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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20097-h.zip b/20097-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b68abd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/20097-h.zip diff --git a/20097-h/20097-h.htm b/20097-h/20097-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c62f685 --- /dev/null +++ b/20097-h/20097-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3387 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug, by Arthur Scott Bailey</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; + position: absolute; right: 2%; border:1px solid white; + padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; + color: #555; background-color: inherit;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug, by Arthur Scott +Bailey, Illustrated by Harry L. Smith</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug</p> +<p>Author: Arthur Scott Bailey</p> +<p>Release Date: December 12, 2006 [eBook #20097]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Joe Longo<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div> +<br /> +<br /> +<h1>THE TALE OF +<br />MRS. LADYBUG</h1> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<table width="300" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr><td> +<table width="250" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr><td align="center"> +<i>TUCK-ME-IN TALES</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 70%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /><br /> +<span class="smcap" style="font-size: small;">by</span><br /> +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap" style="font-size: small;">author of</span><br /> +SLEEPY-TIME TALES<br /> +<span style="font-size: 70%;">(Trademark Registered)</span> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> +<span class="smcap">The Tale of Jolly Robin<br /> +The Tale of Old Mr. Crow<br /> +The Tale of Solomon Owl<br /> +The Tale of Jasper Jay<br /> +The Tale of Rusty Wren<br /> +The Tale of Daddy Longlegs<br /> +The Tale of Kiddie Katydid<br /> +The Tale of Buster Bumblebee<br /> +The Tale of Freddie Firefly<br /> +The Tale of Betsy Butterfly<br /> +The Tale of Bobby Bobolink<br /> +The Tale of Chirpy Cricket<br /> +The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug<br /> +The Tale of Reddy Woodpecker<br /> +The Tale of Grandmother Goose</span> +</td></tr> +</table> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 412px;"> +<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="412" height="652" alt="Mrs. Ladybug Scolds Buster Bumblebee." title="Mrs. Ladybug Scolds Buster Bumblebee." /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<table width="450" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" border="1"> + <col style="width:80%;" /> + <tr> + <td align="center"><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%; letter-spacing: .3em;"><br /><i>TUCK-ME-IN TALES</i></span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 70%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 160%;">THE TALE OF</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 220%;">MRS. LADYBUG</span><br /><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 80%;">BY</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 120%;">ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 80%;">Author of</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%;">"SLEEPY-TIME TALES"</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 70%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">AND</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%;">"SLUMBER-TIME TALES"</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 70%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">ILLUSTRATED BY</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%;">HARRY L. SMITH</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">NEW YORK</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: justify;">GROSSET & DUNLAP</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 60%;">PUBLISHERS</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 50%;">Made in the United States of America</span><br /><br /><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p style="text-align:center;">Copyright, 1921, by<br/> GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="450" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:20%;" /> +<col style="width:70%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right" style="font-size: x-small;">Chapter</td> + <td align="left"></td> + <td align="right" style="font-size: x-small;">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">I</td> + <td align="left">The Polka Dot Lady</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#I">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">II</td> + <td align="left">Buster's Resolve</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#II">6</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">III</td> + <td align="left">Hidden Wings</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#III">11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">IV</td> + <td align="left">Rusty Wren Helps</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#IV">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">V</td> + <td align="left">A Hard Shell</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#V">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VI</td> + <td align="left">The Traveler</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#VI">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VII</td> + <td align="left">A Handsome Stranger</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#VII">31</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VIII</td> + <td align="left">Seeking the Truth</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#VIII">36</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">IX</td> + <td align="left">That Carpetbag</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#IX">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">X</td> + <td align="left">A Bit of News</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#X">45</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XI</td> + <td align="left">The New Cousin</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XI">50</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XII</td> + <td align="left">A Queer Way to Help</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XII">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIII</td> + <td align="left">Jennie Junebug</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XIII">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIV</td> + <td align="left">Bumps</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XIV">65</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XV</td> + <td align="left">Enough!</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XV">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XVI</td> + <td align="left">Playing Dead</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XVI">76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XVII</td> + <td align="left">A Brave Gentleman</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XVII">80</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XVIII</td> + <td align="left">A Mystery</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XVIII">84</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIX</td> + <td align="left">The Dinner Bell</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XIX">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XX</td> + <td align="left">Fire! Fire!</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XX">93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXI</td> + <td align="left">Plans for Winter</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XXI">98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXII</td> + <td align="left">Mrs. Ladybug Leaves</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XXII">103</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXIII</td> + <td align="left">Back Again</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XXIII">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXIV</td> + <td align="left">Mrs. Green's Mistake</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#XXIV">112</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 85%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2> +THE TALE OF MRS.<br /> +LADYBUG<br /><br /> +</h2> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I<br /> +THE POLKA DOT LADY</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Little</span> Mrs. Ladybug was a worker. +Nobody could deny that. To be sure, she +had to stop now and then to talk to her +neighbors, because Mrs. Ladybug dearly +loved a bit of gossip. At the same time +there wasn't anyone in Pleasant Valley +that helped Farmer Green more than she +did. She tried her hardest to keep the +trees in the orchard free from insects.</p> + +<p>Some of her less worthy neighbors were +known sometimes to say with a sniff, "If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +Mrs. Ladybug didn't enjoy her work she +wouldn't care about helping Farmer +Green. If she hadn't such a big appetite +she'd stop to chat even more than she +does now."