STORY III THE KINKYTAILS MAKE A PUDDING

 It happened, once upon a time, that Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail, the red and green monkey boys, didn't have to go to school. This was because it was Saturday, when there was no school; so now I've told you the true reason.

 

"What shall we do?" asked Jumpo of his brother, as he wound the end of his long tail around a tree branch and swung head downward while he ate an apple as easily as you can shell a peanut.

 

"Do you want to play Indian and let me shoot you with my make-believe gun?" asked Jacko, the red monkey.

 

"No, indeed! Thank you just the same," replied his green brother as he unhooked his tail from the tree and stood on his head, getting ready to turn a somersault. "The last time you shot at me while we were playing Indian, you didn't remember that you had a cork¹ in your pop-gun, and it hit me on the end of the nose. I haven't forgotten that."

 

"I'm very sorry," spoke² Jacko. "Then I'll tell you what let's do. We'll go off in the woods, and maybe we can find the old monkey who has five hand organs, one of which he plays with his tail. Perhaps he'll let us play one."

 

"Fine!" cried Jumpo, so off they started for the woods.

 

Well, they looked and they looked some more, but they couldn't find the monkey who had five hand organs, and pretty soon those two boys went back home.

 

But when Jacko and Jumpo got to the little house in the tree, their mamma wasn't there. Instead she had left a note on a plate of bread and jam for them. The note said:

 

"Dear Jacko and Jumpo. I have gone to call on Aunt Lettie, the old lady goat. I will be back in time to get your supper."

 

"Well!" said Jumpo, winding³ his tail around the leg of a chair, before he sat down in it. "I hope she does come back in time for supper, for I am hungry. However, she left some bread and jam for us. Let's eat that."

 

"She is the best mamma in all the world," said Jacko, as he took some of the bread and jam, "and I think we ought to do something for her."

"What could we do?" asked Jumpo.

 

"Why, we could get something ready for supper, so she won't have to work so hard when she comes in. Let's make a cake."

 

"No, let's make a pudding," suggested Jumpo. "A pudding is ever so much easier, and besides it will be done quicker, and we can taste it to see if it's good."

 

"Fine!" cried Jacko, "we'll make a pudding. But how do you do it?"

 

"It is easy," said his brother. "You take some milk and some sugar and some eggs and cocoanut, and things like that, and mix them up in a pan⁴. Then you bake it in the oven⁵."

 

"What, the pan or the pudding?" Jacko wanted to know.

 

"Both, I guess," answered Jumpo. "Anyhow I know mamma puts the pudding in the pan, and then she puts both of them in the oven, so she must bake both."

 

"Then we'll do it that way," decided⁶ Jacko. "Now here are some eggs, and we can get the milk and sugar and other things. But, hold on, Jumpo; do you put the eggs in just as they are, with the shells on, or do you break them?"

 

"I don't know," spoke the green monkey, as he looked at his tail to see if it had any hard knots⁷ in it, but it hadn't.

"Then we can't make a pudding if you don't know," said Jacko, disappointed like.

 

"Oh, yes, we can, easily," went on his brother. "We can put in some eggs without the shells, and some with the shells on."

 

"The very thing," cried Jacko. "I never would have thought of that. You are very clever, Jumpo." So the two monkey boys took a pan, and into it they broke some eggs, throwing the shells away, and into the pan they also put some whole eggs with the shells on.

 

"Now for the milk," said Jumpo.

 

"Should we use sweet milk or sour milk?" asked his brother.

 

"There you go again!" exclaimed⁹ Jumpo. "You are always asking questions to puzzle me. What do you think—sweet or sour milk?"

 

"Both!" cried Jacko, "then we'll be sure to be right."

 

"Of course!" agreed Jumpo; so into the pan they put some sweet and also some sour milk.

 

"Now for some sugar and some raisins¹⁰ and grated cocoanut and the pudding will be done!" called Jacko. So they put those things in the pan and stirred¹¹ them up with a big spoon.

 

"Now, should we bake this pudding in the oven or on top of the stove in a frying pan?" asked Jacko.

