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1、【英文读物】Doctor Rabbit and Tom WildcatAN UNWELCOME CALLERRap! rap! rap! It was past midnight and some one was knocking on Doctor Rabbits door. Doctor Rabbit growled a little, for he did not like to be wakened that time of night even if he was a doctor. But he got up anyway and opened the upstairs windo
2、w in his big tree.The big round moon was shining very bright. It shone quite clear on the one who was knocking at the door. Now, who do you suppose it was? Well, it was some one Doctor Rabbit didnt wantPg 2 to see. I should say he didnt! For it was Tom Wildcat knocking! And he was about the worst en
3、emy Doctor Rabbit had in the Big Green Woods. So it was a mighty good thing he didnt go down and open his front door.“What do you want at my house this time o night?” Doctor Rabbit called down sharply.Tom Wildcat jumped back a little, he was so surprised to hear some one talking above him. “Oh!” he
4、exclaimed, looking up. “How do you do, Doctor Rabbit? I just came over to have you put some salve on my hind foot. I hurt it pretty bad a while ago.”Now Doctor Rabbit didnt believe old Tom. So he said, “Well, that doesnt interest me, but how did you hurt it?”“Well,” said Tom Wildcat, “I stepped on s
5、omething in the darka sticker orPg 3 something. Then all of a sudden I found my foot bleeding and mighty sore.”Doctor Rabbit knew very well how very cunning Tom was, so he spoke right up and said, “If you dont tell me the real truth I wont look at your foot at all.”That was pretty plain and Tom Wild
6、cat saw there was no other way but to tell the truth. “Well,” he said, “the fact is I was borrowing a hen from Farmer Roes chicken house, and his big dog and I had a little trouble before I could get away.”“Aha, I see,” said Doctor Rabbit, peering slyly down at Tom and looking very wise. “Well, Ill
7、just shut my window and you can come up. Youll find a small hole under the window. Put your foot through it and Ill look at it.” Then Doctor Rabbit shut the window, locked it, and sat down to wait.Pg 4Tom grumbled more than a little about having to climb the tree with his sore foot, but as there was
8、 no other way he began pulling and clawing into the bark, and up he went. Every now and then he hurt his foot against the tree and would have to stop. This made him pretty mad. But by and by he got up to the window and there he stopped to rest a bit and get his breath.Then he looked at the hole unde
9、r the window and called out, “What are you going to do with my foot?”“Why, how can I tell till I see it?” Doctor Rabbit called back. And all the while he was chuckling so much he was afraid Tom might hear.After thinking it over Tom had decided that perhaps he could put his foot through the hole and
10、at the same time look through the window and see whatPg 5 Doctor Rabbit was doing. But there was no way he could do this. So he turned round with his head down and held on to the bark of the tree while he put his foot through the hole under the window.Doctor Rabbit saw right away that Tom Wildcats f
11、oot really was sore, but it wasnt very bad. So chuckling more than ever, he went to his medicine closet and got out a box of salve. It was what Doctor Rabbit called his hot medicine, and it certainly was hot. It would cure a sore foot all right, but Doctor Rabbit didnt use it very often. He kept it
12、only for some one like his present patient.“Hurry up!” Tom called out most impatiently.Doctor Rabbit was all ready, so he called back, “All right there, Tom; hold right still!” and slapped a lot of thatPg 6 hot salve right on the sore foot, just where it hurt the most.Old Tom gave a yell loud enough
13、 to be heard all over the Big Green Woods, and down the tree he went.DOCTOR RABBIT DISCOVERS A SECRETWhen Tom Wildcat reached the ground he was pretty mad. Doctor Rabbit opened his window again and called down to him. “That salve is pretty hot, Im afraid, but Im quite sure itll cure your foot. Yes,
14、sir, its pretty hot, but its just the right kind of salve for a wildcat!”“Well, maybe it is,” growled Tom Wildcat between his teeth. Then, thinking perhaps the salve would cure his foot and that by and by he might deceive Doctor Rabbit, he added, in a very pleasant tone, “Im very much obliged to you
15、, Doctor Rabbit. Good night!”“Good night to you, Tom,” Doctor Rabbit said, still chuckling to himself as he closed his window and locked it.Pg 8Doctor Rabbit was wide awake now and did not care to go back to bed. So he put on his light coat and soft slippers and sat down in his big rocking chair. Th
16、en he had a good laugh when he thought of the way Tom Wildcat yelped as he went down the tree.But pretty soon Doctor Rabbit stopped rocking and sat up very straight and listened. Yes, sir! There was some one mumbling in the little thicket near his back door. Doctor Rabbit got up and quietly slipped