</p> + +<p>That might seem an odd remark—unless +one happened to know how Mrs. +Ladybug freed the orchard of the tiny +pests that attacked it. The truth of the +matter was this: Mrs. Ladybug <i>ate</i> the +little insects that fed upon the fruit trees. +Her constant toil meant that she devoured +huge numbers of Farmer Green's enemies.</p> + +<p>Goodness knows what Farmer Green +would have done had Mrs. Ladybug and +all her family lost their taste for that +kind of fare. The orchard might have +been a sorry sight.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was only to be expected that +Mrs. Ladybug should have little patience +with folk that seemed lazy. She thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +that Freddie Firefly wasted too much of +his time dancing in the meadow at night. +She considered Buster Bumblebee, the +Queen's son, to be a useless idler, dressed +in his black velvet and gold. Having +heard that Daddy Longlegs was a harvestman, +she urged him to go to work for +Farmer Green at harvest time. And as +for the beautiful Betsy Butterfly, Mrs. +Ladybug found all manner of fault with +her.</p> + +<p>Nothing made Mrs. Ladybug angrier +than to see Betsy Butterfly flitting from +flower to flower in the sunshine, followed +by her admirers.</p> + +<p>"What <i>can</i> they see in that gaudy +creature?" Mrs. Ladybug often asked her +friends.</p> + +<p>It will appear, from this, that Mrs. +Ladybug was not always as pleasant as +she might have been. Moreover, she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +something of a busybody and too fond of +prying into the affairs of others. And if +she didn't happen to approve of he +neighbors, or their ways, Mrs. Ladybug +never hesitated to speak her mind.</p> + +<p>When she first appeared on Farmer +Green's place, wearing her bright red +gown with its black spots, everyone supposed +that Mrs. Ladybug was dressed in +her working clothes. And indeed she +was! Nor did she ever don any other.</p> + +<p>"I've no time to fritter away," she declared +when somebody asked her what she +was going to wear to Betsy Butterfly's +party. "If I go to the party I'll just drop +in for a few minutes as I am, in my polka +dot."</p> + +<p>Her neighbors thought that very +strange. They even whispered to one another +that they didn't believe Mrs. Ladybug +had anything else to wear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nor had she. Nor did she want any. +And it wasn't long before everybody +understood Mrs. Ladybug's ways. She +was so earnest that they couldn't help +liking her, no matter if her remarks were +a bit tart now and then.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II<br /> +BUSTER'S RESOLVE</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Not</span> only was Betsy Butterfly a beautiful +creature. She was pleasant to everybody. +And almost all her neighbors were just as +pleasant to her. Mrs. Ladybug was one +of the few that were sometimes disagreeable +to Betsy. For Mrs. Ladybug did +not approve of her. She thought that +Betsy Butterfly was frivolous. And she +frowned whenever she saw Betsy in her +beautiful costume.</p> + +<p>"She <i>never</i> wears working clothes," +Mrs. Ladybug often complained, when +talking to her friends. "Now, if Betsy +Butterfly would only wear something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +plain and serviceable, as I do, once in a +while, people might have a different opinion +of her. She ought to try this hard-finished +red and black polka dot of mine. +It's a wonderful piece of goods."</p> + +<p>One day Mrs. Ladybug was gossiping +in that fashion with Mehitable Moth, a +soberly clad person who was always a bit +jealous of the gorgeous Betsy. And +Mehitable Moth nodded her head to everything +that little Mrs. Ladybug said.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of Betsy Butterfly's +wings?" Miss Moth inquired.</p> + +<p>"They're all for show," Mrs. Ladybug +declared. "They're so flimsy and delicate +that Betsy Butterfly never dares venture +out in bad weather. Of what use would +I be to Farmer Green if I had wings like +hers? If I stayed under cover whenever +the sun didn't shine, the orchard would +soon be overrun with insects."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now, it happened that Buster Bumblebee +was sipping nectar from a head of +clover near by. Of course, he wasn't listening +to what Mrs. Ladybug and Miss +Moth were saying. But he couldn't help +hearing their remarks. And being a +great admirer of Betsy Butterfly, he +wasn't at all pleased. He even buzzed +near the two gossipers and said to them, +"Can't you find something else to talk +about?"</p> + +<p>"Such rudeness!" Mrs. Ladybug +gasped.</p> + +<p>"What shocking manners!" cried Miss +Mehitable Moth.</p> + +<p>They hoped that Buster Bumblebee +heard what they said. Anyhow, he flew +off in his blundering, clumsy way without +speaking to them again.</p> + +<p>"Who is this Mrs. Ladybug, to pick +flaws in the beautiful Betsy Butterfly?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +he asked himself savagely. "Who is she +to find fault with Betsy's lovely wings? +If Mrs. Ladybug herself had wings, I +shouldn't think her chatter so strange. +But a person with no wings has no business +expressing his views of somebody +else's."</p> + +<p>Buster Bumblebee was so out of patience +with Mrs. Ladybug that he lost his +taste for clover heads for the rest of the +afternoon. And that was a most unusual +thing with him. However, he could think +of nothing but Mrs. Ladybug and her unkind +speeches. And at last, meeting +Betsy Butterfly herself along towards sunset, +he stopped to tell how well she was +looking and how charming her colors +were.</p> + +<p>Betsy Butterfly was not vain. She +laughed gayly and said, "You're very +kind to say those agreeable things."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I can't help it," he replied heartily.</p> + +<p>"Everybody's not like you," Betsy +Butterfly told him.</p> + +<p>"Then you've been hearing about Mrs. +Ladybug!" he cried. "Somebody has +been tattling."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter," Betsy Butterfly +assured him. "Perhaps it's good for me +to know that everyone doesn't admire +me."</p> + +<p>Buster Bumblebee didn't agree with +her.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to speak to Mrs. Ladybug," +he declared.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" Betsy Butterfly begged +him; for she was as gentle as she was +beautiful and never wanted people to +quarrel on her account.</p> + +<p>But Buster Bumblebee had made up +his mind and nothing could change it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III<br /> +HIDDEN WINGS</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> next day Buster Bumblebee set out +for the orchard to find Mrs. Ladybug. +He wanted to warn her to stop talking +about Betsy Butterfly. But Buster +hadn't realized that it was not an easy +matter to say anything to Mrs. Ladybug. +Mrs. Ladybug always liked to do most of +the talking herself. She preferred to let +others listen.</p> + +<p>He found her hard at work destroying +insects on an old apple tree. And when +she caught sight of him Mrs. Ladybug +paused in her labors.</p> + +<p>"Well, young man!" she exclaimed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +looking at Buster severely. "Are you +idling this lovely day away? You don't +seem to be making any honey."</p> + +<p>Buster wished that he had spoken first. +He certainly had had no intention of discussing +such matters as honey making.</p> + +<p>"I don't need to make honey," he told +Mrs. Ladybug. "The workers in our +hive provide honey enough. Maybe you +didn't know that I'm of royal blood. I'm +the Queen's son. I don't have to work," +he declared somewhat hotly.</p> + +<p>"Rubbish!" cried Mrs. Ladybug, regarding +him with a frown. "Go get +yourself some working clothes! Take off +your black velvet and gold! And save +that suit for best!"</p> + +<p>"You don't understand," Buster tried +to explain. "Being a Queen's son, I'm +expected to wear my court costume every +day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" Mrs. Ladybug retorted. +"The sooner you get such silly notions out +of your head, the better off you'll be. +Everybody ought to work. Too much +play is bad for folks."</p> + +<p>Buster Bumblebee could feel himself +flushing. The neighbors were not expected +to address a Queen's son in that +fashion.</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the way you talk about +Betsy Butterfly!" he exploded.</p> + +<p>"Huh!" Mrs. Ladybug sniffed. "You +are a worthless pair. Betsy Butterfly's +wings—"</p> + +<p>At this point Buster managed to interrupt +her.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk about wings, please!" he +cried. "Who are you, to talk about +wings?—when you haven't any yourself."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug started; and she gave him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +a queer look. "What's that?" she inquired. +"What's that? Say that again!"</p> + +<p>"You haven't any wings."</p> + +<p>"Ho!" she laughed. "You're mistaken. +I <i>have</i> wings."</p> + +<p>"Then you've left them at home," he +insisted.