CHAPTER XL HAPPY DAYS IN THE GREEN FOREST

 These were happy days in the Green Forest. At least, they were happy for Lightfoot the Deer. They were the happiest days he had ever known. You see, he had won beautiful, slender¹, young Miss Daintyfoot, and now she was no longer Miss Daintyfoot but Mrs. Lightfoot. Lightfoot was sure that there was no one anywhere so beautiful as she, and Mrs. Lightfoot knew that there was no one so handsome and brave as he.

 

Wherever Lightfoot went, Mrs.[pg 201] Lightfoot went. He showed her all his favorite hiding-places. He led her to his favorite eating-places. She did not tell him that she was already acquainted² with every one of them, that she knew the Green Forest quite as well as he did. If he had stopped to think how day after day she had managed to keep out of his sight while he hunted for her, he would have realized that there was little he could show her which she did not already know. But he didn't stop to think and proudly led her from place to place. And Mrs. Lightfoot wisely expressed delight with all she saw quite as if it were all new.

 

Of course, all the little people of the Green Forest hurried to pay[pg 202] their respects to Mrs. Lightfoot and to tell Lightfoot how glad they felt for him. And they really did feel glad. You see, they all loved Lightfoot and they knew that now he would be happier than ever, and that there would be no danger of his leaving the Green Forest because of loneliness. The Green Forest would not be the same at all without Lightfoot the Deer.

 

Lightfoot told Mrs. Lightfoot all about the terrible days of the hunting season and how glad he was that she had not been in the Green Forest then. He told her how the hunters with terrible guns had given him no rest and how he had had to swim the Big River to get away from the hounds³.

 

[pg 203]"I know," replied Mrs. Lightfoot softly⁴. "I know all about it. You see, there were hunters on the Great Mountain. In fact, that is how I happened to come down to the Green Forest. They hunted me so up there that I did not dare stay, and I came down here thinking that there might be fewer hunters. I wouldn't have believed that I could ever be thankful to hunters for anything, but I am, truly I am."

 

There was a puzzled look on Lightfoot's face. "What for?" he demanded. "I can't imagine anybody being thankful to hunters for anything."

 

"Oh, you stupid," cried Mrs. Lightfoot. "Don't you see that[pg 204] if I hadn't been driven down from the Great Mountain, I never would have found you?"

 

"You mean, I never would have found you," retorted⁵ Lightfoot. "I guess I owe these hunters more than you do. I owe them the greatest happiness I have ever known, but I never would have thought of it myself. Isn't it queer⁶ how things which seem the very worst possible sometimes turn out to be the very best possible?"

 

Blacky the Crow is one of Lightfoot's friends, but sometimes even friends are envious⁷. It is so with Blacky. He insists that he is quite as important in the Green Forest as is Lightfoot and that his doings are quite as interesting.[pg 205] Therefore just to please him the next book is to be Blacky the Crow.

The End

1 slender   

adj.苗条的，修长的；微薄的，微弱的

参考例句：

• Everybody of us admired her slender figure.我们人人都羡慕她的苗条身材。
• The girl was pretty and slender.那姑娘长得美丽苗条。

2 acquainted   

adj.对某事物熟悉的，对 某人认识的

参考例句：

• The students are already acquainted with the work of Shakespeare. 这些学生已经读过莎士比亚的著作。
• I have heard about your friend but I'm not acquainted with him. 我听说过你的朋友，但同他不熟。

3 hounds   

猎狗，猎犬( hound的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The huntsman was whipping in his pack of hounds. 猎人正在用鞭子把他那群猎犬赶到一处。
• The hunter has twenty more hounds. 那猎人有二十几条猎狗。

4 softly   

adv.柔和地，静静地，温柔地

参考例句：

• He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻，她听不见。
• She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。

5 retorted   

反驳( retort的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She retorted upon me, saying I was to blame. 她反驳我，说我才应该受责备。
• She retorted upon him, saying he was to blame. 她反驳他，说他不好。

6 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。

7 envious   

adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的

参考例句：

• I don't think I'm envious of your success.我想我并不嫉妒你的成功。
• She is envious of Jane's good looks and covetous of her car.她既忌妒简的美貌又垂涎她的汽车。