It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is “soporific.”
I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit. They certainly had a very soporific effect upon the Flopsy Bunnies!
When Benjamin Bunny grew up, he married his Cousin Flopsy. They had a large family, and they were very improvident and cheerful. I do not remember the separate names of their children; they were generally called the “Flopsy Bunnies.”
As there was not always quite enough to eat—Benjamin used to borrow cabbages from Flopsy's brother, Peter Rabbit, who kept a nursery garden. Sometimes Peter Rabbit had no cabbages to spare. When this happened, the Flopsy Bunnies went across the field to a rubbish heap, in the ditch outside Mr. McGregor's garden.
Mr. McGregor's rubbish heap was a mixture. There were jam pots and paper bags, and mountains of chopped grass from the mowing machine (which always tasted oily), and some rotten vegetable marrows and an old boot or two. One day—oh joy!—there were a quantity of overgrown lettuces, which had “shot” into flower.
The Flopsy Bunnies simply stuffed lettuces. By degrees, one after another, they were overcome with slumber, and lay down in the mown grass.
Benjamin was not so much overcome as his children. Before going to sleep he was sufficiently wide awake to put a paper bag over his head to keep off the flies.
The little Flopsy Bunnies slept delightfully in the warm sun. From the lawn beyond the garden came the distant clacketty sound of the mowing machine. The bluebottles buzzed about the wall, and a little old mouse picked over the rubbish among the jam pots (I can tell you her name, she was called Thomasina Tittlemouse, a wood-mouse with a long tail.). She rustled across the paper bag, and awakened Benjamin Bunny. The mouse apologized profusely, and said that she knew Peter Rabbit.
While she and Benjamin were talking, close under the wall, they heard a heavy tread above their heads; and suddenly Mr. McGregor emptied out a sackful of lawn mowings right upon the top of the sleeping Flopsy Bunnies! Benjamin shrank down under his paper bag. The mouse hid in a jam pot. The little rabbits smiled sweetly in their sleep under the shower of grass; they did not awake because the lettuces had been so soporific. They dreamt that their mother Flopsy was tucking them up in a hay bed.
Mr. McGregor looked down after emptying his sack. He saw some funny little brown tips of ears sticking up through the lawn mowings. He stared at them for some time. Presently a fly settled on one of them and it moved.
Mr. McGregor climbed down on to the rubbish heap—
“One, two, three, four! five! six leetle rabbits!” said he as he dropped them into his sack. The Flopsy Bunnies dreamt that their mother was turning them over in bed. They stirred a little in their sleep, but still they did not wake up.
Mr. McGregor tied up the sack and left it on the wall. He went to put away the mowing machine. While he was gone, Mrs. Flopsy Bunny (who had remained at home) came across the field. She looked suspiciously at the sack and wondered where everybody was? Then the mouse came out of her jam pot, and Benjamin took the paper bag off his head, and they told the doleful tale.
Benjamin and Flopsy were in despair, they could not undo the string. But Mrs. Tittlemouse was a resourceful person. She nibbled a hole in the bottom corner of the sack. The little rabbits were pulled out and pinched to wake them. Their parents stuffed the empty sack with three rotten vegetable marrows, an old blacking-brush and two decayed turnips. Then they all hid under a bush and watched for Mr. McGregor.
Mr. McGregor came back and picked up the sack, and carried it off. He carried it hanging down, as if it were rather heavy. The Flopsy Bunnies followed at a safe distance. They watched him go into his house. And then they crept up to the window to listen.
Mr. McGregor threw down the sack on the stone floor in a way that would have been extremely painful to the Flopsy Bunnies, if they had happened to have been inside it. They could hear him drag his chair on the flags, and chuckle—
“One, two, three, four, five, six leetle rabbits!” said Mr. McGregor.
“Eh? What's that? What have they been spoiling now?” enquired Mrs. McGregor.
“One, two, three, four, five, six leetle fat rabbits!” repeated Mr. McGregor, counting on his fingers—“one, two, three—”
“Don't you be silly; what do you mean, you silly old man?”
“In the sack! one, two, three, four, five, six!” replied Mr. McGregor.