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug smiled a very knowing +sort of smile. When he saw it Buster +Bumblebee couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. +Somehow he knew that he had +blundered. But just where he had erred +he was unable to decide.</p> + +<p>"Watch sharp, young sir!" Mrs. Ladybug +bade him. "Watch sharp and perhaps +you'll be able to learn something."</p> + +<p>Then Buster Bumblebee received the +surprise of his life. As he watched, little +Mrs. Ladybug opened her shell-like, black-dotted, +red back and spread a pair of delicate +brown wings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"See these?" she said to Buster Bumblebee, +who gasped at her blankly. "I've +really <i>two</i> pairs of wings, because my +polka dot wing covers are actually wings +too—only folks don't usually call them by +that name."</p> + +<p>Having spread her wings, Mrs. Ladybug +decided to take a short flight. And +with Buster gazing dully after her she +flitted off.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to tell my mother, the Queen, +about this," he muttered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV<br /> +RUSTY WREN HELPS</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rusty Wren's</span> wife was getting very impatient. +She was at home with her fast-growing +family of youngsters, at home in +the cherry tree near Farmer Green's +chamber window.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" Mrs. Wren exclaimed. "I +don't see what's keeping Rusty. It's at +least a quarter of an hour since he brought +any food to these children."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wren soon grew tired of waiting.</p> + +<p>"I'll go and find him!" she said under +her breath. And telling her nestlings +that she would be back in a few minutes, +she hurried off towards the orchard.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought so!" Mrs. Wren muttered +soon afterward, as she caught sight of her +husband. He was talking with Jolly +Robin, in the old apple tree where the +Robin family lived. "I thought so!"</p> + +<p>"Have you forgotten your duty as a +parent?" Mrs. Wren asked her husband +in a tart voice, dropping down on a branch +right behind him.</p> + +<p>Rusty Wren jumped.</p> + +<p>"I've been here only a second or two," +he faltered. "Mr. Robin and I had a +little business together."</p> + +<p>"So I see," said Mrs. Wren. "So I +see. And now, if your business is finished, +allow me to remind you that you +have six hungry sons and daughters at +home." Then Mrs. Wren twitched herself +off her perch and flew back to the +cherry tree and her family.</p> + +<p>"I declare," Rusty Wren remarked to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +his friend Jolly Robin, "I must have +stayed here, talking with you, longer than +I thought. Those children have enormous +appetites. I'll have to work more +spryly than ever to get them fed before +sunset."</p> + +<p>"I know how that is," said Jolly Robin +with a chuckle. Somehow he seemed +much more cheerful than his companion. +"I was actually glad when our last nestlings +were big enough to leave home and +hustle for themselves. But, of course," +he added, "I still keep an eye on them."</p> + +<p>Rusty Wren had already begun to hunt +for tidbits. Almost immediately he found +an ant, which he snatched up and carried +away. Back and forth he flew, making +dozens of trips between his house and the +orchard. Grubs and caterpillars, grasshoppers +and spiders—he seized them +wherever he could spy them and took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +them home to his famishing children.</p> + +<p>Though he worked his hardest, Mrs. +Wren hadn't a smile for him. And when +she said anything in his hearing, it was +some such remark as this: "You poor, +hungry dears! It's a pity you can't have +all you need to eat. I only hope your +scanty meals won't stunt your growth."</p> + +<p>Naturally such speeches didn't make her +husband feel any more at his ease.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to bring home something +special, to please her," he thought. "I +wish I could find some dainty that would +put her in better humor."</p> + +<p>So he looked all around to see what he +could discover that was different from +the food he had been gathering. And it +wasn't long before he gave a chirp of delight. +"Here's a pretty beetle!" he cried. +"I know it will make Mrs. Wren smile +when I show it to her."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thereupon Rusty Wren pounced upon +Mrs. Ladybug and bore her away, struggling, +in his bill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>V<br /> +A HARD SHELL</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rusty Wren</span> hurried home, carrying Mrs. +Ladybug despite her frantic efforts to +escape. She wriggled all her six legs at +the same time.</p> + +<p>"She'll be pleased with this one," +Rusty murmured, as he watched Mrs. +Ladybug's struggles. "Mrs. Wren will +certainly thank me when I give her this +morsel."</p> + +<p>And she did.</p> + +<p>"How lovely!" Mrs. Wren exclaimed +when Rusty gave her his captive.</p> + +<p>And he was so glad that he hastened +away to try to find another just like that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +one. But he hadn't gone far before he +said, "Ugh! I hope I haven't made a mistake. +I don't like the taste of that +beetle." And he dropped down upon the +ground and carefully wiped his bill upon +the grass.</p> + +<p>He couldn't help feeling somewhat +worried.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe the children will notice +anything wrong," he muttered. "So far, +they've never refused anything that was +offered them. But if Mrs. Wren tried to +eat that beetle herself, I fear there'll be +trouble."</p> + +<p>And there was. Rusty knew it a few +minutes later, when little Mr. Chippy's +son, Chippy, Jr., came flitting up and +peeped in his childish voice, "Please, sir, +Mrs. Wren wants you at once."</p> + +<p>There was nothing to do except to go +home. And Rusty went.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>He found Mrs. Wren much upset.</p> + +<p>"Are you trying to poison us?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed—my love!" Rusty Wren +replied meekly.</p> + +<p>"Well, you made a terrible mistake, +then," she declared.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Rusty Wren was looking all +around. Yet he couldn't see the pretty +beetle (meaning Mrs. Ladybug) anywhere. +"Somebody must have swallowed +it, anyhow," he thought.</p> + +<p>"You must be more careful," his wife +told him severely. "That was a horrid-tasting +beetle that you brought home. +It's lucky I discovered that it was a queer +one. The children—poor dears!—are so +hungry that any one of them would have +bolted it had I offered it to him."</p> + +<p>"Then you ate it yourself," Rusty +Wren faltered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I didn't," said his wife. "I +dropped it upon the ground. And no +doubt I'd have thrown it away, anyhow, +no matter how it tasted."</p> + +<p>"Why?" he asked her. "I thought it +was a pretty beetle."</p> + +<p>"It was pretty enough—I dare say," +Mrs. Wren replied. "But it had a very +hard shell. It wouldn't have been safe to +feed it to the children. Nor should I have +cared to eat it myself."</p> + +<p>"I thought it was a pretty beetle," +Rusty said again. "It was such a gay +color—bright red, you know. It seemed +to me it would please the children, and +you, too."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wren still seemed to be somewhat +out of patience.</p> + +<p>"When you gather food for the youngsters, +never mind about the color of it!" +she exclaimed. "If you want to bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +them playthings, that's another matter. +But don't fetch home any more pretty red +beetles for them to eat."</p> + +<p>"Very well—my love!" said Rusty +Wren. And then he slipped away to hunt +for food, because the children were still +clamoring for more.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wren talked a good deal, afterward, +about her terrible experience. Yet +she never stopped to think about the +pretty beetle—about little Mrs. Ladybug. +For Mrs. Ladybug had had a dreadful +fright. Luckily she wasn't hurt. But it +was a long time before she was her usual +busy, able self again. And later, when +she told her friends about her adventure, +she said that she couldn't understand how +Rusty came to make such a mistake.</p> + +<p>"I supposed," Mrs. Ladybug declared, +"that every bird in Pleasant Valley knew +I wasn't good to eat."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI<br /> +THE TRAVELER</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Farmer Green's</span> garden was growing fast. +The sweet corn waved and rustled whenever +a breeze swept it. The beets and +carrots sent their pert tops a little higher +each day. The cabbages began to puff +their heads out as if they felt of some +importance in the world. And the potato +vines were actually pretty, with their +white blossoms amid the green leaves. +Farmer Green was very proud of his potatoes. +He said, in Mrs. Ladybug's hearing, +that they were the best he had ever +raised.