that the grass on the sunny side of a rock is sweet, and though it looks the same in the dark hollows, it is there worthless. He learned that when his mother's hoofs crackled he must be up and moving, 5 and when all the herd's hoofs crackled there was danger, and he must keep by his mother's side. For this crackling is like the whistling of a Whistler Duck's wings; it is to keep the kinds together. He learned that where the little Bomuldblomster 10 hangs its cotton tufts is dangerous bog; that the harsh cackle of the Ptarmigan means that close at hand are Eagles, as dangerous for fawn as for bird. He learned that the little troll berries are deadly, that when the verra-flies come stinging he must 15 take refuge on a snow patch, and that of all animal smells only that of his mother was to be fully trusted. He learned that he was growing. His flat calf sides and big joints were changing to the full barrel and clean limbs of the yearling, and the little 20 bumps which began to show on his head when he was only a fortnight old were now sharp, hard spikes that could win in fight. More than once the herd had smelt that dreaded destroyer of the north that men call the Gjerv, or 25 Wolverene; and one day, as this danger scent came suddenly and in great strength, a huge blot of dark brown sprang rumbling from a rocky ledge, and straight for the foremost the White Calf. His eye caught the flash of a whirling, shaggy mass, with gleaming teeth and eyes, hot-breathed and ferocious. Blank horror set his hair on end; his 5 nostrils flared in fear; but before he fled there rose within another feeling, one of anger at the breaker of his peace, a sense that swept all fear away, braced his legs, and set his horns at charge. The brown brute landed with a deep-chested growl, 10 to be received on the young one's spikes. They pierced him deeply, but the shock was overmuch; it bore the White One down, and he might yet have been killed but that his mother, alert and ever near, now charged the attacking monster, and 15 heavier, better armed, she hurled and speared him to the ground. And the White Calf, with a very demon glare in his once mild eyes, charged, too; and even after the Wolverene was a mere hairy mass, and his mother had retired to feed, he came 20 snorting out his rage, to drive his spikes into the hateful thing, till his snowy head was stained with his adversary's blood. bomuldblomster: a flower. - ptarmigan (tär'mi gan): a bird of the grouse family. — yearling: one year old. ferocious: fierce. - alert: watchful. — adversary: enemy. LITTLE GIFFEN FRANCIS ORRERY TICKNOR FRANCIS ORRERY TICKNOR (1822-1874), an American poet and physician, spent most of his life at his home near Columbus, Georgia. He lived the life of a country doctor, busy, beloved, useful. Little Giffen was based on an incident of the Civil War. 5 The young hero of the poem was taken to the poet's own home. Out of the focal and foremost fire, Out of the hospital walls as dire; "Take him and welcome!" the surgeons said; So we took him; and brought him where And we laid him down on a wholesome bed- And we watched the war with bated breath,— And did n't. Nay, more, in death's despite Word of gloom from the war, one day; A tear his first as he bade good-by, Dimmed the glint of his steel-blue eye. "I'll write, if spared!" There was news of the fight; But none of Giffen. He did not write. I sometimes fancy that were I king Of the princely Knights of the Golden Ring, The whitest soul of my chivalry, 5 10 15 For "Little Giffen" of Tennessee. focal: center. grapeshot: small balls for cannon. gangrene: the death of a tissue in a living body. — specter: a ghostly figure. Lazarus: a Biblical character who was covered with sores. Golden Ring: a reference to King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.. chivalry: a body of knights. 20 |