介绍:
CHAPTER 3
Escape
The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled ofmanure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweetbreath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell - as though nothingbad could happen ever again in the world. It smelled of grain and of harnessdressing and of axle grease and of rubber boots and of new rope.
And wheneverthe cat was given a fish-head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostlyit smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up overhead. Andthere was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the horses and thesheep.
The barn was pleasantly warm in winter when the animals spent most of their timeindoors, and it was pleasantly cool in summer when the big doors stood wideopen to the breeze.
The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work horses,tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, apigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you findin barns: ladders, grindstones, pitch forks, monkey wrenches, scythes, lawnmowers, snow shovels, ax handles, milk pails, water buckets, empty grain sacks, and rustyrat traps.
It was the kind of barn that swallows like to build their nests in.It was the kind of barn that children like to play in. And the whole thing wasowned by Fern’s uncle, Mr. Homer L. Zuckerman.
Wilbur’snew home was in the lower part of the barn, directly underneath the cows. Mr. Zuckermanknew that a manure pile is a good place to keep a young pig. Pigs need warmth,and it w a s w a r m a n d c o m f o r t a b l e d o w n t h e r e i n t h e b ar n c e l l a r o n t h e s o u t h s i d e .
Ferncame almost every day to visit him. She found an old milking stool that hadbeen discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur’s pen.Here she sat quietly during the long afternoons, thinking and listening andwatching Wilbur. The sheep soon got to know her and trust her. So did the geese, who lived with the sheep. All the animals trusted her, she was so quietand friendly. Mr. Zuckerman did not allow her to take Wilbur out, and he didnot allow her to get into the pigpen. But he told Fern that she could sit onthe stool and watch Wilbur as long as she wanted to. It made her happy just tobe near the pig, and it made Wilbur happy to know that she was sitting there,right outside his pen. But he never had any fun no walks, no rides, no swims.
One afternoon in June, when Wilbur was almost two months old, he wandered out intohis small yard outside the barn. Fern had not arrived for her usual visit.Wilbur stood in the sun feeling lonely and bored.
"There’s never anything to do around here," he thought. He walked slowly to hisfood trough and sniffed to see if anything had been overlooked at lunch. Hefound a small strip of potato skin and ate it. His back itched, so he leaned against the fence and rubbed against the boards. When he tired of this, he walked indoors, climbed to the top of the manure pile, and sat down. He didn’t feel like going to sleep, he didn’t feel like digging, he was tired of standing still, tired of lying down. "I’m less than two months old and I’m tired ofliving," he said. He walked out to the yard again.
"When I’m out here," he said, "there’s no place to go but in. When I’mindoors, there’s no place to go but out in the yard."
"That’s where you’re wrong, my friend, my friend," said a voice.
Wilbur looked through the fence and saw the goose standing there.
"You don’t have to stay in that dirty-little dirty-little dirty-little yard,"said the goose, who talked rather fast. "One of the boards is loose. Pushon it, push-push-push on it, and come on out!"
"What?" said Wilbur. "Say it slower!"
"At-at-at,at the risk of repeating myself," said the goose, "I suggest that youcome on out. It’s wonderful out here."
"Didyou say a board was loose?"
"ThatI did, that I did," said the goose.
Wilbur walked up to the fence and saw that the goose was right - one board was loose.He put his head down, shut his eyes, and pushed. The board gave way. In a minute he had squeezed through the fence and was standing in the long grass outside his yard. The goose chuckled.
"How does it feel to be free?" she asked.
"Ilike it," said Wilbur. "That is, I guess I like it."
Actually,Wilbur felt queer to be outside his fence, with nothing between him and the bigworld.
"Wheredo you think I’d better go?"
"Anywhere you like, anywhere you like," said the goose. "Go down through theorchard, root up the sod! Go down through the garden, dig up the radishes! Rootup everything! Eat grass! Look for corn! Look for oats! Run all over! Skip anddance, jump and prance! Go down through the orchard and stroll in the woods!The world is a wonderful place when you’re young."
"I can see that," replied Wilbur. He gave a jump in the air, twirled, ran afew steps, stopped, looked all around, sniffed the smells of afternoon, andthen set off walking down through the orchard.
Pausing in the shade of an apple tree, he put his strong snout into the ground andbegan pushing, digging, and rooting. He felt very happy. He had plowed up quitea piece of ground before anyone noticed him. Mrs. Zuckerman was the first tosee him. She saw him from the kitchen window, and she immediately shouted forthe men.
"Ho-mer!"she cried. "Pig’s out! Lurvy! Pig’s out! Homer! Lurvy! Pig’s out. He’sdown there under that apple tree."
"Now the trouble starts," thought Wilbur. "Now I’ll catch it."
The goose heard the racket and she, too, started hollering.
"Run-run-rundownhill, make for the woods, the woods!" she shouted to Wilbur.
"They’ll never-never-never catch you in the woods."
The cocker spaniel heard the commotion and he ran out from the barn to join thechase. Mr. Zuckerman heard, and he came out of the machine shed where he wasmending a tool. Lurvy, the hired man, heard the noise and came up from theasparagus patch where he was pulling weeds.
