STORY XX JACKO AND THE BUSY BEE

 "Boys, I wish you would go to the store for me," said Mrs. Kinkytail to Jacko and Jumpo when they came home from school one afternoon.

 

"Of course we will," said the red monkey. "Do you want some sugar and chocolate to make candy?"

 

"No, but I want a yeast¹ cake and some flour to make bread with," said the mamma monkey. "Bread is more important than candy," she went on, "though candy is very good, if you don't eat too much. And I also want some molasses, for I am going to make molasses cookies."

 

"Oh, goodie!" cried Jumpo. "Come on, Jacko, we'll go in our automobile³ and it won't take us very long. Then we can go on another ride when we come back, and have some fun with the other animal boys."

 

So their mamma gave them the money for the yeast cake, the flour and molasses and away they[Pg 134] started off in the auto², blowing the horn, to kindly⁴ ask every one to look out so they wouldn't get run over.

 

Jacko was steering⁵, and Jumpo was sitting beside him. They hadn't gone very far before they met Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit who had given them the auto.

 

"Hello, Uncle Wiggily!" called Jacko, "don't you want a ride?"

 

"I believe I will get in," spoke⁶ the gentleman rabbit. "As my rheumatism⁷ hurts me to-day, I can't walk very well."

 

"Aren't you sorry you gave away this nice auto? Don't you want it back?" asked Jumpo, though he hoped he and his brother could keep it.

 

"No," answered the old gentleman rabbit, shaking his head. "I never had any luck with that auto. It wouldn't go for me, and I can't understand how it goes for you. I'm afraid if I ride with you that you'll have bad luck."

 

But the boys didn't think so, and the rabbit gentleman got in the back seat. Away they went once more. Uncle Wiggily was just thinking what a nice ride he was having, and he was wishing he could run the auto like that, when, all of a sudden, there was a bangity-bang noise and the auto stopped.

 

"There!" cried the rabbit. "What did I tell you? I knew I'd give you bad luck. Let me get out and walk. Then it will go again," and before Jacko and Jumpo could stop him, Uncle Wiggily hopped⁸ out.

 

"Wait, we'll soon get it fixed⁹," said Jacko. "Then you can ride some more."

 

"No, indeed!" answered Uncle Wiggily. "That auto will never go again. I'm going to walk, I'm in a hurry."

 

So away he hopped through the woods, and Jacko and Jumpo tried to see what was the matter with their car. But though they pushed and pulled and twisted and turned everything they could see or think of, the auto stood still just like a tree growing in the woods.

 

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jumpo, "we may have to stay here all night, and the grocery store will close before we can get to it, and we can't have any molasses cookies."

 

"I'll tell you what we'll do," spoke Jacko. "You skip off through the woods to the store, and get the things, and I'll stay here and see if I can fix the auto. By the time you get back with the yeast cake and flour and molasses, I may have it running."

 

Well, Jumpo thought that was good advice, so he ran on through the woods to the grocery store. And Jacko tried once more to make the auto go. He shoved and he twisted and he turned, and he even put some fresh air in the hollow tires, but the auto wouldn't move.

 

"I know what I'll do," he exclaimed, "I'll take out the toodle-oodle-um and put it where the diddle-daddle-um belongs and I'll put the snicky-snackum in the place of the mickie-mackie-um. That may be the trouble."

 

So he did that and then he climbed up on the seat and sure enough the auto went off as nicely as a piece of cherry pie, with the fizzle-fozzle going flippity-flop.

 

"Oh, joy!" cried Jacko, when he saw that the car was all right. "Now when Jumpo comes back with the groceries we can ride home and have some fun." So he got out of the auto, after stopping it, of course, to wait for his brother.

 

Jacko walked around in the woods and pretty soon he came up to a tree. Inside of it he heard a funny buzzing sound, and then he heard a voice singing this little song:

 

"I am a busy little bee,

I'm buzzing all the day.

I make so much sweet honey that

I have no time to play."

 

 

Then Jacko looked and he saw a little hole in the tree. He went close up to it and said:

 

"Are you there in that hole, Mrs. Bee?"

 

"Yes," was the answer, "but please go away, little boy, as I am very busy, I have to make enough honey to last all winter."

 

Well, Jacko was just going away when he saw a snake sneaking¹⁰ along on the ground. And that bad snake took up some soft mud on the end of his tail, and he plastered it over the hole in the tree where the bee was making honey, so she couldn't get out when she wanted to.

 

"Now, when that bee is dead I'll come and get the honey," hissed¹¹ the snake, just like a steam radiator¹².

 

"No you won't!" cried Jacko, and then he blew the big auto horn so loudly that the snake was frightened and crawled away as fast as he could. Then the red monkey took a stick, and knocked the mud away from the bee's hole so she could come out when she wanted to.

 

"Oh, thank you, so much!" buzzed the bee. "I'll give you some honey for being kind to me." So she gave Jacko some, and also some for his brother, and by that time Jumpo came back from the store with the groceries and he was glad to find that Jacko had fixed the auto, though he was a little frightened when he heard about the snake.

 

The two brothers were just going to ride home in their car, but before they could get it started all of a sudden along came the savage¹³ wolf. He was just going to grab Jumpo, and maybe Jacko also, for all I know, when the busy bee just buzzed up and stung the wolf on the tip of his soft and tender black nose so that he ran howling away to put some mud on the sting. And so he didn't eat either of the monkey boys, and the bee was glad she had helped them.

 

Then they hurried home in their automobile and their mamma made some molasses cookies and they had them for supper with honey on, and Oh! how delicious they were. And after supper Jacko and Jumpo played tag with Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, until it was time to go to bed. So now, good night, if you please.

 

And in the next story I'll tell you about the Kinkytails and the grape vine—that is if the basket of peaches doesn't fall down the chimney and scare the fire shovel¹⁴ so that it hides in the ash can.[Pg 139]

 

1 yeast   

n.酵母；酵母片；泡沫；v.发酵；起泡沫

参考例句：

• Yeast can be used in making beer and bread.酵母可用于酿啤酒和发面包。
• The yeast began to work.酵母开始发酵。

2 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。

3 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

4 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。

5 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

6 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。

7 rheumatism   

n.风湿病

参考例句：

• The damp weather plays the very devil with my rheumatism.潮湿的天气加重了我的风湿病。
• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。

8 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

11 hissed   

发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对

参考例句：

• Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过？
• The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。

12 radiator   

n.暖气片，散热器

参考例句：

• The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。
• Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。

13 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

14 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。