VIII A BIT OF MISCHIEF

 Jasper Jay did not heed¹ Mr. Crow's warning. When he learned that Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk² was angry with him because he had imitated Mr. Hawk's fierce cry, "Kee-you! kee-you!" Jasper was more pleased with himself than ever. Scaring Farmer Green's hens with that piercing scream had been a good deal of fun. But making Mr. Hawk angry was still more.

 

So Jasper Jay began to visit the farmyard even oftener than before. If the mother-hens, with their chicks, did not happen to be scratching in the barnyard, there was always sport of some sort to be had.

 

One day when Jasper was on his way to Farmer Green's place, he happened to meet a blue jay friend of his known as Noisy Jake, because he was not very quiet. In fact, one could almost always hear his voice ringing through the woods.

 

"You seem to be in a hurry," Noisy Jake bawled³. "Where are you going?"

 

"S-sh!" said Jasper. "I'm going to the farmyard to have some fun scaring the hens. But I don't want everybody to know it. Do you want to come along?"

 

Noisy Jake promptly⁴ said he did. So the two rascals⁵ hurried across the pasture and over the meadow toward the farm buildings.

 

"Now——" said Jasper Jay, when they had reached the farmyard—"now I'll hide in this oak here and you can hide in that one there." He pointed⁶ to a tree a little further from the chicken house than the one where he intended to perch⁷. Naturally, it was not like Jasper Jay to give the best seat to anybody else.

 

"What'll we do then?" Noisy Jake asked.

 

"You see those hens," said Jasper. "I'm going to scream like Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk. And you'll laugh when the hens hurry their chicks out of the way.... If you want to, you may scream too—but not till after I have."

 

Noisy Jake agreed to Jasper's plan. And he quickly disappeared among the branches of the oak to which Jasper had sent him.

 

Then Jasper just had to stop and laugh to himself over the fright he was going to give the old hens. He was about to open his mouth to imitate the cry of Mr. Hawk when something happened that made him terrible angry.

 

"Kee-you! kee-you!" The fierce scream rang out over the farmyard. And immediately the mother-hens called to their children, with frantic⁸ clucks, to run for their lives into the chicken house.

 

Jasper Jay did not laugh at all over the way the chicks scurried⁹ out of sight.

 

"Noisy Jake has played a mean trick on me!" he said to himself. "He went and screamed before it was his turn!"

 

Since he didn't want to miss all the fun, Jasper let out a blood-curdling "Kee-you! kee-you!" himself, just to hurry the last hen under cover. But, somehow, he had to confess to himself—though he wouldn't have admitted it to anybody else—he had to confess that Noisy Jake's cry sounded far more like Mr. Hawk's than did his own.

 

 

Of course, that did not make Jasper feel any pleasanter. He wished he had not told Noisy Jake where he was going.

 

"I'll punish him for his meddling¹⁰!" Jasper exclaimed. And he flew straight for the tree where Noisy Jake had hidden.

 

But Jasper did not reach the tree.

 

"Kee-you! kee-you!" The cry came from above his head. And looking up, Jasper Jay saw Mr. Red-shouldered Hawk himself, dropping down like lightning out of the sky.

 

Mr. Hawk paid not the slightest attention to the frightened hens and their chicks. He seemed to have eyes only for Jasper Jay. And on his proud, cruel face there was a look of anger that made Jasper wish he had never, never imitated Mr. Hawk's cry.

 

He was sorry now, that he had notp. 44 heeded¹¹ Mr. Crow's warning. But his cousin, old Mr. Crow, was always looking solemn and croaking¹² loudly about "trouble." It was no wonder that people paid little attention to what he said.

 

1 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

2 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

3 bawled   

v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物）

参考例句：

• She bawled at him in front of everyone. 她当着大家的面冲他大喊大叫。
• My boss bawled me out for being late. 我迟到，给老板训斥了一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

5 rascals   

流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人

参考例句：

• "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔，不过我喜欢流氓。
• "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物，是流氓，是恶棍。

6 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。

7 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

8 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

9 scurried   

v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She said goodbye and scurried back to work. 她说声再见，然后扭头跑回去干活了。
• It began to rain and we scurried for shelter. 下起雨来，我们急忙找地方躲避。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

11 heeded   

v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She countered that her advice had not been heeded. 她反驳说她的建议未被重视。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I heeded my doctor's advice and stopped smoking. 我听从医生的劝告，把烟戒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 croaking   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的现在分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• the croaking of frogs 蛙鸣
• I could hear croaking of the frogs. 我能听到青蛙呱呱的叫声。 来自《简明英汉词典》