有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第2卷 第6章

“But,” said Dorothy, after amoment’s thought, “Aunt Em has told me that the witches were all dead–years andyears ago.”

“Who is Aunt Em?” inquired thelittle old woman.

“She is my aunt who lives inKansas, where I came from.”

The Witch of the North seemed tothink for a time, with her head bowed and her eyes upon the ground. Then shelooked up and said, “I do not know where Kansas is, for I have never heard thatcountry mentioned before. But tell me, is it a civilized country?”

“Oh, yes,” replied Dorothy.

“Then that accounts for it. Inthe civilized countries I believe there are no witches left, nor wizards, norsorceresses, nor magicians. But, you see, the Land of Oz has never beencivilized, for we are cut off from all the rest of the world. Therefore westill have witches and wizards amongst us.”

“Who are the wizards?” askedDorothy.

“Oz himself is the Great Wizard,”answered the Witch, sinking her voice to a whisper. “He is more powerful thanall the rest of us together. He lives in the City of Emeralds.”

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第2卷 第5章

“Who are the Munchkins?” inquiredDorothy.

“They are the people who live inthis land of the East where the Wicked Witch ruled.”

“Are you a Munchkin?” askedDorothy.

“No, but I am their friend,although I live in the land of the North. When they saw the Witch of the Eastwas dead the Munchkins sent a swift messenger to me, and I came at once. I amthe Witch of the North.”

“Oh, gracious!” cried Dorothy.“Are you a real witch?”

“Yes, indeed,” answered thelittle woman. “But I am a good witch, and the people love me. I am not aspowerful as the Wicked Witch was who ruled here, or I should have set thepeople free myself.”

“But I thought all witches werewicked,” said the girl, who was half frightened at facing a real witch. “Oh,no, that is a great mistake. There were only four witches in all the Land ofOz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the South, are goodwitches. I know this is true, for I am one of them myself, and cannot bemistaken. Those who dwelt in the East and the West were, indeed, wickedwitches; but now that you have killed one of them, there is but one WickedWitch in all the Land of Oz–the one who lives in the West.”

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第2卷 第4章

But the little woman evidentlyexpected her to answer; so Dorothy said, with hesitation, “You are very kind,but there must be some mistake. I have not killed anything.”

“Your house did, anyway,” repliedthe little old woman, with a laugh, “and that is the same thing. See!” shecontinued, pointing to the corner of the house. “There are her two feet, stillsticking out from under a block of wood.”

Dorothy looked, and gave a littlecry of fright. There, indeed, just under the corner of the great beam the houserested on, two feet were sticking out, shod in silver shoes with pointed toes.

“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” criedDorothy, clasping her hands together in dismay. “The house must have fallen onher. Whatever shall we do?”

“There is nothing to be done,”said the little woman calmly.

“But who was she?” asked Dorothy.

“She was the Wicked Witch of theEast, as I said,” answered the little woman. “She has held all the Munchkins inbondage for many years, making them slave for her night and day. Now they areall set free, and all grateful to you for the favor.”

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第2卷 第3章

When these people drew near the house where Dorothy was standing in the doorway, they paused and whispered among themselves, as if afraid to come further. But the little old woman walked up to Dorothy, made a low bow and said, in a sweet voice:

“You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins. We are so grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from bondage.”

Dorothy listened to this speech with wonder. What could the little woman possibly mean by calling her a sorceress, and saying she had killed the Wicked Witch of the East? Dorothy was an innocent, harmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles from home; and she had never killed anything in all her life.

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第2卷 第2章

While she stood looking eagerly at the strangeand beautiful sights, she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerestpeople she had ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had alwaysbeen used to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about astall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, sofar as looks go, many years older.

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第2卷 第1章

She was awakened by a shock, sosudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she mighthave been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder whathad happened; and Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whineddismally. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was itdark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room.She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door.

The little girl gave a cry ofamazement and looked about her, her eyes growing bigger and bigger at thewonderful sights she saw.

The cyclone hadset the house down very gently–for a cyclone–in the midst of a country ofmarvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, withstately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers wereon every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered inthe trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparklingalong between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to a littlegirl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第一卷 第6章

Hour after hour passed away, andslowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the windshrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she hadwondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as thehours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolvedto wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled overthe swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and laydown beside her.

In spite of the swaying of thehouse and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fastasleep.

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第1卷 第5章

It was very dark, and the windhowled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily.After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tippedbadly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.

Toto did not like it. He ranabout the room, now here, now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quitestill on the floor and waited to see what would happen.

Once Toto got too near the opentrap door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him.But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strongpressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept tothe hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again,afterward closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen.

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第1卷 第4章

Toto jumped out of Dorothy’s armsand hide under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badlyfrightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladderinto the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to followher aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek fromthe wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat downsuddenly upon the floor.

Then a strange thing happened.

The house whirled around two orthree times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were goingup in a balloon.

The north and south winds metwhere the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In themiddle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of thewind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was atthe very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles andmiles away as easily as you could carry a feather.

有声英语儿童童话故事 绿野仙踪 第1卷 第3章

Today, however, they were notplaying. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky,which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in herarms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.

From the far north they heard alow wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the longgrass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistlingin the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they sawripples in the grass coming from that direction also.

Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.

“There’s a cyclone coming, Em,” hecalled his wife. “I’ll go look after the stock.” Then he ran toward the shedswhere the cows and horses were kept.

Aunt Em dropped her work and cameto the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand.

“Quick, Dorothy!” she screamed.“Run for the cellar!”