CHAPTER III. THE CHRISTENING.

 Alila was christened soon after he was born. Dear me, what a time that was! The festival lasted several days. There was a host of friends and acquaintances around the little home, making merry and admiring the baby.

 

Alila himself was as clean and sweet as any child in the world could be. His mother had bathed him in the water of the river which flowed down the mountainside near them, while the leaves of the papaw-tree took the place of soap.

 

The young mother herself was only fifteen years old. She was dressed in her brightest skirt and fairly shone with the abundance of cheap jewelry¹ she wore. Her hair was combed[22] straight back from her forehead. She wore nothing on her feet excepting her queer slippers², of which she seemed very proud. She had herself embroidered³ them to look like a pair worn by the rich lady whose husband owned the plantation⁴. They were perfectly⁵ flat and had only uppers enough to encase two or three toes.

 

What queer, uncomfortable things to wear on one's feet! Alila will never own such things because he is a boy, and he should be glad of it.

 

His grandmother and aunt had a fine feast prepared for the visitors. There was a good supply of roasted buffalo⁶ and wild boar's meat. There was a salad made from the young green tops of the bamboo; steamed rice and stewed⁷ iguana⁸; papaws, which tasted like melons; tamarind sauce and guavas and bananas. And, of course, there was an abundance of betel, cocoa wine and tuba.

 

[23]

 

But strangest of all the dishes at the Tagal's feast was one prepared from a kind of beetle⁹. The guests relished¹⁰ it greatly and Alila's father was praised very much for surprising them with this dainty.

 

But the feast was only a small part of the entertainment. A band came from the village to furnish music. Every instrument on which they played was made of bamboo. Then there was dancing and singing under the palm-trees by old and young, and when evening came there were displays of fireworks.

 

As Alila's father was quite poor, how could he afford such splendour? The fact is, it cost him nothing! It was a free show given by Mother Nature. Her little children, the fireflies, gathered in great numbers and danced in circles around the trees. Any one ought to be satisfied with fireworks like those.

 

Alila's eyes watched the people eat with their fingers and looked at the lights dancing[24] about; he listened to the odd, sweet music for a little while; and then those black eyes closed tightly and he lay fast asleep in his young mother's arms. Of course, he doesn't remember anything about it now, but his grandmother has told him the story so many times it almost seems as though his own mind had kept the pictures for him.

1 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

2 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

3 embroidered   

adj．绣花的

参考例句：

• She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
• She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。

4 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

7 stewed   

adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• When all birds are shot, the bow will be set aside;when all hares are killed, the hounds will be stewed and eaten -- kick out sb. after his services are no longer needed. 鸟尽弓藏，兔死狗烹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• \"How can we cook in a pan that's stewed your stinking stockings? “染臭袜子的锅，还能煮鸡子吃！还要它？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

8 iguana   

n.美洲大蜥蜴，鬣鳞蜥

参考例句：

• With an iguana,you really don't have to say surprise.惊喜两字已经不足以形容这只鬣鳞蜥了。
• I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguanadj.打开计算机准备制作一部关于我的宠物蜥蜴的电影。

9 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

10 relished   

v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The chaplain relished the privacy and isolation of his verdant surroundings. 牧师十分欣赏他那苍翠的环境所具有的幽雅恬静，与世隔绝的气氛。 来自辞典例句
• Dalleson relished the first portion of the work before him. 达尔生对眼前这工作的前半部分满有兴趣。 来自辞典例句