III MORNING TATTOOS

 

 

In the spring Reddy Woodpecker liked to drum.

 

He never felt that a pleasant day was rightly begun unless he played a tattoo¹ early in the morning. So upon his arrival in Pleasant Valley he began promptly² to look about for a good drumming place.

 

It wasn't long before he discovered a strip of tin nailed upon the roof of Farmer Green's barn.

 

"Ah!" cried Reddy the moment he spied this treasure. "Just what I need!" And settling himself down upon it he hammered out a long, rolling tattoo with his strong bill.

 

It mattered not to him that Farmer Green's family was sound asleep. He didn't care whether he disturbed anybody. He liked to hear his own drumming; and he intended to drum.

 

"This is the finest drumming place I've ever had!" Reddy Woodpecker cried aloud. "I don't care if the neighbors are disagreeable to me. I'm glad I came here to spend the summer."

 

So he made good use of that bit of tin with which Farmer Green had mended the roof of the barn. Each morning (if it wasn't raining) he flew to the barn to beat his tattoo. And he began to speak of "My tin," and "My roof"—and even of "My barn!"

 

Then, one morning, Reddy was a bit lazy. He was late about his morning drumming. And before he had left the orchard³ where he had decided⁴ to live he heard a sound that gave him a great start. From the direction of the barn came a rolling beat which filled him with dismay.

 

"Who's that drumming?" he exclaimed. "It can't be myself, because I'm here in the orchard." Then all at once he became terribly angry. "It's somebody else!" he muttered. "Somebody has stolen my drumming place—my piece of tin—my roof—my barn!"

 

He flung himself off the old, dead apple tree where he had been looking for grubs for his breakfast and flew straight towards the rolling sound which still beat upon the air.

 

It was just as he had feared. A stranger sat upon the strip of tin pounding away with his bill as if it were his duty to waken everybody in Pleasant Valley. He wasn't as handsomely dressed as Reddy Woodpecker. He wore a brown and gray and black suit, with a patch of white low down upon his back and a splash of red on the back of his head. From each side of his bill reached a black mustache. This mustache gave the strange drummer a brigandish air which made Reddy Woodpecker think twice before he spoke⁵ to him. But Reddy was so angry that he just had to say something.

 

"Hop⁶ away from there!" he cried.

 

The stranger stopped drumming and looked up with a smile. He said only one word. It was "Why?"

 

"Because," said Reddy Woodpecker, "that bit of tin belongs to me."

 

"Does it?" asked the other. "I thought it belonged to Farmer Green."

 

Reddy Woodpecker noticed that the stranger was bigger than he was. And that fact, as well as the fierce mustache, made him hesitate again. He wanted to call the stranger a name. But he didn't quite dare.

 

Then the stranger spoke again. He spoke very agreeably, too.

 

"What use do you make of this tin?" he inquired.

 

"I drum on it," Reddy replied.

 

"Oh!" said the gentleman with the mustache. "Why didn't you say so before?" And he bowed and scraped in a most polite fashion. "I resign!" he cried. In another moment he was gone.

 

Reddy Woodpecker hastened to beat his morning tattoo upon the tin. And while he was drumming he noticed a Barn Swallow watching him.

 

"Who was that chap that just left?" he asked.

 

"Don't you know him?" Mr. Barn Swallow exclaimed. "That's Mr. Flicker⁷."

 

"Huh!" Reddy Woodpecker grunted⁸. "I don't think much of his drumming."

 

"You ought to," remarked Mr. Barn Swallow.

 

"Why?" Reddy inquired.

 

"Because he's a distant cousin of yours," Mr. Barn Swallow explained. "He belongs to the Woodpecker family."

 

1 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

2 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

3 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 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。

6 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？

7 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

8 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。