36　JAMES AND HIS ARMY
詹姆斯和他的军队

I

James likes stories about fights and the great deeds of soldiers. One day he went out alone to play soldier. He put on his soldier cap and took his gun and sword and a little drum.

There was no other boy to play with him, so he had to be the whole army. He was the captain and the drummer-boy and the soldier. These were the army.

The captain said “March!” and waved his sword in the air. The drummer beat his drum and the soldier marched. This was hard to do, for the sword and gun and drum got in one another’s way. But the army marched to the field near the barn. It went up and down the field, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Now then it ran. Then the captain would call out to the soldier to keep step.

But there was no fault to be found with the drummer. He drummed so loud that he made the hens and sheep run away.

Once the soldier went so fast that he fell down and hurt the army’s nose on a stone. The captain found fault with him, I can tell you.

II

At last a great charge was made. The army chased the black pig around the field. It beat the drum and waved the sword and threw stones. This was firing the gun. The pig ran off as fast as he could.

Then the army marched back to the garden fence, and the captain said: “Soldiers, we have beaten the whole world and it has run away. I did it with my sword. Now I must be king.”

Just then the old white goose put her neck through the fence and bit James on the leg. The captain, the drummer, and the whole army screamed, while the goose put out her neck and hissed.

Down went the drum and the gun and the sword. The army limped off as fast as it could to the house. You would not have thought then that James was the boy who had just beaten the whole world.

一

詹姆斯很喜欢听有关战斗和战争英雄的故事。一天，他戴上军帽，拿着自己的枪、剑和小鼓，独自一人跑到外面玩士兵游戏。

没有同伴一起玩，他就自己扮演所有的角色。他既是队长，也是鼓手和士兵。这就是一整支军队。

队长挥一挥剑，说：“齐步走！”然后敲起小鼓，士兵就往前走。同时做这么多事可不容易，剑啊枪啊总是和小鼓乱成一团。不过这支队伍最后还是来到了谷仓附近的田野。

田野起伏不平，有的地方平缓有的地方陡峭。士兵走得太快，队长有时得提醒大家保持队形。

鼓手倒是没犯过什么错，他的鼓敲得震天响，把母鸡和绵羊都吓跑了。

有一次士兵跑得太快摔到了地上，鼻子在石头上磕破了，所以队长严厉地批评了他。

二

最后，这支军队发起了冲锋，在田野上追着一只黑猪到处乱跑。他敲着鼓、挥着剑，还一边扔石头，说这是士兵在开枪。小猪吓得一溜烟跑了。

军队开回了花园篱笆旁边，队长说：“士兵们，我们打败了整个世界，他们都逃跑了。这是我用手中的剑完成的，所以现在我要登上王位。”

就在这时，一只大白鹅把脑袋伸出篱笆，狠狠地啄了一下詹姆斯的腿。队长、同时也是鼓手和士兵尖叫一声，白鹅则昂首发出“嘎嘎”的警告。

这支军队一把扔下小鼓、枪和剑，一瘸一拐地逃进了家里。很难想象，他竟然就是刚才那位征服了全世界的男孩詹姆斯。