CHAPTER II HOW WE SPENT CHRISTMAS

 The next day the Master, the Mistress, the Baby, William and us dogs went for a walk together. William carried an axe¹ and a piece of rope. I thought we were going hunting. The snow was quite deep and the Master and the Mistress wore funny flat things under their shoes which kept them from sinking through the snow. The Master carried the Baby in his arms until we had got to the woods, and she kept saying “Kismas twee! Kismas twee! Booful Kismas twee!” all the way. When we were at the edge of the woods the Master and William walked around and looked at the trees and at last the Master said “This one, William,” and William swung his axe and down came the tree. It was only a small one and I tried to tell them that there were very much larger ones further on, but no one paid any attention to me. When the tree was cut down William tied the rope to it and we went home, William dragging the tree after him over the snow. I thought it was a pretty poor sort of hunt.

 

It began to snow again before we were back at the house and William put us to bed early that evening. The next morning the snow had stopped and the sun was shining brightly. William let us out and we all tore up to the back door, very hungry indeed. And when Cook gave us our breakfast what do you suppose it was? What’s the nicest thing you can think of? Mince² pie? Why, of course not; dogs don’t care for mince pie. No, nor candy—much. What we had that morning was liver and corn-bread, with lots of gravy³! How was that for a feast? And Cook and Delia and William stood around and saw us eat it and laughed and seemed very gay and happy. And after that William took us into the house.

 

There was the Baby and the Master and the Mistress, and they all cried “Merry Christmas!” as we came tumbling in; only the Baby said “Maykismas!” instead, which was the best she could do. Between the windows in the big room was that tree we had brought home the day before, but you would never have known it for the same tree. I didn’t know whether to bark at it or wag my tail. So I growled⁴. That tree was all covered with the most wonderful sparkly things! There were glass balls of red and yellow and green and white and blue, and long strings⁵ of shiny stuff that glittered in the sunlight, and strings of pop-corn—only I’d never seen any pop-corn just like it before, because it was pink!—and all sorts of little toys and coloured paper bags and, at the very tip-top of the tree, a little white angel with wings like a dragon-fly! And underneath⁶ the tree were many things wrapped in paper and tied with red ribbons.

 

“Just see Freya!” laughed the Mistress. Would you believe it, that dog had helped herself to one of the packages and had taken it under the table and was tearing the paper off it! I was terribly ashamed of her, I can tell you! But the Master and the Mistress didn’t seem to mind it. They only laughed. And the Master looked at what Freya had taken and said: “Smart dog! It had her name on it!” And the Baby clapped her hands and every one seemed to think that Freya had really done something very clever!

 

The Master reached under the tree then and picked up one of the packages and looked at it and said: “Now then, Young Fritz, here’s a present for you. Sit up and ask for it, you rascal⁷!”

 

 

So I sat up on my hind⁸ legs and begged and he put it in my mouth and I took it off to a corner and smelled of it. It didn’t smell very nice, I thought. It made me think of something but I couldn’t remember what. So I tore the paper off it and—can you guess what I found? A pickled lime! Wasn’t that a mean joke? I backed away from it in a hurry and they all laughed at me and I crawled under the couch where Freya was chewing on a rubber ball with her eyes closed. I took it away from her, but the Mistress said “No, no, Fritzie! You mustn’t take Freya’s ball away. Here’s something nice for you.”

 

So I sat up and begged again and the Master gave me another present and when I’d got the paper and ribbon off it there was a rubber cat that squeaked⁹ every time I bit it! It looked a little like Ju-Ju, who was sitting on the window-sill with a new pink bow around her neck, and when I saw that I bit it harder.

 

 

Father got a new collar and a rabbit made of cloth, Mother got a Teddy bear and a tin bug¹⁰ that walked across the floor and went click-click-click, Freya got the ball and a cloth cat which was bigger than mine but didn’t taste so good and I got a wooden duck that flapped its wings and opened its mouth when you moved it. I didn’t think that the Family knew about the time the duck made me fall into the brook¹¹, but they must have. I suppose Ju-Ju told them. That cat talks too much, anyway.

 

And we all had sweet biscuits and candy which the Baby fed to us until the Mistress told her we had had enough. After that we were allowed to stay there and play a long time. I chewed that rubber cat until it stopped squeaking¹² and then tried the duck. The paint tasted very good. Freya stole a bag of candy from the tree and ate half of it before I found out about it and took it away from her. Really, her manners were awful that day!

 

I ate the rest of the candy so as to punish her for stealing it, but I didn’t really want it and after I had eaten it I began to feel sick. It was just as well, I think, that they let us out just then. I don’t know what the rest did, but I hurried right down to the stable and got behind the flower-pots and had quite a miserable¹³ time of it for a while. You see, besides the sweet biscuits and all that candy, I had eaten most of a rubber cat and one wing of a wooden duck. I think, though, that it was the yellow paint that made me sick.

 

I felt better in the afternoon and crawled out and went back to the house. The Baby had a new sled and she was coasting down a little hill behind the house. She would sit on the sled and take one of us dogs in her arms and then Nurse would give her a push and off she would go. I coasted twice but didn’t care much for it. I wasn’t feeling quite well yet. For dinner that day we had turkey, and it was fine; almost as good as liver and corn-bread. I was very glad that I felt well enough by that time to eat all that was given to me—and some of Freya’s. Then William took us down and put us to bed and that ended that Christmas Day. I had had a very good time, on the whole, but I was a little glad that Christmas didn’t come very often!

1 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

2 mince   

n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说

参考例句：

• Would you like me to mince the meat for you?你要我替你把肉切碎吗？
• Don't mince matters,but speak plainly.不要含糊其词，有话就直说吧。

3 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。

4 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

6 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

7 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

8 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

9 squeaked   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时，鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句

10 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

11 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

12 squeaking   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的现在分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• Squeaking floorboards should be screwed down. 踏上去咯咯作响的地板应用螺钉钉住。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Can you hear the mice squeaking? 你听到老鼠吱吱叫吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。