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CHAPTER 3
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 The burdock still stood pondering. She was thick-headed and that was why she took so long. But, in the evening, a hare jumped over the hedge:
 
"Hide me! Save me!" he cried. "Farmer's Trust is after me."
 
"Creep round behind the hedge," said the burdock; "then I'll hide you."
 
"You don't look to me as if you were cut out for that job," said the hare; "but beggars can't be choosers."
 
And then he hid behind the hedge.
 
"Now, in return, you might take some of my seeds to the fields with you," said the burdock; and she broke off some of her many burs and scattered1 them over the hare.
 
Soon after, Trust came running along the hedge.
 
"Here's the dog!" whispered the burdock; and, with a bound, the hare leapt over the hedge into the rye.
 
"Have you seen the hare?" asked Trust. "I can see that I'm too old for hunting. One of my eyes is quite blind and my nose can no longer find the scent2."
 
"I have seen him," replied the burdock, "and, if you will do me a service, I will show you where he is."
 
Trust agreed and the burdock struck some of her burs in his back and said:
 
"Would you just rub yourself against the stile here, inside the field? But that's not where you're to look for the hare, for I saw him run to the wood a little while ago."
 
Trust carried the burs to the field and ran off into the wood.
 
"So now I've got my seeds settled," said the burdock and laughed to herself contentedly3. "But goodness knows how the thistle is going to manage and the dandelion and the bell-flower and the poppy!"
 
Next spring, already, the rye was standing4 quite high:
 
"We are very well off, considering all things," said the rye-stalks. "Here we are in a great company that contains none but our own good family. And we don't hamper5 one another in the very least. It's really an excellent thing to be in the service of men."
 
But, one fine day, a number of little poppies and thistles and dandelions and burdocks and bell-flowers stuck their heads up above the ground in the midst of the luxuriant rye.
 
"What's the meaning of this now?" asked the rye. "How in the world did you get here?"
 
And the poppy looked at the bell-flower and asked:
 
"How did you get here?"
 
And the thistle looked at the burdock and asked:
 
"How on earth did you get here?"
 
 
They were all equally surprised and it was some time before they had done explaining. But the rye was the angriest and, when she had heard all about Trust and the hare and the wind, she was quite furious:
 
"Thank goodness that the farmer shot the hare in the autumn," said she. "Trust, luckily, is dead too, the old scamp! So I have no further quarrel with them. But how dare the wind carry the seed of the weeds on to the farmer's land!"
 
"Softly, softly, you green Rye!" said the wind, who had been lying behind the hedge and had heard all this. "I ask no one's leave, but do as I please; and now I'm going to make you bow before me."
 
Then he blew over the young rye so that the thin stalks swayed to and fro:
 
"You see," he said, "the farmer looks after his rye, for that is his business. But the rain and the sun and I interest ourselves in all of you alike, without distinction of persons. To us the poor weeds are quite as attractive as the rich corn."
 
Now the farmer came out to look at his rye and, when he saw the weeds that stood in the fields, he was vexed6 and scratched his head and began to scold in his turn:
 
"That's that dirty Wind," he said to Jens and Ole, who stood beside him with their hands in the pockets of their new trousers.
 
But the wind dashed up and blew off the hats of all three of them and trundled them ever so far away. The farmer and his boys ran after them, but the wind was the quicker. At last, he rolled the hats into the pond; and the farmer and his boys had to stand ever so long and fish for them before they got them out.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
2 scent WThzs     
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉
参考例句:
  • The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
  • The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。
3 contentedly a0af12176ca79b27d4028fdbaf1b5f64     
adv.心满意足地
参考例句:
  • My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
  • "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.
4 standing 2hCzgo     
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。
5 hamper oyGyk     
vt.妨碍,束缚,限制;n.(有盖的)大篮子
参考例句:
  • There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
  • The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。
6 vexed fd1a5654154eed3c0a0820ab54fb90a7     
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论
参考例句:
  • The conference spent days discussing the vexed question of border controls. 会议花了几天的时间讨论边境关卡这个难题。
  • He was vexed at his failure. 他因失败而懊恼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》


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