</p> + +<p>"I must fly over to the garden and have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +a look at those potatoes," Mrs. Ladybug +thought. "It's always a pleasure to see +flourishing crops."</p> + +<p>Before she found time to spare for her +visit to the garden a traveler entered the +orchard one day. At least, he had every +appearance of having come from other +parts. For he carried a traveling bag—an +old-fashioned carpetbag—and he +seemed to have lost his way.</p> + +<p>As soon as Mrs. Ladybug saw him she +couldn't help thinking what a handsome +person he was. He wore a yellow coat. +And instead of being spotted with black, +as her gown was, it was striped.</p> + +<p>"Good morning!" said the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Good morning!" said Mrs. Ladybug. +"Can I be of any service to you?"</p> + +<p>The stranger took off his cap. He was +a most polite chap.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you can help me," he replied.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm looking for Farmer Green's vegetable +garden. Do you know where it is?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I do!" Mrs. Ladybug cried. +"It's at the end of this orchard, just beyond +the fence."</p> + +<p>"And the potato patch—I suppose I'll +have no trouble finding that?" the +stranger went on.</p> + +<p>"Follow your nose!" said Mrs. Ladybug. +"You're headed right for it now."</p> + +<p>The stranger thanked her. And he +was about to move on. But of course +Mrs. Ladybug wanted to talk more than +that before he got away.</p> + +<p>"The potatoes are fine this season," she +remarked.</p> + +<p>The stranger looked greatly pleased.</p> + +<p>"That's good news," he told her. +"Have you seen them yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet!" Mrs. Ladybug answered. +"But I heard Farmer Green say they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +fine. And he ought to know if anybody +does."</p> + +<p>"He certainly ought," the stranger +agreed. Then, thanking Mrs. Ladybug +once more, he hurried toward the garden.</p> + +<p>"One moment!" she called. There +were several questions that she wanted to +ask the newcomer. She was wildly curious +to know who he was and where he +came from and what business had brought +him to Pleasant Valley.</p> + +<p>But he couldn't have heard her. Anyhow, +he was out of sight in no time, leaving +Mrs. Ladybug almost bursting with +the questions that had sprung to her lips.</p> + +<p>"He might have waited a second," she +muttered. "But if he has traveled a long +way no doubt he's eager to get to his journey's +end."</p> + +<p>Luckily Mrs. Ladybug had kept her +eyes open when talking with the gentle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>man +in the striped yellow coat. And as +he turned to leave her she looked closely +at his carpetbag. On one side of it she +read, in big letters:</p> + +<p> +P. BUG<br /> +COLORADO<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII<br /> +A HANDSOME STRANGER</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Little</span> Mrs. Ladybug was too excited to +work. Ever since meeting the stranger in +the orchard she had been able to think of +nothing but him. Perhaps if she hadn't +happened to notice his carpetbag, with the +words, "P. Bug, Colorado," upon its side, +she might not have been so stirred up.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, Mrs. Ladybug kept wondering +what business had brought the stranger to +Pleasant Valley. She wished she could +find out what he was going to do in the +potato patch. She wanted to ask him why +he chose to have black stripes on his yellow +coat, instead of spots. How long had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +he been traveling? When did he expect +to leave the farm? There was no end to +the questions that Mrs. Ladybug burned +to put to him.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile she told the news to everybody +she saw. For Mrs. Ladybug dearly +loved to spread choice morsels of gossip. +It pleased her mightily to tell her neighbors +something they didn't know.</p> + +<p>People listened to her story with great +interest. They were eager to learn all +about the stranger, whom Mrs. Ladybug +declared to be very handsome.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug made her news last as +long as possible in the telling. She made +her neighbors wait a bit for every fact, so +they would enjoy it to the full. And +whenever she stopped anyone and told +him about the newcomer, Mrs. Ladybug +kept the best part until the last. She always +ended her remarks by saying, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +a most important air, "His name is Mr. +P. Bug. And he comes from Colorado."</p> + +<p>That never failed to impress her listeners—which +was exactly what Mrs. +Ladybug wanted.</p> + +<p>Since nobody asked her how she knew +the traveler's name, and where he came +from, Mrs. Ladybug did not trouble herself +to explain that she had read both +name and place upon his old-fashioned +carpetbag.</p> + +<p>There was one thing that puzzled her +slightly, when she paused to think about +it. How did it happen that the elegant +stranger carried a most unfashionable +bag?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug soon settled that question +to her own satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"He's like me!" she decided. "Mr. P. +Bug is a hard worker and he doesn't care +for show. He's a plain person. No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +doubt he put on that yellow coat to travel +in, because it's his best. But he'll wear +overalls, perhaps, if he starts to work in +the potato patch—as I suspect he will."</p> + +<p>At last, however, Mrs. Ladybug met +with a rude shock. She was telling her +news to Peppery Polly Bumblebee, one of +the workers in the hive ruled by Buster +Bumblebee's mother, the well-known +Queen. And to Mrs. Ladybug's amazement, +when she related the name of the +stranger, and the place he came from, +Peppery Polly laughed in her face.</p> + +<p>"Mr. P. Bug is not from Colorado," +said Peppery Polly Bumblebee. "He has +never been off this farm."</p> + +<p>Well, Mrs. Ladybug was staggered. +She gasped. She clung to a leaf to keep +from failing.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe that!" she cried, as +soon as she could speak. "I'll find Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +Bug himself and learn the truth from +him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII<br /> +SEEKING THE TRUTH</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Ladybug</span> was determined to know the +truth about Mr. P. Bug, the newcomer. +And as soon as she had fully recovered +from the rude blow that Peppery Polly +Bumblebee dealt her, she set out for +Farmer Green's garden and the potato +patch.</p> + +<p>For some time Mrs. Ladybug flew back +and forth above the potato vines. It was +not an easy matter to find so small a person +as Mr. Bug in so big a field. But she +discovered him at last. And she was +somewhat surprised to see him still in his +elegant yellow coat, with the black stripes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +For Mrs. Ladybug had expected him to +be hard at work, in overalls.</p> + +<p>To be sure, Mr. P. Bug did appear to be +busy about something or other. He was +so busy that he scarcely so much as +glanced at Mrs. Ladybug when she spoke +to him, mumbling "Good morning!" in +answer to her greeting, but not taking the +trouble to doff his cap.</p> + +<p>"He's at work anyhow," thought +Mrs. Ladybug. "He's helping Farmer +Green." Then she alighted on the potato +vine where Mr. Bug was clinging.</p> + +<p>"Don't you remember me?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. His mouth seemed +to be full of something—Mrs. Ladybug +wasn't sure what.</p> + +<p>"Don't you recall speaking to me one +time?" she persisted.</p> + +<p>After swallowing, he answered.</p> + +<p>"I can't say I do!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm the person that told you how to +get to this potato patch," Mrs. Ladybug +explained. "When you met me in the orchard, +on your way from Colorado, you +stopped and asked me to direct you to +Farmer Green's potato patch."</p> + +<p>For a moment or two Mr. Bug seemed +puzzled—especially when Mrs. Ladybug +mentioned Colorado. But by the time +Mrs. Ladybug had finished speaking, he +nodded.</p> + +<p>"So I did!" he exclaimed. "I had forgotten +all about that. Though now that +you speak of it, I do remember meeting a +very talkative dame dressed in a polka +dot. Possibly I spoke to you about my +settling in the potato patch for the summer?"</p> + +<p>"No!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "But I +thought I'd find you here. You seemed +in a great hurry to reach this place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So I was!" said Mr. P. Bug. "And +I'm glad I came. This is the finest potato +patch in the whole valley—so I have +been told."</p> + +<p>"You must have seen a good many +others on your journey from Colorado," +Mrs. Ladybug ventured. "It's a long +way from there to here, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is," Mr. P. Bug murmured. +He seemed to be a bit impatient, +as if he were in haste to return to his +work and didn't care to talk any longer.