Prevod
Skoraj ni bilo noči v življenju Malega brata iz rakunje družine, ko ga mama ne bi okarala zaradi nagajanja. Gospa Rakunka je govorila, da ne ve, s čim si je zaslužila takega otroka. Kadar je tako potožila sosedom, so vzdihnili in rekli: »Gotovo je naporno, a morda ga bo z leti minilo.«
Najstarejši rosomah pa je Skunku povedal, da je bil njegov bratranec, mož gospe Rakunke, v mladosti prav tako poreden. »Nočem, da komu poveš, da sem ti to rekel jaz,« je zašepetal, »ker bi mu utegnilo priti na ušesa in bi se razjezil, ampak res je.« Najstarejši rosomah ni povedal, ali je gospod Rakun to grdo navado prerastel, vendar je kazalo, da je njegova žena ni nikoli opazila.
Nikar ne mislite, da je bil gospod Rakun mrtev. O, ne, nikakor! Vsako noč se je po prstih potikal po gozdu in iskal hrano. Toda gospa Rakunka je bila zelo predana mama in je otrokom posvečala toliko časa in pozornosti, da možu ni bila kaj prida družba. Družinsko življenje ga ni posebno veselilo, otroci pa so mu šli silno na živce, zato je odšel in si v drugem drevesu našel duplo ter si ga uredil zase. Tam je prespal ves dan, dokler mu sončni zahod ni naznanil, da je čas za zajtrk. Rakuni imajo radi družbo in pogosto je k sebi povabil prijatelje, da so spali z njim. Včasih so bili ti prijatelji rakuni, ki so tako kot on imeli žene in otroke; tedaj so se pogovarjali o svojih družinah in si pripovedovali, kako njihove žene po njihovem mnenju razvajajo otroke.
Štirje mali rakuni, ki so z mamo živeli v suhi veji velikega hrasta, so se rodili aprila, ko je gozd sladko dišal po divjih vijolicah in so bili vsi srečni. Prelepi rožnati in beli triliji so dvigali svoje trikotne cvetove nad trojice listov in prikimavali vsaki sapici. Tam so rasli rumeni pasji zob, krvomočnice, veveričji srčki in klajtonije, pa tudi jetrniki, vetrnice in nežne mitele. Mladi rakuni vsega tega niso videli, saj jim oči pri dnevni svetlobi niso dobro služile, in ko jim je mama po mraku dovolila pomoliti glave iz dupla ter se razgledati, so bili predaleč od tal, da bi videli cvetlice, ki so spodaj spale v polmraku. S svojimi drobnimi, navzgor zavihanimi noski so lahko le vohali, vohali in vohali ter se spraševali, kakšne so cvetlice sploh videti.
Kadar se je mama za nekaj časa zadržala pri njih, kar je bilo tedaj, ko so pili toplo mleko, ki ga je vedno nosila zanje, jim je pripovedovala zgodbe o cvetlicah in drevesih. Sprva jim je pripovedovala zgodbe o živalih, a je ugotovila, da so zaradi njih postajali strahopetni. »Kaj pa, če bi,« je rekel eden od malih rakunov, »na to drevo prilezel velikanski, strašni Polž in nas vse pojedel!«
Mama jim je povedala, da so polži majhni, počasni in šibki ter da nikoli ne plezajo po drevesih in ne jedo nikogar, vendar ni nič zaleglo. Otroci so se polžev bali, dokler niso enega sami videli. Potem jim je pripovedovala zgodbe o cvetlicah, in ko so jo vprašali, ali jih bodo cvetlice kdaj obiskale, je rekla: »Ne, nikakor! Videli jih boste šele, ko boste znali splezati z drevesa in se sprehajati med njimi, kajti rastejo z nogami v zemlji in nikamor ne hodijo.« Veliko zgodb so hoteli poslušati vedno znova, najraje od vseh pa so imeli tisto o hudobnem, hudobnem Strupenem bršljanu in nežni Pegasti nedotiki, ki je rasla ob njem in odpravljala vse nevšečnosti, ki jih je povzročal Bršljan.
Ko je prišla noč, v kateri naj bi mladi rakuni splezali z drevesa in se začeli učiti loviti, so vsi zgodnji pomladni cvetovi že odcveteli in le zoreči semenski plodovi so kazali, kje so nekoč prikimavale cvetlice. Pričakovali bi, da bodo rakunji otroci razočarani, vendar so imeli toliko drugih reči, ki jih je bilo treba videti in spoznati, da so šele tri noči pozneje spet pomislili na cvetlice. Morda tudi tedaj ne bi, če Mali sestrici ne bi spodrsnilo na hrastovem lubju in ne bi s prednjima tačkama padla na škrlatno jagodo arizeme.
