Vocabulary for "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Snow Man"

"The Ugly Duckling"

pined

Sniffy Says: Man oh man oh man. Boy oh boy oh boy. What I wouldn't give to be able to take a hot shower. When I watch my owners file into the bathroom and see that hot steam coming out the door it makes me long for the day that I too will be able stand under those hot streams of luscious falling water. One of the bad things about being a hamster, and there aren't many let me tell you, is that you have to take a bath with your tongue. You should try it just to see what I mean. I've never been able to get used to it—all that fur in my mouth and stuck between my teeth—so anyway, I pine away for the day that I have my own shower with hot water and a handy soap holder. Some days I mourn all day just thinking about what a hot shower would feel like on a cold winter day. Boy, I hope the drain isn't too big—I don't like water slides.

canal

Sniffy Says: A canal is like a river, except it is made by man. Sometimes canals are small and are used to transport water to farmlands or cities. Larger canals are built so ships and boats can cross over land. There are two famous canals in the world: The Panama Canal and the Suez Canal. The Panama canal connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean. It is 51 miles long and opened in 1914. Ships used to have to go all the way around South America to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, but the Panama Canal made the trip much, much shorter. The Suez Canal which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez is over 100 miles long. My favorite thing to do in a canal is use a donut like an inner tube and float down the canal soaking up the sun and eating my flotation device. Good thing I can swim.

moorland

Sniffy Says: Last night I was traipsing through a moorland. There were lots of soggy spots on the ground and many, many peat bogs. Peat is made up of dead plants and it is kind of squishy between your toes and sometimes your feet are hard to pull up because they stick and when you pull one foot out the other one sticks and if you have four feet like me—well—it's a sticky situation in the moorland. Hee, hee, hee—I crack myself up. Anyway, the moor is flat and open, but it's not a very fun place—it always reminds me of scary stories. Out on the moor—the giant hamster roamed alone—looking for a nice place to stop—to stop and—and—well, clean his face and eat some chocolate pudding.

tumbledown

Picture of a shack that is falling down.

Sniffy Says: The other day I hiked to a tumbledown cage on the edge of town. The rickety door was falling off and the whole thing was so dilapidated and old that I thought it might fall down at any moment. It needed to be repaired and fast. But I wasn't there to fix the leaning walls or the broken windows—oh no! I was there for the annual meeting of the Lippity Slip Miggletoes Hamster Club. It's a really cool club. Basically, we eat. Well, that's not true. We eat and sleep—after we stuff our cheeks with whatever we can. Sometimes we groan because we eat too much and sometimes we just lay there because we can't move because we eat too much. And sometimes we do both. Man, is that a great club! Only problem is we have to meet in a tumbledown clubhouse, but, hey, that's better than no clubhouse. It hasn't fallen down yet—[CRASH!!]—uh oh!

"The Snow-man"

astonishingly

Sniffy Says: I am standing at the bars of my cage staring in wonder and amazement. I mean I am astonished by the sight before me. It fills me with awe. What is so astonishingly incredible? Well, I'll tell you. In the middle of the floor I see Bouncy. Now Bouncy is my neighbor, another hamster, and he is not at all like me. He is quiet and slow and careful. He tends to worry a lot too. But, to my surprise, there he stands in the middle of the floor on his hind legs looking up. He's trying to grab something? Wait a minute. There's a string attached to the ceiling fan and the ceiling fan is on. Bouncy is trying to grab the string! He just did it! To my astonishment, he is flying around the room in a big circle. Listen to this: "COWAHBUNGAAAAA, YEEHAAAAAA!" Well, I am dumbfounded. Bouncy has a side I never knew about. That is an astonishingly, amazing revelation. Here I come, Bouncy! Yeeeeeehaaaaa!

predecessor

Sniffy Says: You probably didn't know this but currently I hold the office of Grand President of the Association of Hopping Hamsters. It's a great club, with only few rules: you have to hop on one leg during meetings to get anywhere, you must stand on one leg to speak and you must hop each day for at least one hour. I have not held the prestigious office very long. My predecessor, Herman "Hopster" Hamster, was president for nearly five years. He decided to resign because his hopping leg was getting so strong he kept bonking his head on the top of his cage. Ouch! His predecessor, the president before him, was Lucy "Leapster" Hamster. She could hop so high she joined the circus. I'm going to attach springs to my fe — whoops, I wasn't supposed to say that. Don't tell anyone. Bye, bye!

rime

Sniffy Says: I live in Southern California near the Pacific Ocean, so we don't get much snow here. I think it snowed where I live about thirty-some years ago. Sometimes we get rime on grass or trees or on our cars. When we get that thin coating of ice I like to sneak out to the car, put my ice skates on and skate all over the roof, zoom down the windshield, do figure eights on the hood and sometimes even do a little ice ballet — until that cat sees me. Then I skate to the rear of the car down the back window and off the trunk with such speed it flings me into the tangerine tree, also covered with rime, but out of reach from the cat.

prominence

Sniffy Says: Prominence? Prominence? I am prominent. Everyone notices me when I walk down Hamster Lane in my green pants, my blue shirt and my red overcoat. My tophat is orange and my cane has a hamster handle that looks exactly like me. I wear white shoes and black socks. My sunglasses are shaped like peanuts still in their shells. Yes, everyone knows me because I am Sniffy. Conspicuous I am—and I love it. I've been on the cover of Hamster Apparel (HA) prominently wearing clothing designed by Halph Hamster. It's tough being as popular as I am, but prominence has its rewards. You should be glad to know me—you are, aren't you? I mean, you do really like me, don't you? Don't you? Oh good. Ta taaaa!