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you were weeks on the +road," Mrs. Ladybug went on. "Are you +going back to Colorado after you've finished +helping Farmer Green with the potato +crop?"</p> + +<p>"Colorado!" he blurted. "I don't +know where that place is. I've never +been there in all my life."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX<br /> +THAT CARPETBAG</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. P. Bug's</span> statement amazed Mrs. +Ladybug. He said he had never been in +Colorado. More than that, he declared +he didn't even know where the place was.</p> + +<p>Now, Peppery Polly Bumblebee had +told Mrs. Ladybug that Mr. P. Bug was +no stranger in Pleasant Valley. But +Mrs. Ladybug had not believed what she +said. Even hearing Mr. Bug's own +words, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't help doubting +them.</p> + +<p>"Can it be true—" she asked him—"can +it be true that you've never been off +this farm?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Bug quite plainly wished that she +would go away and stop bothering him.</p> + +<p>"It can be—it <i>is</i> true," he replied carelessly.</p> + +<p>At last Mrs. Ladybug had to believe +what she heard.</p> + +<p>"Then you're a fraud!" she cried. +'"You're a cheat! For I read on your carpetbag, +when we met in the orchard, 'P. +Bug. Colorado.'"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Bug with a smile. +"Oh! So <i>that's</i> where you got your odd +notion. I wondered how you happened to +make such a mistake."</p> + +<p>"A perfectly natural mistake, I'm +sure!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I dare say it is," he admitted. +"But you see, that's not my carpetbag. +At least, I didn't get it new. It belonged +to my great-great-great-grandfather. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>deed, +I'm not sure he wasn't even still +greater than I've said. <i>He</i> lived in Colorado +once—so I've been told. But I +was born and raised on this farm."</p> + +<p>"If all this is true," said Mrs. Ladybug, +"what were you doing with that carpetbag? +And why did you ask me the +way to this potato patch?"</p> + +<p>"I'm in a hurry to get to work," Mr. +Bug remarked. "I'll answer just this +once. When we met in the orchard I had +been away on a little vacation. And +Farmer Green's potato patch—so I +learned—had been moved since last year."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" Mrs. Ladybug wailed. +"People will laugh at me for having made +such a serious mistake."</p> + +<p>But Mr. P. Bug didn't say anything +about that.</p> + +<p>"Good-by!" he grunted. And he +crawled under a leaf, out of sight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>For once in her life Mrs. Ladybug +wasn't eager to talk to her neighbors. +On the contrary, she seemed to avoid +them. But Peppery Polly Bumblebee +called on her and asked her if she had +seen the handsome stranger, Mr. P. Bug.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "I've +talked with him. And it's true that he +has always lived here. There was a slight +mistake about his carpetbag. It belonged +to one of his ancestors. And since it +bears his ancestor's name and address, +naturally I thought they both belonged to +this Mr. Bug."</p> + +<p>Peppery Polly laughed.</p> + +<p>"If you don't believe what I tell you, +you can ask him yourself!" Mrs. Ladybug +snapped. "He's at work over in the +potato patch, helping Farmer Green."</p> + +<p>Peppery Polly laughed again, more unpleasantly +than ever.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>Helping</i> Farmer Green!" she exclaimed. +"He's eating the leaves off the +vines as fast as he can. I know that gentleman. +He's Mr. Potato Bug. And +he's one of the greatest pests on the +farm."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="X" id="X"></a>X<br /> +A BIT OF NEWS</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chirpy Cricket</span> was looking for Mrs. +Ladybug. He had news for her. Now, it +wasn't often that anybody could tell Mrs. +Ladybug anything. Usually she was the +one that told other people bits of gossip. +So Chirpy Cricket was specially eager to +find her and make known to her what he +had learned.</p> + +<p>It was about Mrs. Ladybug's cousin. +At least, there was a person living in the +vegetable garden who claimed to be a +cousin of Mrs. Ladybug's.</p> + +<p>Chirpy found Mrs. Ladybug in the orchard. +But strange to say, she didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +seem at all interested in his news.</p> + +<p>"I dare say I have a cousin in the garden," +she told him. "Ours is a big family. +I have more cousins than I could +ever count. They're as plentiful as the +leaves on the trees. I can't stop my work +to go and see this one. If I called on all +my cousins I'd never have time to help +Farmer Green."</p> + +<p>Chirpy Cricket looked disappointed. +He had expected Mrs. Ladybug to show +great interest in what he told her. She +certainly always thought that others +ought to pay strict attention when she related +the happenings about the farm. +And she always wanted them to act surprised +and pleased, too.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to the garden?" +Chirpy Cricket demanded. "Don't you +intend to be polite to your cousin?"</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +can't be any busier than I am. Why +doesn't she come to the orchard to call on +me?"</p> + +<p>"She can't do that," he explained. +"Your cousin says that it wouldn't be etiquette. +She says you've lived on the +farm longer than she has."</p> + +<p>"Rubbish!" Mrs. Ladybug scolded. +"I'm a plain working person. There's +too much to do, during the summer, for +me to bother with such nonsense."</p> + +<p>Chirpy Cricket found her rather discouraging. +Still he hadn't given up hope +of making Mrs. Ladybug change her +mind.</p> + +<p>"I fear you're making a mistake," he +remarked." You ought to see this cousin. +She's different from any of your family +that I've ever met before."</p> + +<p>"How is she different?" Mrs. Ladybug +demanded, pausing in her pursuit of in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>sects +on the leaves of the apple tree. At +last she began to show some signs of interest.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Chirpy Cricket replied. +"I can't say. Maybe it's her +clothes that make her look strange."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug then started to ask him +questions—which was the best of proof +that her curiosity had been aroused.</p> + +<p>"What sort of gown was my cousin +wearing?" she inquired. "Was it a red +polka dot, like mine?"</p> + +<p>"I don't remember," he answered.</p> + +<p>"What colors did she have on?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't notice," said Chirpy Cricket.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug gave him a look of disgust.</p> + +<p>"Well, if that isn't just like a man!" +she spluttered. "Men never can tell how +a body's dressed. If I want to learn anything +more about this cousin of mine I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +suppose I'll have to go and see her with +my own eyes."</p> + +<p>And that afternoon she went to the +vegetable garden.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI<br /> +THE NEW COUSIN</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">For</span> Mrs. Ladybug, finding her unknown +cousin in Farmer Green's vegetable garden +was not an easy task. Since Chirpy +Cricket hadn't been able to tell Mrs. Ladybug +what colors her cousin wore, Mrs. +Ladybug didn't know what to expect.</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew whether she was dressed +in red, black, blue, yellow or some other +color," Mrs. Ladybug complained to herself. +"But I don't know that. I don't +even know if she carries an umbrella."</p> + +<p>There was nothing Mrs. Ladybug could +do except to ask everyone she met. So +she inquired right and left if anybody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +happened to be acquainted with her +cousin. And at last Betsy Butterfly came +to Mrs. Ladybug's help.</p> + +<p>"Look among the squash vines!" Betsy +Butterfly advised her. "I noticed somebody +there that looks a bit like you. +Maybe it's your cousin."</p> + +<p>That was very kind of Betsy Butterfly. +Mrs. Ladybug was no friend of hers. +Indeed, Mrs. Ladybug had often found +fault with Betsy for being too pleasure-loving. +But Betsy Butterfly was not one +of the kind that nurses grudges. She was +only too glad to do Mrs. Ladybug a favor.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug thanked her—albeit +somewhat grumpily. Then, flying to the +place where Farmer Green had planted +his squashes, she found a person at whom +she stared hard for a few moments.</p> + +<p>"Do you want to speak to me?" this +strange lady inquired. She was a gay ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>pearing +creature, dressed in yellow, with +black patches on it.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell whether I care to talk to +you or not," said Mrs. Ladybug. "It all +depends. If you're my cousin, I do. If +you aren't, I don't."</p> + +<p>The strange lady laughed lightly.</p> + +<p>"I wonder—" she replied—"I wonder +if you are Mrs. Ladybug."