儿童故事集：Three Short Bertie Stories

 In these three short stories, Sadie the Swan takes The True Princess Test, the Pond Life are haunted by a Ghost Swan, and Bertie sees off Barker the Dog.

 

We first published the stories, right at the beginning of Storynory in November 2005. They formed introductions to our Christmas Carol Pantomime in three parts. This Christmas we decided¹ to edit the Bertie stories out of audio, so that our listeners can get straight to Scrooge. Many of our new listeners won’t have heard them, and many of our long-standing faithful listeners won’t have heard them for a while – so we are republishing them here. We’ve added a little jazzy music for Pond Life atmosphere.

 

Bertie fans will notice that Colin the Carp has a slightly different voice. This is because he is played by Rob who took the part of Scrooge in the pantomime.

 

All other voices by Natasha. Proofread² by Claire Deakin. Duration 9.48 minutes.

 

…

 

Hi everybody. My name is Natasha. And my name is Rob.

 

1.

 

Here’s a piece of gossip I just picked up about Bertie the Frog. As you know, Bertie used to be a handsome prince, but now he’s been turned into a frog; and he lives in a pond with tadpoles⁴, birds and fish to keep him company.

 

Bertie’s friend, Sadie, is a very special swan, who has lots of romantic daydreams⁵. Sometimes she looks at her reflection in the pond, and imagines that her beautiful neck is rather royal!

 

The other creatures say that she’s always asking Bertie what it’s like to be a princess. Colin the Carp, who is a very grumpy fish, likes to take Sadie and her lofty ideas down a peg⁶ or two.

 

Do you know what he said to Sadie today? You don’t? Well, it was rather rude.

He said, “It doesn’t make any difference to you what it’s like being a princess. You’re just a swan. You’re stuck that way.”

 

But Tim the Tadpole³ said, “Perhaps she might be a princess really! Maybe someone turned her into a swan.”

 

Sadie became quite excited at the thought of that. “Do you think I’m a princess, Bertie?” She said. “Do you really?”

 

In reply, Bertie told her a little secret. “The beautiful Princess Beatrice has a special princess test. It helped her to tell who was a princess and who wasn’t. She would just ask them whether they wanted to take the princess test.”

 

“Can I take the princess test?” Asked sadie.

 

“Well,” said Bertie, “If they said yes then they weren’t really a princess, because a real princess doesn’t need to take a test – she just sort of knows.”

 

“Oh,” said Sadie, a bit sadly. “I might not be a princess, but I’m the most beautiful swan on this pond!”

 

But Colin the Carp wasn’t at all bowled over by her beauty. He grumped back at her, “Well, that’s not saying much. You’re the only swan on this pond.” And everybody laughed – except Sadie, who glided⁷ away with as much royal dignity as she could manage.

 

Now, if enough children listen to his stories, one day he will turn back into a prince – and perhaps, just perhaps, he will invite Sadie to come and live on a special ornamental⁸ pond, with a golden fountain, and her dream will come true – almost.

 

2.

 

Here’s a piece of gossip I’ve just picked up about Bertie the Frog. As you know, he used to be a handsome prince, and when he was royal he was always extremely brave – and that’s why all the creatures who live on his pond always look up to him.

 

Now this morning it was very chilly⁹ weather down on Bertie’s pond. Mr Frosty had been through the vegetable patch, and everything was white and snowy, including Sadie the Swan.

 

Now you might not know this, but normally Sadie is a very special swan because her feathers are jet black. When Tim the Tadpole looked up from under a pebble¹⁰ in the bottom of the pond, he saw Sadie all glittering and white in the frost, and he was a bit frightened, because he had never seen a white swan before.

 

“Oh, ohhh,” squeaked¹¹ little Tim. “Is that a ghost swan?”

 

Bertie was used to Tim’s silly questions by now. “Oh no!” He boomed. “Ghosts aren’t real, so that can’t be a ghost. That’s a new type of swan we haven’t seen before.”

 

When Colin the Carp heard Bertie telling this to Little Tim, he swam over and said, “Well Bertie, since you consider yourself to be the prince of this pond, and a natural-born leader of creatures great and small; perhaps you should go over and introduce yourself to our new friend – if it really is a friend, that is, not a ghost swan.”

 

“Oh cripes!” Thought Bertie. “What if it is a ghost? It’s all very well when you are a prince to be brave, but when you are a frog, things can be a bit scary sometimes.”

 

“Go on Bertie,” said Colin.

 

“Go on Bertie,” said Little Tim.

 

“Er, erm… Croak¹²!” Said Bertie.