Naučiti so se morali hitro in spretno plezati na najrazličnejša drevesa. Morda si je gospa Rakunka za gnezdo izbrala hrast prav zato, ker je imel hrapavo lubje in je bilo lahko plezati po njem. Na njem je bilo veliko dobrih oprijemališč za rakune, ki so imeli vsak po dvajset močnih krempljev. Ko so obvladali hraste, so se lotili javorjev, gabrov in bukev — vsaka nova lekcija je bila težja od prejšnje.
»Ko plezate na drevo,« je rekla mama, »vedno preglejte deblo in največje veje ter poiščite skrivališča, pa naj jih takrat potrebujete ali ne.«
»Zakaj?« so vprašali trije od štirih otrok. Veliki brat, ki je bil precej nečimrn, si je ogledoval pet prelepih črnih obročev in prelepo črno konico svojega čudovitega košatega repa. Med črnimi obroči so bili belkasti in takšne reči so se mu zdele veliko zanimivejše od lukenj v drevesih.
»Zato,« je rekla mama Rakunka, »ker boste morda kakšno noč daleč od doma in boste potrebovali varno zavetje, kjer boste lahko prespali ves dan. Če pa vas bo preganjal človek s svojimi Psi, morate splezati v prvo skrivališče, ki ga najdete. Rakuni smo predebeli in prepočasni, da bi jim ubežali, obroči na naših repih in črne lise na naših širokih obrazih pa bi se lahko videli s tal. Če je duplo majhno, skrijte vanj vsaj glavo in rep, pa kolikor le morete svojega rjavega kožuščka.«
Mama Rakunka je strogo pogledala Velikega brata, ker ni poslušal. Ta je rahlo poskočil in vprašal: »K-kaj si rekla?« »Kaj sem rekla?« je odvrnila. »Moral bi bolje poslušati.«
»Da, mama,« je rekel Veliki brat, ki je bil zdaj zelo krotek. »Ne bom ponavljala,« je rekla mama, »povedala pa ti bom, da ne smeš postati nečimrn zaradi svojega kožuščka. Res je zelo lep, prav tako pa tudi kožuščki tvojih sestric in bratca. Tudi moj je lep in očetov je bil prav tako, ko sem ga nazadnje videla. Pa vendar skoraj vse težave, ki jih imamo rakuni, izvirajo prav iz našega kožuha. Nikoli se ne postavljaj z njim.«
Prišel je čas, ko so morali mali rakuni nehati sesati pri mami, in kadar so poskušali, se je preprosto odmaknila.
»Ne morem se več tako truditi, da bi skrbela za vas,« je rekla. »Zdaj sem že tako utrujena in suha, da mi koža kar ohlapno visi, in sami si morate poiskati hrano. Vsakemu od vas raste štirideset lepih zob in še pri nobeni rakunji družini nisem videla tako imenitnih krempljev, če smem to reči.«
Na lov so hodili skupaj, saj imajo rakuni navado hoditi v skupinah po pet do osem, loviti vso noč in se nato nekam skriti do naslednje noči. Ob sončnem vzhodu se niso vedno vrnili domov in spanje po različnih drevesih je bilo prijetna sprememba. Nekega dne so se vsi stisnili v duplo starega javorja, tik pod mestom, kjer so iz debla izraščale veje. Mama Rakunka je prva splezala na drevo in se zvila čisto na dnu dupla. Štirje otroci niso bili utrujeni in sploh niso hoteli spat. Mala sestrica je naredila strašno grimaso, ko jo je mama poklicala na drevo, in če se ne bi že danilo, bi jo gospa Rakunka verjetno opazila in kaznovala.
Velika sestrica se je zvila ob mami, Mala sestrica pa je ležala nekoliko više, ob nagajivem Malem bratu. Zadnji je prišel Veliki brat, ki se je vmes ustavil, da si je z zadnjo tačko popraskal uho. Na svoja drobna okrogla ušesa je bil zelo ponosen in pogosto si jih je tako praskal, da bi se prepričal, ali dlaka na njih lepo gladko leži. Tako počasi se je bližal duplu, da je, še preden je zlezel vanj, ameriški tašček že začel svojo jutranjo pesem: »Veselo, veselo, veseli se!« Na štoru pa je črtasti veveriček že opravljal jutranje umivanje.