 

"Oh, there you go again!" cried Jumpo. "Asking more puzzling questions! Let's do both."

 

"We can't," decided his brother.

 

"Well, then, we'll fry this pudding in a pan on top of the stove, as mamma does an omelet," said Jumpo. "It looks like an omelet, anyhow." So into the frying pan they poured their pudding, set it on the stove, and soon it began to cook.

 

"Now when it's brown on one side, I'll turn it over with the pancake turner," said Jumpo, "and cook the other side."

 

"Good!" cried his brother. So they carefully watched the pudding, waiting for it to be cooked on one side. And, just as Jumpo got ready to turn it, there was a knocking on the door of the little house, and a voice cried:

 

"I'm coming in to eat you monkeys up!" And with that in came a savage¹² wolf. Oh, how frightened Jacko and Jumpo were! But Jumpo knew just what to do.

 

First he quickly tied his tail into a hard knot⁸ so it would be short, and not in the way. Then he took up the soft pudding out of the frying pan on the pancake turner and he threw it right in the face of that wolf.[Pg 28]

 

Oh! I wish you could have seen him! That wolf was all covered with broken eggs, and whole eggs, and raisins and sweet milk, and sour milk, and cocoanut, and sugar and everything like that. Oh! what a sight he was! And as he was so frightened that he ran down the tree, up which he had climbed by his sharp toenails, and he hid himself in the woods.

 

"Oh, but our pudding is spoiled!" cried Jacko, sad like.

 

"Never mind," said Mamma Kinkytail, who came in just then, having seen the wolf run away. "Jumpo was a good boy." And when she heard how they had made the pudding she said it was just as well, after all, that it was thrown at the wolf, for it would not have been good to eat. So she made a nice chocolate cake for supper, leaving out the egg shells and sour milk, and the pudding was all eaten up, for the red and green monkeys and their papa were very hungry.

 

Now the next story will be about Jacko and the peanuts—that is, if the little girl across the street doesn't wheel her doll carriage into a mud puddle¹³ and splash¹⁴ my new shoes that I want to dance in at the moving pictures.

1 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

2 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。

3 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

4 pan   

n.平底锅；v.严厉批评

参考例句：

• The water had all boiled away and the pan was burned.水煮干了，锅也烧坏了。
• The eggs were frying in the pan.鸡蛋正在锅里煎。

5 oven   

n.烤炉；烤箱

参考例句：

• You put food inside an oven to cook it.你把食物放进烤箱里热一下。
• She baked bread in an oven.她用烤炉烤面包。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 knots   

n.结( knot的名词复数 )；节；硬节；一小群人

参考例句：

• A ship's speed is measured in knots. 船速以节测量。
• He's getting through the ironing at a rate of knots. 他熨烫衣服做得飞快。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 knot   

n.结，难题，一小群；vi.打结；vt. 把...打成结，系牢，捆扎

参考例句：

• He made a knot in the rope.他在绳子上打了个结。
• The knot has come untied.扣儿开了。

9 exclaimed   

vt.exclaim的过去式v.呼喊，惊叫，大声说( exclaim的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "We have a good chance of winning," he exclaimed optimistically. “我们很可能获胜。”他乐观地喊道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She exclaimed in delight when she saw the presents. 她见到礼品高兴得叫了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 raisins   

n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These raisins come from Xinjiang,they taste delicious. 这些葡萄干产自新疆，味道很甜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mother put some raisins in the cake. 母亲在糕饼中放了一些葡萄干。 来自辞典例句

11 stirred   

v.（使）移动( stir的过去式和过去分词 )；搅拌；（使）行动；（使）微动

参考例句：

• She stirred her tea. 她搅了搅茶。
• He stirred the coffee until it was a light reddish-brown. 直到咖啡成红褐色，他才停止搅拌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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。

13 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

14 splash   

v.溅，泼；n.溅泼声，溅出的水等，斑点

参考例句：

• I fell into the water with a splash.我跌入水中，激起水花四溅。
• There's a splash of paint on the white wall.白墙上溅上了一片油漆。