STORY XVI THE WIBBLEWOBBLE HOME ON FIRE

 After the ball game, which I told you about last night, all the players, and those who had looked on, and Uncle Wiggily, the umpire, started for home. On the way they talked of how kind Aunt Lettie was.

 

"She's the kindest person I have ever known," said Uncle Wiggily, as he limped along on his crutch¹ that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed² out of a cornstalk for him. "She is very—Oh dear! Oh me! Oh my! Oh disproportionability! Wow! Ouch! My rheumatism⁴ again!" and it hurt him so he had to stand still and waggle his ears as hard as ever he could. Then he felt better, especially after he had rubbed a horse chestnut⁵ on his sore leg.

 

You see the rheumatism which was cured by a red fairy, as I told you about in the first book, came back because Uncle Wiggily got his feet wet going out one day without his umbrella.

 

Of course Papa and Mamma Wibblewobble were much surprised to hear about the ball game, and the broken window, but they didn't scold Jimmie very much, and pretty soon, oh, in a little while after supper, you know, it was bedtime for the duck children and they went to bed.

 

Well, it got darker and darker, and soon it was nice and quiet around the pond where the ducks lived. Only the frogs seemed to be awake, and they were croaking⁶ away in the water. And pretty soon Lulu and Alice were dreaming and so was Jimmie, and the funny part of it is that they all dreamed different things.

 

Pretty soon it got even darker, and then up popped the silvery moon, and it wasn't quite so dark. But it was more quiet. Oh my, yes! It was so quiet that I believe if a feather had fallen off a duck's back it would have made a noise when it struck the ground. Oh, it was very quiet.

 

Then, all of a sudden Jimmie awakened⁷. He sniffed⁸ and he snuffed, and he smelled smoke. So he got up and he called to Lulu and Alice in the next room:

 

"Say, don't you smell smoke?"

 

"Yes," said Alice, "I do."

 

"Maybe it's Grandfather Goosey-Gander smoking his pipe," suggested Lulu.

 

"No, he doesn't smoke as late as this," said Jimmie.

 

Then the smell of smoke got stronger, and, in about as long as it would take you to count one and a half, what should happen but that the whole duckhouse was suddenly lighted up. Then there came a crackling, roaring sound, and Papa and Mamma Wibblewobble jumped up.

 

"Oh, dear! It's burglars! I know it's burglars!" cried Mrs. Wibblewobble. "Quack⁹ real loud, Leander" (you see Mr. Wibblewobble's name was Leander). "Quack real loud, and call the police!"

 

So Mr. Leander Wibblewobble quacked¹⁰ as loudly as he could, and just then Aunt Lettie jumped out of bed.

 

"Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!" she cried, three times, just like that. "The house is on fire! The house is burning up! Run! Jump, everybody!"

 

And, sure enough, the ducks' house was on fire, and it wasn't a burglar at all; no sir! Whether the moon was so hot that it caused the fire, or whether it was sparks from grandfather's pipe, I can't say, but anyhow, the house was on fire, and it was burning fiercely.

 

"Oh dear! Oh dear!" cried Aunt Lettie again. And Mamma Wibblewobble cried just the same, too. Then they all ran and jumped out of the second-story window, but it didn't hurt them, for they could fly a little bit, you know, and they came down like balloons. That is all but Aunt Lettie, and she was used to jumping, so she came down like a lot of dishes falling off the table.

 

Well, you should have seen that house burn! Oh, it was a dreadful sight. All the other ducks and the geese and the chickens gathered around. The rooster crowed the alarm. Box number twenty-one it was, but of course there were no engines to come and put out the fire.

 

"Oh, we must save the house!" shouted Papa Wibblewobble.

 

"Everybody bring water from the pond and throw it on the fire!" cried Aunt Lettie, and she ran down and filled her two horns, which she carried on her head. The horns were hollow and had the tops sawed off, so she could fill them quickly and pour out the water just as easily. She splashed some water on the fire, but it didn't do much good. Then Lulu and Alice and Jimmie, they filled their bills with water and threw it on the blaze, but that didn't do much good.

 

No, sad to tell, all the water the ducks and the geese and Aunt Lettie could carry, to say nothing of the rooster who couldn't bring much, because he stopped to crow every now and then—all this water didn't do a bit of good, and the house was burning faster and faster.

 

Then, what do you think happened? Why, all at once there came running up old Nero, the big, shaggy, yellow dog, who was so old and kind that he would never hurt any one. Yes, he ran right up and called out:

 

"Make way, if you please. I will put out that fire!"

 

So he ran down into the pond as fast as he could run and soaked himself in the water. Then he ran up close to the fire and shook himself hard, and the drops of water scattered¹¹ from his shaggy sides all over the blaze, just like a rain storm. And the fire was partly out.

 

Then he ran down again and got all wet and shook himself, and scattered some more water over the fire. And that fire was pretty nearly out.

 

Then for the third time that dog, Nero, ran down into the water and got all soaking wet, and scattered the drops over the blaze, like two showers and a half. And then that fire was all completely out! Oh, wasn't he a good dog, though?

 

Well, the house wasn't burned so much after all, and the ducks could go back into it. And maybe they weren't thankful to Nero, but he only said:

 

"Ah, you should have watched me gnaw³ bones when I was a young dog. That was a sight worth seeing." But I think it was great for him to put out the fire, don't you? Now, to-morrow night's story, providing my automobile¹² doesn't hit a balloon, will be about how the fairy prince was caught.

 

1 crutch   

n.T字形拐杖；支持，依靠，精神支柱

参考例句：

• Her religion was a crutch to her when John died.约翰死后，她在精神上依靠宗教信仰支撑住自己。
• He uses his wife as a kind of crutch because of his lack of confidence.他缺乏自信心，总把妻子当作主心骨。

2 gnawed   

咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物

参考例句：

• His attitude towards her gnawed away at her confidence. 他对她的态度一直在削弱她的自尊心。
• The root of this dead tree has been gnawed away by ants. 这棵死树根被蚂蚁唼了。

3 gnaw   

v.不断地啃、咬；使苦恼，折磨

参考例句：

• Dogs like to gnaw on a bone.狗爱啃骨头。
• A rat can gnaw a hole through wood.老鼠能啃穿木头。

4 rheumatism   

n.风湿病

参考例句：

• The damp weather plays the very devil with my rheumatism.潮湿的天气加重了我的风湿病。
• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。

5 chestnut   

n.栗树，栗子

参考例句：

• We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
• In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。

6 croaking   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• the croaking of frogs 蛙鸣
• I could hear croaking of the frogs. 我能听到青蛙呱呱的叫声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 quack   

n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子

参考例句：

• He describes himself as a doctor,but I feel he is a quack.他自称是医生，可是我感觉他是个江湖骗子。
• The quack was stormed with questions.江湖骗子受到了猛烈的质问。

10 quacked   

v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

11 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

12 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。