STORY XIX JUMPO AND THE ROAST MARSHMALLOWS

 It was almost time for school to be out, and Jacko and Jumpo, the red and green monkey boys, could hardly wait, as they wanted to run home and go for another ride in their little auto¹. Of course, all the other animal children also wished school was over, for Jacko and Jumpo had promised to let all of them have turns riding in the gasoline car. But just when it was almost time for school to be out the owl² school teacher said:

 

"Now, children, I am going to give you all some lessons to study at home, and I want you all to do them as nicely as you can. Now pay attention, please."

 

So she gave some of the pupils examples to do, and to others she gave spelling, and to still others writing, while the bigger children, like Sammie Littletail or Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, had geography to study. And the little kindergarten children had to cut things out of paper—horses and cows and houses and trees, and things like that.

 

"Now you may all go," said the teacher, "and bring your lessons in with you to-morrow morning."

 

Well, the animal children marched out, but they weren't very happy. They didn't think they ought to have to study at home, but it has to be done, sometimes, you know. And really it isn't so hard if you don't think so.

 

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jacko to his brother, when they were outside the school. "We can't go for an auto ride if we have to study our examples."

 

"No; isn't it mean?" exclaimed his brother. "But perhaps if we run along quickly we'll have time for just a little ride before we have to do our home work."

 

So they hurried as fast as they could and they soon reached home. Then their mamma said they might ride around the block a couple of times in their auto before doing any study.

 

"And then, after your lessons are done, you may ride some more," she said; "that is if it isn't too dark."

 

Well, Jacko and Jumpo took their little ride, and they gave rides to as many of their friends as they could. Then they went in the house to study.

 

But alas³ and alack-a-day! You know how it happens sometimes. Jacko got his example all twisted up, and the answer wouldn't come right. And Jumpo's numbers got all snarled⁴ up, until the figure six looked like a nine and the figure eight like a brown cruller which his mamma sometimes made in the lard kettle.

 

"Oh, dear!" cried both the monkey boys. "We'll never get done in time to go auto riding before dark."

 

"Never mind," spoke⁵ their mamma, "I'll help you." And she did; but even then it was dark before they were finished, and quite too late to go out in the auto, for they might have hit a lamp post and bent⁶ the rubber tires into a figure forty-'leven.

 

"What can we do to have some fun?" asked Jumpo, as he untied⁷ two hard knots in his tail.

 

"How would you like to roast some marshmallow candies?" asked his mother, looking over the top of the piano.

 

"How do you do it?" inquired Jacko, who was still studying.

 

"You build a little fire," said his mamma, "only you must be very careful not to get too near it. Then you take a stick and sharpen the end. Then you fasten a soft marshmallow candy on the pointed⁸ stick, and hold it near the fire, but not too close, and pretty soon the marshmallow candy puffs⁹ up and gets nice and brown and you eat it—only you must wait until it is cool, or you might burn your tongue. Do you want to do that?"

 

"Burn my tongue? No, indeed!" cried Jumpo, making a funny face and wriggling¹⁰ his tail up and down like a fan.

 

"Oh, I didn't mean burn your tongue, you funny boy," spoke his mamma with a laugh. "I meant do you want to build a fire and roast marshmallows?"

 

"Surely," said Jumpo politely. "Don't you, Jacko?"

 

"No, I guess not," said the red monkey boy. "I think I'll read a little after my lessons are done and then go to bed. To-morrow we may not have to study at home, and we can take a longer auto ride."

 

So Jumpo went out alone in front of his house to roast the marshmallows. His mamma gave him some of the candies in a tin box, and he sharpened his own stick, and built a nice little fire, being careful not to make it too large. And he was also careful not to get burned.

 

 

By this time it was quite dark, and the fire looked very pretty, blazing just on the edge of the woods near where the monkey's tree-house was built. When there were some nice, glowing, hot coals in the blaze Jumpo got ready to roast the marshmallow candies. He stuck one on the sharp stick, and held it close to the fire.

 

But, oh, dear me, hum suz dud! Jumpo held the candy too close, and the first thing you know it caught fire and melted and fell off the stick down into the blaze and was burned up! Wasn't that too bad?

 

"I'll not hold the next one so close," he said, and he was careful; so the second candy turned a nice golden brown and puffed¹¹ up nearly twice as big as it had been before.

 

"Oh, I know what I'll do!" suddenly exclaimed Jumpo. "I'll toast a lot of them and take them in the house for mamma and papa and Jacko."

 

So he roasted the candies as fast as he could until he had quite a pile of them in a box. As they were very hot he pushed them off the end on the pointed stick, using a piece of bark for a pusher.

 

 

Jumpo was so busy that he didn't look behind him. If he had done so he would have been very much frightened. For there, creeping out of the bushes, was the burglar fox, with his big tail and sharp teeth. And he was creeping, creeping up toward Jumpo to eat him. But Jumpo didn't know a thing about it. He was so busy roasting marshmallow candies.

 

All of a sudden the fox accidentally stepped on a stick, and it broke in two pieces and made a loud noise. Jumpo heard it and turned around. Then, by the light of the fire, he saw the fox coming toward him.

 

"Ah, ha! Now I have you!" cried the bad creature, and he made a spring to catch the monkey boy. Jumpo didn't wait to be caught, you may be sure of that. He jumped, too, and the green monkey happened to tip over the box of toasted marshmallow candies as he leaped to one side. He upset them all over the ground, and then what do you s'pose happened?

 

Why, that bad fox landed right in the midst of the hot, soft candies, and they got all over his feet, like sticky flypaper, and they burned him. Oh, how he howled! The more he tried to get the candies off, the tighter they stuck. The fox turned a somersault, and then the candies got all over his fur, until he looked like a marshmallow fox. And, of course, he couldn't catch Jumpo then, for he was so stuck up.

 

The monkey boy ran in the house and told his papa about the fox, and Mr. Kinkytail came out with his gun. But by that time the fox had run off to find a puddle¹² of water so that he could wash the candy out of his fur, and he wasn't in sight for Papa Kinkytail to shoot.

 

"Oh, my poor marshmallows!" cried Jumpo, when he saw that they were all spoiled by the fox rolling in them. "Oh, dear!"

 

"Never mind, I have another boxful," said his mother, kindly¹³.

 

"And this time I'll help you roast them," said Jacko. So he did, and there were enough candies for the whole family. Then they all went to bed and the fox didn't bother them for a long time after that.

 

Now, if the egg beater doesn't knock all the dust out of the piano cover when it dresses up like a rag doll, I'll tell you next about Jacko and the busy bee.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 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。

3 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

4 snarled   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
• As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时，它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

7 untied   

松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决

参考例句：

• Once untied, we common people are able to conquer nature, too. 只要团结起来，我们老百姓也能移山倒海。
• He untied the ropes. 他解开了绳子。

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 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

10 wriggling   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕

参考例句：

• The baby was wriggling around on my lap. 婴儿在我大腿上扭来扭去。
• Something that looks like a gray snake is wriggling out. 有一种看来象是灰蛇的东西蠕动着出来了。 来自辞典例句

11 puffed   

adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟，狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了，便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

13 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。