Green Forest Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (best e ink reader for manga txt) π
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American naturalist and conservationist Thornton W. Burgess was the author of more than one hundred books for children; the best-remembered of these is Old Mother West Wind, which was originally written for his young son. Burgess also wrote dozens of books about the creatures of the northern North American forest, four of which are collected here as the Green Forest Stories.
This Green Forest Stories compilation focuses on Lightfoot the Deer, Blacky the Crow, Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, and twin bear cubs Woof-Woof and Boxer. Readers may have encountered these characters in other of Burgessβs stories about the βlittle peopleβ of the Massachusetts forest. Burgessβs earliest ventures into animal fantasy are roughly contemporary with Rudyard Kiplingβs Just So Stories and Beatrix Potterβs tales of various animals, and represent the most lasting American entry into this genre.
Animal fantasy is a sub-genre of childrenβs literature in which animals are anthropomorphized into human-like characters and use language like humans. It is often criticized by those who want readers to experience more realistic representations of animals and the natural world, but animal fantasies engage a millennia-old tradition, in the Western canon reaching back at least as far as Aesopβs Fables; animal characters feature in teaching stories for children (and adults) in cultures around the world. Burgessβs stories are intended for children in the early elementary grades. The challenges and triumphs of the βlittle peopleβ in his stories will feel identifiable to many young readers, and the snippets of moralizing and authorial commentary interleaved with the actions of the plot reflect a teaching device with a long history.
In the late twentieth century, Burgess fell out of favour with teachers and librarians. This shift occurred in part due to changing tastes in literary style and in part due to a changing society. Burgess is entirely a writer of his time. Most of the animals he depicts are male, and many of the female animals who wander into the stories are more passive and more stereotyped than the kinds of representation preferred for girls today. (Such is not the case, however, of Old Granny Fox, who may be the smartest of the little people Burgess represents and certainly does not lack agency or self-determination.)
The style of Burgessβs storytelling is undeniably old-fashioned but still deserves consideration. Although the writing is often simple and plain, there are rhetorical flourishes that reveal the authorβs attention to craft. In particular, Burgessβs use of formulaic expressions such as βjolly, round, bright Mr. Sunβ and βthe Merry Little Breezesβ links these tales to an orality that stretches back to at least The Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer (think of phrases such as βthe wine-dark sea,β βrosy-fingered Dawn,β and βbright-eyed Athenaβ). Through his broader use of repetition and through onomatopoeia, Burgess underscores characteristics of his charactersβ real-life forest counterpartsβthe way a chickadee calls, a squirrel scolds, or a rabbit lopes, for example.
In these stories, as in the Green Meadow Stories collection, we observe features that signal Burgessβs experience as a writer for periodicals and as an early radio broadcaster. Each chapter begins with reminders about the previous chapter, and chapters end with either a strong, propulsive conclusion or a traditional cliff-hanger. The chapters are generally quite shortβa comfortable size to read as a bedtime story, and just long enough to hold a new readerβs attention without demanding too much of that readerβs energy. The strong narrative voice sounds distinctly like oral storytelling. One can almost imagine a small group of young people seated in a circle at the storytellerβs feet.
That image captures the essence of these animal tales. They are light, bright peeks into a complex and beautiful world, a world any girl or boy may want to pursue through study or personal explorations. As humanity faces the daily loss of animal species, stories that delight readers and listeners, that encourage them to learn about and respect the creatures of the non-human world, deserve our renewed attention and respect.
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- Author: Thornton W. Burgess
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Boxer and Woof-Woof had thought that in climbing a tall tree they were making themselves safe. It had not entered their funny little heads that great big Buster Bear would climb that tree. So you can imagine how terribly frightened they were when Buster started up that tree after them. They scrambled up and up until they were just as high as they could get. There they clung with feet and hands, the worst scared little folks in all the Green Forest.
Now little Bears are much like little boys and girls in very many ways, and one of these is their faith in mother. Another is that when they are frightened or in trouble they cry and yell for mother.
