STORY XXI GRANDPA AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG

 One nice warm day, right after he had eaten a breakfast of watercress oatmeal, with sweet-flag-root-sugar and milk on it, Grandpa Croaker, the nice old gentleman frog, started out for a hop¹ around the woods near the pond. And he took with him his cane² with the crook³ on the handle, hanging it over his paw.

 

“Where are you going, Grandpa?” asked Bully⁴ No-Tail, as he and his brother Bawly started for school.

 

“Oh, I hardly know,” said the old frog gentleman in his hoarsest⁵, deepest, thundering, croaking⁶ voice. “Perhaps I may meet with a fairy or a big giant, or even the alligator⁷ bird.”

 

“The alligator isn’t a bird, Grandpa,” spoke⁸ Bawly.

 

“Oh no, to be sure,” agreed the old gentleman rabbit—I mean frog—“no more it is. I was thinking of the Pelican⁹. Well, anyhow I am going out for a walk, and if you didn’t have to go to school you could come with me. But I’ll take you next time, and we may go to the Wild West show together.”

 

“Oh fine!” cried Bully, as he hopped¹⁰ away with his school books under his front leg.

 

“Oh fine and dandy!” exclaimed Bawly, as he looked in his spelling book to see how to spell “cow.”

 

Well, the frog boys hopped on to school, and Grandpa Croaker hopped off to the woods. He went on and on, and he was wondering what sort of an adventure he would have, when he heard a little noise up in the trees. He looked up through his glasses, and he saw Jennie Chipmunk¹¹ there.

 

She was a little late for school, but she was hurrying all she could. She called “good morning” to Grandpa Croaker, and he tossed¹² her up a sugar cookie that he happened to have in his pocket. Wasn’t he the nice old Grandpa, though? Well, I just guess he was!

 

So he went on a little farther, and pretty soon he came to the place where Buddy¹³ and Brighteyes Pigg lived. Only Buddy wasn’t at home, being at school. But Brighteyes, the little guinea pig girl, was there in the house, and she was suffering from the toothache, I’m sorry to say.

 

Oh! the poor little guinea pig girl was in great pain, and that’s why she couldn’t go to school. Her face was all tied up in a towel with a bag of hot salt on it, but even that didn’t seem to do any good.

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry for you, Brighteyes!” exclaimed Grandpa. “Have you had Dr. Possum? Where is your mamma?”

 

“Mamma has gone to the doctor’s now to get me something to stop the pain,” answered Brighteyes, “and to-morrow I am going to have the tooth pulled. We tried mustard¹⁴ and cloves¹⁵ and all things like that but nothing would stop the pain.”

 

“Perhaps if I tell you a little story it will make you forget it until mamma comes with the doctor’s medicine,” suggested Grandpa, and then and there he told Brighteyes a funny story about a little white rabbit that lived in a garden and had carrots to eat, and it ate so many that its white hair turned red and it looked too cute for anything, and then it went to the circus.

 

Well, the story made Brighteyes forget the pain for a time, but the story couldn’t last forever, and soon the pain came back. Then Grandpa thought of something else.

 

“Why are all the ladders, and boards, and cans, and brushes piled outside your house?” he asked Brighteyes, for he had noticed them as he came in.

 

“Oh! we are having the house painted,” said Brighteyes.

 

“But where is the painter monkey?” asked Grandpa. “I didn’t see him.”

 

“Oh! he forgot to bring some red paint to make the blinds green or blue or some color like that,” answered the little guinea pig girl, “so he went home to get it. He’ll be back soon.”

 

“Suppose you come outside and show me how he paints the house,” suggested Grandpa, thinking perhaps that might make Brighteyes forget her pain.

 

“Of course I will, Grandpa Croaker,” said the little creature. “I know just how he paints, for I watched him just before you came, and when I saw him put on the bright colors it made me forget my toothache. Come, I’ll show you how he does it.”

 

So Brighteyes took Grandpa’s paw, and led him outside where there were ladders and scaffolds and pots of paint and lumps of putty, and spots of bright colors all over, and lots of brushes, little and big, and more putty and paint, and oh! I don’t know what all.

 

“Now this is how the painter monkey does it,” said Brighteyes. “He takes a brush, and he dips it in the paint pot, and then he lets some of the loose paint fall off, and then he wiggles the brush up and down and sideways and across the middle on the boards of the house, and—it’s painted.”

 

“I see,” said Grandpa, and then, before he could stop her, Brighteyes took one of the painter monkey’s brushes, and dipped it into a pot of the pink paint. And she leaned over too far, and the first thing you know she fell right into that pink paint pot, clothes, toothache and all! What do you think of that?

 

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” she cried, as soon as she could get her breath. “This is awful—terrible!”

 

“It certainly is!” said Grandpa Croaker. “But never mind, Brighteyes. I’ll help you out. Don’t cry.” So he fished her out with his cane, and he took some rags, and some turpentine, and he cleaned off the pink paint as best he could, and then he took Brighteyes into the house, and the little guinea pig girl put on clean clothes, and then she looked as good as ever, except that there were some spots of pink paint on her nose.

 

“Never mind,” said Grandpa, as he gave her a sugar cookie, and just then Mrs. Pigg came back with the doctor’s medicine.

 

“Why—why!” exclaimed Brighteyes as she kissed her mother, “my toothache has all stopped!” and, surely enough it had. I guess it got scared because of the pink paint and went away.

 

Anyhow the tooth didn’t ache any more, and the next day Brighteyes went to the dentist’s and had it pulled. And the painter monkey didn’t mind about the paint that was spilled, and Mrs. Pigg didn’t mind about Brighteyes’s dress being spoiled, and they all thought Grandpa Croaker was as kind as he could be, and he didn’t mind because his cane was colored pink, where he fished out the little guinea pig girl with it. So everybody was happy.

 

Now in case our cat doesn’t fall into the red paint pot and then go to sleep on my typewriter paper and make it look blue, I’ll tell you next about Papa No-Tail and Nannie Goat.

1 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

2 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

3 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

4 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。

5 hoarsest   

（指声音）粗哑的，嘶哑的( hoarse的最高级 )

参考例句：

• 'That's a Blazing strange answer, too,'said he, at his hoarsest. “回答也怪透了”，他说，嗓子沙哑到了极点。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

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 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 pelican   

n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟

参考例句：

• The pelican has a very useful beak.鹈鹕有一张非常有用的嘴。
• This pelican is expected to fully recover.这只鹈鹕不久就能痊愈。

10 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。

11 chipmunk   

n.花栗鼠

参考例句：

• This little chipmunk is hungry.这只小花栗鼠肚子饿了。
• Once I brought her a chipmunk with a wound on its stomach.一次，我带了只腹部受伤的花栗鼠去找她。

12 tossed   

v.（轻轻或漫不经心地）扔( toss的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）摇荡；摇匀；（为…）掷硬币决定

参考例句：

• I tossed the book aside and got up. 我把书丢在一边，站了起来。
• He angrily tossed his tools and would work no longer. 他怒气冲冲地扔下工具不肯再干了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

14 mustard   

n.芥子，芥末，深黄色，强烈的兴趣，热情的人

参考例句：

• This meat should be seasoned with salt and mustard.这肉里应该加点盐和芥末调味。
• This mustard is hot enough to bite your tongue.这种芥末很辣，你的舌头会吃不消的。

15 cloves   

n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic)

参考例句：

• My country is rich in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. 我国盛产肉桂、丁香、生姜、胡椒和宝石。 来自辞典例句
• Ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and cloves are common spices. 姜、肉豆蔻、肉桂、胡椒、丁香都是常用的香料。 来自辞典例句