XIII FARMER BROWN'S BOY AND BUSTER BEAR MEET

 If you should meet with Buster Bear

While walking through the wood,

What would you do? Now tell me true,

I'd run the best I could.

 

That is what Farmer Brown's boy did when he met Buster Bear, and a lot of the little people of the Green Forest and some from the Green Meadows¹ saw him. When Farmer Brown's boy came hurrying home from the Laughing Brook² without any fish one day and told about the great footprint³ he had seen in a muddy⁴ place on the bank deep in the Green Forest, and had said his was sure that it was the footprint of a Bear, he had[Pg 64] been laughed at. Farmer Brown had laughed and laughed.

 

"Why," said he, "there hasn't been a Bear in the Green Forest for years and years and years, not since my own grandfather was a little boy, and that, you know, was a long, long, long time ago. If you want to find Mr. Bear, you will have to go to the Great Woods. I don't know who made that footprint, but it certainly couldn't have been a Bear. I think you must have imagined it."

 

Then he had laughed some more, all of which goes to show how easy it is to be mistaken, and how foolish it is to laugh at things you really don't know about. Buster Bear had come to live in the Green Forest, and Farmer Brown's boy had seen his footprint. But Farmer Brown laughed so much and made fun of him so much, that at last his boy be[Pg 65]gan to think that he must have been mistaken after all. So when he heard Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay making a great fuss⁵ near the edge⁶ of the Green Forest, he never once thought of Buster Bear, as he started over to see what was going on.

 

When Blacky and Sammy saw him coming, they moved a little farther⁷ in to the Green Forest, still screaming in the most excited way. They felt sure that Farmer Brown's boy would follow them, and they meant to lead him to where Sammy had seen Buster Bear that morning. Then they would find out for sure if what Little Joe Otter⁸ had said was true,—that Farmer Brown's boy really was afraid of Buster Bear.

 

Now all around, behind trees and stumps⁹, and under thick branches, and even in tree tops, were other little peo[Pg 66]ple watching with round, wide-open eyes to see what would happen. It was very exciting, the most exciting thing they could remember. You see, they had come to believe that Farmer Brown's boy wasn't afraid of anybody or anything, and as most of them were very much afraid of him, they had hard work to believe that he would really be afraid of even such a great, big, strong fellow as Buster Bear. Every one was so busy watching Farmer Brown's boy that no one saw Buster coming from the other direction.

 

You see, Buster walked very softly¹⁰. Big as he is, he can walk without making the teeniest, weeniest sound. And that is how it happened that no one saw him or heard him until just as Farmer Brown's boy stepped out from behind one side of a thick little hemlock-tree, Buster Bear stepped out from behind[Pg 67] the other side of that same little tree, and there they were face to face! Then everybody held their breath¹¹, even Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay. For just a little minute it was so still there in the Green Forest that not the least little sound could be heard. What was going to happen?

 

1 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。

2 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。

3 footprint   

n.足迹

参考例句：

• I was standing inside a footprint!我刚才站在一个脚印里！
• She was staring at the footprint,full of fear.她盯着脚印，内心充满了恐惧。

4 muddy   

adj.泥泞的，污的，肮脏的；vt.使污浊，使沾上泥污

参考例句：

• The road is very muddy.这条路非常泥泞。
• They passed a muddy track through the forest.他们穿过森林的泥泞小路。

5 fuss   

n.过分关心，过分体贴，大惊小怪，小题大作

参考例句：

• My mother makes a fuss of me every time I come home.我每次回家，母亲总对我体贴备至。
• Stop all this fuss and do your homework.别大惊小怪了，去做你的家庭作业吧。

6 edge   

n.边(缘)；刃；优势；v.侧着移动，徐徐移动

参考例句：

• Sight along the edge to see if it's straight.顺着边目测，看看直不直。
• She lived on the extreme edge of the forest.她住在森林的最边缘。

7 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

8 otter   

n.水獭

参考例句：

• The economists say the competition otter to the brink of extinction.经济学家们说，竞争把海獭推到了灭绝的边缘。
• She collared my black wool coat with otter pelts.她把我的黑呢上衣镶上了水獭领。

9 stumps   

（被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

10 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。

11 breath   

n.呼吸，气息，微风，迹象，精神，一种说话的声音

参考例句：

• I'm just going out for a breath of fresh air.我正要出去呼吸新鲜空气。
• While climbing up the stairs the old man always loses his breath.那老人上楼时总是气喘吁吁的。