CHAPTER VI THE SILVER DOLLAR

 At exactly three o'clock

The furry¹ people came –

Grizzly² Bear, and Bushy Tail,

And others I could name!

 

Little Bear woke up early next morning and went down-stairs.

 

Why do you suppose he got up so early?

 

He thought that he would look for Susan Cotton-Tail's glasses!

 

Little Bear looked all over the house for the glasses.

 

Susan Cotton-Tail got up, and called: "Who is down-stairs in my house?"

 

Patter, patter, patter, went Little Bear's feet.

 

He came to the foot of the stairs and then he set up a shout.

 

What do you suppose made Little Bear shout?

 

There stood Susan Cotton-Tail with her glasses pushed up on her night­cap!

 

Little Bear crept up-stairs and pulled Susan's glasses over her eyes, and kissed her.

 

Susan was so pleased to be able to see again that she said:

 

"You are really a very handsome Little Bear. It is a pity you haven't any name!"

 

Bunny Cotton-Tail gave Little Bear a hug, and they all made merry be­cause Susan Cotton-Tail's glasses were found.

 

Bunny Cotton-Tail made a big sign. He wrote these words on the sign: "Wanted, a name for Little Bear!" Bunny tacked³ the sign up on the outside of the house.

 

"What did you do that for?" asked Susan. "The animals will read about it in the paper."

 

Bunny did not answer -- how could he? for his mouth was full of tacks⁴. At exactly three o'clock in the after­noon a great procession of animals began to come, and all of them brought names for Little Bear.

 

There were so many animals that the house was full, and the yard was full, and still more animals came.

 

The old owl⁵ sat up in a tree, and the animals began to shout names, one af­ter the other.

 

"Adolphus -- Henry -- James -- Marcus -- Augustus," and so they went on all afternoon.

 

When it was sun-down, the old owl got ready to speak.

 

The old owl was very wise. He said: "My dear friends, we can find a great many names, but how can we be sure any one of them belongs to Little Bear?"

 

Then Little Bear set up a great cry, and Bunny Cotton-Tail began to feed him a banana and Susan Cotton-Tail gave him a cookie, but still he cried.

 

Just then the sixteen little Bears came down the road, two and two, and Little Bear was so happy to see them that he forgot he didn't have any name and he shouted: "Good-by, Bunny; good-by, Susan."

 

Then he ran down the road as fast as his little legs could carry him.

 

The sixteen little Bears kissed him and hugged him and the eldest⁶ brother Bear carried him part-way home.

They met Bushy Tail as they went along. He switched his tail in a very proud way and said:

"Dollars  don't grow on bushes, but Papa Bear has plenty of dollars to spare!"

 

All the little Bears turned and chased Bushy Tail, but he was a sly old fox. He was too quick for them, and he soon disappeared in the woods. Little Bear suddenly gave a shout, then all the Bears began to shout. There, in the road, was something round and shining.

 

Little Bear picked it up; it was the silver dollar that Papa Bear had given Bushy Tail for the newspaper!

 

"Give it to me," said the first little Bear.

 

"Give it to me," said the second little Bear.

 

Then each of the little Bears shouted: "I want the dollar! I want the dollar!" Little Bear walked very fast. He held the silver dollar very tightly in his paw. He was afraid he might lose it.

 

Little Bear said: "I will give the dol­lar back to Papa Bear."

 

"I wish I had found it," said the first little Bear.

 

"I wish I had found it," said the sec­ond little Bear.

 

Curly Bear said: "Little Bear is right. He must give the dollar back to Papa Bear."

 

Little Bear kissed Curly Bear, and they went on home.

1 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

2 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

3 tacked   

用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝

参考例句：

• He tacked the sheets of paper on as carefully as possible. 他尽量小心地把纸张钉上去。
• The seamstress tacked the two pieces of cloth. 女裁缝把那两块布粗缝了起来。

4 tacks   

大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法

参考例句：

• Never mind the side issues, let's get down to brass tacks and thrash out a basic agreement. 别管枝节问题，让我们讨论问题的实质，以求得基本一致。
• Get down to the brass tacks,and quit talking round the subject. 谈实质问题吧，别兜圈子了。

5 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。

6 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。