有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第7章

Thanking the good woman, they startedafresh and walked by the fields and across the pretty bridges until they sawbefore them a very beautiful Castle. Before the gates were three young girls,dressed in handsome red uniforms trimmed with gold braid; and as Dorothyapproached, one of them said to her: “Why have you come to the SouthCountry?”

“To see the Good Witch who rules here,” sheanswered. “Will you take me to her?”

“Let me have your name, and I will askGlinda if she will receive you.” They told who they were, and the girl soldierwent into the Castle. After a few moments she came back to say that Dorothy andthe others were to be admitted at once.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第6章

The country of the Quadlings seemed richand happy. There was field upon field of ripening grain, with well-paved roadsrunning between, and pretty rippling brooks with strong bridges across them.The fences and houses and bridges were all painted bright red, just as they hadbeen painted yellow in the country of the Winkies and blue in the country ofthe Munchkins. The Quadlings themselves, who were short and fat and lookedchubby and good-natured, were dressed all in red, which showed bright againstthe green grass and the yellowing grain.

The Monkeys had set them down near afarmhouse, and the four travelers walked up to it and knocked at the door. Itwas opened by the farmer’s wife, and when Dorothy asked for something to eatthe woman gave them all a good dinner, with three kinds of cake and four kindsof cookies, and a bowl of milk for Toto.

“How far is it to the Castle of Glinda?”asked the child.

“It is not a great way,” answered thefarmer’s wife. “Take the road to the South and you will soon reach it.”

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第5章

“It shall be done,” said the King, and atonce the Winged Monkeys caught the four travelers and Toto up in their arms andflew away with them. As they passed over the hill the Hammer-Heads yelled withvexation, and shot their heads high in the air, but they could not reach theWinged Monkeys, which carried Dorothy and her comrades safely over the hill andset them down in the beautiful country of the Quadlings.

“This is the last time you can summon us,”said the leader to Dorothy; “so good-bye and good luck to you.”

“Good-bye, and thank you very much,”returned the girl; and the Monkeys rose into the air and were out of sight in atwinkling.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第4章

Dorothy ran down and helped the Scarecrowto his feet, and the Lion came up to her, feeling rather bruised and sore, andsaid, “It is useless to fight people with shooting heads; no one can withstandthem.”

“What can we do, then?” she asked.

“Call the Winged Monkeys,” suggested theTin Woodman. “You have still the right to command them once more.”

“Very well,” she answered, and putting onthe Golden Cap she uttered the magic words. The Monkeys were as prompt as ever,and in a few moments the entire band stood before her.

“What are your commands?” inquired the Kingof the Monkeys, bowing low.

“Carry us over the hill to the country ofthe Quadlings,” answered the girl.”

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第3章

As quick as lightning the man’s head shotforward and his neck stretched out until the top of the head, where it wasflat, struck the Scarecrow in the middle and sent him tumbling, over and over,down the hill. Almost as quickly as it came the head went back to the body, andthe man laughed harshly as he said, “It isn’t as easy as you think!”

A chorus of boisterous laughter came fromthe other rocks, and Dorothy saw hundreds of the armless Hammer-Heads upon thehillside, one behind every rock.

The Lion became quite angry at the laughtercaused by the Scarecrow’s mishap, and giving a loud roar that echoed likethunder, he dashed up the hill.

Again a head shot swiftly out, and thegreat Lion went rolling down the hill as if he had been struck by a cannonball.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第2章

“But we must cross it,” said the Scarecrow.“We’re going to the country of the Quadlings.”

“But you shall not!” replied the voice, andthere stepped from behind the rock the strangest man the travelers had everseen.

He was quite short and stout and had a bighead, which was flat at the top and supported by a thick neck full of wrinkles.But he had no arms at all, and, seeing this, the Scarecrow did not fear that sohelpless a creature could prevent them from climbing the hill. So he said, “I’msorry not to do as you wish, but we must pass over your hill whether you likeit or not,” and he walked boldly forward.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第22卷 第1章

The four travelers passed through the restof the forest in safety, and when they came out from its gloom saw before thema steep hill, covered from top to bottom with great pieces of rock.

“That will be a hard climb,” said theScarecrow, “but we must get over the hill, nevertheless.”

So he led the way and the others followed.They had nearly reached the first rock when they heard a rough voice cry out,“Keep back!”

“Who are you?” asked the Scarecrow.

Then a head showed itself over the rock andthe same voice said, “This hill belongs to us, and we don’t allow anyone tocross it.”

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第21卷 第6章

The great spiderwas lying asleep when the Lion found him, and it looked so ugly that its foeturned up his nose in disgust. Its legs were quite as long as the tiger hadsaid, and its body covered with coarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with arow of sharp teeth a foot long; but its head was joined to the pudgy body by aneck as slender as a wasp’s waist. This gave the Lion a hint of the best way toattack the creature, and as he knew it was easier to fight it asleep thanawake, he gave a great spring and landed directly upon the monster’s back.Then, with one blow of his heavy paw, all armed with sharp claws, he knockedthe spider’s head from its body. Jumping down, he watched it until the longlegs stopped wiggling, when he knew it was quite dead.

The Lion wentback to the opening where the beasts of the forest were waiting for him andsaid proudly:

“You need fearyour enemy no longer.”

Then the beastsbowed down to the Lion as their King, and he promised to come back and ruleover them as soon as Dorothy was safely on her way to Kansas.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第21卷 第5章

“Are there anyother lions in this forest?” he asked.

“No; there weresome, but the monster has eaten them all. And, besides, they were none of themnearly so large and brave as you.”

“If I put an endto your enemy, will you bow down to me and obey me as King of the Forest?”inquired the Lion.

“We will do thatgladly,” returned the tiger; and all the other beasts roared with a mightyroar: “We will!”

“Where is thisgreat spider of yours now?” asked the Lion.

“Yonder, amongthe oak trees,” said the tiger, pointing with his forefoot.

“Take good careof these friends of mine,” said the Lion, “and I will go at once to fight themonster.”

He bade hiscomrades good-bye and marched proudly away to do battle with the enemy.

有声英语少儿童话故事 绿野仙踪 第21卷 第4章

“What is yourtrouble?” asked the Lion quietly.

“We are allthreatened,” answered the tiger, “by a fierce enemy which has lately come intothis forest. It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a bodyas big as an elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of theselong legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizes an animalwith a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly.Not one of us is safe while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called ameeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us.”

The Lion thoughtfor a moment.