven, with plenty of stuffing.
Then, being hungry, young Robin partook of his own meal, and forgot all about what he had seen.
点击收听单词发音
1 robin | |
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟 | |
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2 outlaw | |
n.歹徒,亡命之徒;vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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3 outlaws | |
歹徒,亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 ); 逃犯 | |
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4 ramble | |
v.漫步,漫谈,漫游;n.漫步,闲谈,蔓延 | |
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5 dagger | |
n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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6 hood | |
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖 | |
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7 buckle | |
n.扣子,带扣;v.把...扣住,由于压力而弯曲 | |
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8 buck | |
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃 | |
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9 rim | |
n.(圆物的)边,轮缘;边界 | |
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10 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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11 herds | |
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众 | |
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12 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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13 larder | |
n.食物贮藏室,食品橱 | |
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14 beech | |
n.山毛榉;adj.山毛榉的 | |
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15 glades | |
n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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16 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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17 burrows | |
n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘(洞穴),挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 );翻寻 | |
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18 fawns | |
n.(未满一岁的)幼鹿( fawn的名词复数 );浅黄褐色;乞怜者;奉承者v.(尤指狗等)跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的第三人称单数 );巴结;讨好 | |
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19 fawn | |
n.未满周岁的小鹿;v.巴结,奉承 | |
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20 bucks | |
n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 );钱;(英国十九世纪初的)花花公子;(用于某些表达方式)责任v.(马等)猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 );抵制;猛然震荡;马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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21 flattened | |
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的 | |
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22 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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23 roes | |
n.獐( roe的名词复数 );獐鹿;鱼卵;鱼精液 | |
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24 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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25 hoofs | |
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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27 elastic | |
n.橡皮圈,松紧带;adj.有弹性的;灵活的 | |
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28 shrieking | |
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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29 heartily | |
adv.衷心地,诚恳地,十分,很 | |
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30 moss | |
n.苔,藓,地衣 | |
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31 iris | |
n.虹膜,彩虹 | |
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32 darted | |
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
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33 rustle | |
v.沙沙作响;偷盗(牛、马等);n.沙沙声声 | |
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34 crimson | |
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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35 beak | |
n.鸟嘴,茶壶嘴,钩形鼻 | |
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36 fiat | |
n.命令,法令,批准;vt.批准,颁布 | |
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37 stunted | |
adj.矮小的;发育迟缓的 | |
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38 dabs | |
少许( dab的名词复数 ); 是…能手; 做某事很在行; 在某方面技术熟练 | |
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39 beaks | |
n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 );鹰钩嘴;尖鼻子;掌权者 | |
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40 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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41 glistening | |
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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42 metallic | |
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的 | |
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43 sage | |
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的 | |
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44 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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45 enquiring | |
a.爱打听的,显得好奇的 | |
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46 quack | |
n.庸医;江湖医生;冒充内行的人;骗子 | |
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47 beetles | |
n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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48 falcons | |
n.猎鹰( falcon的名词复数 ) | |
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49 hawks | |
鹰( hawk的名词复数 ); 鹰派人物,主战派人物 | |
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50 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
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51 lair | |
n.野兽的巢穴;躲藏处 | |
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52 quacking | |
v.(鸭子)发出嘎嘎声( quack的现在分词 ) | |
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53 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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54 flops | |
n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 );(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 | |
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55 meditative | |
adj.沉思的,冥想的 | |
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56 flick | |
n.快速的轻打,轻打声,弹开;v.轻弹,轻轻拂去,忽然摇动 | |
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57 shuffled | |
v.洗(纸牌)( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 );拖着脚步走;粗心地做;摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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58 streak | |
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动 | |
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