Chapter 11 Chapter 10 Games and Stories

Tom did believe her a little at first.Hattie has bright eyes, firm and confident, red face, long black hair, and slightly reserved demeanor, she really looks like a princess!Or rather like a queen in a comic book.She was standing in front of the dark green yew tree, holding a yew branch in one hand and the half-eaten apple in the other.She holds these two things, much like the queen's scepter and the ball symbolizing royal power. "You can kiss my hand," she said. "I don't want to," said Tom, and then it occurred to me that maybe she really was a princess!So he added "Thank you." But he was still skeptical. "If you were a princess, then your father and mother would be king and queen. Where are they? Where is their kingdom?"

"I can't tell you." "why?" After a moment's hesitation, she said, "I am imprisoned here, a princess in disguise. There is a person here who claims to be my aunt, but is not. She is very cruel to me. Those who call themselves brothers Man is not my real cousin. Now you know all my secrets! I allow you to call me princess." She held out her hand to him again, but Tom pretended not to see it. "Now I decide to play with you." "I don't mind playing," said Tom stubbornly. "But I don't like to play those stupid games that little girls play."

"Come with me," Hatty said. She showed Tom around the garden.Tom thought he knew the garden already, but Hatty showed him places he had never imagined. She showed Tom all her "hideouts."Between the trunk of a tree and the wall there is a foliage-covered gap just enough to hide a child; in the middle of the boxwood there is a small hole, a narrow path like the secret passage from the fence to the pasture ; a hut made of bean stand sticks that Abel leaned against the wall by the boiler room; Cave; a soft green "tunnel" between the asparagus fields.She also showed Tom how to hide behind a big yew tree and not be seen.Just pay attention to the movement of the person looking for you, follow him accurately and silently, and let the big tree trunk always cover your body, so that no one can find you.

Hatty showed Tom many things he hadn't seen before.She lifted the sack sheet covering the rhubarb and showed him the rhubarb stalks. Tom suddenly remembered something. "You left a note here once!" "Have you seen it?" Hatty asked back. "Oh, I saw it, it was written for fairies." Tom made no secret of his disdain. "Bah. Fairy!" "Who put it there?" said Hatty deliberately to herself. "For a fairy, it's unbelievable!" She made a ghost face, but it was a little awkward.Then he changed the subject: "Come on, Tom, I'll show you something else."

She opened the wire gate at Gooseberry Fields and walked in with Tom.Among the tea cane bushes, they found a small black bird, which must have crept in from somewhere to steal the fruit.Seeing them approaching, the little bird flapped its wings desperately to fly away.They quietly went around behind the bird, and drove it forward, until it was out the door, and the bird flew away happily. Hatty said, "It's a good thing we found him, maybe Abel will..." She shook her head, "I really think Abel would rather starve the birds than let them eat the fruit he planted." She opened the south door to the orchard, and then the door to the hut where the pots were kept.Amongst the tools, seed boxes, flower pots and coils of wire, they found a bag full of chicken and goose feathers.Hatty reached into the sack, grabbed a handful of feathers, and threw them into the air.All of a sudden the brown and white feathers swirled, and Tom felt his nose itchy and sneezed.Hatty crouched on the ground, laughing hard, picking the feathers back into the sack, otherwise Abel would lose his temper.Tom sat beside him on the wheelbarrow, dangling his legs, and pointing with his fingers, telling Hatty to gather the last few flying feathers.He could not help Hatty, for he knew he could not lift a feather with all the strength of his hands.Hattie crawled up and down the ground, seeming to forget that she was a princess.

Then they went to the boiler room behind the greenhouse.Hattie was busy opening the door for Tom, but she was too short to reach the high latch.Just tiptoeing, I opened the latch with a yew branch.After the door opened, the two walked down the steps.It was dark inside and smelled of rust and ashes.Now that the weather is hot, there is no need to light the stove.On a small wooden shelf on the wall of the hut, there were two or three books.Hatty said the books belonged to Abel.The shelves were too high for them to reach, but they could see the Bible on top. They walked into the greenhouse and saw many cacti inside, and birdcage-like flowerpots hanging on the roof, in which were planted spider plants and other plants.The stems hang down, and there are many exotic flowers and plants.It is impossible for these flowers and plants to survive outdoors.Tom felt suffocated in the greenhouse and wondered how the plants could stand the suffocating air.

There was a castor plant in the greenhouse, and Tom felt sick when Hattie said the name; and there was a mimosa, which Hatty showed him, and when he touched it, the leaves of the grass curled up and pulled straight down.The grass was so sensitive that it responded when Tom touched it with his finger.Tom was so happy that he touched all the mimosas with his fingers, and as a result, they rolled up listlessly. Then they looked at the goldfish on the water tank, and wanted to catch a few more.Hattie rolled up his sleeve and put in a hand, and Tom put in a hand too.His hand was behind Hatty, fingers spread, fingers to Hatty's fingers, two hands as one, and Tom was helpless as they fished back and forth in the water, but when Hartie When Tee was about to catch a fish his hands helped a lot.

After seeing the goldfish, they returned to the door, and Hattie showed Tom the patches of stained glass in the upper half of the conservatory.Looking at the garden through different colored glasses, the garden looks in various poses and with different expressions.From the green glass, Tom saw a green garden, green flowers, green sky, and even the geraniums were dark green; from the red glass, it was just red, just like when you close your eyes to the sun; From purple glass it looks like a thunderstorm is coming and night is coming; from yellow glass it looks like everything is soaked in lemonade.The four corners of the stained glass are colorless squares, each with a star engraved in the center.