Končno se je udobno namestil in Mali brat ob njem je že napol spal, ko se je spomnil svojega repa in sedel, da bi si ga še enkrat ogledal. Mali brat je zaspano zagodrnjal in mu rekel, naj »pusti že ta svoj rep pri miru in pride spat, ko pa tako ali tako ne morejo več loviti«. Toda Velikemu bratu se je zazdelo, da se mu je v rep zataknil bodičast plod, in hotel ga je izvleči, preden bi mu poškodoval dlako. Nato si je začel ogledovati gole, trde blazinice na tačkah in občudovati, kako lepo lahko razpre prste. Zlasti široko jih je lahko razprl na prednjih tačkah. Lovil je ravnotežje na robu dupla in jih razprte držal pred seboj. Še vedno je bilo dovolj temno, da je dobro videl. »Pridi sem, Mali brat,« je zaklical. »Zbudi se in poglej, kako velike postajajo moje tačke.«
Mama Rakunka jima je zagodrnjala, naj bosta pridna in zaspita, toda njen glas je zvenel zaspano in oddaljeno, ker je morala govoriti skozi del svojega kožuha in večino kožuščkov svojih hčerk.
Mali brat je izgubil potrpljenje, se v hipu odvil, skočil k odprtini in sunil brata z drevesa. Bilo je grozno. Veliki brat se seveda ni hudo poškodoval, saj je bil zelo debel, njegov kožuh pa je bil dolg in gost, vendar se je med padanjem proti tlom obračal in obračal, preden je pristal na tačkah. Obračal se je tako hitro in Malega brata so oči tako bolele, da je bilo videti, kakor da ima Veliki brat nekako tri glave, tri repe in dvanajst tačk. Med padanjem je zavpil in s tem zbudil sestrici, ki sta začeli jokati, ter mamo Rakunko, ki se je tako prestrašila, da je začela oštevati.
Kakšna zmešnjava! Mama Rakunka je ugotovila, kaj se je zgodilo, nato pa rekla Malemu bratu: »Si ga nalašč porinil dol?« »Ne, mama,« je odgovoril Mali brat s sklonjeno glavo. »Vsaj potem ne, ko sem videl, da pada. Morda pa sem ga prej res hotel.« Vidite, tudi kadar je bil najbolj poreden, je bil resnicoljuben rakun, in za rakuna, ki pove resnico, pa naj bo to še tako težko, je vedno upanje.
Veliki brat je počasi plezal po hrastovem deblu, medtem ko ga je prihajalo gledat vse več dnevnih prebivalcev gozda. Zdaj ni več dobro videl, zato je bil zelo neroden. Ko je dosegel duplo, mu je bilo vroče in bil je siten, zato je potožil mami. »Reci mu, naj mi neha nagajati,« je rekel in s prednjo tačko pokazal na Malega brata.
»Bom,« je odgovorila mama Rakunka, »vendar si prav toliko kriv kot on, kajti če bi se tiho stisnil k nam, ko sem ti rekla, bi že zdavnaj sanjal. Zdaj moraš spati tam, kjer sem bila jaz, čisto na dnu dupla. Mali brat bo ležal ob tebi in od nobenega od vaju nočem slišati niti besede. Potem prideta sestrici, jaz pa bom spala pri odprtini. Zapomnite si, otroci: ko vas pošljem spat, ni več čas za pogovarjanje, ogledovanje krempljev ali odstranjevanje bodičastih plodov iz repov. Zaspite in se ne zbudite, dokler sonce ne zaide in ne boste spet pripravljeni biti moji pridni mali rakuni.«
Otroci so zaspali veliko pred njo in ko so že sanjali, je tiho govorila sama s seboj. »Saj nočejo biti poredni,« je rekla. »Pa vendar se mi ob misli na to, kaj bi se lahko zgodilo, dlaka kar naježi ... Ne bi se smela zviti k dnevnemu počitku, dokler se ne bi še oni ... Mame bi morale biti vedno na vrhu kupa.« Nato se je udobno namestila za dolgo, spokojno dnevno spanje.