17、down his stairway. He crept close to his kitchen door and listened. It was just as he thought. Tom Wildcat was out there, talking and laughing to himself.He was saying, “My foot surely does burn but I know its going to be better.” After a minute he went on, “I believe Ill rest here a little. I might
18、 just asPg 9 well. Ha, ha, ha! That fat old Doctor Rabbit is in bed sleeping his head off. He thinks hes pretty cunning, but hes not half as cunning as I am. Ha! ha! ha! I should say not. Yes, Ill just rest here for a bit and think about the really, truly dinner Im going to have. Jack Rabbit surely
19、will make a fine one. Indeed he will!”DOCTOR RABBIT KEEPS STILL AND LISTENSWhen Doctor Rabbit heard Tom Wildcat say he was going to have his friend Jack Rabbit for dinner, he listened with all his ears to hear, if possible, how Tom expected to catch poor innocent Jack Rabbit. The wily Tom, thinking
20、Doctor Rabbit was asleep, kept right on talking.“Its mighty lucky,” he said, “that I found where Jack Rabbit takes his nap. Ha! ha! ha! Right under the big sycamore tree. It will be as easy as anything to catch him. Along about noon hell be asleep there, and Ill just creep up behind that big tree. T
21、hen Ill slip up into the tree and walk out on that long limb, right over him; and then, kerplunk! Ill pounce down on him.Pg 11 Yum! yum! yum! I can almost taste him now! Ill hurry home this minute and see that Kit Wildcat has the water boiling and everything ready. By dinner time Ill be as hungry as
22、 a bear!”“Ouch!” Tom Wildcat suddenly cried out, and then he said, “Whew!” softly. You see, he had licked his sore foot and the salve burned his tongue. “That salve is certainly hot,” he said; but as he was thinking about fat Jack Rabbit he didnt even complain. He was feeling pretty good again, and
23、he went slipping along through the moonlit woods toward his home. Every now and then a twig or a vine brushed against his long whiskers and he turned aside quickly. Tom Wildcats whiskers help him a great deal after dark. They often protect his eyes from sticks and briars and tell him when a hole is
24、big enough to go through.Pg 12When slinky Tom had got a little distance away, Doctor Rabbit opened the door just enough so that he could peek out. Tom Wildcat would creep along a little distance, then stop and listen and look all around. Once he crawled close to the ground and made a sudden spring.
25、Jack Rabbit gave a great jump and came very near being caught, but he darted away just in the nick of time. Tom stood for a moment jerking his tail from side to side and muttering his disappointment; then trotted out of sight among the shadows. Doctor Rabbit closed the door and went back to his big
26、rocking chair. He could scarcely wait until daylight to run over and warn his friend Jack Rabbit. Doctor Rabbit knew well enough that there was a nice sunny spot under the big sycamore tree at the edge of the BigPg 13 Green Woods, and he knew Jack Rabbit often stretched out to sun himself there afte
27、r he had eaten some of the tender blue grass. The fact was, Doctor Rabbit himself had stretched out there a number of times.Doctor Rabbit didnt even wait to get breakfast. Just as soon as it began to be daylight he started through the woods to see Jack Rabbit, out on the Wide Prairie. “I certainly h
28、ope I shall find Friend Jack at home,” Doctor Rabbit said as he hurried along.DOCTOR RABBIT SPEAKS TO JACK RABBITIt was a pretty long distance from Doctor Rabbits home in the big tree to Jack Rabbits home out in the Wide Prairie. As Doctor Rabbit went along through the Big Green Woods, he moved watc
29、hful-like, because he thought Tom Wildcat might be prowling around almost anywhere. When there was a nice open glade in the woods, Doctor Rabbit went hoppity, hoppity, hoppity, as fast as his legs would carry him, and he held his ears flat to his head, too, for thats the way Doctor Rabbit and all ot
30、her rabbits hold their ears when they run very fast. Then he would stop and prick up his ears and listen for the least sound.Presently he met Blue Jay.Pg 15“Good morning, Doctor Rabbit!” Blue Jay cried out, a great deal louder than Doctor Rabbit wished him to.Doctor Rabbit said softly, “Sh! Good mor
31、ning, Blue Jay. But not so loud! Tom Wildcat might”“Where is he?” Blue Jay asked, and his voice trembled with fear and anger.“Sh!” Doctor Rabbit warned again. “I dont know just exactly where he is now but he was prowling around my house last night, and”“And yesterday,” poor Blue Jay interrupted, “he
32、 was prowling around my house. I came home just in time to hear Jenny Jay screaming her loudest because he had nearly caught her. And then what do you suppose he did? He ate every egg we had in our nest! We wanted to peck his eyes out, but we didnt dare to get close enough. WerePg 16 building a new
33、nest in another tree now, and Im watching for Tom Wildcat every minute. I just want to tell him what I think of him!”“Dont talk so loud, please, Blue Jay,” Doctor Rabbit said again, in a low voice. “He might be around close, and I dont want him to see me, especially just at this time. Im on my way t
