Green Meadow Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (good short books .txt) đ
Description
Thornton W. Burgess was an American naturalist and the author of dozens of books for children, the most enduring of which are Old Mother West Wind and The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Burgess was a passionate twentieth-century conservationist who dedicated his life to teaching children and their families about the importance of the natural life of the northern North American forest.
The Green Meadow Stories compilation is made up of four distinct but entwined tales: those of Happy Jack Squirrel, Mrs. Peter Rabbit, Bowser the Hound, and Old Granny Fox. Through the adventures of these focal characters readers are introduced to the wider territory of the Green Meadows, the Green Forest, and the Smiling Pond as well as to the animalsâ Great World.
The animals of Burgessâs stories are anthropomorphized, undoubtedly, but not caricatured: these are not the twee creatures of Disney cartoons. Their behaviour is explained in ways that would be understandable to a human childâthis is fiction, after allâbut Burgessâs âlittle people of the forestâ are not simply humans dressed in fur and feathers. The original illustrations in Burgessâs books (by Harrison Cady, not reproduced in this edition) show the animals wearing clothes, but Burgessâs own descriptions of animals are more natural and metaphorical, and less fantastic. For example, he describes Chatterer the Red Squirrel, âwho always wears a red coat with vest of white,â a compact way of communicating the look of a squirrel that many of todayâs children will never have seen with their own eyes. Less pleasantly, it is Peter Rabbitâs fur and flesh that is rent when Hooty the Owl tears Peterâs âcoatâ one night on the Old Pasture.
Burgess has tremendous respect for the creatures he depicts, as well as for their natural home. While the presentation of the Green Meadow is hardly âNature, red in tooth and claw,â it is surprisingly unsentimental. Peter Rabbit, for example, lives a highly anxious life under threat from the many predators who would enjoy having him for dinner; similarly, Happy Jack Squirrel experiences days and nights of terror when Shadow the Weasel discovers Happy Jackâs home and hunts him relentlessly. During a long, hard winter, Granny Fox and Reddy Fox come close to starving, and Old Man Coyote leads Bowser the Hound on a dangerous chase that may result in one or the other dying. Despite other fanciful, sentimental elements of storytelling, Burgess does not sugarcoat prey/predator relationships or the precarity of wild animalsâ lives.
Burgess is a clear conservationist in his representations of hunting. The animals are highly aware of hunters and their âdreadful guns.â It is a notable moment in this collection when Farmer Brownâs Boy decides he will no longer use his gun to harm the little people of the Green Meadow and the Green Forest. The stories are also notable in their detailed representation of a largely intact forest, something few children in the twenty-first century will experience.
On the other hand, these are books for children, and they contain plenty of sweetness and light. Animal pairingsâsuch as when Peter Rabbit meets the dainty Little Miss Fuzzytail, the future Mrs. Rabbitâare vague but sentimental and soon lead to proud new families of Rabbits, Ducks, Deer, and Owls. The âlittle peopleâ celebrate the arrival of each springâs babies, mark each otherâs new relationships and homes, play together, and even help each other survive. They laugh, tease, and trick each otherâa fanciful interpretation of animal behaviour that could lead to a readerâs life-long fascination with, and respect for, forest creaturesâand for generations of readers, they did just that.
The stories are also more didactic than most twenty-first-century authors would dare to be. There are morals associated with most stories, often attributed to the animal about whom the story is being told. Through this practical teaching, Burgess suggests a correspondence between how animals and humans live; but he consistently clarifies that animal intelligence is different from, but certainly no less than, human intelligence.
Unlike the bouncy rhyming verses of many of todayâs childrenâs books, Burgessâs sentences have a somewhat old-fashioned cadence, creating the distinct and appealing music of traditional storytelling. Burgessâs episodic chapters are eminently readable and particularly come to life when they are voiced by animated reading-aloud. For older readers looking for something different to share with children, or for new readers beginning to tackle âchapter books,â the tales of the Green Meadow Stories collection are a delightful place to discover Burgess and his animal friends.
Read free book «Green Meadow Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (good short books .txt) đ» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Thornton W. Burgess
Read book online «Green Meadow Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (good short books .txt) đ». Author - Thornton W. Burgess
âDee, dee, dee, what did I tell you?â cried Tommy Tit happily, as he flew over to where Happy Jack was sitting.
Now who really saved Happy Jackâ âTommy Tit or Farmer Brownâs boy?
XVI Happy Jack Misses Farmer Brownâs BoyOne and one are always two,
And two and two are four.
And just as true it is youâll find
That love and love make more.
