The Magic Seeds

 Little Mary Louise placed the ring upon her finger and then bidding the Prince good-by turned her steps as she thought, towards home. But she had gone but a short way when she came to a funny little dwarf¹ tugging² at a great sunflower, and every once in a while he'd shake the stalk until down would come a shower of black seeds, which he put in a small basket.

 

"Hello," cried Mary Louise, "don't you want me to help you?"

 

When the little dwarf heard her voice, he started to run away, but Mary Louise caught him by the tail of his coat.

 

"Don't be afraid of me, little dwarf, I won't harm you."

 

So the dwarf set down his basket of seeds, and after he had straightened his coat, for it was half off his back, he said:

 

"I'll give you some of the seeds. They are very wonderful seeds."

 

Then little Mary Louise said good-by and by and by she came to a poor woodcutter's hut. In answer to her knock an old woman opened the door.

 

"How do you do!" she said with a bow, and then she told Mary Louise that her husband had just gone to the village for sunflower seeds. Wasn't that strange? It made Mary Louise laugh and taking from her pocket a handful she showed them to the old lady.

 

"My husband may not find any," she said. "Will you give me two that I may plant them on each side of our front door?" Then digging a hole in the ground on each side of the step she planted the seeds. And, would you believe it? all of a sudden a yellow stalk sprung up, and pretty soon it was as high as the door and then it was higher than the roof and before long it reached way up into the sky, so far and so high that you couldn't see the top.

 

"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the old woman. "What kind of seeds are these?"

 

"I'll climb up and see," and up the stalk went little Mary Louise. Bigger and bigger it grew until finally it spread out altogether into a great big meadow covered with sunflowers.

 

Everywhere the birds were singing and little rabbits hopping³ about, and nearby a flock of lambs nibbling⁴ the fresh green grass.

 

"Oh my!" exclaimed little Mary Louise, "this is strange, very strange!"

 

When, all of a sudden, one of the sunflowers began to sing:

 

"I love the sun in the big blue sky,

As he rolls along his pathway high,

Through the clouds and over the blue

While he brightly shines on me and you.

There's no one else that I love so much

As the golden sun with his soft warm touch."

And then all the sunflowers joined in the chorus:

 

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful sun,

We turn and follow you as you run

Over the soft and azure⁵ sky;

Beautiful sun with your golden eye."

When the song was finished, little Mary Louise went on her way, and it was very lucky for her that the grass was soft, for she wore no boots, which I forgot to mention she had left a the foot of the big giant sunflower by the side of the poor woodman's hut.

 

Well, by and by, she came to a little shoemaker's shop, where the shoemaker sat just outside the door.

 

"Have you a pair of red top boots?" she asked. And would you believe it? That shoemaker got up and walked inside his shop and took down a box from the top shelf, and there inside was a beautiful pair of red top boots, which fitted as if they had been made for her. Well wasn't that the luckiest thing that could have happened?

 

But perhaps it was just as lucky that she found money enough in her pocket to pay for them.

 

Pretty soon, not so very far, she came to a fountain where all day long the water played a soft little song:

 

"Over the pebbles⁶ and over the sand

I run till I reach the sea-shore land,

Where the pink shells sing and the big waves roar,

And the mermaids⁸ comb their hair on the shore."

"I think I'll follow this pretty book," said Mary Louise, "and maybe it will take me home."

 

She ran along its mossy banks until she came to the seashore. Right there on the soft warm sand sat a mermaid⁷ combing her long hair.

 

With a glad cry Mary Louise ran towards her. But it wasn't her friend the Mermaid Princess. No, she was a strange little mermaid, who gave a frightful⁹ scream and with a flop¹⁰ of her graceful¹¹ tail, glided¹² into the water. Just as she was about to dive down out of sight, she saw her pretty pearl comb on the beach.