</p> + +<p>"I am," said Mrs. Ladybug.</p> + +<p>"Then I'm your cousin!" cried the +other. "At last I've met you!" And she +rushed towards Mrs. Ladybug with every +intention of embracing her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug backed hastily away.</p> + +<p>"Not so fast!" she exclaimed. "If you +really are my cousin, well and good! But +how do I know that you aren't an impostor?"</p> + +<p>"A <i>what</i>?" the strange lady faltered. +She was, quite naturally, somewhat taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +aback by Mrs. Ladybug's coolness.</p> + +<p>"How do I know that you're not a +cheat?" Mrs. Ladybug asked her. +"Have you any references?"</p> + +<p>"Any <i>what</i>?" stammered the would-be +cousin.</p> + +<p>"Any letters about yourself," Mrs. +Lady explained. "For all I know, you +may be dissembling."</p> + +<p>"I may be <i>whatting</i>?" quavered the +lady in yellow.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" Mrs. Ladybug muttered to +herself. "Must I address this person in +words of one syllable?" Then, to her +companion she said bluntly, "Tell me why +you think you and I are related!"</p> + +<p>"That's easy!" cried the yellow one. +"I belong to the Ladybug family."</p> + +<p>Now, you might think that would have +satisfied Mrs. Ladybug. But she wasn't +convinced yet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"My family—" she declared—"my +family are all famous workers. If you're +one of us, where are your working +clothes? Where's your red and black +polka dot?"</p> + +<p>The cousin tittered. She seemed to be +a silly sort of creature.</p> + +<p>"I haven't any red and black polka +dot," she replied. "These are my working +clothes that I'm wearing now."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug shook her head. It was +plain that she didn't approve of those +clothes—nor of their wearer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII<br /> +A QUEER WAY TO HELP</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Ladybug</span> wished that she hadn't +come to the vegetable garden to see the +person who called herself Mrs. Ladybug's +cousin. She wasn't at all the sort of relation +that Mrs. Ladybug cared to have.</p> + +<p>Although the stranger in yellow was +most agreeable, somehow Mrs. Ladybug +disliked her exceedingly. And strange to +say, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't have told exactly +what it was in her cousin that displeased +her. It wasn't alone the yellow +gown that the new cousin wore. Nor her +simpering smile. Nor her trifling manner. +It was something else—something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +that made Mrs. Ladybug feel that she was +not to be trusted.</p> + +<p>"I must hurry back to the orchard," +Mrs. Ladybug announced. "There's +work waiting for me there. I really +ought not to have left it to come to see +you."</p> + +<p>"Don't take your work so seriously!" +her cousin advised her. "You ought to +take more time for amusement. I hope +you'll come to see me often."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug's opinion of the stranger +sank even lower.</p> + +<p>"If some of us weren't earnest about +our work the rest of the world would have +a sorry time," she declared. "I may as +well tell you that I shall not be able to +call on you again. I shall be too busy. +And there's no use of my urging you to +come to see me, because of course you have +your work to do too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, naturally!" said Mrs. Ladybug's +cousin with an odd smile. "Still, I could +leave it once in a while to make a cousinly +call."</p> + +<p>"It won't be necessary," Mrs. Ladybug +told her. "If I need you, I'll send for +you." And she said to herself grimly, +under her breath, "She'll never hear from +me."</p> + +<p>"If I can help you at any time, don't +fail to let me know," the cousin told Mrs. +Ladybug. "Doubtless I could be of some +service, though I'd always rather work on +vines—squash and pumpkin preferred."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug thanked her. "I +shouldn't want her helping me," she +thought. "I'll warrant she's so careless +that she would do more harm than good." +And Mrs. Ladybug looked at the vine on +which they were standing.</p> + +<p>"I see you're helping Farmer Green<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +with his squash vines at present," she remarked +aloud.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" said her cousin. "I have this +one almost finished."</p> + +<p>"Good!" said Mrs. Ladybug. And she +took a closer look at the vine. It seemed +far from healthy. In fact she noticed +that the leaves were tattered and torn.</p> + +<p>"What are these great holes in the +squash leaves?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>Her cousin fidgeted and made no reply. +Glancing at her, Mrs. Ladybug thought +she was growing a bit red in the face.</p> + +<p>Then all at once Mrs. Ladybug guessed +the dreadful truth.</p> + +<p>"You've been <i>eating</i> these leaves!" she +cried.</p> + +<p>Her cousin tossed her head.</p> + +<p>"A person has to eat something," she +retorted.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug threw up her hands.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I <i>knew</i> you weren't trustworthy," she +muttered. "I <i>knew</i> you weren't the sort +of relation I'd want anything to do with."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Ladybug left her.</p> + +<p>Later, when Chirpy Cricket met her, he +asked her if she had seen her cousin who +was spending the summer among the +squash vines. And he was astonished +when Mrs. Ladybug glared at him and +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Never mention her to me again!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII<br /> +JENNIE JUNEBUG</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jennie Junebug</span> was a frolicsome fat person. +And she was a great joker. The +joke that she loved most was this: she +loved to bump into people that were flying +through the air—to bump into them and +knock them, spinning, upon the ground.</p> + +<p>Being much heavier than many of her +neighbors, Jennie Junebug suffered little +from such collisions. And she never +could understand why anybody should +find fault with her favorite sport. If a +body objected to her rough play Jennie +Junebug only laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind when I take a tumble,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +she would retort. "So why should you?"</p> + +<p>And if the sufferer complained that it +wasn't the tumble that hurt, so much as +the shock of her hard, bulky self, Jennie +would shake with merriment and crash +into him again.</p> + +<p>Really, it was useless to try to reason +with her. The safest way was to avoid +her if possible, especially after dark. +For then was the time that she preferred +for her rowdy tricks.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug couldn't abide her. Not +only did she dislike Jennie Junebug's +jokes. She disapproved of her treatment +of Farmer Green. For Jennie Junebug +did everything she could to ruin the trees +on the farm. She ate their leaves. And +that was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug +couldn't forgive in anybody.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame—" Mrs. Ladybug often +said—"it's a shame, the way Jennie June<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>bug +riddles the foliage. Here I work my +hardest to save the leaves by ridding them +of tiny insects that feed upon them—insects +that suck the juices from the leaves +and make them wither. And there's Jennie +Junebug, trying her best to destroy +the leaves that I save.... It's enough to +make an honest person weep."</p> + +<p>Perhaps Jennie Junebug wasn't so bad, +at heart, as Mrs. Ladybug thought her. +Maybe she was merely a gay, careless creature +who never stopped to consider that +she was injuring Farmer Green when she +hurt his trees. At least, that was what +some of Mrs. Ladybug's other neighbors +sometimes remarked.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Ladybug never could believe +that Jennie had a single good trait—unless +it was good nature. For she was always +ready with a laugh, no matter what +anybody said to her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was seldom that Mrs. Ladybug hesitated +to speak her mind right out to a +person if she happened to disapprove of +him. But she had always kept out of Jennie +Junebug's way. Jennie was many +times bigger than little Mrs. Ladybug. +Mrs. Ladybug trembled to think what +might happen to her if Jennie should ever +hurl her fat body against Mrs. Ladybug +with a dull, sickening thud.</p> + +<p>"If that ever happens," Mrs. Ladybug +thought, "I fear I'll never be able to do +another day's work for Farmer Green. +It might be the end of me."</p> + +<p>Now, in spite of her fears, Mrs. Ladybug +had even more than her share of courage. +And as time went on, and she saw +the awful havoc that Jennie Junebug +played with the trees, Mrs. Ladybug +reached the point where she couldn't any +longer stand by silently and let Jennie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +Junebug riddle the leaves. "Something +will have to be done!" Mrs. Ladybug declared +to her friends. "I can't compel +Jennie Junebug to stop. She's too big +for me to handle.