STORY XXV LULU AND THE GOLDEN FAIRY

 Once upon a time it was raining very hard one morning. It was just when Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble were looking out of the window of the duck pen, getting ready for school.

 

"Jimmie, is your hair combed?" asked his mamma.

 

"No, ma'am," he answered; "but I'm just going to comb it."

 

"And did you brush your teeth?"

 

"No, mamma, but I'm just going—"

 

"Now, now, Jimmie, that's what you always say. Hurry to the bathroom and clean your teeth at once, or else there'll be a dentist coming to the school looking into your mouth and goodness¹ knows what will happen then. Hurry, now, or you'll be late."

 

Jimmie cleaned his teeth quickly, and ran on to school so he wouldn't be late and get a bad mark. What's that? You didn't know ducks had teeth? Well, the next time you get a chance, when a duck opens his mouth real wide, you look in, and maybe you'll see them. They're very small, I know, but that doesn't count.

 

Well, Lulu and Alice ran on ahead, and Jimmie came following after. He wasn't late at school because he met Bully² the frog, who hopped³, and so Jimmie had to run to keep up. The little boy duck was the first one in the classroom, and the teacher said:

 

"Why, Jimmie, this is a delightful⁴ surprise. You are not late this morning, though you were every other day this week."

 

"Yes, ma'am," was all Jimmie said, as he took his seat.

 

Well, you should have seen it rain! Honestly, I don't know when it ever rained so hard before; maybe not since the animals came out of the ark, or the last time I wanted to go to a picnic. Some of the kindergarten children got quite wet, because, you see, they were so little that they couldn't hold their umbrellas up straight. And even some of the high school girls got wet, too; but they didn't mind.

 

Jimmie and his sisters didn't need an umbrella, for, you know, water always runs off a duck's back, and doesn't do a bit of harm. It rained when the duck children got home from school, and it was still raining when Mrs. Wibblewobble said:

 

"My dears, I don't like to ask you to go out in the storm again, but I do wish you would run over to Grandfather Goosey-Gander's house. He is ill, and I want to send him some hot watercress tea."

 

Now Alice didn't want to go because her foot, that she once had cut on a stone, pained her. And Jimmie, well, no sooner had he gotten in the house, and taken some bread and butter, with jam on it, than he had run out in the rain again, to play with Bully, the frog. That left only Lulu to go to Grandfather Goosey-Gander's house, but she said she didn't mind in the least, and afterward⁵ she was very glad she went, for she saw a most wonderful sight. Just you wait, and I'll tell you about it.

 

So Mrs. Wibblewobble put the hot tea in a tin pan⁶, and covered it over with a burdock leaf, to keep the rain out, and then she put some cold potatoes in a dish, for she thought the old gentleman duck might like them as well. Then Lulu started off through the woods to go to her grandfather's house. It was still raining, but she didn't mind, and pretty soon, oh, maybe in about ten quacks⁷, she came to where Mr. Gander lived.

 

Well, you would have felt sorry for him if you could have seen him. There he was, sitting on a stool⁸, with his feet in a pail⁹ of hot water, and seven bottles of medicine on a table at his right wing, and six bottles of pills on a table at his left wing, and there was a blanket up around his neck, and he had a nightcap on, and he was groaning¹⁰ something terrible; yes, really he was.

 

"Oh, grandfather!" cried Lulu. "Are you very sick?"

 

"Yes," he replied, "I am very sick. I think I have the pip, or maybe the epizoodic."

 

"Which is worse?" asked Lulu, as she set the hot tea and the cold potatoes on the table.

 

"They are both worse," answered the old gentleman duck. "That is, they seem so, when you have them both at once. But I think I would feel better if I had a hot cornmeal poultice on the back of my neck. Only I can't make it and put it there, for I can't take my feet out of the hot water, and I don't know where the cornmeal is, and I'm home all alone, for my wife has gone shopping."

 

"Oh, I'll make it for you," said Lulu very kindly¹¹. "I know where the cornmeal is." So she went to get some, and, on the way to the meal box she began to think:

 

"Wouldn't it be lovely if a blue fairy, or a green one or a purple one, or even a skilligimink colored one would appear now? I would ask her to make grandfather better. But I don't s'pose one will come, for I never have any luck seeing fairies," and she sighed three times as she opened the cornmeal box.

 

Then, all of a sudden¹², as she lifted the cover, as true as I'm telling you, if she didn't see something all glittering¹³ and shining down in one corner of the box. At first she thought it was the yellow meal, but then she saw that it was a little creature, all gold, with shimmering¹⁴ wings, like those of a humming bird.