Izvirnik
There was hardly a night of his life when the Little Brother of the Raccoon family was not reproved by his mother for teasing. Mrs. Raccoon said she didn't know what she had done to deserve such a child. When she spoke like this to her neighbors they sighed and said, "It must be trying, but he may outgrow it."
The Oldest Wolverene, though, told the Skunk that his cousin, Mrs. Raccoon's husband, had been just as bad as that when he was young. "I do not want you to say that I said so," he whispered, "because he might hear of it and be angry, but it is true." The Oldest Wolverene didn't say whether Mr. Raccoon outgrew this bad habit, yet it would seem that his wife had never noticed it.
You must not think that Mr. Raccoon was dead. Oh, no, indeed! Every night he was prowling through the forest on tiptoe looking for food. But Mrs. Raccoon was a very devoted mother and gave so much time and attention to her children that she was not good company for her husband. He did not care much for home life, and the children annoyed him exceedingly, so he went away and found a hole in another tree which he fitted up for himself. There he slept through the day and until the setting of the sun told him that it was time for his breakfast. Raccoons like company, and he often had friends in to sleep with him. Sometimes these friends were Raccoons like himself with wives and children, and then they would talk about their families and tell how they thought their wives were spoiling the children.
The four little Raccoons, who lived with their mother in the dead branch of the big oak-tree, had been born in April, when the forest was sweet with the scent of wild violets and every one was happy. Beautiful pink and white trilliums raised their three-cornered flowers above their threefold leaves and nodded with every passing breeze. Yellow adder's-tongue was there, with cranesbill geraniums, squirrel-corn, and spring beauties, besides hepaticas and windflowers and the dainty bishop's-cap. The young Raccoons did not see these things, for their eyes would not work well by daylight, and when, after dark, their mother let them put their heads out of the hole and look around, they were too far from the ground to see the flowers sleeping in the dusk below. They could only sniff, sniff, sniff with their sharp little turned-up noses, and wonder what flowers look like, any way.
When their mother was with them for a time, and that was while they were drinking the warm milk that she always carried for them, she told them stories of the flowers and trees. She had begun by telling them animal stories, but she found that it made them cowardly. "Just supposing," one young Raccoon had said, "a great big, dreadful Snail should come up this tree and eat us all!"
The mother told them that Snails were small and slow and weak, and never climbed trees or ate people, but it did no good, and her children were always afraid of Snails until they had seen one for themselves. After that she told them stories of the flowers, and when they asked if the flowers would ever come to see them, she said, "No, indeed! You will never see them until you can climb down the tree and walk among them, for they grow with their feet in the ground and never go anywhere." There were many stories which they wanted over and over again, but the one they liked best of all was that about the wicked, wicked Poison Ivy and the gentle Spotted Touch-me-not who grew near him and undid all the trouble that the Ivy made.
When the night came for the young Raccoons to climb down from their tree and learn to hunt, all the early spring blossoms were gone, and only the ripening seed-vessels showed where nodding flowers had been. You would have expected the Raccoon children to be disappointed, yet there were so many other things to see and learn about that it was not until three nights later that they thought much of the flowers. They might not have done so then if Little Sister had not lost her hold upon the oak-tree bark and fallen with her forepaws on a scarlet jack-in-the-pulpit berry.
They had to learn to climb quickly and strongly up all sorts of trees. Perhaps Mrs. Raccoon had chosen an oak for her nest because that was rough and easily climbed. There were many good places for Raccoons to grip with their twenty strong claws apiece. After they had learned oaks they took maples, ironwoods, and beeches--each a harder lesson than the one before.
"When you climb a tree," said their mother, "always look over the trunk and the largest branches for hiding-places, whether you want to use one then or not."
"Why?" asked three of the four children. Big Brother, who was rather vain, was looking at the five beautiful black rings and the beautiful black tip of his wonderful bushy tail. Between the black rings were whitish ones, and he thought such things much more interesting than holes in trees.
"Because," said the Mother Raccoon, "you may be far from home some night and want a safe place to sleep in all day. Or if a man and his Dogs are chasing you, you must climb into the first hiding-place you can. We Raccoons are too fat and slow to run away from them, and the rings on our tails and the black patches on our broad faces might show from the ground. If the hole is a small one, make it cover your head and your tail anyway, and as much of your brown body fur as you can."
Mother Raccoon looked sternly at Big Brother because he had not been listening, and he gave a slight jump and asked, "W-what did you say?"
"What did I say?" she replied. "You should have paid better attention."
