The Whispering Land

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one's elders and betters – persons deserving respect because of their age, experience and social standing star-gazing – being in an absent-minded and dreamy state, like a person studying the stars (from the noun star-gazer 'one studying the stars to foretell the future')

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balloon animals – toy animals made of rubber balloons filled with air crèche (Fr.) - a public nursery where children are looked after while their mothers are at work to dump (colloq.) - to deposit without ceremony, to let fall in a mass or a heap (usually applied to rubbish or coal)

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The author means that he had plenty of character and determination, which amply compensated his small size.

to lollop off – to walk off in a clumsy manner

Note the author's tendency to replace one of the words in a stock phrase, thus producing a humorous effect (cf. 'as fast as his legs would carry him').

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cummerbund (Anglo-Indian) - a waist sash rumbaed towards it – moved towards it as if dancing the rumba siesta [si'esta] (Sp.) - a short sleep taken at midday or in the afternoon, especially in hot countries ploughed his way through them – forced his way, moving with difficulty among them, like a plough turning up earth anatomy – the author's usual ironical synonym for body life-giving nourishment – a humourous paraphrase for milk matching the high-flown verb to imbibe (synonym for drink)

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a free drink – a drink for nothing, at someone else's expense to negotiate – see note to p. 35; here this verb acquires an ironical ring, since Oswald has to overcome a living obstacle in one's depth – in water not too deep to touch bottom (ant. out of one's depth)

pekinese (or pekingese) ['pi:ki'ni:z] – a small Chinese dog with short legs and a pug nose

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none of them seemed any the worse – evidently none of-them suffered from the ill effects of their swimming lesson would hump themselves down – would move down, proceeding with the help of humping their backs (cf. the description of the elephant seals manner of movement on p. 78)

Elizabethan ruff – a kind of collar worn in the 16th century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was made of white

material, stiffly starched and standing up in folds touching each other.

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maypole – a high pole decorated with ribbons, flowers, etc., set up in the open for dancing round on May day, the first of May, celebrated in England as a spring festival belly-splitting charge – the leap taken by the old bull in charging the young one, which ended in his hurting his belly (note the author's device of alluding ironically to current idiomatic expressions, here to side-splitting laughter or ear-splitting noise)

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bulbous – shaped like a bulb, an enlarged, spherical termination of stem in certain plants, such as the onion, tulip or lily

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cul-de-sac ['kulde'saek] (Fr.) – a passage or street with an opening at one end only, from which there is no escape tinamu (or tinamou) [ti'na:mu:] – a South American bird resembling a quail (a game bird of America, Europe, Asia and Africa, also called partridge)

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Darwin's rhea – a South American three-toed ostrich

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school crocodile – a long line of schoolchildren walking by twos to pace, v. t. – to set the pace for another rider or runner in a race bonnet – the hood protecting the engine of a motor-car

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windfall – an unexpected piece of good fortune (literally, something blown down by the wind, especially fruit) -

sea-front (or water-front) – a street or a part of town facing the sea; Bournemouth – a popular English seaside resort

Tierra del Fuego (Sp.) - 'Land of Fire', a group of islands separated from the south end of South America by the Strait of Magellan. Its farthest point is Cape Horn.

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The verb to fret is used here in its special, architectural meaning: 'to decorate with pattern carved in relief.' The author means that the stones were irregular in shape, but irregular artistically.

with a jaundiced eye – here suspiciously, with some irritation (from the noun jaundice, a disease accompanied by yellowness of the skin and of the whites of the eyes; figuratively, a stale of mind in which one is spiteful, irritable or suspicious)

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to make the best of a disaster – to try and got along as best one can, in spite of a disastrous state of things trippers (from trip 'a short journey') – people on an excursion; the word is often used contemptuously (e. g. 'at week-ends the beach is crowded with noisy trippers')

abandon, n. - careless freedom

Turkish bath – here a building where Turkish baths are taken. A Turkish bath is a hot air or steam bath followed by soaping, washing, rubbing, kneading, massaging, etc. Added to the dropsy and the quiet concentration of chess players, the atmosphere of a Turkish bath helps to convey the impression of complete inactivity and sleepiness.

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the Leaning Tower of Pisa ['pi:ze] – one of the famous sights in Italy: the white marble bell-tower, 178 feet in height, which leans 14 feet off the perpendicular the Acropolis – the citadel of Athens, Greece, situated on a hill about 250 feet high and richly adorned with architecture and sculpture (especially in the 5th century B. C.)

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barrage balloon – one of a series of balloons used to form a barrier against enemy planes stop-watch – a watch with a hand that can be stopped or started by pressing a knob on the rim; a stop-watch is used for timing a race, etc.

rather him than me – I wouldn't do it; let him, if he likes

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