THE JOLLY JUNGLE FOLK

 Mikey Monk¹ Plays Naughty Pranks²

All The Jungle Folk were mad, every one was wild,

Everybody wore a scowl³, not a creature smiled.

What was all this row about? Listen to what had

Happened in the Jungle to make them all so mad.

 

Mikey Monk had climbed a tree. Who was Mikey Monk?

Mikey was a monkey and full of life and spunk⁴;

Also full of naughty tricks, I am sad to say,

That is why the Jungle Folks are so mad to-day.

 

Up a tree had Mikey climbed, clear up to the top,

Then he threw some cocoanuts, threw them down ker-flop.

Charlie Crocodile got mad, so did George Giraffe,

And they both grew angrier when they heard his laugh.

 

Harry⁵ Hippopotamus⁶ happened to come near;

Suddenly a cocoanut whistled by his ear.

He had hardly time to wink⁷ when another shot

Made him think he'd better not linger in that spot.

 

Tommy Tiger came along on his stealthy toes;

Suddenly a cocoa ball barely grazed his nose.

Oscar Ostrich⁸ sauntered by as a nut came down;

"Goodness, what was that?" he squawked, with an angry frown.

 

Harry Hippopotamus looked around and said,

"Don't you think there's something queer happening overhead?

It is rather difficult," he added, with a sigh,

"Finding out why cocoanuts are raining from the sky!

 

"Say, why don't you fellows ascertain⁹ the cause?

Where is a Policeman to enforce the laws?

Oscar Ostrich, won't you go—for you are so fleet—

See if you can run across a Copper¹⁰ on his beat?"

 

Sure enough, in half a wink back again he came

With a big Policeman, Eddie Elephant by name.

"What is this disturbance¹¹? Move along!" he said.

Suddenly his helmet tumbled off his head.

 

"Who did that?" he shouted, when another nut

Whistled by his ivories, hit him on the foot.

With his trunk he grabbed the tree, gave some mighty¹² heaves,

My! what a commotion¹³ up amongst the leaves.

 

Then he butted¹⁴ all his might with his great big head.

"Break it up in kindling¹⁵ wood!" Tommy Tiger said.

Back and forth¹⁶ the tall tree swayed with a swishing sound,

Then a little scream was heard, something bumped to the ground.

 

Mikey Monk had lost his grip; on the ground he lay.

All the animals rushed in, pounced¹⁷ upon their prey¹⁸.

"Break away!" the Copper said, "I arrest him now.

I will lock him up at once; we will show him how

 

"To obey the Jungle Laws. He won't sleep a wink

After he has been to Court. He'll have time to think

In the Jungle Jail how bad he has been to-day.

After he gets out again he won't disobey."

 

Over Tommy Tiger's head then he thrust his trunk;

By the ear he grabbed a hold of naughty Mikey Monk.

All the jungle populace joined in the parade.

Mikey Monk was crying—he was now afraid.

 

"Let me go!" he cried and sobbed¹⁹, "and I'll promise you

Never more a naughty thing will I ever do."

But the big Policeman just kept straight ahead.

Did not even answer him; only shook his head.

 

At King Lion's Court at last stopped the big parade,

And before the King of Beasts Mikey was arrayed.

Very stern the Lion looked at the grave complaint,

Though of course he must have known Mikey was no saint.

 

When the Cop had finished Mikey held his breath,

He was all a-tremble; almost scared to death.

All the angry animals shouted, "Do not fail

To commit this Monkey to the Jungle Jail!"

 

"As you wish," King Lion answered with a roar.

Then they slipped the handcuffs over Mikey's paw

And Policeman Elephant took poor Mike away

To the Jungle Lockup, where he had to stay.

 

Till the Jungle Animals thought that just about

Punishment enough he'd had! then they let him go;

And no better monkey after this than he

In the Jolly Jungle ever climbed a tree

1 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

2 pranks   

n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Frank's errancy consisted mostly of pranks. 法兰克错在老喜欢恶作剧。 来自辞典例句
• He always leads in pranks and capers. 他老是带头胡闹和开玩笑。 来自辞典例句

3 scowl   

vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容

参考例句：

• I wonder why he is wearing an angry scowl.我不知道他为何面带怒容。
• The boss manifested his disgust with a scowl.老板面带怒色，清楚表示出他的厌恶之感。

4 spunk   

n.勇气，胆量

参考例句：

• After his death,the soldier was cited for spunk.那位士兵死后因作战勇敢而受到表彰。
• I admired her independence and her spunk.我敬佩她的独立精神和勇气。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 hippopotamus   

n.河马

参考例句：

• The children enjoyed watching the hippopotamus wallowing in the mud.孩子们真喜观看河马在泥中打滚。
• A hippopotamus surfs the waves off the coast of Gabon.一头河马在加蓬的海岸附近冲浪。

7 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。

8 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

9 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

10 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

11 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

12 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

13 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

14 butted   

对接的

参考例句：

• Two goats butted each other. 两只山羊用角顶架。
• He butted against a tree in the dark. 他黑暗中撞上了一棵树。

15 kindling   

n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• There were neat piles of kindling wood against the wall. 墙边整齐地放着几堆引火柴。
• "Coal and kindling all in the shed in the backyard." “煤，劈柴，都在后院小屋里。” 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

16 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

17 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

19 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。