STORY XXI LULU AND AUNT LETTIE

 Lulu Wibblewobble was walking in the deep, dark woods, and, what is more, she was all alone. Yes, and she wasn't afraid. You see, Jimmie had gone off with the boys in the lots back of the duck pond to play ball, and Alice had gone shopping with her mamma. Lulu could have gone, too, only felt she would rather go walking in the woods, so she went.

 

At first it was very pleasant with the birds singing in the trees, and the wind blowing through the leaves, and making music, and Lulu liked it very much. She found some fine eel¹ grass in a little brook², and she was eating the green stems, and thinking how nice it was, when all at once she heard a funny noise. It was just like when a great, big door swings on rusty³ hinges.

 

Lulu stopped eating eel grass at once, and she called right out loud:

 

"My goodness! What's that?"

 

Then it was all still, and quiet; as quiet, you know, as when a little mouse walks along, and doesn't want any one to hear him, going after the crackers⁴ and cheese, and maybe the jam tarts⁵, too; who knows? Well, it was just as still and quiet as it could be, when all of a sudden the noise came again.

 

"Oh, dear!" cried Lulu. "I believe I'm going to be frightened. I wish Jimmie was here!"

 

But Jimmie, the brave boy duck, was a long way off, playing ball with Bully⁶, the frog, and his other friends, though he would have come at once to help his sister if he had known what a dreadful thing was almost going to happen to her.

 

Well, as I said, the noise sounded again, and then, when Lulu looked right at a tree, what should she see but something big and bushy, waving in the wind.

 

"Oh, maybe it's Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and perhaps Sister Sallie is with them!" she said, aloud, and she didn't feel quite so frightened. Then that terrible noise came again, and the bushy thing got bigger, and Lulu saw that it was the tail of a great, big black dog. Oh, such a big black dog as it was! And he was growling⁸, and that's what made the sound like a big door creaking on big, rusty hinges.

 

The dog came out from behind the tree, and he stared right in the face of Lulu, as bold as bold could be.

 

"Who are you?" growled⁹ the dog.

 

"If—if you please, kind sir, I'm Lulu," she answered.

 

"Bur-r-r-r!" growled the dog. "I'm not a kind Sir at all. I'm a bad dog! Bur-r-r-r! Bur-r-r-r! What's your last name? Bur-r-r-r!"

 

"My last name is Wibblewobble, Bad Dog," she replied.

 

"Bur-r-r-r! What are you calling me names for?" he asked, and he showed his teeth something frightful¹⁰, yes, indeed! Now cuddle up close to me if you want to, and you won't be a bit afraid, because, in a few minutes Lulu is going to be saved in a wonderful way. Just you wait and see.

 

"Why do you call me names?" asked the dog again.

 

"I—I—If you please," said Lulu, "I thought you said your name was Bad Dog, sir."

 

"Bur-r-r-r!" cried the dog. "I didn't at all. No matter what my name is. I am a bad dog, however, and I'm proud of it!" Oh, wasn't he the bold, ugly dog, though? Then he looked at Lulu some more, and growled even louder, and he asked her:

 

"What are you, a chicken or a turkey?"

 

"Neither," replied Lulu, "I'm a duck, if you please."

 

"Ha!" exclaimed the bad dog. "A duck! The very idea! Of all things I love ducks! I just dote on 'em! I love 'em just like you love jam tarts, I expect. But why aren't you larger, Lulu? I like big ducks."

 

"Oh!" cried the little duck girl, "are you going to eat me up?"

 

"Yes," replied the dog, "I am."

 

"Then," went on Lulu, very bravely, for she was trying to think of a way to get out of the deep, dark woods, "if you will wait a year or two, I will be larger."

 

"No," said the dog. "I can't wait. I'm in a hurry. I must have you now."

 

Then he growled some more, and rushed right at Lulu, and I suppose he would have eaten her up, feathers and all, only for what happened.

 

Now, what do you suppose prevented him? Why, just as he was about to grab the little duck girl there was a crashing and a smashing in the bushes and who should appear but dear Aunt Lettie, the old lady goat! As soon as she laid eyes on that dog she knew what he was going to do, and without speaking a word, she rushed right at him and lowered her horns.

 

Now, it's a good thing for that dog that the sharp ends of Aunt Lettie's horns had been sawed off. So, you see, when she stuck them in that dog's ribs¹¹, they only tickled¹² him and he had to laugh, instead of sticking right through him. Oh, how hard he laughed! But he didn't want to, not a bit.

 

Then Aunt Lettie just lowered her head, and then she raised it up, and over her back that bad dog went, right up in the air, and he was tossed in some briars and brambles that scratched him well.

 

But he wasn't satisfied yet, and he rushed back at Lulu, but Aunt Lettie tickled him in the ribs again, and he laughed: "Ha! Ho!" though he didn't want to at all, and over into the briars and brambles he was tossed once more.

 

Then he had had enough, and he ran off, howling instead of laughing, and that's the way it was that Aunt Lettie saved Lulu. You see the old lady goat happened to be walking in the woods, when she heard the dog growl⁷ and she ran up just in time. Then she went home with Lulu, and Jimmie said if he ever saw that dog he would throw a stone at him, and I wouldn't blame him, would you?

 

Now to-morrow night I think the story is going to be about how Alice cut her foot, and what happened after it. But I can't tell it unless I happen to see a grasshopper¹³ standing¹⁴ on his head and eating jam tarts.

1 eel   

n.鳗鲡

参考例句：

• He used an eel spear to catch an eel.他用一只捕鳗叉捕鳗鱼。
• In Suzhou,there was a restaurant that specialized in eel noodles.苏州有一家饭馆，他们那里的招牌菜是鳗鱼面。

2 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

3 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

4 crackers   

adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘

参考例句：

• That noise is driving me crackers. 那噪声闹得我简直要疯了。
• We served some crackers and cheese as an appetiser. 我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 tarts   

n.果馅饼( tart的名词复数 )；轻佻的女人；妓女；小妞

参考例句：

• I decided to make some tarts for tea. 我决定做些吃茶点时吃的果馅饼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They ate raspberry tarts and ice cream. 大家吃着木莓馅饼和冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

6 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

7 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

8 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

9 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

11 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

12 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

13 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

14 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。