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have a talk with her," +said Mrs. Ladybug.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV<br /> +BUMPS</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> busybody went straight to Jennie +Junebug and told her what Mrs. Ladybug +had said.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Ladybug is going to have a talk +with you," this meddling person told the +fat and frolicsome Jennie. "She wants +you to stop eating leaves. She says you +are doing your best—or your worst—to +hurt the trees that she is trying to save. +She claims that you are no friend of +Farmer Green's. She—"</p> + +<p>Jennie Junebug broke in upon her companion +with a loud laugh.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to have Mrs. Ladybug try to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +speak to me," she chuckled. "If she +does, I'll have fun with her. I'll knock +her over. I'll send her spinning."</p> + +<p>Jennie's friend seemed somewhat +alarmed at that.</p> + +<p>"Now, be careful!" she begged the fat +lady. "Don't forget that Mrs. Ladybug +is a little creature! You'll injure her if +you're too rough with her."</p> + +<p>"Ho! ho!" laughed Jennie Junebug, +and also, "Ha! ha!" She had to stop and +hold her sides, while she rocked back and +forth. "This is a great joke!" Jennie +cried. "Imagine Mrs. Ladybug trying to +talk with me! Why, she'll be lucky if she +can get her breath after I've flown into +her once."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" said the tale-bearer. "I +wish I hadn't mentioned this matter to +you. Of course, everybody knows that +Mrs. Ladybug talks too much. And I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +thought maybe you'd enjoy meeting her +and making her keep still. But I had no +idea you would do her any harm."</p> + +<p>"Bless you!" cried Jennie Junebug. +"I wouldn't harm a hair of her head!" +And she roared with laughter, for she had +made a joke. You see, Mrs. Ladybug had +no hair. She was quite bald.</p> + +<p>Well, Mrs. Ladybug found Jennie Junebug +that very evening. She knew that +Jennie wasn't often seen except after sunset. +For Jennie loved to see the lights +twinkling through the gloom. And she +delighted in surprising people in the dark, +by flying <i>bang!</i> into them and knocking +them down. So Mrs. Ladybug didn't +leave her work and set out to seek this +dangerous fat lady until twilight came.</p> + +<p>"Good evening!" said Mrs. Ladybug as +soon as she spied Miss Junebug. "Have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +you a few minutes to spare? If you have, +I'd like to talk with you."</p> + +<p>Jennie Junebug grinned broadly.</p> + +<p>"I can give you a few seconds of my +valuable time," she replied. "I was just +going over to the meadow, for Freddie +Firefly will be there soon. He dances in +the meadow every night. And I like to +see his flickering light—and watch him +bounce when I hit him. So you'll have to +talk fast, for I'm in a hurry," said Jennie +Junebug.</p> + +<p>"Good!" thought Mrs. Ladybug. +"She's going to listen to me, after all." +And then she fixed Miss Junebug with her +eye and spoke to her severely.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you ought—" she began.</p> + +<p>And then Jennie Junebug bumped into +her, sending Mrs. Ladybug sprawling.</p> + +<p>"Don't I think I ought to frolic with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +you?" Jennie cried. "Certainly I do."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug managed to rise off the +ground.</p> + +<p>"Won't you please—" she started to +say.</p> + +<p>"Won't I please knock you down? Of +course I will!" Jennie Junebug exclaimed. +And thereupon she struck Mrs. +Ladybug again.</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Ladybug was much shaken. +In her fall she had dropped her umbrella, +and her handkerchief too. But she didn't +stop to pick them up. She scrambled to +her feet and rose into the air again, angrier +than she had ever been before in all +her life.</p> + +<p>"I'll thank you—" she spluttered.</p> + +<p>"You'll thank me if I'll do that again, +eh?" said Jennie Junebug, interrupting +her rudely. "Very well! Here goes!" +This time she gave Mrs. Ladybug a terrific<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +blow. She dropped upon the grass, +where she clung to a blade and swayed up +and down for a few moments, dizzy and +trembling. And she was gasping so hard, +in order to get her breath, that she +couldn't speak.</p> + +<p>Watching her, Jennie Junebug shrieked +with laughter. Then, seeing Freddie +Firefly's light flashing in the meadow, +Miss Junebug hurried away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV<br /> +ENOUGH!</h3> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Such</span> impudence!" Mrs. Ladybug +gasped, as soon as she could speak. +"That terrible Jennie Junebug didn't +care whether I ever got my breath or not."</p> + +<p>After bowling Mrs. Ladybug over three +times, Miss Junebug had flown away, leaving +poor little Mrs. Ladybug clinging to a +blade of grass and wondering if she would +be able to move again.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug had attempted to take +Jennie Junebug to task. She had intended +to berate Jennie for devouring the +leaves of Farmer Green's trees and to order +her to stop such damage at once. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +Jennie Junebug hadn't <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads allowd'">allowed</ins> her to say +much. In her playful way she had +knocked the breath out of Mrs. Ladybug.</p> + +<p>"I must try some other plan," thought +Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'll have to have +help." So she sent Miss Moth over to the +meadow, to find Freddie Firefly and ask +him if he wouldn't come to the orchard +because Mrs. Ladybug wanted to talk with +him.</p> + +<p>He came. He came at once; for he saw +Jennie Junebug looking for him. And he +was only too glad to escape her attentions. +He found her too rough to suit him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug quickly explained her +difficulty.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do?" she asked him.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," he answered. "I can't +do a thing with Jennie Junebug. She +knocks me down whenever I meet her. +She annoys me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's not so much myself I'm thinking +of," said Mrs. Ladybug. "It's Farmer +Green's fruit trees that I'm disturbed +about. Jennie Junebug eats the leaves. +I must put an end to that."</p> + +<p>"I have it!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed +suddenly. "I'll ask her why she doesn't +bump into Solomon Owl!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug didn't seem to care for +his suggestion. "What good would that +do?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said. "Solomon Owl +wouldn't let her browbeat him. He'd +soon cure her of her rude pranks."</p> + +<p>"Then please speak to her, and to Solomon +Owl at once—that is, if you dare +to," said Mrs. Ladybug.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of him," Freddie Firefly +boasted. "He won't touch me. He's +a-scared of my light." And then Freddie +Firefly flitted away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>He found Solomon Owl easily enough. +He had heard Solomon's <i>Wha-wha</i>, <i>whoo-ah</i>! +booming from the edge of the woods. +And he soon persuaded Solomon to fly +down into the meadow.</p> + +<p>Solomon Owl sailed above the waving +grass, while Freddie Firefly spoke to Jennie +Junebug.</p> + +<p>She liked his scheme. She thought it +would be a great joke to bump into solemn +Solomon Owl. And for once she forgot +to fling herself against Freddie Firefly.</p> + +<p>Only a little while later she struck Solomon +Owl with an awful thud. To her +huge surprise she fell headlong, while he +merely paused in his low flight.</p> + +<p>"Who struck me?" he bawled.</p> + +<p>"Jennie Junebug!" said Freddie Firefly.</p> + +<p>"Where is she now?" Solomon hooted. +"If I find her I'll fix her."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jennie Junebug heard everything he +said. She was lying hidden in the grass +near-by. And she wouldn't have come +out for anything.</p> + +<p>"I'll keep an eye out for her," Solomon +Owl announced. "I come to the meadow +often, a-mousing."</p> + +<p>Jennie Junebug kept still as a mouse, +herself, until Solomon had gone back to +the woods. Then she stole forth from her +hiding place, showing a battered face to +her friends.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, everybody!" she called. +"I'm going to move. I'm going 'way +down to the end of the valley to live.... +I'm off already," she added, as she spread +her wings.</p> + +<p>Nobody ever saw Jennie Junebug on +Farmer Green's place again.</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Ladybug was more than satisfied.