(The youngest Flopsy Bunny got upon the window-sill.)
Mrs. McGregor took hold of the sack and felt it. She said she could feel six, but they must be old rabbits, because they were so hard and all different shapes.
“Not fit to eat; but the skins will do fine to line my old cloak.”
“Line your old cloak?” shouted Mr. McGregor—“I shall sell them and buy myself baccy! Rabbit tobacco! I shall skin them and cut off their heads.”
Mrs. McGregor untied the sack and put her hand inside. When she felt the vegetables, she became very very angry. She said that Mr. McGregor had “done it a purpose.” And Mr. McGregor was very angry too. One of the rotten marrows came flying through the kitchen window, and hit the youngest Flopsy Bunny. It was rather hurt. Then Benjamin and Flopsy thought that it was time to go home.
So Mr. McGregor did not get his tobacco, and Mrs. McGregor did not get her rabbit skins.
But next Christmas Thomasina Tittlemouse got a present of enough rabbit-wool to make herself a cloak and a hood, and a handsome muff and a pair of warm mittens.
THE END
據(jù)說,多吃生菜會(huì)產(chǎn)生催眠效果。
我在吃了生菜之后可從來都沒有覺得困倦過,當(dāng)然,因?yàn)槲也⒉皇峭米?。生菜?duì)噗噗家的小兔子肯定有非常強(qiáng)的催眠效果。
小兔本杰明長大之后,和他的表姐噗噗結(jié)了婚。他們生了一大窩孩子,這一家子都沒有什么遠(yuǎn)憂,日子過得非常開心。我不記得他們的孩子各自叫什么了,他們被統(tǒng)稱為噗噗家的小兔子。
由于他們總是沒有足夠的食物吃,本杰明經(jīng)常從噗噗的弟弟彼得那里借洋白菜——彼得有一個(gè)苗圃。有時(shí)候彼得也沒有多余的洋白菜。這時(shí)候,噗噗家的小兔子們就穿過田野,到麥克格雷格先生的菜園外面的垃圾堆里去找食物,那個(gè)垃圾堆在一個(gè)陰溝里。
麥克格雷格先生的垃圾堆是個(gè)大雜燴,里面有果醬罐、紙袋子,有割草機(jī)割下來的堆成山一樣的草(吃起來總是油膩膩的),一些腐爛了的西葫蘆和一兩只靴子。有一天——天啊,真讓人開心——那里有很多長老了的生菜,那些生菜都長得太過,開花了。
噗噗家的小兔子吃生菜都吃撐了。最后,他們一個(gè)接一個(gè)地都被睡眠給征服了,全躺在了割下來的草上。
本杰明受到的影響并沒有他的孩子們那么厲害。在睡著前,他還足夠清醒地在頭上罩了一個(gè)紙袋,以防止蒼蠅騷擾。
噗噗家的小兔子們?cè)跍嘏年柟庀率娣厮?。從花園那邊的草地上隱約傳來了割草機(jī)隆隆的聲音。麗蠅在墻頭嗡嗡地飛著,一只上了年紀(jì)的小個(gè)子老鼠在果醬罐中翻找著。(我可以告訴你她的名字,她是小小鼠托瑪西娜,是一只長著長長尾巴的林鼠。)她爬過本杰明頭上的紙袋子,簌簌作響,吵醒了本杰明。老鼠一再表示歉意,并且說自己認(rèn)識(shí)彼得。