 

"Oh!" cried Lulu, "are you a fairy?"

 

"Yes," replied the little creature, "I am the golden¹⁵ cornmeal fairy. I have been shut up here for ever and ever so long, and I thought I would never get out. But, since you have let me out, I will do anything in the world for you," and she waved her golden wings, and sang a jolly¹⁶, golden song about diamonds.

 

"Will you?" cried Lulu. "Then please make my grandfather better, for he is very sick and has to take thirteen kinds of medicine."

 

"I will make him well," said the fairy, as she flew out of the box, "and it is very kind of you to ask that, instead of something for yourself. Now, you make a nice hot poultice of this meal, which is magical¹⁷, and put it on the back of his neck.

 

"Then you say this fairy word: Bibbilybab-bilyboobily-bag,' and see what happens. But don't tell your grandfather I am a fairy; in fact, say nothing to any one about it, for we fairies are going away for a time, but we may come back later." Then the golden fairy waved her wings and disappeared.

 

But Lulu did just as she had been told, even to saying that magical word, and, my gracious¹⁸! if Grandfather Goosey-Gander didn't get all well in a second, and he thanked Lulu very much. She felt sorry about the fairy disappearing so suddenly, but you can't always have fairies, you know. Now, if you girls don't lose your pink hair ribbon¹⁹ I'll tell you to-morrow night about Jimmie and the black cow.

1 goodness   

n.善良，善行，美德

参考例句：

• Would you have the goodness to turn off the radio?劳驾，请你把收音机关上好不好？
• Thank goodness,we've found a cure for the disease.好了，这病有救了！

2 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。

3 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

4 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

5 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

6 pan   

n.平底锅；v.严厉批评

参考例句：

• The water had all boiled away and the pan was burned.水煮干了，锅也烧坏了。
• The eggs were frying in the pan.鸡蛋正在锅里煎。

7 quacks   

abbr.quacksalvers 庸医，骗子(16世纪习惯用水银或汞治疗梅毒的人)n.江湖医生( quack的名词复数 )；江湖郎中；（鸭子的）呱呱声v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I went everywhere for treatment, tried all sorts of quacks. 我四处求医，看过了各种各样的江湖郎中。 来自辞典例句
• Hard-working medical men may come to be almost as mischievous as quacks. 辛勤工作的医生可能变成江湖郎中那样的骗子。 来自辞典例句

8 stool   

n.凳子；粪便；根株；v.长出新枝，排便

参考例句：

• The stool is steady enough.这个凳子很稳。
• The boy was straining at stool.那个男孩在用力大便。

9 pail   

n.桶，提桶

参考例句：

• There was a pail of water on the ground.地上有一桶水。
• She can lift a pail of water from the ground.她能把一桶水提起来。

10 groaning   

adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
• The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着，无人救助。

11 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

12 sudden   

n.突然，忽然；adj.突然的，意外的，快速的

参考例句：

• All of a sudden he turned about and saw me.他突然转过身来看见了我。
• The horse was badly frightened by the sudden noise.那匹马被突然而来的嘈杂声吓坏了。

13 glittering   

a.闪闪发亮

参考例句：

• He has a glittering career ahead of him. 他前程似锦。
• He strove for the glittering prizes of politics. 他力争在政界取得辉煌的成绩。

14 shimmering   

v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
• The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句

15 golden   

adj.金的，含金的，可贵的，金色的，贵重的，繁盛的

参考例句：

• My teacher is an Englishman with golden hair.我的老师是一个金黄色头发的英国人。
• It's a balmy evening,the golden time for lovers.这是一个暖和的夜晚，是恋人们的黄金时光。

16 jolly   

adj.快乐的，高兴的；adv.很；vt.劝服，哄

参考例句：

• That day they got together and had a jolly time.那天他们聚在一起热闹了一番。
• She was a jolly,kindhearted woman.她是个整天乐呵呵心地善良的女人。

17 magical   

adj.魔术的，有魔力的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• I used to believe my mother had magical powers.我以前一直相信我母亲有奇妙的魔力。
• The effect of the medicine on the sick man was magical.药对病人的效力是不可思议的。

18 gracious   

adj.亲切的，客气的，宽厚的，仁慈的

参考例句：

• She was a very gracious lady.她是一位非常和蔼可亲的女士。
• She was gracious enough to show us round her home.她彬彬有礼地领我们参观了她的家。

19 ribbon   

n.缎带，色带，带状物；vt.用丝带装饰，撕成条状；vi.形成带状

参考例句：

• Her hair was tied up with a ribbon.她用一条丝带系着头发。
• We decorated our car with ribbon.我们在汽车上挂满了缎带。