 

Just then the ghostly white swan glided throught the mist towards the little group of creatures. Tim quickly dived down, and hid behind a piece of green slime. Colin the Carp sank to the bottom of the pond amd pretended to be a lump of mud. Bertie wanted to hop¹³ away, but he was so scared that he found his legs were numb¹⁴, and he couldn’t leap off his lily pad.

 

The ghostly swan said, “Hello Bertie. It’s so frosty this morning that my feathers are all white. Do you think I look like a princess?” And Bertie recognised the voice of Sadie the Swan – although she was normally a black swan.

 

He croaked¹⁵ a little, but no proper words came out of his mouth.

 

“Oh my dear Bertie,” said Sadie, sympathetically. “You’re such a pale shade of green today. Are you feeling well?”

 

“I think,” said bertie, “that I might be starting a cold.”

 

But Tim and Colin were secretly very impressed that Bertie hadn’t hopped¹⁶ away, and they thought that he may be a brave frog afterall.

 

3.

 

There’s a dog who lives in the palace, and his name is Barker. Sometimes Barker comes down to the pond, and do you know why they call him Barker? You don’t?

 

It’s because he barks, and barks, and barks.

 

Tim the Tadpole, who is only very small, even for a tadpole, finds that a bit scary. So this morning, Barker was barking, and Tim was hiding bedind some green slime.

 

“I’m a bit scared, Bertie,” said Tim.

 

“Don’t be scared, Little Tim,” croaked Bertie, “he’s only a silly old dog.” But barker was growling¹⁷, and then he dipped his big snotty nose into the water and started drinking.

 

Bertie jumped back. “You’re scared as well,” said Colin the Carp.

 

“Rubbish,” said Bertie. “I used to be a prince, and princes aren’t afraid of anything.”

 

Then Bertie looked across at Sadie the Swan. Now, Sadie is a very special swan; unlike most swans who are snowy white, she’s jet black and has a wonderful red beak¹⁸. Although she’s very gentle really, sometimes she can be a bit frightening when she flaps her wings, and hisses¹⁹, because she is in a bad mood.

 

Bertie, who was hiding underneath²⁰ a lily pad, poked²¹ his head out of the water and said, “Sadie, how big are your wings?”

 

Sadie flapped her big black wings. “This big!” She said.

 

Then Barker looked up and the silly dog ran away, because he’s really scared of swans. As he started running, Bertie croaked at him as fiercely as he could. “Look, I made him run away!”

 

“Oh Bertie,” swooned Sadie, “You’re so brave!”

 

Any time you have a spare moment, drop by at storynory.com where you’ll find loads more stories. We have famous stories, which you might have heard before, but I hope you’ll enjoy listening to them again. And we have lots of new stories too, so come by and listen.

 

Until then, from me, Natasha. Bye bye!

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 proofread   

vt.校正，校对

参考例句：

• I didn't even have the chance to proofread my own report.我甚至没有机会校对自己的报告。
• Before handing in his application to his teacher,he proofread it again.交给老师之前，他又将申请书补正了一遍。

3 tadpole   

n.[动]蝌蚪

参考例句：

• As a tadpole changes into a frog,its tail is gradually absorbed.蝌蚪变成蛙，它的尾巴就逐渐被吸收掉。
• It was a tadpole.Now it is a frog.它过去是蝌蚪，现在是一只青蛙。

4 tadpoles   

n.蝌蚪( tadpole的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pond teemed with tadpoles. 池子里有很多蝌蚪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Both fish and tadpoles have gills. 鱼和蝌蚪都有鳃。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 daydreams   

n.白日梦( daydream的名词复数 )v.想入非非，空想( daydream的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Often they gave themselves up to daydreams of escape. 他们常沉溺进这种逃避现实的白日梦。 来自英汉文学
• I would become disgusted with my futile daydreams. 我就讨厌自己那种虚无的梦想。 来自辞典例句

6 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

7 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ornamental   

adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物

参考例句：

• The stream was dammed up to form ornamental lakes.溪流用水坝拦挡起来,形成了装饰性的湖泊。
• The ornamental ironwork lends a touch of elegance to the house.铁艺饰件为房子略添雅致。

9 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

10 pebble   

n.卵石，小圆石

参考例句：

• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。
• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。

11 squeaked   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时，鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句

12 croak   

vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚

参考例句：

• Everyone seemed rather out of sorts and inclined to croak.每个人似乎都有点不对劲，想发发牢骚。
• Frogs began to croak with the rainfall.蛙随着雨落开始哇哇叫。

13 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

14 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

15 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

16 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

17 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

18 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

19 hisses   

嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The speaker was received with a mixture of applause and hisses. 那演说者同时得到喝彩声和嘘声。
• A fire hisses if water is thrown on it. 把水浇到火上，火就发出嘶嘶声。

20 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

21 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》