她和本杰明就在墻邊聊天,這時(shí),他們聽到一陣沉重的腳步聲在頭頂響起。麥克格雷格先生將一口袋割下來的草直接倒到了噗噗家的小兔子身上。本杰明縮進(jìn)了他的紙袋子里,而老鼠也藏到了果醬罐里。在如雨般落下來的草中,小兔子們依然在睡夢(mèng)中甜美地笑著,他們并沒有醒過來,因?yàn)樯说拇呙咝Ч珡?qiáng)了。他們都?jí)舻搅藡寢寣⑺麄児M(jìn)了一床干草做成的鋪蓋中。
麥克格雷格先生在倒空了口袋后向下面看了看,他看到從草堆中露出來的小小的棕色的耳朵尖兒。他盯著看了一會(huì)兒。就在這時(shí),一只蒼蠅落在了其中一只耳朵上,然后那只耳朵動(dòng)了動(dòng)。
麥克格雷格先生下來,湊到垃圾堆上。
“一,二,三,四!五!六!六只小兔子!”他說著,抓起他們并丟進(jìn)了自己的口袋中。
噗噗家的小兔子們夢(mèng)到了媽媽幫他們?cè)诖采戏藗€(gè)身。他們動(dòng)了動(dòng),但還是沒有醒過來。
麥克格雷格先生把口袋扎好,然后就放在墻上,去收拾割草機(jī)了。他走了之后,兔子噗噗太太(她本來是留在家中的)穿過田地走了過來。她充滿疑惑地看著那個(gè)口袋,想知道大家都去哪里了。這時(shí),老鼠從果醬罐里面出來了,本杰明也拿下了他頭上的紙袋子,他們講述了剛才發(fā)生的悲慘的故事。
本杰明和噗噗非常絕望,因?yàn)樗麄兌冀獠婚_扎口袋的繩子。但是小小鼠太太是一個(gè)很有辦法的人,她在袋子底部的角落咬了一個(gè)洞出來。小兔子們被拽了出來,被又掐又捏地弄醒了。他們的父母把三個(gè)爛了的西葫蘆、一個(gè)舊的鞋油刷子、兩個(gè)爛了的蘿卜放到了口袋里。然后他們躲進(jìn)了一片灌木中,等待著麥克格雷格先生。
麥克格雷格先生回來后,拿起口袋便走了。從他拎著口袋的樣子看,口袋似乎很重。噗噗家的兔子們?cè)诤竺孢h(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地跟著。他們看到麥克格雷格先生回到了自己的房子里。然后他們偷偷溜到窗戶邊偷聽。
麥克格雷格先生將口袋扔到石頭地板上,如果噗噗家的小兔子還在口袋里面的話,那種扔法肯定會(huì)讓他們很疼的。他們聽到麥克格雷格先生在石板地上拖動(dòng)椅子,邊走邊咯咯笑。
“一,二,三,四,五,六,六只小兔子!”麥克格雷格先生說。
“呃?那是什么?他們又糟蹋什么了?”麥克格雷格太太問道。
“一,二,三,四,五,六,六只肥肥的小兔子!”麥克格雷格先生重復(fù)道,他扳著自己的指頭數(shù)著,“一,二,三——”
“別傻了,你到底什么意思,你這個(gè)老糊涂?”
“在這個(gè)口袋里!一,二,三,四,五,六!”麥克格雷格先生又重復(fù)說。
(噗噗家最小的那只小兔子爬到了窗臺(tái)上。)
麥克格雷格太太拎過袋子來摸了摸。她說她能夠摸出來是六只,但肯定是六只老兔子,因?yàn)槎己苡?,而且形狀都不一樣?/p>
“不適合吃,但是皮毛肯定很合適給我的舊斗篷鑲邊?!?/p>
“給你的舊斗篷鑲邊?”麥克格雷格先生大叫道,“我要賣了他們,給我自己買煙草。兔子煙草!我得剝下他們的皮,把他們的腦袋處理掉?!?/p>
麥克格雷格太太解開口袋,探手進(jìn)去。她摸到了蔬菜,然后非常非常生氣。她說麥克格雷格先生是“故意”的。麥克格雷格先生也非常生氣。其中一個(gè)爛了的西葫蘆被他從廚房的窗戶丟了出來,砸到了噗噗家最小的兔子身上。真是疼死了!
本杰明和噗噗覺得他們?cè)摶丶伊恕?/p>
所以,麥克格雷格先生沒有得到煙草,麥克格雷格太太也沒有得到兔皮。
但是在圣誕節(jié)時(shí),小小鼠托瑪西娜收到了一件禮物——很多的兔毛,足夠她給自己做一件斗篷、一個(gè)兜帽、一個(gè)漂亮的暖手筒,還有一副暖和的連指手套。
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