Chapter Twenty-Five THE PEACE DANCE

 “Well, folks,” announced the General the next morning as he sat down to breakfast with several of his officers, the Lady of Fashion and the Poet, “we must make ready for the march home. We have a long journey ahead of us and we must get started as soon as possible.”

“I don’t see how we can,” answered the Doctor, who was helping¹ himself to a piece of frog ham. “The Sailor is in no condition to be moved and, besides, I still have a couple of the wild men on my hands, who are in such shape I can’t leave them for a few days.”

“That’s so! That’s so!” exclaimed the General. “Of course we’ll have to stay until our duty is done.”

“My patients are all doing well and I don’t see why we won’t be able to get away in five or six days,” said the Doctor.

The little soldiers were greatly disappointed when they heard that the army would not start immediately for home, for now that the war was over they were all anxious to return. However, they made the best of their time by fishing, swimming and playing games.

One morning a sentinel came to the General’s tent, followed by one of the wild men.

“This fellow has a message for you,” said the sentinel pointing to the wild man, who held a piece of folded birch bark in his hand. “There are about twenty-five more of ’em waiting out beyond our lines and they’ve each got a big bundle all wrapped up in leaves.”

The General opened the note which the wild man handed him, but when he found it was written in the Sabo language he sent for the Poet.

“You’ll have to translate this gibberish for me,” said the General when the Poet appeared. “It’s too much for me.”

The Poet carefully read the note and then repeated it to the General.

“It’s from the Queen and she is sending you greetings and some presents,” said the Poet. “She also invites you to the great Dance of Peace and Plenty. This is the dance the wild men dance whenever they make peace with their enemies. You must go to the dance, for that is the way the wild men have of showing that they want to be friendly.”

“All right,” answered the General; “tell her I’ll come. Thank her for the presents and give her my regards.”

A number of soldiers were sent out to bring in the presents the Queen had sent and when they were unwrapped the little people were surprised to find a number of fat frog hams, a quantity of wild rice, a large jar of fruit paste made out of wild berries, many nut meats and sweet seeds.

“We ought to send a present to the Queen in return for all this food,” said the General. “What shall we send her?”

“Send her that thimble the Dunce ruined trying to make a suit of armor,” answered the Poet, who had heard the story of the Dunce’s armor.

“Not that old thimble!” exclaimed the General.

“Sure,” laughed the Poet. “She will think that it is wonderful!”

 

So the thimble was sent to the Queen, who prized it more than anything else she owned.

On the appointed day the General set off for the dance with a number of the Teenie Weenies, and as they drew near the village they were met by a body of wild men who had been sent out as a guard of honor to escort² the General into the village. He was led to a spot beneath a big bush where the Queen sat cross-legged on a wonderfully soft piece of cloth which had been thrown on the ground. Over her head hung another cloth which was fastened at the four corners to long poles held in the hands of four wild men.

A great many wild men and women stood about an open spot under the bush, which had been swept until it was as clean as a pin. Many children ran about the place, some of them climbing onto the grass houses and into the trees. On the edge of the crowd stood several small animals, and some birds were perched in the bush overhead.

The General made a low bow to the Queen and when she motioned for him to sit by her side, he sat down on the soft cloth. The Queen and the General talked for some time through the Poet, who translated for them.

Presently the Queen gave a command to one of her warriors⁴ and instantly several men, who were sitting on the ground in front of the Queen, began to beat on drums. The drums were made out of a piece of hollow reed⁵. The ends were covered with snake skin and they made a very pretty, mellow⁶ sound. Another man beat on a piece of wood which had been fixed⁷ to a split⁸ reed, while three or four women beat paddles together in time with the music.

Instantly a number of voices broke into a loud song from behind a house near by and presently the dancers came hopping⁹ and prancing¹⁰ into the cleared spot before the Queen. First came a warrior³ with a long spear and when he danced directly in front of the Queen he broke the spear in two over his knee. Next came a man with a queer¹¹ seed pod over his head and in one hand he carried a whip with which he struck the warrior every now and then. In the other hand he carried a dried seed pod which rattled¹³ loudly in time with the song. The next dancer wore a frog’s head and hopped¹⁴ in time with the music, much after the fashion of a frog. Several girls followed the frog man, carrying plates of smoked frog ham and rice cakes.

“The first man in the dance,” explained the Poet to the General, “is the Spirit of War. He broke the spear to show you that the war was over and the next man rattled the seed pod and struck him with the whip to scare him away, which means that the wild men are through with war and wish to get rid of the War Spirit. The frog man represents the frog meat which the wild men eat, and his funny dance means that good times are coming, for you see the pretty girls follow with plates of rice cakes and meat.”

The dancers performed for several minutes and then the man with the whip and rattle¹² chased the Spirit of War over the hill out of sight, which meant that the Spirit of War was gone for good.

After the dance a great fire was built and when a heap of hot ashes had burned, the wild men wrapped several frog hams in sassafras leaves and put them into the hot bed of ashes to roast. When the hams were cooked they were cut into slices and served to the Teenie Weenies and the wild men. Wonderfully delicious rice cakes were also served and the Teenie Weenies ate until they were quite filled. The greedy Dunce ate so much he became quite ill and had to be carried back to the Teenie Weenie camp, where the Doctor was kept busy most of the night putting heated buttons on his aching tummy, until the pain was gone.

 

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 escort   

n.护卫者，护送者；vt.护送，护卫

参考例句：

• The prisoner was taken under escort to the jail.罪犯被押送到监狱。
• Her escort to the party was a tall young man.陪同她参加晚会的是一位高个子男青年。

3 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

4 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

5 reed   

n.芦苇，芦丛，簧舌，簧片

参考例句：

• The river banks were overgrown with reed.河岸长满了芦苇。
• They inhabit reed huts built on stilts above the water.他们住在建于水中木桩之上的芦苇草屋里。

6 mellow   

adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟

参考例句：

• These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节，苹果就熟透了。
• The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时，色彩变得柔和了。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 split   

n.劈开，裂片，裂口；adj.分散的；v.分离，分开，劈开

参考例句：

• Who told you that Mary and I had split up?谁告诉你玛丽和我已经离婚了？
• The teacher split the class up into six groups.老师把班级分成6个小组。

9 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

10 prancing   

v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The lead singer was prancing around with the microphone. 首席歌手手执麦克风，神气地走来走去。
• The King lifted Gretel on to his prancing horse and they rode to his palace. 国王把格雷特尔扶上腾跃着的马，他们骑马向天宫走去。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

13 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。

14 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。