That is just what Boxer and Woof-Woof did now. The instant they saw Buster, they began to whimper and cry softly, and they kept it up as they scrambled up the trunk of that tree. But when they saw Buster Bear climbing up after them, they simply opened their months and bawled.
βMamma! Mamma-a-a!β yelled Boxer, at the top of his lungs.
βOh-o-o, mamma-a-a!β screamed Woof-Woof.
Now fortunately for the twins, Mother Bear was not so far away that she couldnβt hear them. By the sound of their voices she knew that this was no ordinary trouble they were in. Terror was in the sound of those voices. Those twins were in danger. There was no doubt about it. That danger might be danger for her as well, but she didnβt give that a thought. She plunged straight in the direction from which those cries were coming, and she didnβt stop to pick her way. She crashed straight through brush and branches in her way, jumped over logs, and broke down young trees.
At the sound of the first crash made by Mother Bear as she started for those cubs, Buster Bear stopped climbing. He turned his head and looked anxiously in that direction, his little ears cocked to catch every sound. At the second crash Buster Bear decided that that was no place for him. He didnβt stop to climb down. He simply let go and dropped. Yes, sir, that is what he did. He let go and dropped.
It was quite a way to the ground, but the ground was where Buster Bear wanted to be, and he wanted to be there right away. He wanted to be there before whoever was coming could reach that tree. And the quickest way of getting there was to drop. A few bruises and a shaking up were nothing to Buster Bear just then.
The grunt he gave when he hit the ground even the twins heard way up in the top of the tree. It made them stop bawling for a minute to wonder if Buster had been killed. But Buster hadnβt been killed. Goodness, no! In an instant he was on his feet and running away so fast that even Lightfoot the Deer would have had to do his best to keep up with him. And over his shoulder Buster Bear was throwing frightened glances.
He was not out of sight when Mother Bear burst out from among the trees. She saw him instantly. With a roar of rage, she started after Buster. Buster had seemed to be moving fast, but it was nothing compared to the way he moved when he heard that roar.
XVIII The Twins Are ComfortedThere is no comfort quite like that
Contained in motherβs loving pat.
The instant they saw Mother Bear, the twins stopped bawling. Nothing could harm them now. They knew it. Mother would take care of them. Of that there wasnβt a shadow of a doubt in the minds of Boxer and Woof-Woof. Hanging on with every claw of hands and feet, they leaned out as far as they could to see what would happen to that great black Bear who had frightened them so.
But nothing happened to Buster Bear for the very good reason that he didnβt wait for anything to happen. Buster was doing no waiting at all. In fact, he was moving so fast and at the same time trying to watch behind him that he didnβt even pick his path. He bumped into trees and stumbled over logs in a way that to say the least was not at all dignified. But Buster was in too much of a hurry to think of dignity. There was something about the looks of Mother Bear as she tore after him that made him feel sure that he would find it much pleasanter in another part of the Green Forest, and he was in a hurry to get there.
Mother Bear didnβt follow him far, only just far enough to make sure that he intended to keep right on going. Then, growling dreadful threats, she hurried back to the tree in which the cubs were. Boxer and Woof-Woof were already scrambling down as fast as they could, whimpering a little, for though they felt wholly safe now, they were not yet over their fright. She reached the foot of the tree just as they reached the ground.
She sat up and the twins rushed to her and snuggled as close to her as they could get. Mother Bear put a big arm around each and patted them gently. It was surprising how gentle great big Mother Bear could be.
βWha-wha-what would that awful fellow have done to us?β asked Woof-Woof, crowding still closer to Mother Bear.
βEaten you,β growled Mother Bear, and little cold shivers ran all over Woof-Woof and Boxer.
βI hate him!β declared Boxer.
βSo do I!β cried Woof-Woof. βI think he is dreadful, and I hope weβll never, never, never, see him again!β
βBut you will,β replied Mother Bear. βI donβt think youβll see him again right away, for he knows it isnβt wise for him to hang around here when I am about. But by and
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