XXIII A MERRY SONG

 Timothy Turtle made such a noise that the Frog family had to stop singing.

 

"It's not fair!" he cried. "You're peeping!"

 

"Well, so are you!" Ferdinand Frog retorted.

 

"I only opened my eyes to make sure that you were doing as I asked you to," Mr. Turtle replied with an injured air.

 

"And we didn't shut ours, because we wanted to watch you," said Mr. Frog.

 

"Can't you trust me?" Timothy snapped.

 

"Certainly!" Ferdinand Frog replied.p. 116

 

"Oh, yes! We can trust you!" And he winked¹ at his friends.

 

"You don't want to hurt my feelings, do you?" Timothy Turtle went on.

 

"No, indeed!" everybody exclaimed.

 

And then Ferdinand Frog told Timothy that they would sing a special song in his honor.

 

"Fire away!" Timothy ordered them. And the whole company knew, when he said that, that if he really cared anything at all for singing he never would have spoken of it in that fashion.

 

They were just about to begin the song when Timothy Turtle stopped them.

 

"What's this thing called?" he demanded.

 

"It's known," Ferdinand Frog explained, "as 'A Merry Song.'"

 

And then the whole Frog family began to bellow³ their loudest:p. 117

 

Come let us sing a merry song!

To you it may sound sad.

And if you think it loud and long

We think that it's not bad.

"We'll sing about a grumpy one

Who snaps and bites all day.

And if you call that "having fun"

We make reply, "Go 'way!"

He has a glittering, wicked eye

And also cruel jaws⁴.

And if you ask the reason why,

We'll answer you, "Because!"

He'll stretch his neck and grab you quick—

Don't let him come too near!

And if you poke² him with a stick

He'll seize that too—oh, dear!

p. 118

 

Now, we'll admit he swims quite well

And that he's slow ashore⁵.

Don't ask us if he wears a shell

Until we tell you more.

Don't ask us if he's fond of fish

Nor seek to learn his age.

And kindly⁶ don't express a wish

To see him in a rage!

Don't ask us if his claws are strong

And if he has a tail.

It might be short and blunt, or long

And pointed⁷ like a nail.

We do not want to cause you pain.

We would not give offense—

But, sir, you'll not come here again

If you have any sense.

After the last echo of the song had lostp. 119 itself in the depths of Cedar⁸ Swamp, the singers all turned, smiling, to their listener.

 

But his face wore no smile. On the contrary, Timothy Turtle frowned darkly.

 

"You can't fool me!" he cried. "You don't like me! You don't want me here!"

 

Ferdinand Frog swallowed a few times.

 

"Well," said he, "of course my manners are so elegant that I simply couldn't dispute one of my elders. And anyhow, Mr. Turtle, you'd find that our singing sounded twice as well if you were half a mile away."

 

"It certainly couldn't sound any worse than it does here," Timothy Turtle declared—a remark which made the Frog family grin broadly.

 

He said no more, but slipped into the water and struck out towards home.

 

There was a lively scattering⁹ of thosep. 120 who found themselves in Timothy Turtle's path. And for a time it looked as if the singing party had broken up in disorder¹⁰.

 

But after a while everybody came back again—that is, everybody but Timothy Turtle. He hurried away and spent most of the whole night buried in the mud at the bottom of Black Creek¹¹. For even until daybreak that merry song came floating now and then across Pleasant Valley.

 

And Timothy Turtle did not like it. He thought it not only loud and long, but most unpleasant as well.

 

1 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

3 bellow   

v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道

参考例句：

• The music is so loud that we have to bellow at each other to be heard.音乐的声音实在太大，我们只有彼此大声喊叫才能把话听清。
• After a while,the bull began to bellow in pain.过了一会儿公牛开始痛苦地吼叫。

4 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

5 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

9 scattering   

n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散

参考例句：

• The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒，把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

11 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。