Chapter Nine THE CAPTIVES ATTEND A DANCE

 While the Teenie Weenie soldiers were gallantly¹ marching to the rescue of their little friends, the Lady of Fashion and the Poet were being kept prisoners in one of the funny little houses of the wild men.

Queen Mooie, ruler of the Saboes, was a very fat little lady, and like all fat people, big or little, she was very good-natured. When the Lady of Fashion and the Poet were brought before her, she was much interested in them and she made a long speech to the two Teenie Weenies in her strange language, but not one word could the little people understand.

The house in which the Lady of Fashion and the Poet were kept was built up on posts about six Teenie Weenie feet (three inches in our measurement) from the ground. The houses were built up high as protection from the dampness, for the Saboes lived on a little island in the heart of a big swamp², and it also protected the little people from bugs³. The floor of the house was made of sticks and the roof and sides were covered with a peculiar⁴ swamp grass. A flat stone about the size of a half dollar was placed on the floor, on which the wild men built a tiny fire to keep themselves warm in winter, and a small hole in the roof provided a chimney for the smoke.

Twice a day the wild men brought the two Teenie Weenies delicious pieces of smoked frog ham, with many tiny rice cakes, and every other day the two prisoners were given a blackberry.

One night shortly after the Lady of Fashion and the Poet had been brought to the wild men’s village, the two Teenie Weenies heard the beating of a drum. For what seemed hours the little prisoners listened to the tumtum, tumtum, tumtum, of the drum. There was no use asking the wild man who guarded them just outside their door, for he couldn’t understand them, so there was nothing to do but listen to the tumtum, tumtum, tumtum, and wonder what it was all about.

 

Presently one of the wild men climbed up the ladder to their house and motioned the two Teenie Weenies to follow him. He led them beneath a bush near by, where a lot of wild men were dancing about a great fire. The men sang a queer⁵ sort of song as they danced, while one strange-looking fellow, who was a sort of witch doctor, rattled⁶ a huge seed pod fastened to the end of a forked stick. The wild men performed this strange dance once a month, as they believed it would keep bad luck away from their tribe⁷.

The Queen of the wild men sat near the fire on the back of her turtle, while the rest of the Saboes stood in a circle about the dancing men. The fire had been built in a deep hole on top of a large stone and when the stone was almost red-hot, the wild men scraped the fire all out with long sticks.

Then they lined the hole in the stone with sassafras leaves, into which they threw four large frog hams and then covered them over with several big leaves. Sand was then thrown onto the leaves, covering the hams tightly⁸ in the hot hole.

The wild men built a fire all around the outside edge of the stone, and while the hams cooked they again took up the wild dance. When the hams were baked they were taken out and a piece was served to each person and the Lady of Fashion and the Poet both enjoyed the delicious meat.

After everyone had eaten of the ham, the Queen ordered the two Teenie Weenies to be taken back to their prison, but although it was very late, the Lady of Fashion and the Poet could hear the loud shouts of the wild little people for many hours.

1 gallantly   

adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地

参考例句：

• He gallantly offered to carry her cases to the car. 他殷勤地要帮她把箱子拎到车子里去。
• The new fighters behave gallantly under fire. 新战士在炮火下表现得很勇敢。

2 swamp   

n.沼泽，湿地；v.淹没，陷于沼泽

参考例句：

• The swamp teems with mosquitoes.这片沼泽地蚊子多极了。
• The water in the swamp is foul.沼泽中的水很臭。

3 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

5 queer   

adj.奇怪的，异常的，不舒服的，眩晕的

参考例句：

• I heard some queer footsteps.我听到某种可疑的脚步声。
• She has been queer lately.她最近身体不舒服。

6 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

7 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

8 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。