Green Forest Stories by Thornton W. Burgess (best e ink reader for manga txt) đź“•
Description
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 Burgess’s stories about the “little people” of the Massachusetts forest. Burgess’s earliest ventures into animal fantasy are roughly contemporary with Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories and Beatrix Potter’s tales of various animals, and represent the most lasting American entry into this genre.
Animal fantasy is a sub-genre of children’s 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 Aesop’s Fables; animal characters feature in teaching stories for children (and adults) in cultures around the world. Burgess’s stories are intended for children in the early elementary grades. The challenges and triumphs of the “little people” 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 Burgess’s storytelling is undeniably old-fashioned but still deserves consideration. Although the writing is often simple and plain, there are rhetorical flourishes that reveal the author’s attention to craft. In particular, Burgess’s use of formulaic expressions such as “jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun” and “the Merry Little Breezes” links these tales to an orality that stretches back to at least The Iliad and The Odyssey of Homer (think of phrases such as “the wine-dark sea,” “rosy-fingered Dawn,” and “bright-eyed Athena”). Through his broader use of repetition and through onomatopoeia, Burgess underscores characteristics of his characters’ real-life forest counterparts—the 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 Burgess’s 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 short—a comfortable size to read as a bedtime story, and just long enough to hold a new reader’s attention without demanding too much of that reader’s 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 storyteller’s 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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If ever there were two puzzled little Bears they were Boxer and Woof-Woof, as they tried to get acquainted with their own reflections in the pond of Paddy the Beaver.
XXII Boxer Gets a SpankingWho fails to spank should have a care;
The well spanked cub, the well trained Bear.
Wherever Mother Bear went the twins went. In the first place they were so full of life and mischief that Mother Bear didn’t dare leave them for any length of time. Then, too, it was good for them to be with her, for thus they learned many things that they could not have learned otherwise.
But there were times when Mother Bear found Boxer and Woof-Woof very much in the way. Such times she was likely to send them up a tree and tell them to remain there until her return. She always felt that they were quite safe so long as they were up in a tree, where there was no real mischief they could get into.
It happened that one morning Mrs. Bear sent them up a tall pine-tree with strict orders to stay there until her return. “Don’t you dare come down from that tree until I tell you you may,” said she in her deep, grumbly-rumbly voice, as the twins scrambled up the tree.
“No’m,” replied Woof-Woof meekly. But Boxer didn’t say a word.
No sooner was their mother out of sight than Boxer proposed that they go down on the ground to play. “She won’t be back for some time,” said he.
“By the time she does return, we will be back up here and she will never know anything about it. Come on, Woof-Woof.”
Woof-Woof shook her head. “I’m going to stay right here,” said she, “and you’d better do the same thing, Boxer. If you get caught, you’ll get a spanking.”
“Pooh! Who cares for a spanking!” exclaimed Boxer. “Besides, I’m not going to get one. There isn’t any sense in making us stay up in this tree. We can’t have any fun up here. Come on down and play hide-and-seek.”
But Woof-Woof wouldn’t do it. “You’re afraid!” declared Boxer.
“I’m not afraid!” retorted Woof-Woof indignantly. “You heard what Mother Bear said and you better mind. You may be sorry if you don’t.”
“Fraidy! Fraidy!” jeered Boxer, as he slid down the trunk of the tree.
Now Boxer hadn’t intended to go more than a few feet from the foot of that tree. He wanted to be near enough to scramble up again at the first hint of Mother Bear’s approach. But there was nothing to do down there, and without Woof-Woof to play with he found it very dull.
Little Bears are very restless and uneasy. Boxer walked round and round that tree because he could think of nothing else to do. By and by a Merry Little Breeze happened along and tickled his nose with a strange smell. The Merry Little Breezes were always doing that. Boxer used to wonder if he ever would learn all the smells of the Green Forest.
Not having anything else to do just then, Boxer decided that he would follow up that smell and find out where and what it came from. Off he started, his inquisitive little nose sniffing the air. After a little that smell grew fainter and fainter, and finally there wasn’t any. You see, the Merry Little Breezes were carrying it in quite another direction.
Boxer turned to go back. He thought he was going straight toward that tree where Mother Bear had left him. But he wasn’t, and by and by he discovered that he was lost. Then he began to run, and as he ran he whimpered. Suddenly out from behind a tree stepped Mother Bear. Boxer was so glad to see her he quite forgot that he had disobeyed.
But Mother Bear didn’t forget. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. Boxer hung his head and didn’t say a word.
“A cub who disobeys must be punished,” said Mother Bear, and she promptly gave Boxer the first real spanking he ever had received. How he did wish he had stayed up in that tree with Woof-Woof.
XXIII Boxer Is SulkyThe world can do quite well without
The sulky folks and those who pout.
Sulky folks are not pleasant to have around. They should be put away by themselves and kept there until they are through being sulky. Now ordinarily little Bears are not sulky. It isn’t their nature to be sulky. But Boxer, the disobedient little cub, was sulky. He was very sulky indeed. And it was all because of his twin sister, Woof-Woof.
It had been bad enough to be spanked for his disobedience, but Boxer had felt that he deserved this. He had bawled lustily and then he had whimpered softly all the way back to that tree in which Woof-Woof had obediently remained. Until he reached the foot of that tree and looked up at Woof-Woof, there had been no sulkiness in Boxer.
But when he saw Woof-Woof grinning down at him as if she were glad of all his trouble, Boxer suddenly felt that he was the most abused little Bear in all the Great World.
“Don’t you wish you hadn’t tried to be so smart?” whispered Woof-Woof, when at Mother Bear’s command she had joined Boxer on the ground. “I heard you bawling. I guess next time you’ll be good like me.”
This was too much for Boxer, and he struck at Woof-Woof.
Instantly he felt the sting of Mother Bear’s big paw. It made him squeal. Woof-Woof grinned at him again, but she took care that Mother Bear shouldn’t see that grin. Woof-Woof actually seemed to enjoy seeing Boxer in trouble. Little folks and some big ones often are that way.
So, because with Mother Bear there he had no chance to show his spite to Woof-Woof, Boxer sulked. He wanted to be by himself just to pity himself. Instead of walking close at the
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