CHAPTER XIV THE POT OF GOLD

 Little Bear is happy now, The secret he has told, For he has found the rainbow end, And the pot of gold!

 

Next day Red Riding Hood¹ said: "I must go and see my grandmother."

 

Little Bear said: "I must go home."

 

Bonnie Bell said: "I will stay with Grandpa."

 

Grandpa Grumbles³ was so pleased to think that Bonnie Bell wanted to stay that he forgot to grumble².

 

 

Red Riding Hood put on her hood and cape⁴, and Little Bear carried her basket, and they went merrily down the road.

 

Soon it began to rain. Patter, pat­ter, patter, fell the big drops.

 

"We shall get very wet," said Little Bear.

 

"We shall see the rainbow," said Red Riding Hood.

 

Sure enough, pretty soon there came a beautiful rainbow in the sky. One end of the rainbow seemed to come in the hollow of a tree.

 

Little Bear ran to the tree and put in one of his paws and drew out THE POT OF GOLD!

 

"Hurrah⁵!" he shouted, "I have the gold!"

 

Then he opened the pot, and sure enough, it was full of five dollar gold pieces!

 

Little Bear poured the gold all out on the ground, and Red Riding Hood began to count it.

 

Suddenly Little Bear set up a shout. What do you suppose he saw?

 

In the bottom of the pot was written in large letters:

 

FOR LITTLE BEAR

He shall have the pot of gold, and a new name.

He shall be called MISHE-MOKWA, the Great Bear.

 

 

 

Little Bear was so happy! He danced up and down, and shouted, and he laughed until he cried.

 

"Now I have a name, a real name, I am Mishe-Mokwa, the Great Bear!" he cried, "and all this gold is mine!"

 

Little Red Riding Hood now said "Good-by," and Little Bear and Curly Bear carried the gold home.

 

"What are you going to do with all this gold?" asked Curly Bear.

 

Little Bear said: "I will give some to Mama Bear, and some to Papa Bear, and some to all the other Bears."

 

"We shall be quite rich," said Curly Bear. "How much gold will you keep for yourself?"

 

"I will keep the pot," said Little Bear, and he laughed, and Curly Bear laughed, and they went trotting⁶ mer­rily homeward.

 

"Did you find a name?" asked Curly Bear.

 

Little Bear nodded his head, but he whispered: "Don't you tell yet, Curly Bear."

 

It was evening when they got home. Papa and Mama Bear and the little Bears were eating supper.

 

I never could tell you, if I wrote all day, how those Bears hugged one an­other.

 

Papa Bear kept saying, "Where did you find the pot of gold?" and they all talked at once.

 

It was a merry time, you may be sure.

 

The little Bears all sat down at the table and began to count the gold. Papa and Mama Bear and all the little Bears counted.

 

Each had a pile of gold in front of him.

 

Suddenly someone cried: "Where is Little Bear?"

 

They looked about, but they could not find him.

 

Where do you suppose he had gone? He had gone up-stairs to hide the pot that the gold came in, the precious pot that held his name.

 

Pretty soon he heard them all shout­ing his name, and he came bounding down-stairs, and he cried: "Let us have a party, a party!"

 

So it was decided⁷ that all the little Bears should go out next day and in­vite the animals to a party.

 

Little Bear had happy dreams that night. He thought that the animals made him king of the forest. Once he woke up, and he was afraid he had no pot of gold. He was afraid it was all  a dream.

 

He crept out of bed softly, so as not to wake the others.

 

He found the pot where he had hid­den it.

 

The moon peeped in through the window and Little Bear said:

 

"Old Man in the Moon, I am very happy, I am no longer Little Bear, I am Mishe-Mokwa, the Great Bear."

1 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

2 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

3 grumbles   

抱怨( grumble的第三人称单数 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声

参考例句：

• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。
• I'm sick of your unending grumbles. 我对你的不断埋怨感到厌烦。

4 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

5 hurrah   

int.好哇，万岁，乌拉

参考例句：

• We hurrah when we see the soldiers go by.我们看到士兵经过时向他们欢呼。
• The assistants raised a formidable hurrah.助手们发出了一片震天的欢呼声。

6 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。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。