Читать книгу Ringtail - Alice Crew Gall - Страница 6

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And now each pleasant afternoon Ringtail went out to the great branch below the doorway of the den. Sometimes he went alone, and sometimes his mother came and lay beside him and told him strange things about the forest and the river and the creatures who lived there.

Some of these creatures Ringtail had already learned to know. He knew the Squirrels, and the little brown Chipmunks who darted among the tangled roots of the trees. He knew the old Groundhog who came each day to sit by a great stone in the sun. And he knew the Wren and the Jay and the Woodpecker with its scarlet head.

But there were other creatures, many of them, that he did not know yet. And as he listened to the things his mother told about them, he felt more and more eager to go into the Outside World and see them for himself.

“Mother,” he said one evening when he wakened from a long sleep, “I want to learn to climb down the tree now. May I?”

He had expected that she would tell him he must wait awhile, as she had so often told him before. But to his surprise she said, “Yes, Ringtail, I think the time has come for you to learn.”

“Me too!” cried Little Sister. “I want to learn if Ringtail does.”

“Very well,” their mother said, and going to the doorway she sniffed the air as she always did before going out, “come along then.”

The two little Raccoons quickly scrambled out after her.

It was getting on toward dusk and the voices back in the forest were growing quiet, but over by the river the frogs had begun their evening song. They sounded very cheerful, Ringtail thought.

“Now, children,” the Raccoon mother said, “I will go down the tree and come up again. Watch me closely and then you may try it for yourselves.”

Their little black faces peered eagerly over the branch as they watched her climb slowly to the ground and back again to where they were standing.

“It doesn’t look so very hard,” Ringtail said. “I am sure I can do it.”

“You go first then,” Little Sister told him. “I want to see you do it before I try.”

For a moment Ringtail wished he had not spoken so boldly. He was safe up here he knew, but what would happen to him if he should miss his footing on the great trunk of the old hollow tree?

“Come along,” his mother urged him. “I will go with you.”

The little Raccoon put out a paw and felt the bark of the tree. Could he do it? Could he trust himself to travel that long distance to the ground?

“Don’t forget,” his mother reminded him, “you must go down head first and you must dig your claws deep into the bark.”

Cautiously Ringtail put out another paw and plunged his little claws as deep into the bark as they would go. Then slowly he started down.

His heart thumped with excitement as he went carefully along. He was doing it! He was climbing down the hollow tree! Soon he would be on the ground where he had wanted to be for so long!

“You did that very well,” his mother told him when he had reached the foot of the tree. “And now we will go up again.”

“Ho, it’s easy!” he said to Little Sister when he was back on the great branch beside her. “You try it now. Mother and I will show you how.”

Little Sister was more timid than Ringtail, but at last she ventured down the tree and up again, with her mother and Ringtail close beside her.

“Can’t we do it once more?” Ringtail begged.

“No,” the Raccoon mother said, “that is enough for today. You will soon do it without any trouble, but you must go back into the den now while I go down to the river and fish.”

“I want to fish, too,” Ringtail said instantly.

“Not this time,” his mother told him. “You must wait awhile for that.”

“But I want to taste the juicy mussels that you and Father talk about. I am old enough now to eat mussels.”

“So am I,” Little Sister urged. “Won’t you take us with you, Mother?”

“No,” the Raccoon mother said, “I cannot take you to the river tonight. You have only just learned to climb, you know, and you are not ready for the river yet.”

The two little Raccoons went reluctantly back into the den and their mother waited in the doorway until she saw them curled up close together in the darkness.

For awhile after she had left them, neither of them spoke.

“It must be fun to fish for your supper,” Ringtail said at last. “I wish we could, don’t you?”

“Yes,” answered Little Sister, “I would like to catch a mussel.”

The world around the hollow tree had grown more shadowy and still. The voices in the forest were silent and only the singing of the frogs down by the river broke the evening quiet.

Little Sister’s eyes were closed now and Ringtail knew by the way her furry sides rose and fell evenly that she was asleep. But he could not sleep.

Getting up very quietly, he went to the doorway of the den and stood sniffing the air as he had seen his parents do. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped outside.

The little Raccoon had had his first taste of adventure and his curiosity was aroused.

He would go and see things for himself!