CHAPTER XIX: Old Man Coyote Does A Little Thinking

    Investigate and for yourself find out

   Those things which most you want to know about.

     —Old Granny Fox.

Never in all his life had Reddy Fox enjoyed a dinner more than that one he and Granny had stolen from Bowser the Hound¹. Of course it would have tasted delicious anyway, because they were so dreadfully hungry, but to Reddy it tasted better still because it had been intended for Bowser. Bowser has hunted Reddy so often that Reddy has no love for him at all, and it tickled² him almost to death to think that they had taken his dinner from almost under his nose.

 

With that good dinner in their stomachs, Reddy and Granny Fox felt so much better that the Great World no longer seemed such a cold and cruel place. Funny how differently things look when your stomach is full from the way those same things look when it is empty. Best of all they knew they could play the same sharp trick again and steal another dinner from Bowser if need be. It is a comforting feeling, a very comforting feeling, to know for a certainty³ where you can get another meal. It is a feeling that Granny and Reddy Fox and many other little people of the Green Meadows⁴ and the Green Forest seldom have in winter. As a rule, when they have eaten one meal, they haven't the least idea where the next one is coming from. How would you like to live that way?

 

The very next day Granny and Reddy went up to Farmer Brown's at Bowser's dinner hour. But this time Farmer Brown's boy was at work near the barn, and Bowser was not chained. Granny and Reddy stole away as silently as they had come. On the day following they found Bowser chained and stole another dinner from him; then they went away laughing until their sides ached as they heard Bowser's whines⁵ of surprise and disappointment when he discovered that his dinner had vanished. They knew by the sound of his voice that he hadn't the least idea what had become of that dinner.

 

Now there was some one else roaming⁶ over the snow-covered meadows and through the Green Forest and the Old Pasture⁷ these days with a stomach so lean and empty that he couldn't think of anything else. It was Old Man Coyote. You know he is very clever, is Old Man Coyote, and he managed to find enough food of one kind and another to keep him alive, but never enough to give him that comfortable feeling of a full stomach. While he wasn't actually starving, he was always hungry. So he spent all the time when he wasn't sleeping in hunting for something to eat.

 

Of course he often ran across the tracks of Granny and Reddy Fox, and once in a while he would meet them. It struck Old Man Coyote that they didn't seem as thin as he was. That set him to thinking. Neither of them was a smarter hunter than he. In fact, he prided himself on being smarter than either of them. Yet when he met them, they seemed to be in the best of spirits and not at all worried because food was so scarce. Why? There must be a reason. They must be getting food of which he knew nothing.

 

“I'll just keep an eye on them,” muttered⁸ Old Man Coyote.

 

So very slyly⁹ and cleverly Old Man Coyote followed Granny and Reddy Fox, taking the greatest care that they should not suspect that he was doing it. All one night he followed them through the Green Forest and over the Green Meadows, and when at last he saw them go home, appearing not at all worried because they had caught nothing, he trotted¹⁰ off to his own home to do some more thinking.

 

“They are getting food somewhere, that is sure,” he muttered, as he scratched first one ear and then the other. Somehow he could think better when he was scratching his ears. “If they don't get it in the night, and they certainly didn't get anything this night, they must get it in the daytime. I've done considerable hunting myself in the daytime, and I haven't once met them in the Green Forest or seen them on the Green Meadows or up in the Old Pasture. I wonder if they are stealing Farmer Brown's hens and haven't been found out yet. I've kept away from there myself, but if they can steal hens and not be caught, I certainly can. There never was a Fox yet smart enough to do a thing that a Coyote cannot do if he tries. I think I'll slip up where I can watch Farmer Brown's and see what is going on up there. Yes, Sir, that's what I'll do.”

 

With this, Old Man Coyote grinned and then curled himself up for a short nap, for he was tired.

1 hound   

n.猎狗，卑鄙的人；vt.用猎狗追，追逐

参考例句：

• The hound found the trail of the rabbit.猎狗发现了兔子的踪迹。
• The police have promised to hound down those responsible for the explosion.警方已保证要追查此次爆炸事件有责任的人员。

2 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

3 certainty   

n.必然的事，确定的事实，确信，确实

参考例句：

• I can't say with any certainty where I shall be next week.我不能确切地说下周我在什么地方。
• I know for a certainty that the company has been bought up.我确实知道公司已经被人收购了。

4 meadows   

草地，牧场， （河边的）低洼地( meadow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The trail wends its way through leafy woodland and sunny meadows. 这条小径穿过葱郁的林区和洒满阳光的草地。
• They have railed the meadows off from the new railway cutting. 他们已用栏杆把草地和新铁道的路堑隔离开来。

5 whines   

n.悲嗥声( whine的名词复数 )；哀鸣者v.哀号( whine的第三人称单数 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The colony whines a centerless loud drone that vibrates the neighborhood. 蜂群嗡嗡喧闹的哀鸣振动邻里。 来自互联网
• The web whines with the sound of countless mosquitoes and flies trapped in its folds. 蜘蛛网内发出无数只被困在蜘蛛丝间的蚊子与苍蝇所发出来的声音。 来自互联网

6 roaming   

随便走( roam的现在分词 )； 漫步； 眼睛或手 （缓慢地）扫遍； 摸遍

参考例句：

• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Canada. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在加拿大定居了下来。
• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Quebec. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在魁北克定居了下来。

7 pasture   

n.牧场，牲畜饲养

参考例句：

• This is the place where they used to pasture.这就是他们过去经常放牧的地方。
• The boy got up very early every morning to pasture cattle.这男孩每天起得很早去放牛。

8 muttered   

轻声低语，咕哝地抱怨( mutter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He muttered a curse at the other driver. 他低声咒骂另一位开车的人。
• She turned away and muttered something unintelligible. 她转向一旁，嘴里不知咕哝些什么。

9 slyly   

adv.狡猾地；偷偷地；俏皮地；会意地

参考例句：

• She glanced slyly at Madeleine. 她诡秘地向马德琳瞥了一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was lurking slyly in the background. 他狡猾地躲在背后活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 trotted   

小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• She trotted her pony around the field. 她骑着小马绕场慢跑。
• Anne trotted obediently beside her mother. 安妮听话地跟在妈妈身边走。