German composition

Section 203 The Two Schoolboys, or Eyes and No Eyes. — III

Tutor.—True. Vipers frequent⁠1 those turfy, boggy grounds⁠2 pretty much, and I have known several turf-cutters bitten by them.

William.—They are very venomous, are they not?

Tutor.—Enough so⁠3 to make their wounds painful and dangerous, though they seldom prove fatal.

William.—Well, I then took my course⁠4 up to the windmill on the mount. I climbed up the steps of the mill, in order to get a better view of the country round⁠5. What an extensive prospect! I counted fifteen church steeples; I saw several gentlemen’s houses⁠6 peeping out from the midst of green woods and plantations⁠7; and I could trace the windings⁠8 of the river all along the low grounds, till it was lost behind a ridge of hills⁠9. But I will tell you what I mean to do⁠10, if you will give me leave.

Tutor.—What is that⁠11?

William.—I will go again and take with me Carey’s county map⁠12, by which I shall probably be able to make out most of the places.

Tutor.—You shall have it; and I will go with you, and take my pocket spying-glass.

William.—I shall be very glad of that. Well, a thought struck me, that, as the hill is called Camp-Mount, there might probably be some remains of ditches and mounds⁠13 with which I have read that camps were surrounded. And I really believe I discovered something of that sort⁠14 running one side of the mount.

Tutor.—Very likely you might⁠15. I know antiquaries have described such remains as existing there, which some suppose to be Roman, others Danish⁠16. We will examine them when we go.

William.—From the hill I went straight down to the meadows below, and walked on the side of a brook that runs⁠17 into the river. It⁠18 was all bordered with reeds and tall flowering-plants (S. 16, N. 10), quite different from those I had seen on the heath. As I was getting down⁠19 the bank to reach one of them, I heard something plunge into the water near me. It was a large water-rat, and I saw it swim over to the other side, and go⁠20 into its hole. There were⁠21 a great many large dragon-flies all about the stream. I caught one of the finest, and have him here in a leaf. But how I longed to catch a bird that I saw hovering⁠22 over the water, and every now and then darting into it! It was all over a mixture of the most beautiful green and blue, with some orange colour⁠23. It was somewhat less than a thrush, and had a large head and bill, and a short tail.

Notes

1 = live in.

2 Gegenden.

3 = venomous enough.

4 = thereupon I went.

5 I had a fine view of the country round, ich konnte die Umgegend gut überblicken.

6 herrschaftliche Häuser.

7 Parkanlagen.

8 der sich schlängelnde Lauf, as Nom.; low grounds = meadows.

9 Hügelrücken, m.

10 = will do. Supply ‘dazu’ after ‘leave’.

11 Was denn?

12 Bezirkskarte; by which = by (mit) the help of which; ‘to make out’, here bestimmen, w. v. tr.; places, Ortschaften.

13 Well — mounds. This passage may be construed thus: ‘Now, since (Da nun) the hill is called Camp-Mount, a thought struck me that there are (sich befinden) probably some remains of ditches and mounds (Erdwall, m.)’. I have read = as I have read.

14 etwas derartiges; running one side = on the one side.

15 = That is quite (gerne) possible.

16 to be — Danish, daß sie römischen, andere aber, daß sie dänischen Ursprungs sind.

17 sich ergießen.

18 = The brook; bordered = overgrown, bewachsen.

19 hinuntersteigen; to reach = to pluck.

20 = creep. Read S. 78, N. 14, B.

21 Es waren dort, after which place the words ‘all — stream’, am Bache.

22 umherfliegen; every — then, dann und wann; ‘to dart’, here hinunterschießen; into it = into the same.

23 It — colour = His plumage (Gefieder) consisted of (aus) a mixture of the finest green and blue with a small addition (Zusatz, m.) of orange colour (Orangengelb).