CHAPTER XII BOBBY COON AND REDDY FOX PLAY TRICKS

 It was night. All the little stars were looking down and twinkling and twinkling. Mother Moon was doing her best to make the Green Meadows as light as Mr. Sun did in the daytime. All the little birds except Hooty the Owl¹ and Boomer the Night Hawk², and noisy Mr. Whip-poor-will were fast asleep in their little nests. Old Mother West Wind's Merry Little Breezes had all gone to sleep, too. It was oh so still! Indeed it was so very still that Bobby Coon, coming down the Lone³ Little Path through the wood, began to talk to himself.

 

“I don't see what people want to play all day and sleep all night for,” said Bobby Coon. “Night's the best time to be about. Now Reddy Fox—”

 

“Be careful what you say about Reddy Fox,” said a voice right behind Bobby Coon.

 

Bobby Coon turned around very quickly indeed, for he had thought he was all alone. There was Reddy Fox himself, trotting⁴ down the Lone Little Path through the wood.

 

“I thought you were home and fast asleep, Reddy Fox,” said Bobby Coon.

 

“You were mistaken,” said Reddy Fox. “For you see I'm out to take a walk in the moonlight.”

 

So Bobby Coon and Reddy Fox walked together down the Lone Little Path through the wood to the Green Meadows. They met Jimmy Skunk⁵, who had dreamed that there were a lot of beetles⁶ up on the hill, and was just going to climb the Crooked⁷ Little Path to see.

 

“Hello, Jimmy Skunk!” said Bobby Coon and Reddy Fox. “Come down to the Green Meadows with us.”

 

Jimmy Skunk said he would, so they all went down on the Green Meadows together, Bobby Coon first, Reddy Fox next and Jimmy Skunk last of all, for Jimmy Skunk never hurries. Pretty soon they came to the house of Johnny Chuck.

 

“Listen,” said Bobby Coon. “Johnny Chuck is fast asleep.”

 

They all listened and they could hear Johnny Chuck snoring away down in his snug⁸ little bed.

 

“Let's give Johnny Chuck a surprise,” said Reddy Fox.

 

“What shall it be?” asked Bobby Coon.

 

“I know,” said Reddy Fox. “Let's roll that big stone right over Johnny Chuck's doorway⁹; then he'll have to dig his way out in the morning.”

 

So Bobby Coon and Reddy Fox pulled and tugged¹⁰ and tugged and pulled at the big stone till they had rolled it over Johnny Chuck's doorway. Jimmy Skunk pretended not to see what they were doing.

 

“Now let's go down to the Laughing Brook¹¹ and wake up old Grandfather Frog and hear him say 'Chug-a-rum,'” said Bobby Coon.

 

“Come on!” cried Reddy Fox, “I'll get there first!”

 

Away raced Reddy Fox down the Lone Little Path and after him ran Bobby Coon, going to wake old Grandfather Frog from a nice comfortable sleep on his green lily pad.

 

But Jimmy Skunk didn't go. He watched Reddy Fox and Bobby Coon until they were nearly to the Laughing Brook. Then he began to dig at one side of the big stone which filled the doorway of Johnny Chuck's house. My, how he made the dirt fly! Pretty soon he had made a hole big enough to call through to Johnny Chuck, who was snoring away, fast asleep in his snug little bed below.

 

“Johnny Chuck, Chuck, Chuck! Johnny Woodchuck!” called Jimmy Skunk.

 

But Johnny Chuck just snored.

 

“Johnny Chuck, Chuck, Chuck! Johnny Woodchuck!” called Jimmy Skunk once more.

 

But Johnny Chuck just snored. Then Jimmy Skunk called again, this time louder than before.

 

“Who is it?” asked a very sleepy voice.

 

“It's Jimmy Skunk. Put your coat on and come up here!” called Jimmy Skunk.

 

“Go away, Jimmy Skunk. I want to sleep!” said Johnny Chuck.