Everybody walked toward Wilbur and Wilbur didn’t know what to do. The woods seemed a longway off, and anyway, he had never been down there in the woods and wasn’t surehe would like it.
"Get around behind him, Lurvy," said Mr. Zuckerman, "and drive him toward the barn! And take it easy - don’t rush him! I’ll go and get a bucket ofslops."
The news of Wilbur’s escape spread rapidly among the animals on the place. Whenever any creature broke loose on Zuckerman’s farm, the event was ofgreat interest to the others.
The goose shouted to the nearest cow that Wilbur was free, and soon all the cows knew. Then one of the cows told one of the sheep, and soon all thesheep knew. The lambs learned about it from their mothers.
The horses, in their stalls in the barn, pricked up their ears when they heard the goose hollering; and soon the horses had caught on to what washappening. "Wilbur’s out," they said.
Every animal stirred and lifted its head and became excited to know that one of his friends had got free and was no longer penned up or tied fast. Wilburdidn’t know what to do or which way to run. It seemed as though everybody wasafter him.
"If this is what it’s like to be free," he thought, "I believe I’d rather be penned up in my own yard."
The cocker spaniel was sneaking up on him from one side, Lurvy the hired man wassneaking up on him from the other side. Mrs. Zuckerman stood ready to head himoff if he started for the garden, and now Mr. Zuckerman was coming down towardhim carrying a pail. "This is really awful," thought Wilbur."Why doesn’t Fern come?" He began to cry.
Thegoose took command and began to give orders.
"Don’t just stand there, Wilbur! Dodge about, dodge about!" cried the goose."Skip around, run toward me, slip in and out, in and out, in and out! Makefor the
The cocker spaniel sprang for Wilbur’s hind leg. Wilbur jumped and ran. Lurvy reached out and grabbed. Mrs. Zuckerman screamed at Lurvy. The goose cheeredfor Wilbur. Wilbur dodged between Lurvy’s legs. Lurvy missed Wilbur and grabbedthe spaniel instead.
"Nicely done, nicely done!" cried the goose. "Try it again, try itagain!"
"Rundownhill!" suggested the cows.
"Run toward me!" yelled the gander.
"Run uphill!" cried the sheep.
"Turn and twist!" honked the goose.
"Jump and dance!" said the rooster.
"Look out for Lurvy!" called the cows.
"Look out for Zuckerman!" yelled the gander.
"Watch out for the dog!" cried the sheep.
"Listen to me, listen to me!" screamed the goose.
Poor Wilbur was dazed and frightened by this hullabaloo. He didn’t like being thecenter of all this fuss. He tried to follow the instructions his friends weregiving him, but he couldn’t run downhill and uphill at the same time, and he couldn’t turn and twist when he was jumping and dancing, and he was crying sohard he could barely see anything that was happening.
Afterall, Wilbur was a very young pig - not much more than a baby, really. He wishedFern were there to take him in her arms and comfort him. When he looked up andsaw Mr. Zuckerman standing quite close to him, holding a pail of warm slops, hefelt relieved. He lifted his nose and sniffed. The smell was delicious - warm milk, potato skins,wheat middlings, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and a popover left from the Zuckermans’breakfast.
"Come,pig!" said Mr. Zuckerman, tapping the pail. "Come pig!"
Wilbur took a step toward the pail. "No-no-no!" said the goose."It’s the old pail trick, Wilbur. Don’t fall for it, don’t fall for it!He’s trying to lure you back into captivity-ivity. He’s appealing to yourstomach."
Wilbur didn’t care. The food smelled appetizing. He took another step toward the pail.
"Pig,pig!" said Mr. Zuckerman in a kind voice, and began walking slowly toward the barnyard, looking all about him innocently, as he didn’t know that a little white pig was following along behind him.
"You’llbe sorry-sorry-sorry," called the goose.
Wilbur didn’t care. He kept walking toward the pail of slops.
"You’ll miss your freedom," honked the goose. "An hour of freedom is worth a barrel of slops." Wilbur didn’t care.
When Mr. Zuckerman reached the pigpen, he climbed over the fence and poured theslops into the trough. Then he pulled the loose board away from the fence, sothat there was a wide hole for Wilbur to walk through.
"Reconsider,reconsider!" cried the goose.
Wilbur paid no attention. He stepped through the fence into his yard. He walked to the trough and took a long drink of slops, sucking in the milk hungrily and chewing the popover. It was good to be home again.
While Wilbur ate, Lurvy fetched a hammer and some 8-penny nails and nailed the boardin place.
Thenhe and Mr. Zuckerman leaned lazily on the fence and Mr. Zuckerman scratched Wilbur’s back with a stick.
"He’squite a pig," said Lurvy.
"Yes,he’ll make a good pig," said Mr. Zuckerman.
Wilbur heard the words of praise. He felt the warm milk inside his stomach. He feltthe pleasant rubbing of the stick along his itchy back. He felt peaceful and happyand sleepy. This had been a tiring afternoon. It was still only about fouro’clock but Wilbur was ready for bed.
"I’mreally too young to go out into the world alone," he thought as he laydown.
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