"Yes 'm," said Big Brother, who was now very meek.
"I shall not repeat it," said his mother, "but I will tell you not to grow vain of your fur. It is very handsome, and so is that of your sisters and your brother. So is mine, and so was your father's the last time I saw him. Yet nearly all the trouble that Raccoons have is on account of their fur. Never try to show it off."
The time came for the young Raccoons to stop drinking milk from their mother's body, and when they tried to do so she only walked away from them.
"I cannot work so hard to care for you," said she. "I am so tired and thin, now, that my skin is loose, and you must find your own food. You are getting forty fine teeth apiece, and I never saw a better lot of claws on any Raccoon family, if I do say it."
They used to go hunting together, for it is the custom for Raccoons to go in parties of from five to eight, hunt all night, and then hide somewhere until the next night. They did not always come home at sunrise, and it made a pleasant change to sleep in different trees. One day they all cuddled down in the hollow of an old maple, just below where the branches come out. Mother Raccoon had climbed the tree first and was curled away in the very bottom of the hole. The four children were not tired and hadn't wanted to go to bed at all. Little Sister had made a dreadful face when her mother called her up the tree, and if it had not already been growing light, Mrs. Raccoon would probably have seen it and punished her.
Big Sister curled down beside her mother and Little Sister was rather above them and beside mischievous Little Brother. Last of all came Big Brother, who had stopped to scratch his ear with his hind foot. He was very proud of his little round ears, and often scratched them in this way to make sure that the fur lay straight on them. He was so slow in reaching the hole that before he got into it a Robin had begun his morning song of "Cheerily, cheerily, cheerup!" and a Chipmunk perched on a stump to make his morning toilet.
He got all settled, and Little Brother was half asleep beside him, when he remembered his tail and sat up to have one more look at it. Little Brother growled sleepily and told him to "let his old tail alone and come to bed, as long as they couldn't hunt any more." But Big Brother thought he saw a sand-burr on his tail, and wanted to pull it out before it hurt the fur. Then he began to look at the bare, tough pads on his feet, and to notice how finely he could spread his toes. Those of his front feet he could spread especially wide. He balanced himself on the edge of the hole and held them spread out before him. It was still dark enough for him to see well. "Come here, Little Brother," he cried. "Wake up, and see how big my feet are getting."
Mother Raccoon growled at them to be good children and go to sleep, but her voice sounded dreamy and far away because she had to talk through part of her own fur and most of her daughters'.
Little Brother lost his patience, unrolled himself with a spring, jumped to the opening, and knocked his brother down. It was dreadful. Of course Big Brother was not much hurt, for he was very fat and his fur was both long and thick, but he turned over and over on his way to the ground before he alighted on his feet. He turned so fast and Little Brother's eyes hurt him so that it looked as though Big Brother had about three heads, three tails, and twelve feet. He called out as he fell, and that awakened the sisters, who began to cry, and Mother Raccoon, who was so scared that she began to scold.
Such a time! Mother Raccoon found out what had happened, and then she said to Little Brother, "Did you mean to push him down?"
"No, ma'am," answered Little Brother, hanging his head. "Anyhow I didn't mean to after I saw him going. Perhaps I did mean to before that." You see he was a truthful Raccoon even when he was most naughty, and there is always hope for a Raccoon who will tell the truth, no matter how hard it is to do so.
Big Brother climbed slowly up the trunk of the oak-tree, while more and more of the daytime people came to look at him. He could not see well now, and so was very awkward. When he reached the hole he was hot and cross, and complained to his mother. "Make him quit teasing me," he said, pointing one forepaw at Little Brother.
"I will," answered Mother Raccoon; "but you were just as much to blame as he, for if you had cuddled down quietly when I told you to, you would have been dreaming long ago. Now you must sleep where I was, at the lower end of the hole. Little Brother must go next, and I do not want to hear one word from either of you. Sisters next, and I will sleep by the opening. You children must remember that it is no time for talking to each other, or looking at claws, or getting sand-burrs out of your tails after you have been sent to bed. Go to sleep, and don't awaken until the sun has gone down and you are ready to be my good little Raccoons again."
Her children were asleep long before she was, and she talked softly to herself after they were dreaming. "They do not mean to be naughty," she said. "Yet it makes my fur stand on end to think what might have happened.... I ought not to have curled up for the day until they had done so.... Mothers should always be at the top of the heap." Then she fixed herself for a long, restful day's sleep.