Go ask Happy Jack Squirrel. He knows. He knows because he has proved it. It began when Farmer Brownâs boy saved him from Shadow the Weasel. Perhaps I should say when Farmer Brownâs boy and Tommy Tit saved him, for if it hadnât been for Tommy, it never would have entered Happy Jackâs head to run to Farmer Brownâs boy. After that, of course, Happy Jack and Farmer Brownâs boy became great friends. Farmer Brownâs boy came over to the Green Forest every day to see Happy Jack, and always he had the most delicious nuts in his pockets. At first Happy Jack had been a wee bit shy. He couldnât quite get over that old fear he had had so long. Then he would remember how Farmer Brownâs boy had saved him, and that would make him ashamed, and he would walk right up and take the nuts.
Farmer Brownâs boy would talk to him in the nicest way and tell him that he loved him, and that there wasnât the least thing in the world to be afraid of. Pretty soon Happy Jack began to love Farmer Brownâs boy a little. He couldnât help it. He just had to love anyone who was so kind and gentle to him. Now as soon as he began to love a little, and felt sure in his own heart that Farmer Brownâs boy loved him a little, he found that love and love make more love, and it wasnât any time at all before he had become very fond of Farmer Brownâs boy, so fond of him that he was almost jealous of Tommy Tit, who had been a friend of Farmer Brownâs boy for a long time. It got so that Happy Jack looked forward each day to the visit of Farmer Brownâs boy, and as soon as he heard his whistle, he would hasten to meet him. Some folks were unkind enough to say that it was just because of the nuts and corn he was sure to find in Farmer Brownâs boyâs pockets, but that wasnât so at all.
At last there came a day when he missed that cheery whistle. He waited and waited. At last he went clear to the edge of the Green Forest, but there was no whistle and no sign of Farmer Brownâs boy. It was the same way the next day and the next. Happy Jack forgot to frisk about the way he usually does. He lost his appetite. He just sat around and moped.
When Tommy Tit the Chickadee came to call, as he did every day, Happy Jack found that Tommy was anxious too. Tommy had been up to Farmer Brownâs dooryard several times, and he hadnât seen anything of Farmer Brownâs boy.
âI think he must have gone away,â said Tommy.
âHe would have come down here first and said goodbye,â replied Happy Jack.
âYouâ âyou donât suppose something has happened to him, do you?â asked Tommy.
âI donât know. I donât know what to think,â replied Happy Jack, soberly. âDo you know, Tommy, Iâve grown very fond of Farmer Brownâs boy.â
âOf course. Dee, dee, dee, of course. Everybody who really knows him is fond of him. Iâve said all along that he is the best friend weâve got, but no one seemed to believe me. Iâm glad youâve found it out for yourself. I tell you what, Iâll go up to his house and have another look around.â And without waiting for a reply, Tommy was off as fast as his little wings could take him.
âI hope, I do hope, that nothing has happened to him,â mumbled Happy Jack, as he pretended to hunt for buried nuts while he waited for Tommy Tit to come back, and by âhimâ he meant Farmer Brownâs boy.
XVII Tommy Tit Brings NewsNo one knows too much, but many know too little.
Happy JackHappy Jack very plainly was not happy. His name was the only happy thing about him. He fussed about on the edge of the Green Forest. He just couldnât keep still. When he thought anybody was looking, he pretended to hunt for some of the nuts he had buried in the fall, and dug holes down through the snow. But as soon as he thought that no one was watching, he would scamper up a tree where he could look over to Farmer Brownâs house and look and look. It was very clear that Happy Jack was watching for someone and that he was anxious, very anxious, indeed.
It was getting late in the afternoon, and soon the Black Shadows would begin to creep out from the Purple Hills, behind which jolly, round, red Mr. Sun would go to bed. It would be bedtime for Happy Jack then, for you know he goes to bed very early, just as soon as it begins to get dark. The later it got, the more anxious and uneasy Happy Jack grew. He had just made up his mind that in a few minutes he would have to give up and go to bed when there was a flit of tiny wings, and Tommy Tit the Chickadee dropped into the tree beside him.
âDid you find out anything?â asked Happy Jack eagerly, before Tommy had a chance to say a word.
Tommy nodded. âHeâs there!â he panted, for he was quite out of breath from hurrying so.
âWhere?â Happy Jack fairly shouted the question.
âOver there in the house,â replied Tommy Tit.
âThen he hasnât gone away! Itâs just as I said, he hasnât gone away!â cried Happy Jack, and he was so relieved that he jumped up
Comments (0)