 

“I've got a surprise for you, Johnny Chuck. You'd better come!” called Jimmy Skunk through the little hole he had made. When Johnny Chuck heard that Jimmy Skunk had a surprise for him he wanted to know right away what it could be, so though he was very, very sleepy, he put on his coat and started up for his door to see what the surprise was that Jimmy Skunk had. And there he found the big stone Reddy Fox and Bobby Coon had put there, and of course he was very much surprised indeed. He thought Jimmy Skunk had played him a mean trick and for a few minutes he was very mad. But Jimmy Skunk soon told him who had filled up his doorway with the big stone.

 

“Now you push from that side, Johnny Chuck, and I'll pull from this side, and we'll soon have this big stone out of your doorway,” said Jimmy Skunk.

 

So Johnny Chuck pushed and Jimmy Skunk pulled, and sure enough they soon had the big stone out of Johnny Chuck's doorway.

 

“Now,” said Jimmy Skunk, “we'll roll this big stone down the Lone Little Path to Reddy Fox's house and we'll give Reddy Fox a surprise.”

 

So Johnny Chuck and Jimmy Skunk tugged and pulled and rolled the big stone down to the house of Reddy Fox, and sure enough, it filled his doorway.

 

“Good night, Jimmy Skunk,” said Johnny Chuck, and trotted¹² down the Lone Little Path toward home, chuckling¹³ to himself all the way.

 

Jimmy Skunk walked slowly up the Lone Little Path to the wood, for Jimmy Skunk never hurries. Pretty soon he came to the big hollow tree where Bobby Coon lives, and there he met Hooty the Owl.

 

“Hello, Jimmy Skunk, where have you been?” asked Hooty the Owl.

 

“Just for a walk,” said Jimmy Skunk. “Who lives in this big hollow tree?”

 

Now of course Jimmy Skunk knew all the time, but he pretended he didn't.

 

“Oh, this is Bobby Coon's house,” said Hooty the Owl.

 

“Let's give Bobby Coon a surprise,” said Jimmy Skunk.

 

“How?” asked Hooty the Owl.

 

“We'll fill his house full of sticks and leaves,” said Jimmy Skunk.

 

Hooty the Owl thought that would be a good joke so while Jimmy Skunk gathered all the old sticks and leaves he could find, Hooty the Owl stuffed them into the old hollow tree which was Bobby Coon's house, until he couldn't get in another one.

 

“Good night,” said Jimmy Skunk as he began to climb the Crooked Little Path up the hill to his own snug little home.

 

“Good night,” said Hooty the Owl, as he flew like a big soft shadow over to the Great Pine.

 

By and by when old Mother Moon was just going to bed and all the little stars were too sleepy to twinkle any longer, Reddy Fox and Bobby Coon, very tired and very wet from playing in the Laughing Brook, came up the Lone Little Path, ready to tumble into their snug little beds. They were chuckling over the trick they had played on Johnny Chuck, and the way they had waked up old Grandfather Frog, and all the other mischief¹⁴ they had done. What do you suppose they said when they reached their homes and found that someone else had been playing jokes, too?

 

I'm sure I don't know, but round, red Mr. Sun was laughing very hard as he peeped over the hill at Reddy Fox and Bobby Coon, and he won't tell why.

1 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

2 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

3 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

4 trotting   

小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• The riders came trotting down the lane. 这骑手骑着马在小路上慢跑。
• Alan took the reins and the small horse started trotting. 艾伦抓住缰绳，小马开始慢跑起来。

5 skunk   

n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥

参考例句：

• That was a rotten thing to do, you skunk!那种事做得太缺德了，你这卑鄙的家伙！
• The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked.受到攻击时臭鼬会发出一种难闻的气味。

6 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

8 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

9 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

10 tugged   

v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
• A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

12 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。

13 chuckling   

轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him chuckling to himself as he read his book. 他看书时，我能听见他的轻声发笑。
• He couldn't help chuckling aloud. 他忍不住的笑了出来。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

14 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。