FATHER，and mother，and brothers，and sisters， were gone to the play; only little Anna and her godfather were left at home．

"We'll have a play too，" he said；"and it may be－gin immediately．"

"But we have no theatre，"cried little Anna，"and we have no one to act for us： my old doll cannot， for sh is a fright，and my new one cannot，forshe must not rumple¹ her new clothes．"

"Onecan always get actors ifonemakes useofwhat one has，" observed Godfather．

"Now we build the theatre．Here we will put up a book， there another， and there a third， in a sloping row．Now three on the other side；so，now we have the side-scenes．The old box that lies yonder may be the back- ground；andwe'll turn the bottom outwards．The stage represents a room， as every one may see． Now we want theactors Letusseewhatwe can find in the play－box． First the personages，and then we will get the play ready：oneaftertheother，that willbecapital！Here'sapipe－ head， and yonder an odd glove； theywill do verywell forfather and daughter．"

"But those are only two characters，"said little An－na．"Here's my brother's old waistcoat—could not that play in our piece， too？"

"It's big enough， certainly，" replied Godfather．

"It shall be the lover． There' s nothing in the pockets，and that's very interesting， for that's half of an unfortu－nate attachment． And here we have the nut- crackersboots， with spurs to them． Row，dow， dow！ howthey can stamp and strut！ Theyshall representthe unwelcome woo－er， whom the lady does not like． What kind of play willyou have now？ Shall itbea tragedy， or a domestic dra－ma？"

"A domestic drama， please，"saidlittle Anna；"for the others are so fond of that．Do you know one？

"Iknowahundred，"saidGodfather．"Thosethatare most in favourarefrom the French， but they are not good forlittlegirls． In themeantime， wemay take oneofthe prettiest， for inside they're all very much alike． Now Ishake the pen！ Cock－a－lorum！So now，here's the play， brin－bran－span new！ Now listen to the play－bill．"

And Godfather took a newspaper， and readas ifhe were reading from it：

THE PIPE- HEAD AND THE GOOD HEAD

A Family Drama in one Act

CHARACTERS

MR． PIPE－HEAD， a father．

MR．WAISTCOAT，a lover．

MISS GLOVE， a daughter．

MR．DE BOOTS， a suitor.

"And now we'regoing to begin． The curtain rises：we have no curtain， so it hasrisen already． All the charac－ters are there， and so we havethem at hand． NowI speakas Papa Pipe－head！ he' s angry today． One can see thathe's a coloured meerschaum．

点击收听单词发音  

1 rumple
v.弄皱，弄乱；n.褶纹，皱褶
参考例句：
Besides,he would tug at the ribbons of her bonnet and,no doubt,rumple her dress.此外，他还拉扯她帽子上的饰带，当然也会弄皱她的衣裙。 You mustn't play in your new skirt,you'll rumple it.你千万不要穿着新裙子去玩耍，你会把它弄皱的。

2 strings
n.弦
参考例句：
He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。 She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

3 jingles
叮当声( jingle的名词复数 )； 节拍十分规则的简单诗歌
参考例句：
Can I give Del and Mr. Jingles some? 我可以分一点给戴尔和金格先生吗？ This story jingles bells for many of my clients. 这个故事对我许多客户来说都耳熟能详。

4 awfully
adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地
参考例句：
Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。 I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。