34、o see Jack Rabbit on very important business. Now, Blue Jay, slip around as quick as you can and tell Stubby Woodchuck and Cheepy Chipmunk, and our other friends, that Tom Wildcat is in the Big Green Woods again, and very hungry, too. I have thought of a way to get rid of him, perhaps; but first I s
35、hall have to see whether my plan works out.” And without taking time to say another word, Doctor Rabbit hurried away through the woods toward Jack Rabbits home.Pg 17Blue Jay flew straight to the stump where Stubby Woodchuck lived and told him to look out for Tom Wildcat; then he went around and told
36、 Cheepy Chipmunk, and Robin-the-Red, and Chatty Red Squirrel. They told their neighbors, so that in a little time they all were talking and thinking about Tom Wildcat. You see, all the little creatures of the Big Green Woods are dreadfully afraid of old Tom Wildcat, because not only can he spring qu
37、ickly on the ground, but he can climb trees very swiftly.Tom Wildcat lived in a very large cottonwood tree over by the Deep River. He prowled around over there, eating whatever he could find. Sometimes he caught a fish at the edge of Deep River, and now and then he caught a hen that wandered down al
38、ong the bank. He was satisfied with such things for a time,Pg 18 but every now and then he slipped into the Big Green Woods. All the little woods creatures said they surely hoped that plan of Doctor Rabbits, whatever it was, would get rid of Tom Wildcat, for they both feared and hated him.FOOLING TO
39、M WILDCATNow it so happened that Jack Rabbit came over for an early breakfast of tender blue grass, and he met Doctor Rabbit just at the edge of the woods. Doctor Rabbit was certainly glad of this, because it was pretty dangerous for him to go far out on the Wide Prairie.Of course Jack Rabbit was ve
40、ry much alarmed when Doctor Rabbit told him Tom Wildcat had planned to eat him.“My goodness!” was all poor Jack Rabbit could say.“Now listen!” Doctor Rabbit said. “Ive a little scheme.” And then to make very sure that no one else heard, he went up close to Jack Rabbit and whispered in his ear for a
41、time. Then they both laughed and danced a jig.Pg 20“Doctor Rabbit, youre surely the smartest rabbit that ever was!” Jack Rabbit complimented his good friend.Doctor Rabbit said they would have to hurry now, and they went straight to the big sycamore tree where Jack Rabbit generally lay down to sun hi
42、mself.There was a deep, wide hole under this tree, that Farmer Roes boy had dug for a playhouse a good while ago. Doctor Rabbit and his friend Jack Rabbit began gathering long, slim, dead sticks and laying them across this hole. All the time they kept laughing to themselves. The sticks were pretty r
43、otten, and when they had a whole lot of them laid across the hole they covered them all over with dead leaves and grass. When they had finished, it looked as if there never had been any hole at all.They then went to several rabbit nestsPg 21 Jack Rabbit knew about, and got a lot of rabbit fur. They
44、took this fur and made it into a good-sized, long body. This done, they went up near Farmer Roes house and got a pair of jack rabbits ears that the farmers boy had thrown away. They belonged to a rabbit that had been unfortunate. They brought these ears down to the big tree and fixed them on the fur
45、 body they had made. Then Doctor Rabbitbecause he was lighter than big Jack Rabbitwalked very, very carefully out on the leaves and sticks over the hole and laid down that make-believe jack rabbit.Well, sir, you would have been surprised to see how much that did look like the real Jack Rabbit lying
46、there. Doctor Rabbit said he really had to look at Jack Rabbit to make sure it wasnt he. Then they both laughed a great deal, theyPg 22 were so glad they had thought of this plan. But it was getting close to noon, and they hurried away and hid in a briar patch, where they could watch.Doctor Rabbit a
47、nd his friend Jack did not have to wait long. Suddenly Doctor Rabbit poked Jack Rabbit and told him to keep very still. They both looked. There was Tom Wildcat, creeping through the woods. He was coming very, very cautiously and looking straight toward the tree where Jack Rabbit took his nap. When h
48、e got a little closer he crouched down almost flat to the ground. He jerked his tail from side to side and began creeping up more cautiously than ever, because he thought he saw Jack Rabbit lying there sound asleep.Well, it surely was funny to see how badly slinky Tom was being fooled, and Doctor Rabbit and cheery Jack RabbitPg 23 could scarcely keep from laughing; but of course they didnt dare make a sound. Tom Wildcat would creep and crawl and stop and watch, then creep and crawl and stop and watch again, until finally he got right behind the tree. Then he crawled up the tree ever so c