John and his father did not stay here long, but visited at another stone house with deep overhanging porches and broad lattices. This family was also at work, even to the old grandfather, making wooden dolls—not those sticks of wood with a doll’s head on top that the babies of the Toy Valley love to hug (somebody else made them), but real dolls with jointed legs and arms.
約翰和他的父親沒有在這里呆多久,而是去了另一個有很深的門廊和寬闊的格子的石頭房子。這個家庭也在工作,甚至是對老祖父,制作木制的娃娃——不是玩具谷的嬰兒喜歡擁抱的那些頂上有娃娃頭的木棒(別人做的),而是有腿和胳膊的真正的娃娃。
“See,” said the grandfather, holding out a handful of dolls no more than an inch long, “these are the smallest jointed dolls in the world.” And sure enough, those mites were jointed and could bend their knees and elbows and sit down!
“看,”爺爺說著,手里拿著幾只不到一英寸長的娃娃,“這些是世界上最小的玩具娃娃?!?果然,那些小東西是有關節的,可以彎曲它們的膝蓋和肘部坐下來!
“It takes skill,” he cried, chuckling, “and the mother does it all. Hers are the only fingers fine enough for such work as that,” and he looked with pride at the tiny things lying in the palm of his great hand.
“它需要技術,”他笑著流淚,“母親包攬一切。她的手指是唯一能做這種工作的手指,”他驕傲地看著那些躺在他的大手心里的小東西。
Dolls were everywhere in this room, hanging and standing about, so that the paint on them might dry, and John came near sitting down in a basketful of dolls’ arms, while another one full of leg-joints stood ready on the table. The children were all busy fitting the joints together and fastening them with little wooden pegs. while the father, who had a jolly red face, was boring holes for the pegs to go into.
這個房間里到處都是玩偶,有的掛著,有的站著,好讓上面的油漆晾干。約翰坐在滿滿一籃子玩偶胳膊里,幾乎坐了下來,而另一籃子全是腿關節,放在桌子上。孩子們都忙著把這些關節裝在一起,用小木栓固定。父親的臉漲得通紅,正在為釘子鉆洞。