fourteen
‘we’re off!’ someone was shouting. ‘we’re off at last!’
james woke up with a jump and looked about him. the creatures were all out of their hammocks andmoving excitedly around the room. suddenly, the floor gave a great heave, as though an earthquakewere taking place.
‘here we go!’ shouted the old-green-grasshopper, hopping up and down with excitement. ‘hold ontight!’
‘what’s happening?’ cried james, leaping out of his hammock. ‘what’s going on?’
the ladybird, who was obviously a kind and gentle creature, came over and stood beside him. ‘incase you don’t know it,’ she said, ‘we are about to depart for ever from the top of this ghastly hill thatwe‘ve all been living on for so long. we are about to roll away inside this great big beautiful peach to aland of… of… of… to a land of–’
‘of what?’ asked james.
‘never you mind,’ said the ladybird. ‘but nothing could be worse than this desolate hilltop andthose two repulsive aunts of yours –’
‘hear, hear!’ they all shouted. ‘hear, hear!’
‘you may not have noticed it,’ the ladybird went on, ‘but the whole garden, even before it reachesthe steep edge of the hill, happens to be on a steep slope. and therefore the only thing that has beenstopping this peach from rolling away right from the beginning is the thick stem attaching it to the tree.
break the stem, and off we go.’
‘watch it!’ cried miss spider, as the room gave another violent lurch. ‘here we go!’
‘not quite! not quite!’
‘at this moment,’ continued the ladybird, ‘our centipede, who has a pair of jaws as sharp as razors,is up there on top of the peach nibbling away at that stem. in fact, he must be nearly through it, as youcan tell from the way we’re lurching about. would you like me to take you under my wing so that youwon’t fall over when we start rolling?’
‘that’s very kind of you,’ said james, ‘but i think i’ll be all right.’
just then, the centipede stuck his grinning face through a hole in the ceiling and shouted, ‘i‘ve doneit! we’re off!’
‘we’re off!’ the others cried. ‘we’re off!’
‘the journey begins!’ shouted the centipede.
‘and who knows where it will end,’ muttered the earthworm, ‘if you have anything to do with it. itcan only mean trouble.’
‘nonsense,’ said the ladybird. ‘we are now about to visit the most marvellous places and see themost wonderful things! isn’t that so, centipede?’
‘there is no knowing what we shall see!’ cried the centipede.
‘we may see a creature with forty-nine headswho lives in the desolate snow,
and whenever he catches a cold (which he dreads)he has forty-nine noses to blow.
‘we may see the venomous pink-spotted scrunchwho can chew up a man with one bite.
it likes to eat five of them roasted for lunchand eighteen for its supper at night.
‘we may see a dragon, and nobody knows
that we won’t see a unicorn there.
we may see a terrible monster with toes
growing out of the tufts of his hair.
‘we may see the sweet little biddy-bright henso playful, so kind and well-bred;
and such beautiful eggs! you just boil them and thenthey explode and they blow off your head.
‘a gnu and a gnocerous surely you’ll see
and that gnormous and gnorrible gnat
whose sting when it stings you goes in at the kneeand comes out through the top of your hat.
‘we may even get lost and be frozen by frost.
we may die in an earthquake or tremor.
or nastier still, we may even be tossed
on the horns of a furious dilemma.
‘but who cares! let us go from this horrible hill!
let us roll! let us bowl! let us plunge!
let’s go rolling and bowling and spinning untilwe’re away from old spiker and sponge!’
one second later… slowly, insidiously, oh most gently, the great peach started to lean forward andsteal into motion. the whole room began to tilt over and all the furniture went sliding across the floor,and crashed against the far wall. so did james and the ladybird and the old-green-grasshopper andmiss spider and the earthworm, and also the centipede, who had just come slithering quickly down thewall.
