第1章 THE CYCLONE 龙卷风

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty-looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar—except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.

When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now.

When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.

Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.

From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.

Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.

“There's a cyclone coming, Em,”he called to his wife. “I'll go look after the stock.”Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.

Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand.

“Quick, Dorothy!”she screamed. “Run for the cellar!”

Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him.

Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole.

Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.

Then a strange thing happened.

The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.

The north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.

It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.

Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly;but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen.

Once Toto got too near the open trap door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall.

She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again, afterward closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen.

Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.

In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

多萝西和亨利叔、埃姆婶住在堪萨斯州大草原中部。亨利叔是农民，埃姆婶是他的妻子。因为盖房的木料要从好多英里外用货车运过来，所以他们的房子很小，就一间屋子，也就是四面墙、屋顶和地板。屋里有一只锈迹斑斑的做饭炉、一个碗碟橱、一张桌子、三四把椅子和两张床。亨利叔和埃姆婶的大床放在一个角落，多萝西的小床放在另一个角落。屋里根本没有阁楼，也没有地下室——只有地上挖的一个被称为“防旋风掩体”的小地洞，万一大旋风刮来，一家人就躲进去。旋风过处，威力无穷，什么建筑都可以刮倒。地板中央有一扇活门，他们从那里顺着梯子可以下到那个又小又黑的地洞。

多萝西站在门口，环顾四周，只见周围都是灰蒙蒙的大草原。那片宽阔平坦的原野上没有一棵树，也没有一座房子，四面八方都伸向天边。太阳将那片犁过的土地烤成了一大片灰色，小小的裂缝遍布其间。就连草也不绿了，因为太阳已经把它们长叶的顶部晒焦了，四处看上去也是同样的灰色。尽管有一次曾油漆过房子，但太阳把油漆都晒起了泡，一场场雨又把它冲得一干二净，所以现在房子像其他东西一样阴沉灰暗。

埃姆婶当初到这里时，是一位年轻漂亮的妻子。太阳和风也已经改变了她的模样。它们从她的眼睛里夺走了光彩，留下的是一种朴素的灰色；它们从她的脸颊和嘴唇上夺走了红润，也都成了灰色。她消瘦憔悴，现在从不微笑。

多萝西是孤女。她第一次来到埃姆婶身边时，埃姆婶被她的笑声吓了一跳，无论多萝西欢快的声音什么时候传到婶婶的耳朵里，她都要尖叫，并把手按在心口；她还带着惊奇望着这个小女孩，因为小女孩对着什么东西都能发笑。

亨利叔从不笑出声来。他从早到晚辛苦劳动，不知道什么是快乐。他从长胡子到粗糙的靴子也都是灰色的，他显得严肃庄重，很少说话。

让多萝西发笑的是透透，周围其他的一切都渐渐变成了灰色。透透不是灰色，而是一只小黑狗，有着一身柔滑的长毛，一双小黑眼睛在有趣的小鼻子两边快乐地眨动。透透整天玩，多萝西和它在一起玩，对它一往情深。

然而，他们今天没有在玩。亨利叔坐在门阶上，焦虑不安地望着比平常越发灰暗的天空。多萝西怀抱着透透站在门口，也望着天空。埃姆婶正在洗那些碟子。

他们从遥远的北方听到了一阵风的低沉呼啸，而且亨利叔和多萝西可以看到那里的高草在即将来临的风暴前波浪般起伏。现在，从南方的空中也传来了一阵刺耳的啸声。随后，他们将目光转向那个方向，只见那个方向的草也在波浪般起伏。

亨利叔突然站了起来。

“龙卷风来了，埃姆！”他对妻子喊道，“我要去照看家畜。”说完，他就朝着关牛和马的牲口棚跑去。

埃姆婶放下手里的活，来到门口，看了一眼就明白了，危险就在眼前。

“快，多萝西！”她尖声喊道，“朝地洞里跑！”

透透从多萝西的怀里跳出来，躲到了床下。随后，小女孩跑去逮它。

埃姆婶大惊失色，打开地板上的门，顺着梯子爬到了又小又黑的地洞里。

多萝西终于逮住了透透，就跟着婶婶跑过去。她跑到屋子中央时，传来了一阵巨大尖利的风声。接着，房子猛烈摇晃，她突然失足，跌坐在了地板上。

这时，发生了一件怪事。

房子旋转了两三次，慢慢地升向空中。多萝西觉得就像坐在一只气球里上升着。

南风和北风在房子所在地会合，形成了龙卷风的正中心。在龙卷风的中央，空气通常是静止的，但房子四周的强大风力抬起房子，使它越升越高，一直升到了龙卷风的最顶端。房子停留在那里，然后被几英里几英里地卷走了。风卷走房子，容易得就像拿一根羽毛似的。

天空很暗，风在她四周可怕地呼啸，但多萝西发现她乘坐的房子非常舒适。第一次旋转了几圈后，其中有一次房子严重倾斜，她仿佛感到自己被轻轻地摇晃着，就像婴儿躺在摇篮里一般。

透透不喜欢这样，大声吠叫，满屋奔跑，时而跑到这里，时而跑到那里。可是，多萝西静静地坐在地板上，等着看会发生什么事儿。

有一次，透透走近地板上打开的门，掉了进去。起初，小女孩以为她已经失去了它。可是，不久她就看到了它的一只耳朵在洞口竖起，因为强大的空气压力托起了它，它才没能掉下去。

她爬到洞口，抓住透透的耳朵，又把它拽进了屋里，随后关上门，以免再发生什么意外。

一个又一个小时过去了。慢慢地，多萝西战胜了恐惧，但她感觉非常孤单。风在她四周大声呼啸，她几乎变成了聋子。起先，她担心如果房子掉下去，她是不是会粉身碎骨。可是，几个小时过去了，没有发生什么可怕的事儿，她不再担心，决定冷静等待，看将来会发生什么。最后，她爬过摇晃的地板，爬到床上，在上面躺下来。透透也跟着在她身边躺下来。

尽管房子摇晃，风声呼号，但多萝西很快闭上眼睛，沉入了梦乡。