 

"Don't be afraid of me," said Mary Louise, picking it up and leaning over the water. "I know your Princess Mermaid—daughter of King Seaphus," and she handed the little mermaid the pearly comb, who then swam away to her island of coral and pearl.

 

"Heigh ho," sighed little Mary Louise, "here I am by the sad sea waves with nobody to talk to," and as she had nothing to do, she dug a hole in the sand and thrusting in both her feet, covered them up. All of a sudden a tremendous crab¹³ crawled up and before she could run away, fastened his great claw in her sleeve.

 

"Oh I am king of the blue sea crabs¹⁴,

And king of the sandy shore,

And I can fight as well as bite

With my big tre-men-dous claw.

Oh, I can pinch as well as a clam¹⁵,

I'm king of all pinchers, you bet I am."

Now little Mary Louise was a brave girl, and unclasping her breastpin, she stuck the point right in the wrist of the Crab King's claw, after which he began to sing a different kind of song, and the tears came out of his eyes, and pretty soon he begged to be let alone.

 

"I'll give you the most beautiful pearl in all the world," he said, but Mary Louise only laughed and pointed¹⁶ to her torn sleeve:

 

"That won't mend my sleeve, King Crab. What right had you to tear it?"

 

"Oh, please take the pin out of my elbow," begged the tearful Crab King, so frightened that he couldn't tell whether it was his wrist or his elbow that Mary Louise was pricking¹⁷. "I'll give you two pearls. Oh, please pull out your pin."

 

As soon as she had put away her breastpin, the Crab King started to dig in the sand and pretty soon he brought up two lovely pearls.

 

"But what am I to do with my torn sleeve?" asked Mary Louise, for she was still angry with that disagreeable old crab.

 

Without answering, the King of the Crabs crawled off into the tall sea grass and in a few minutes came back with a little package done up in sea weed, and after he had unwrapped it, what do you suppose Mary Louise saw? Why, a beautiful pale sea green coat made of sea silk. It was very beautiful and looked just like the shimmery¹⁸ green of the waves.

 

"Here is a coat of the great Crab King,

It's finer than silk or anything,

For none but a merman has ever worn

A coat so beautifully shimmery shorn,"

cried the King Crab, handing it to Mary Louise. Then he crawled away, for he wised to have the doctor see his wounded elbow, I imagine.

 

1 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

2 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句

3 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

4 nibbling   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• We sat drinking wine and nibbling olives. 我们坐在那儿，喝着葡萄酒嚼着橄榄。
• He was nibbling on the apple. 他在啃苹果。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 azure   

adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的

参考例句：

• His eyes are azure.他的眼睛是天蓝色的。
• The sun shone out of a clear azure sky.清朗蔚蓝的天空中阳光明媚。

6 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

7 mermaid   

n.美人鱼

参考例句：

• How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起，那个女孩会有多受欢迎！
• The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴，因为她等不及了。

8 mermaids   

n.（传说中的）美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。 来自辞典例句
• This is why mermaids should never come on land. 这就是为什么人鱼不应该上岸的原因。 来自电影对白

9 frightful   

adj.可怕的；讨厌的

参考例句：

• How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊！
• We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。

10 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

11 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

12 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

14 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 clam   

n.蛤，蛤肉

参考例句：

• Yup!I also like clam soup and sea cucumbers.对呀！我还喜欢蛤仔汤和海参。
• The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子。

16 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。

17 pricking   

刺，刺痕，刺痛感

参考例句：

• She felt a pricking on her scalp. 她感到头皮上被扎了一下。
• Intercostal neuralgia causes paroxysmal burning pain or pricking pain. 肋间神经痛呈阵发性的灼痛或刺痛。

18 shimmery   

adj.微微发亮的

参考例句：

• Apply shimmery shadow over eyelids and finish with black mascara. 用发光的眼影涂在眼皮上，最后用黑色睫毛油。 来自互联网
• And see your shimmery eyes again. 又见你如水的眼睛。 来自互联网