STORY XII JACKO AND THE LITTLE MOUSE

 "Jacko, will you go to the store for me?" called Mamma Kinkytail to the little red monkey one afternoon when he had come home from school.

 

"Yes, mother," he said. "What do you want?"

 

"Well, I need a dozen cocoanuts and two pounds of sugar, and some chocolate and some flour."

 

"Oh, you must be going to make a cake!" cried the monkey boy, tying two hard knots in his tail.

 

"You have guessed it," answered his mother. "Hurry now, and the cake will be baked in time for supper."

 

"Oh, but I wish Jumpo was here to go with me," said Jacko, as he started off.

 

"Why?" asked his mother.

 

"Because if I carry such nice things as cocoanuts and sugar and chocolate, a burglar¹ may take them away from me on my way home."

 

"Nonsense!" said his mother. "Burglars² don't want such things as that. Besides, it is daylight, and burglars don't come around then."

 

"I was thinking of the burglar fox," went on Jacko. "However, Jumpo isn't here, as he went over to play ball with Bully³ No-Tail, the frog. So I'll have to go alone."

 

Off he started, and of course, he wasn't a bit afraid going to the store, for he had nothing with him but the money, and that was away down at the bottom of his pocket, and Jacko held his little brown paw tightly⁴ over the coins, so they couldn't jump out. Then he reached the store, and gave the money to the grocery man.

 

"Now don't drop the cocoanuts," said the grocery man, as he made up a package of the nice things Jacko had bought. "Can you carry all of them?"

 

"Oh, yes," said the monkey boy, confident like, which means sure.

 

"And do you think you could also carry two sticks of candy, one for yourself and one for your brother Jumpo?" asked the grocery man, sort of smiling.

 

"Well, I'll try—very hard," answered Jacko, and he wondered why the grocery man laughed. Then the man took from a jar two red and white striped sticks of candy. One of these sticks Jacko put safely in his pocket for his green brother, and the other he ate slowly, as he started for home. He was so interested in the stick of candy that he never even thought of the burglar fox.

 

But all of a sudden Jacko looked around in surprise, and he found that he had taken the wrong path home. It was one that led through the woods, and right past the house of the burglar fox.

 

"But there is no use now in going back around the other way," thought the red monkey; "it will take too long, and mamma won't get the cake baked for supper. I'll keep on this way, and I'll run past the burglar fox's house so fast that he can't see me. I guess it will be all right."

 

So, taking tight hold of his bundle of cocoanuts and sugar and chocolate and flour, and holding fast to the candy stick, Jacko went on. Pretty soon he came to the house where the fox lived, and then the monkey boy got ready to run as fast as he could.

 

But, all of a sudden, when he was right in front of the house, he heard a voice crying:

 

"Help! Help! Oh, will some one please help me?"

 

"Hark! I wonder who that can be?" thought Jacko. "It doesn't sound like the voice of the fox, and yet he may be calling to play a trick and get me in there so he can eat me. I guess I'd better run on."

 

So he started to run, but he heard the voice again, a sad, squeaky sort of voice, and it cried:

 

"Oh, do please some one help me!"

 

"That isn't the fox," said Jacko bravely. "I'm going in to help whoever it is. Perhaps it is one of the Bushytail brothers."

 

Into the house he went, and he saw no signs of the fox. Then Jacko, standing⁵ in the front hall, called out:

 

"Who are you and what is the trouble?"

 

"Oh, I'm a poor little mouse," was the answer, "and I'm caught in a trap in this fox's house. Please help me out."

 

"Is the fox home?" asked Jacko.

 

"No, he has gone out to get a friend of his, and then they are coming back to eat me. Hurry and you can get me out before they come back, and then we'll run away together."

 

"I will," said Jacko bravely, so he ran to where he could hear the mousie scurrying⁶ around in the trap, which was in a room upstairs in the house of the fox.

 

Well, it didn't take Jacko long, with his nimble fingers and toes, and his long tail, to get the little mouse out of the trap. Then, when she walked over toward a window, the monkey said:

 

"Why, I do believe you are little Squeaky-Eeky, the cousin mouse of Jollie and Jillie Longtail."

 

"That's just who I am," said the mouse. "You see, I was going past this house, and I smelled cheese. I didn't know the fox lived here, so I came in, and then I was caught in the trap."

 

"But now you're free," said Jacko. "Come on, and we will hurry away before the fox and his friend get back."

 

They started down the stairs, but just then there was a noise outside, and Squeaky-Eeky, looking from the window, cried:

 

"Too late! Here come the two foxes."

 

Then Jacko heard a voice saying:

 

"Walk right upstairs, Mr. Robber Fox; I have a fine meal waiting for you in my trap."

 

"Oh, what shall we do?" whispered Squeaky-Eeky.

 

"Leave it to me," spoke⁷ Jacko in a whisper. Then he quickly opened the bag and took out two cocoanuts. He peered⁸ over the edge of the stairs until he saw the two foxes coming up and then the brave monkey rolled the cocoanuts down. Bumpity-bump-bump! they went, rolling right down the stairs, and they hit the foxes and knocked them over backward.

 

"Oh, it's thundering, and the thunder is in the house!" cried the burglar fox. "Come on, quick!" Then, as the burglar fox and the robber fox ran away Jacko threw some flour and sugar after them. "Oh, it's snowing and hailing⁹!" cried the robber fox, as he jumped out of the front door. "We'll freeze to death! Hurry! Hurry!"

 

Then Jacko tossed¹⁰ some brown chocolate at the bad foxes, out of the window.

 

"Oh, it's raining mud!" they both cried, and away they ran faster than ever, and then Jacko and Squeaky-Eeky could come safely down stairs, Jacko picking up the two cocoanuts on the way.

 

So that's how Jacko saved the little mousie girl, and there were still plenty of things left with which to make the cake. And Mamma Kinkytail gave Squeaky-Eeky some, and Jumpo gave her some of his candy. So everything came out all right, you see.

 

And if the lead pencil doesn't dance the fox trot¹¹ on the bread board and mark it all over with black ink I'll tell you next about Papa Kinkytail and Grandpa Goosey Gander.

1 burglar   

n.窃贼，破门盗窃者

参考例句：

• The policeman took the burglar by surprise as he opened the window.当夜盗开窗时，警察冷不防地捉住了他。
• The man glanced the burglar climbing out of the window.那人瞥见小偷从窗户爬出来。

2 burglars   

窃贼( burglar的名词复数 )； 破门盗窃者； 破门盗贼； 小偷

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The burglars took to their heels when they heard the police arrive. 窃贼听见警察来了，拔腿就跑。

3 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。

4 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 scurrying   

v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 peered   

去皮的

参考例句：

• He peeled away the plastic wrapping. 他去掉塑料包装。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The paint on the wall has peeled off. 墙上涂料已剥落了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 hailing   

下雹子( hail的现在分词 )； 如冰雹般地降下； 致敬； 打招呼

参考例句：

• Many are hailing Rendell's ideas as visionary. 许多人都称赞伦德尔的想法很有远见。
• 'Somebody hailing us,'said Hunter, who was on guard. “有人在叫我们。”站岗的亨特说。

10 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》

11 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。