O. POSSUM’S FUNNY MISTAKE

After Stubby Woodchuck had nearly lost his life, and after Chatty Red Squirrel¹ had nearly lost his life, all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods were greatly excited. When things like this happen to them, they talk about nothing else for a time.

When they went out of their homes every morning for something to eat, they were in constant fear of Tom Wildcat. One day Cheepy Chipmunk² said he was not getting more than half enough food, because he had to spend most of his time watching out. Blue Jay said it was the same in his case. He said that every time he started to pull a worm out of the ground he had to stop several[Pg 76] times and look around. And sometimes, he said, the worm would crawl back into the ground before he could get it.

Once, Blue Jay said, when he was pulling a big worm from the ground for Jenny Jay, he thought he heard a noise behind him, and he stopped and looked around. When he turned back again, Robin³-the-Red had pulled the worm out and gone away with it. After gobbling the worm, Robin came back and explained that he had been having so much bad luck in getting worms himself lately that he was about starved.

Blue Jay had accepted the apology, but he didn’t feel very good even at that. He said, “All right for this time, Mr. Robin, but hereafter I’ll thank you to let my worms alone.” I don’t think we can blame Blue Jay for being a little cross with Robin-the-Red; but they both[Pg 77] understood, because when Blue Jay got a chance, he did the very same thing with Robin.

Then O. Possum had a little trouble, too. One morning he came running in at the door of his stump⁴ and laid something down before Mandy Possum. “Well!” shouted O. Possum, “here’s a nice fat chicken for you, Mandy Possum! I guess we won’t starve if Tom Wildcat is prowling around.”

Mandy Possum went up to the chicken and turned it over. Well, sir, it proved to be nothing but an old dried-up head and a pair of chicken wings that had been lying in the farmer’s garden about a year.

“Humph!” exclaimed Mandy Possum, in great disgust. “Humph, you call that a big fat hen, do you, Mr. Possum? You grabbed⁵ it so quick and ran so fast,[Pg 78] you thought it was a big fat hen. Ha, ha, ha!” Mandy Possum laughed. “Tom Wildcat has certainly got on your nerves. Ha, ha, ha!”

Then O. Possum looked and saw the mistake he had made. “Huh!” was all he could say, he was so ashamed. And as he slipped out of doors he mumbled⁶ to himself, “I’ll get a live one.” Then, after he had sat out in the sun for a little while he began laughing all to himself. “That was a pretty good joke on me! It surely was,” O. Possum said, and he found himself enjoying the joke about as much as Mandy Possum had done.

Well, the next morning Doctor Rabbit slipped around pretty early and told his friends he was ready with his scheme. He carried a big bundle of signs, all painted with the finest black letters, and he tacked⁷ up a sign on the front door of[Pg 79] the home of each of his friends and neighbors. The little creatures were all surprised, and how they did admire Doctor Rabbit for his cleverness! They said that no one in the world but Doctor Rabbit could have thought of such a fine scheme, and they were very sure that Tom Wildcat would soon receive the surprise of his life.

1 squirrel   

n.松鼠，松鼠的毛皮；vt.贮藏以备用

参考例句：

• The squirrel makes a store of nuts for the winter.松鼠贮藏坚果以备过冬。
• A squirrel hoards nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬贮藏坚果。

2 chipmunk   

n.花栗鼠

参考例句：

• This little chipmunk is hungry.这只小花栗鼠肚子饿了。
• Once I brought her a chipmunk with a wound on its stomach.一次，我带了只腹部受伤的花栗鼠去找她。

3 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

4 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

5 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

6 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

7 tacked   

用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝

参考例句：

• He tacked the sheets of paper on as carefully as possible. 他尽量小心地把纸张钉上去。
• The seamstress tacked the two pieces of cloth. 女裁缝把那两块布粗缝了起来。