"If you look out from here..." Hatty said.They squinted their eyes and looked out at the stars. "Can't see anything," said Tom, disappointed. "It's my favorite place to look out sometimes," Hatty said. "Can't see anything, but imagine there's no garden at all; but it's always there waiting for you to play." They came out of the conservatory and into the garden, and Hattie began to tell Tom about the yews around the lawn.The yew that Tom climbed was called "The Horn Tree," another was called "The Lookout," and another was called "The Stairs of St. Paul's Cathedral, London."One tree was very difficult to climb, and there was a section of the trunk that was so slippery that one had to use all four limbs to climb it.Hubert, James, and Edgar had all climbed it, but Hatty couldn't.Whether she is a princess or not.Tom thinks he is better than her.

Tom was sometimes dubious about Hatty's stories.They stopped by a bush, and Hatty pointed out, "It's called a fire bush." She plucked a leaf, rubbed it in her hand, and held it up to Tom's nose for him to smell. Tom sniffed it, but there was no smell.he asked doubtfully. "Is it a bit burnt?" "No. James said it smelled of lemon verbena." "Then why is it called a fire bush?" "They say if you set a leaf on fire at midnight on the eve of the summer solstice, the whole bush will instantly catch fire." "How do you know, have you tried?"

"No, of course not. There's only one shrub in the garden, and we don't want to burn it to ashes." "Oh, really?" Tom thought to himself that what she said might be true. Hatty approached Tom and said to him, "I'll tell you something--a secret, shall I?" "up to you." "This bush is grown from a sprig of the real fire-bush, the one that was burned in Moses' lifetime." "That was a long, long time ago, the Bible said." "I'll never tell you any more secrets!" said Hatty very displeased. But she couldn't help telling it to Tom.On the first day they met, and every day since, she was eager to tell Tom the secrets and stories she knew, as if fearing that he would be gone soon.When they were tired of playing in the garden, Hatty took him to play in the villa.They went up the steps, Hatty opened the door, and they entered the villa.She moved two iron chairs used in the garden from the back of the villa and put them at the door.The two sat on it.They used to sit there and watch the fish jump up in the pond.Hattie was talking incessantly. Once Edgar spotted them.They don't know he's just around the corner, watching them.Listen to them talk. Edgar called suddenly from the side of the garden: "Hatty, what are you doing there?" "Brother Edgar, I didn't 'do'!" "But for the last five minutes you've been nodding and smiling to yourself and pretending to listen." "I'm not alone, I'm chatting with a friend!" "Where's your friend?" "He's sitting on this chair!" Edgar laughed strangely. "Honestly, sister Hattie, people would think you're out of your mind. You used to talk about fairies, which was ridiculous. Now you're talking to someone who doesn't even exist." Chat!" He laughed and walked away. Hatty was trembling with anxiety, and she turned to Tom and said, "He'll tell the others about it, and they'll all laugh at me. Aunt Grace will say it proves I'm too sick to go out in the village with the other kids." .” "But why did you tell Edgar about me?" She looked at Tom with wide eyes. "A man ought to tell the truth, doesn't he?" From their chairs they could often see Abel working in the garden below.Sometimes he stopped what he was doing and looked towards the villa.Hattie beckoned to him solemnly like a princess. Hatty once said with a cryptic prayer: "Unfortunate Abel." "Unlucky?" "His whole family is very unhappy. But you must promise not to tell anyone else, or I will not." Tom did not speak, but Hattie began to babble. "He had only one brother. They worked in the fields together, before Abel came here to be a gardener. His brother was so jealous of him that they fought in the field one day. It's true, his brother Hit him first with a weapon, it's very vicious." "and after?" "He beat Abel to death. Of course when I say kill, I mean almost kill him. Abel bled a lot, and the blood was dripping and steaming on the ground." Speaking of this, both of them were terrified, and neither of them spoke.Then suddenly Tom asked, "What's the name of Abel's brother?" "I can't remember." Hatty looked from Tom to a bird in the sky. "His brother's name is Cain?" asked Tom.Hatty pretended not to hear.Tom was very annoyed because no one in the garden could hear him but Hattie. "There is a story about Cain and Abel in the Bible. Cain really killed Abel. I don't believe that this Abel is the same person as the Abel in the Bible. They just have the same name. I just Can't believe this Abel's brother is trying to murder him." "If I told you that Susan told me. Susan is Abel's girlfriend, or Abel told me secretly, wouldn't you believe it?" "It's hard to tell. You don't tell lies," said Tom.He deliberately chose a lighter word so as not to stab Hatty. "Do you dare to ask Abel now if his brother wants to murder him? I don't think you have the guts!" "I won't tell you any secrets from now on!" Hattie was anxious. Tom knew she was only talking.Tom urged her to check with Abel, but she didn't go, so that Tom could not believe what she said, and he could not believe that she was a princess. She did, however, turn the garden into her kingdom. ①According to the Christian "Bible", Moses was the leader who led the Hebrews to get rid of the slavery of the Egyptians. ②According to the Christian "Bible", the first son of Adam and Eve, the ancestors of mankind, was named Cain, and the second son was named Abel.Cain farmed and Abel herded sheep.Cain was jealous of Abel and later killed him.