XVI A SLY TRICK

 

 

This was the truth of the matter: Old Mr. Crow was jealous because he couldn't join Reddy Woodpecker's new club, The Redcaps. For days the old gentleman could speak of nothing else. He went grumbling¹ and sneering² up and down Pleasant Valley, stopping to talk with anybody he happened to see. It must be confessed that the neighbors found his ill humor very tiresome³.

 

Meanwhile Reddy Woodpecker's club grew in numbers daily. It made Mr. Crow snort when anybody told him that The Redcaps had another new member.

 

Then all at once Mr. Crow's manner changed. He became quite sprightly⁴ and even winked⁵ an eye and cracked a joke now and then. His neighbors wondered what had happened to him.

 

They soon found out. For Mr. Crow announced that he had discovered a new member for Reddy Woodpecker's club. Strange to say, the old gentleman seemed to take great pride in helping⁶ The Redcaps.

 

"I'm going to take my find to the meeting of the club this afternoon," Mr. Crow told everybody.

 

"But you're not a member. You can't go to a meeting," his friends objected.

 

"Can't I?" said Mr. Crow wisely. "The air is free. I can go anywhere I please."

 

So that afternoon Mr. Crow flew down to the lower end of the meadow, where The Redcaps were gathering⁷. He took a friend with him, whom he left hidden in some reeds at the edge of the swamp.

 

To Reddy Woodpecker Mr. Crow said, "You'd like another member, I dare say."

 

"Certainly!" Reddy replied. "The more the merrier—provided they wear red caps."

 

"I think," said Mr. Crow, "when you see the gentleman I have in mind you'll say he has a red cap."

 

"Bring him up!" Reddy Woodpecker ordered.

 

"I can't. He's shy," Mr. Crow explained. "But if you'll come with me you can take a look at him."

 

So Reddy Woodpecker followed Mr. Crow down to the place where the reeds grew, near the swamp. And there Mr. Crow pointed⁸ out a gentleman who did indeed appear to be wearing a red cap.

 

"Good!" exclaimed Reddy Woodpecker. And to the stranger he called, "I don't know you. But I invite you, sir, to join The Redcaps."

 

The stranger answered in a muffled⁹ voice, "I accept."

 

Then Reddy took another—and closer—look at him. Reddy couldn't help feeling there was something queer about the fellow. Half hidden as he was among the reeds the stranger was not easy to see.

 

Suddenly Reddy Woodpecker turned upon Mr. Crow and called him a fraud.

 

"This person hasn't a red cap," Reddy declared. "I won't have him in my club. I know him now. He's hiding his head under his wing. That patch of scarlet¹⁰ isn't on his head. It's on his shoulder. He's one of that Red-winged Blackbird family that lives in the swamp. And his head is as black as your own, Mr. Crow."

 

By this time Mr. Crow was dancing up and down and cawing at the top of his lungs.

 

"He's a member of The Redcaps!" he cried with great glee. "You invited him. And he accepted the invitation."

 

"Very well!" said Reddy Woodpecker. "But if he belongs to my club he'll have to keep his head under his wing."

 

"Then I resign!" cried the Red-winged Blackbird.

 

"Oh, don't do that!" Mr. Crow begged him.

 

"It's too late," Reddy told the old gentleman. "Your friend is a member of The Redcaps no longer."

1 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

2 sneering   

嘲笑的，轻蔑的

参考例句：

• "What are you sneering at?" “你冷笑什么？” 来自子夜部分
• The old sorceress slunk in with a sneering smile. 老女巫鬼鬼崇崇地走进来，冷冷一笑。

3 tiresome   

adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的

参考例句：

• His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。

4 sprightly   

adj.愉快的，活泼的

参考例句：

• She is as sprightly as a woman half her age.她跟比她年轻一半的妇女一样活泼。
• He's surprisingly sprightly for an old man.他这把年纪了，还这么精神，真了不起。

5 winked   

v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• He winked at her and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. 他冲她眨了眨眼，她便知道他的想法和她一样。
• He winked his eyes at her and left the classroom. 他向她眨巴一下眼睛走出了教室。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。