48　JOHN’S NEW HORSE
约翰新买的马

I

“May, May, here comes John with his new horse! He must have brought it to show to us.”

Frank waited until his sister came, and then they ran down to meet John.

John was their cousin. He had just got this new horse, and he was very proud of it. Its name was Brownie.

May got some sugar. Brownie took it in his soft lips and then ground it to pieces with his teeth.

“O cousin John,” said May, “let me get him another piece of sugar. See how he likes it!”

“No, May,” said John. “Give him some of that fresh grass instead. Much sugar is as bad for his teeth as it is for yours.”

“Do let us see his teeth,” said May. So John opened the horse’s mouth to show the children his teeth.

“With these front teeth,” he said, “a horse bites off the grass. He passes it back in his mouth to the flat grinding teeth. You see there is a little space between the front and back teeth. That is where the bit goes.”

II

Just then the horse lifted one of his feet to knock off a fly. Frank saw the shining steel shoe on his hoof and said, “Why do you put those things on his feet?”

“To keep his hoofs from wearing out,” said John. “Wild horses do not need shoes. They run on the grass, but my horse has to go along the hard roads.”

“ But, John,” said Frank, “how do they fasten the shoes to the hoof?”

John touched the horse’s leg, and Brownie at once lifted his foot. Then the children saw that the shoe was nailed to the hoof.

“How it must hurt to have that done!” said May.

“Oh, no,” laughed John; “no more than cutting your finger nails hurts you. The hoof is the horse’s toe nail. But now jump in, and we will go for a little drive.”

The children were very glad to do this, so they jumped in and off they went.

一

“梅，梅，约翰带着他新买的马过来了！他一定是想让我们也看看。”

等妹妹过来，弗兰克就和她一起跑去迎接约翰。

约翰是他们的表兄，刚刚得到了一匹马。他非常自豪，为它取名叫布朗尼。

梅拿来一些糖，布朗尼用柔软的嘴唇吃进嘴里，然后嚼了起来。

“约翰哥哥，我再去给他拿一块糖。”梅说，“你看他吃得多香啊！”

“不，梅，”约翰说，“还是给他吃点新鲜的青草吧。吃糖对你的牙不好，对他的牙也不好。”

“那让我们看看他的牙齿吧，”梅说。于是约翰就掰开马嘴让孩子们看。

“马用前面的这些牙啃青草，然后用后面这些比较平的磨牙嚼。”他说，“你看，前牙和后牙之间有缝隙，那就是卡住马嚼子的地方。”

二

就在这时，马抬起一只脚赶了赶苍蝇。弗兰克看到马蹄上穿着锃亮的铁鞋，就说：“为什么要给他穿这个？”

“这样马蹄不容易磨坏，”约翰说，“野马不用穿鞋，因为他们在草地上奔跑，可我的马得在坚硬的路面上跑。”

弗兰克说：“可是约翰，鞋是怎么穿上马蹄的？”

约翰碰了碰马腿，布朗尼立刻提起了脚，孩子们发现原来鞋是钉在马蹄上的。

“这得多疼哪！”梅说。

“不会的，就像你剪指甲一样,马蹄其实是脚趾上的指甲。”约翰笑着说，“上来吧，我们去兜兜风。”

孩子们高兴地跳上马车兜风去了。