十四
“咱们走吧！”有谁正在喊叫，“咱们终于要走了！”
詹姆斯吓了一跳，惊醒过来。只见所有的“生物”全都下了吊铺，在房间里激动地走来走去。突然，地板剧烈晃动了一下，就仿佛发生了一场地震似的。
“喏，咱们动啦！”绿色老蚱蜢一边兴奋地跳上跳下，一边喊叫起来，“可要抓紧喽！”
“怎么回事儿？”詹姆斯跳下吊铺，问，“发生了什么事儿？”
显而易见，瓢虫十分温柔和善。这时，她过来站在詹姆斯身边，说：“你要是还不知道，那我来告诉你。在这个见鬼的山头上住了这么久，这会儿大家伙要永远离开了。要在这个漂亮的大仙桃里，一直滚到一个……一个……一个……地方去。”
“什么地方呀？”詹姆斯问。
“这你别管，”瓢虫说，“反正什么地方都不比这个荒凉的山头差，谁也比不上你那两个可恶的姨妈坏。”
“听哪！听哪！”他们都喊叫起来，“听哪！听哪！”
“也许，你还没有发觉，”瓢虫接着说，“整个园子即使不在峭壁上，也凑巧在斜坡上。所以，一开头，挡住仙桃往下滚的，就只有跟桃树连在一块儿的粗桃把了。弄断桃把，咱们就能滚下去了。”
“小心！”房子又剧烈颠簸的当儿，蜘蛛小姐高声说，“咱们动啦！”
“不大像！还不大像动的样子！”
“这时刻，”瓢虫又接着说，“咱们那条嘴巴像剃刀一样锋利的蜈蚣，正在仙桃顶上慢慢地咬桃把哩。实际上，他想必快咬断了。从咱们摇晃的程度上，就感觉得出来。你愿不愿意躲到我的翅膀底下来？这样，仙桃滚起来的时候，你就跌不倒啦。”
“你真好，”詹姆斯说，“不过，我觉得自己还行。”
就在这当儿，从天花板上一个窟窿里，蜈蚣伸出了自己那张笑盈盈的脸，高叫着：“我成功啦！咱们动啦！”
“咱们动啦！”大家伙都喊叫起来，“咱们动啦！”
“旅行开始了！”蜈蚣高声说。
“可谁又知道到哪里算一站呢？”蚯蚓喃喃地说，“只要你搀和进来，吃不了就得兜着走。”
“这话没意思，”瓢虫说，“咱们就要到最最美好的地方去旅行，见到最最美好的东西了！
是不是，蜈蚣？”
“能见到什么东西，可说不准。”蜈蚣叫着，唱了起来：
也许看到四十九个头的怪兽，
躺在荒凉的雪里头，
怕伤风但又常伤风，
那时就有四十九个鼻子擤。
也许看到长着红斑的毒兽，
吃个人只需咬一口。
午饭喜欢烤上五个大汉，
十八个来当晚饭。
也许看到一条龙，
谁说遇不到独角精？
有的猛兽真可怕，
脚趾长出了毛发。
也许看到可爱的小母鸡，
顽皮、友善，又规矩。
鸡蛋漂亮不能煮，
煮了准叫你命归西。
准能见到角马和犀牛，
还有那只大蚊虫。
叮时叮破你膝盖，
叮着帽子才叫疼。
也许迷路受饥寒，
遇上地震身发抖。
进退维谷寻常事，
听任摆布叫人愁。
管它哩！
咱们离开这可恶的小山！
滚呀，转呀，跳呀！
离开大头钉，离开海绵团！
一秒钟以后，大仙桃缓慢地、难以察觉地，哦，也是轻轻地朝前倾斜，悄悄动了起来。
整个房间歪倒了，家具滴溜溜滑过地板，撞到了对面的墙上。连詹姆斯、瓢虫、蜘蛛小姐、绿色老蚱蜢，还有刚刚从墙上下来的蜈蚣，也都一股脑儿撞到了墙上。
