VI Solomon Needs a Change

 For some time Solomon Owl¹ had known that a queer² feeling was coming over him. And he could not think what it meant. He noticed, too, that his appetite was leaving him. Nothing seemed to taste good any more.

 

So at last, one fine fall evening he went to see Aunt Polly Woodchuck, who was an herb doctor; for he had begun to worry about his health.

 

“It's lucky you came to-day,” said Aunt Polly. “Because to-night I'm going to begin my winter's nap. And you couldn't have seen me again till spring—unless you happened to come here on ground-hog day, next February.... What appears to be your trouble?” she inquired.

 

“It's my appetite, partly,” Solomon Owl said. “Nothing tastes as it did when I was a youngster³. And I keep longing⁴ for something, though what it is I can't just tell.”

 

Aunt Polly Woodchuck nodded her head wisely.

 

“What have you been eating lately?” she asked.

 

Solomon Owl replied that he hadn't eaten anything but mice since the leaves began to turn.

 

“H-m—the leaves are nearly all off the trees now,” the old lady remarked. “How many mice have you eaten in that time?”

 

Solomon said that as nearly as he could remember he had eaten twenty-seven—or a hundred and twenty-seven. He couldn't say which—but one of those numbers was correct.

 

Aunt Polly Woodchuck threw up her hands.

 

“Sakes alive!” she cried. “It's no wonder you don't feel well! What you need is a change of food. And it's lucky you came to me now. If you'd gone on like that much longer I'd hate to say what might have happened to you. You'd have had dyspepsia, or some other sort of misery⁵ in your stomach.”

 

“What shall I do?” asked Solomon Owl. “Insects are scarce at this season of the year. Of course, there are frogs—but I don't seem to care for them. And there are fish—but they're not easy to get, for they don't come out of the water and sit on the bank, as the frogs do.”

 

“How about pullets?” Aunt Polly inquired.

 

At that Solomon Owl let out a long row of hoots⁶, because he was pleased.

 

“The very thing!” he cried. “That's what I've been wanting all this time. And I never guessed it.... I'll pay you for your advice the next time I see you,” he told Aunt Polly. And Solomon Owl hurried away before she could stop him. Since he had no intention of visiting her on ground-hog day, he knew it would be spring before he saw Aunt Polly Woodchuck again.

 

The old lady scolded a bit. And it did not make her feel any pleasanter to hear Solomon's mocking⁷ laughter, which grew fainter and fainter as he left the pasture⁸ behind him. Then she went inside her house, for she was fast growing sleepy. And she wanted to set things to rights before she began her long winter's nap.

 

 

Meanwhile, Solomon Owl roamed⁹ restlessly through the woods. There was only one place in the neighborhood where he could get a pullet. That was at Farmer Green's chicken house. And for some reason he did not care to visit the farm buildings until it grew darker.

 

So he amused himself by making the woods echo¹⁰ with his strange cry, “Whoo-whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo, to-whoo-ah!” And now and then he threw in a few “wha-whas,” just for extra measure.

 

Many of the forest folk who heard him remarked that Solomon Owl seemed to be in extra fine spirits.

 

“Probably it's the hunter's moon that pleases him!” Jimmy Rabbit remarked to a friend of his. “I've always noticed that old Solomon makes more noise on moonlight nights than at any other time.”

 

 

The hunter's moon, big and yellow and round, was just rising over Blue Mountain. But for once it was not the moon that made Solomon Owl so talkative. He was in fine feather, so to speak, because he was hoping to have a fat pullet for his supper. And as for the moon, he would have been just as pleased had there been none at all that night. For Solomon Owl never cared to be seen when he visited Farmer Green's chicken house.

 

1 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

2 queer   

adj.奇怪的，异常的，不舒服的，眩晕的

参考例句：

• I heard some queer footsteps.我听到某种可疑的脚步声。
• She has been queer lately.她最近身体不舒服。

3 youngster   

n.儿童，少年，年轻人

参考例句：

• I rode the youngster on my back.我让小孩骑在背上。
• That youngster works with a will.这小伙子干活有股傻劲儿。

4 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

5 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

6 hoots   

咄，啐

参考例句：

• His suggestion was greeted with hoots of laughter. 他的建议引起了阵阵嗤笑。
• The hoots came from the distance. 远处传来呜呜声。

7 mocking   

挖苦； 为消遣而模仿

参考例句：

• He's always mocking my French accent. 他总是嘲笑我的法国口音。
• Her voice was faintly mocking. 她的声音略带一丝嘲弄。

8 pasture   

n.牧场，牲畜饲养

参考例句：

• This is the place where they used to pasture.这就是他们过去经常放牧的地方。
• The boy got up very early every morning to pasture cattle.这男孩每天起得很早去放牛。

9 roamed   

随便走( roam的过去式和过去分词 )； 漫步； 眼睛或手 （缓慢地）扫遍； 摸遍

参考例句：

• The lovers roamed around the fields in complete forgetfulness of time. 这对情侣漫步于田野，完全忘记了时间。
• They roamed about in the park. 他们在公园里漫步。

10 echo   

n.回音，共鸣；vi.发出回声；vt.模仿，附和

参考例句：

• She shouted on the mountaintop and listened for the echo.她在山顶上大声喊着，然后聆听着回声。
• I should like to echo the words of the previous speaker.我想重复前面一位发言者的话。