8 FOREST MONSTERS

CHAPTER 8 FOREST MONSTERS Sassafras and I didn't have to hike far before we heard the faint sound of music playing. I grinned down at Sassafras. "Forest monster dance party!" We ran into a clearing where a large group of young forest monsters were dancing to the music— including Gorp! Sassafras, wild with happiness, bounced over to Gorp. He was purring SO loudly.

我和萨萨弗拉斯没走多远就听到了微弱的音乐声。 我朝萨萨弗拉斯咧嘴一笑。 “森林怪物舞会！”我们跑进一片空地，那里有一大群年轻的森林怪物正在随着音乐跳舞——包括Gorp！黄樟高兴得发狂，跳了过来。 他咕噜咕噜地叫得那么大声。

The young forest monsters spotted my cat and gasped. They huddled together on the other side of the clearing, shaking in fear. Gorp stopped dancing and grimaced a bit. He reached out a finger gingerly and tapped Sassafras on the head. A young monster screamed. Sassafras fell over purring and rolled on the ground, begging for more pets from Gorp. Gorp called to his friends, "See? It's OK. He's a friend. He won't eat you, I promise!" He hesitated a

年轻的森林怪兽发现了我的猫，倒吸了一口气。 他们挤在空地的另一边，吓得浑身发抖。 戈普停止了跳舞，做了个鬼脸。 他小心翼翼地伸出一根手指，在檫檫的头上轻敲了一下。 一个年轻的怪物尖叫着。黄樟趴在地上，咕噜咕噜地叫着，在地上打滚，乞求着从军队那里得到更多的宠物。 高普对他的朋友们喊道：“看到了吗？ 没关系。他是我的朋友。他不会吃你的，我保证！”他犹豫了一下。

moment, then reached out and tapped Sass once more. Several monsters shook their heads. None of them came any closer. Gorp gave me a big hug. "How are you? You and Sassafras out for a hike?" "We came to see you!" I held out the plaster mold we'd made of the footprint. "Do you know what creature's footprint this is?" Gorp turned it a few different ways before shaking his head and handing it back to me. A few of his friends crept closer to get a better look, and I tilted the mold toward the brave monsters. "My mom and I think it might be a grumplet." One of the monsters said, "I've heard about grumplets before!" "You have?" I cheered and started walking toward her. Which meant Sassafras followed me. The monster hid behind a friend. "Oh, sorry!" I grabbed Sassafras and took several steps back across the field. "What do you know about them?" I called over.

一会儿，然后伸手再拍了拍萨斯。 几个怪物摇了摇头。 他们谁也没有走近。 Gorp给了我一个大大的拥抱。“你好吗？” 你和萨萨法斯要去远足吗？”“我们是来看你的！”我拿出我们用脚印做的石膏模型。 “你知道这是什么生物的脚印吗？”戈普把它转了几个不同的方向，然后摇了摇头，把它还给了我。 他的几个朋友蹑手蹑脚地走近些，想看得更清楚些，我把模子向这些勇敢的怪物倾斜。 “我妈妈和我认为这可能是一个小矮人。” 其中一个怪物说：“我以前听说过小矮人！”“你有?”我欢呼着朝她走去。 也就是说，黄樟跟着我。 怪物躲在一个朋友的身后。 “哦,对不起!”我抓住萨萨弗拉斯，往回走了几步，穿过田野。 “你对他们了解多少？”我叫了过去。

She peeked out from behind her friend. After seeing that Sassafras was restrained, she took a step closer and said, "My grandma tells a story about them when I'm in a bad mood. When she was a little monster, they had the most perfect summer—not too hot and not too cool. But then the forest got a bad case of the grumplets. Everyone fought and argued instead of enjoying the wonderful weather. Eventually when the seasons changed, the grumplets moved on. So there was a happy ending and all that." "Hmmm…" I tapped my chin. "Maybe the grumplets migrate with the seasons?" Sassafras wiggled in my arms and chattered at the group of monsters. "Shhh, Sass! I know you want to love on the monsters but they're afraid!" I scolded. One monster backed up to get farther away from Sassafras. A monster behind him shouted, "OUCH! You stepped on my foot!" and shoved him. "It's not my fault you're ALWAYS IN MY WAY!" yelled the first monster and shoved him back. And just like that, all the monsters on the far

她从她朋友的身后往外偷看。 看到黄樟很克制，她走近一步说：“我心情不好的时候，我奶奶就给我讲它们的故事。 当她还是个小怪物的时候，他们度过了最完美的夏天——不太热也不太冷。 但后来森林里出现了严重的小矮人。 每个人都在争吵，而不是享受美好的天气。 最终，当季节改变时，小矮人就会离开。 所以这是一个幸福的结局。” “嗯……”我拍了拍下巴。 “也许小矮人会随着季节的变化而迁徙？”檫树在我怀里扭动着，对着那群怪物叽叽喳喳地叫着。 “嘘,Sass !我知道你想爱那些怪物，但是他们害怕！”我骂。 一个怪物往后退，想远离萨萨弗拉斯。 他身后的怪物喊道：“哎哟！你踩了我的脚！”然后推了他一下。 “你总是挡着我的路，又不是我的错！”第一个怪物喊道，把他推了回去。 就这样，远处所有的怪物

side of the field were pushing and shouting. "UGH. You RUINED our dance party!" shouted the monster who'd been helping me. "What?" I asked. Gorp, who was standing closest to us, turned and headed over to the group of loud fighting monsters, calling, "You guys are being SO RUDE!" I was so surprised by the whole thing that I loosened my grip on Sassafras. He wriggled out from my arms and bounded over to the grass behind

场边的人又挤又叫。 “哎。你毁了我们的舞会！”一直在帮我的怪物喊道。 “什么?”我问。站得离我们最近的Gorp转身朝那群大声打架的怪物走去，喊道：“你们太粗鲁了！”我对整件事感到非常惊讶，我松开了对黄樟的控制。 他从我怀里挣脱出来，跳到后面的草地上

the monsters. They were so wrapped up in fighting that they didn't even notice my cat! "This has GOT to be the grumplets again," I whispered to myself and followed Sassafras on my tiptoes. Hopefully this time we'd get a peek at those troublemakers! As I caught up to Sassafras, I heard the weird chewing sound again. Sassafras and I slowly parted the grass and saw a group of… grumplets? They were so little and cute I almost squealed, but I pressed my mouth shut, took a breath, and reminded myself that it might be my only chance to observe them. I needed to be a scientist and focus on gathering as much information as I could. I couldn't see their feet through the grass, so I couldn't tell if they matched the footprint mold. I looked at their mouths. They were definitely chewing. It was the same sound from before. But what were they eating?

的怪物。他们一心扑在打架上，甚至没有注意到我的猫！“一定又是小矮人来了。”我低声对自己说，踮起脚尖跟着萨萨弗拉斯。 希望这次我们能一睹那些捣蛋鬼的风采！当我追上萨萨弗拉斯时，我又听到了奇怪的咀嚼声。 我和黄樟慢慢地分开草地，看到一群……小矮人？ 它们又小又可爱，我差点叫出声来，但我还是闭上了嘴，吸了一口气，提醒自己这可能是我观察它们的唯一机会。 我需要成为一名科学家，专注于收集尽可能多的信息。 我在草丛中看不到他们的脚，所以我无法判断它们是否符合脚印模型。 我看着他们的嘴。它们肯定在咀嚼。 和之前的声音一样。 但是他们在吃什么呢？