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI<br /> +PLAYING DEAD</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Farmer Green's</span> apple trees looked green +and flourishing. Thanks to Mrs. Ladybug—and +some of her relations—there +was scarcely an insect left on the leaves. +And since there was no more work to be +done in the orchard just then, and nothing +for her to eat, Mrs. Ladybug settled among +the raspberry bushes near the duck pond. +She said that they needed her attention.</p> + +<p>One day she paused in her labors, feeling +that she had earned a few minutes' +rest. And she dropped out of the bushes +and strayed close to the water's edge.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>A light breeze ruffled the surface of the +duck pond into tiny waves.</p> + +<p>"What a terrible, rough sea there is +to-day!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured as she +gazed upon the troubled water. "Perhaps, +if I cling to a tall grass stalk, I can +get a better view of it."</p> + +<p>She soon found a stalk that grew high +above all the rest. Crawling to the very +top of it Mrs. Ladybug was able to look +far out over the face of the pond.</p> + +<p>"Goodness!" she said to herself. "I'm +glad I'm not out there in a ship."</p> + +<p>A few moments later she happened to +glance down near the shore. And there, +to her horror, she beheld a frog.</p> + +<p>He was not a big frog. On the contrary, +he was the tiniest frog that Mrs. +Ladybug had ever seen. He was sitting +on a lily pad, singing with a small, shrill +voice, which sounded exactly as if you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +were tapping two marbles together.</p> + +<p>Now, Mrs. Ladybug had all her life +stood in great fear of frogs. She didn't +dare move, as she gazed at this one with +eyes that popped almost out of her head.</p> + +<p>He was a brownish person, with a yellow +throat which he puffed out like a bag +as he sang. And his skin was so rough +that Mrs. Ladybug shuddered as she +looked at it. Her own was very, very +smooth.</p> + +<p>All at once the frog looked up and spied +Mrs. Ladybug staring at him.</p> + +<p>She would have shrieked—had she been +able to.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Ladybug did the thing that +she always did whenever she had a great +fright. She played dead. She pulled +her feet under her body, out of sight, and +stuck, motionless, to the grass stalk.</p> + +<p>Nothing happened. And she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +about to take another sly look at the frog +when something moved the stalk of grass. +It was only the wind. But Mrs. Ladybug +didn't know that. She was sure that the +frog had touched it.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Ladybug played her next +trick. She let go of the stalk and +dropped to the ground, where she lay +upon her side as if she would never move +again.</p> + +<p>Once more she kept quite still. And +since nobody disturbed her, after a time +she opened her eyes.</p> + +<p>She found herself looking straight into +those of the tiny frog, who still sat upon +his lily pad in the duck pond.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug shut her eyes instantly. +She only hoped that the frog hadn't noticed +her action.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII<br /> +A BRAVE GENTLEMAN</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Ladybug</span> didn't know that the frog +she saw was a very timid fellow. His +name was Mr. Cricket Frog. He liked to +sit on a lily pad and sing. And his singing +sounded a good deal like the music +that Chirpy Cricket made. In fact, that +was the reason for his odd name.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cricket Frog had a trick not unlike +the one that Mrs. Ladybug herself played +upon him. Whenever a fish, or any other +enemy, came near him, if he hadn't time to +hide in the mud at the bottom of the pond +Mr. Cricket Frog played dead. He would +float in the water as if lifeless, until his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +enemy had gone off about his business.</p> + +<p>He was so timid—this Mr. Cricket Frog—that +when he saw a stranger he would +sometimes play dead. And that was exactly +what happened when he caught sight +of Mrs. Ladybug as she clung to the grass +stalk near the edge of the duck pond and +stared at him.</p> + +<p>Of course Mrs. Ladybug didn't know all +this. When she shut her eyes, and pulled +her feet under her body, she wasn't aware +that Mr. Cricket Frog was just as alarmed +as she was. Having closed her eyes, she +couldn't see him jump into the water and +float. She couldn't see him climb out +upon the lily pad again and gaze at her.</p> + +<p>Now, the moment Mrs. Ladybug looked +at the frog the second time he took fright +anew. Once more he sprang from his +seat. Once more he floated like a chip +upon the surface of the pond. Once more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +he crawled back to his seat, after he had +made up his mind that the danger had +passed.</p> + +<p>So they played dead for a long time—both +Mrs. Ladybug and Mr. Cricket Frog. +And if he hadn't at last made up his mind +that she was afraid of him, they might +still be trying to fool each other.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, madam!" Mr. Cricket +Frog called to Mrs. Ladybug. "I see +you're a bit timid. I assure you I shall +not harm you."</p> + +<p>At that Mrs. Ladybug opened her eyes +and looked at him. Slowly she thrust her +feet out from under her body. And then +she tried her wings. They were as good +as ever. Her fall had not injured them.</p> + +<p>"You gave me a terrible fright," Mrs. +Ladybug told him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cricket Frog was very bold now.</p> + +<p>"Why were you afraid of me?" he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +asked her. "Do I look fierce?" he inquired +with a hopeful smile, as if he hoped +that he did, but scarcely dared think so.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid of all frogs," Mrs. Ladybug +explained. "Now, there's Ferdinand +Frog—"</p> + +<p>"A rascal!" Mr. Cricket Frog cried. +"But, madam, I'm not in the least like +him. I wouldn't hurt you. In fact, I'd +protect you."</p> + +<p>His words pleased Mrs. Ladybug. She +said that thereafter she should always feel +safe, with him in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cricket Frog bowed gallantly, with +his hand on his heart.</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Ladybug went away without +guessing that he had himself played dead +because he had been in terror of her.</p> + +<p>"What a brave gentleman he is!" Mrs. +Ladybug murmured.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII<br /> +A MYSTERY</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug +dreaded more than any other. That was—fire. +The slightest whiff of smoke sent +her into a flutter of alarm. The sight of +a blaze made her almost frantic.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors—more +than she—were to be blamed for her +fear. Some of them had an unkind way +of frightening her. When they found her +a bit too prying with her countless questions +about this, that, and the other matter +that did not concern her, they said to +her:</p> + +<p>"Aren't you worried, Mrs. Ladybug?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +What if your house were on fire? +Wouldn't your children burn?"</p> + +<p>Such questions never failed to send +Mrs. Ladybug hurrying away.</p> + +<p>After a while people began to wonder +where Mrs. Ladybug went when she +dashed away like that. Nobody seemed +to know where she lived. They supposed +that she must fly to her home, wherever it +was.</p> + +<p>To everybody's surprise, Mrs. Ladybug +appeared to want to keep the site of her +house a secret from all her friends. +When they asked her, point-blank, where +her house was, she always pretended not +to hear the question and left them. Or +she would begin to ask questions of her +own choosing, without answering theirs.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said some people. "Mrs. +Ladybug likes to pry into our affairs. +She wants to know all about our business.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +And when she learns anything about anybody +else she can't rest until she has told +it to the whole neighborhood."</p> + +<p>The more Mrs. Ladybug's friends +thought about her house, the harder +they tried to discover its whereabouts. +Sometimes they even mentioned <i>fire</i> to +her and then tried to follow her when she +hurried off. But she always managed to +give them the slip before she had gone +far.</p> + +<p>Now and then somebody or other +thought he had found Mrs. Ladybug's +house. But in the end somebody else was +sure to prove that he was mistaken.</p> + +<p>Once Freddie Firefly announced with +great pride that at last he knew where +Mrs. Ladybug was rearing her family.</p> + +<p>"Her house," he explained, "is in a hole +in the ground, in the meadow."</p> + +<p>And that night he led Miss Mehitable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +Moth to the spot, lighting the way with his +flickering gleams.</p> + +<p>She soon pointed out his mistake. He +had led her to the doorway of the Bumblebee +family, who were all sound asleep inside +their crowded house.</p> + +<p>After that Freddie Firefly had to listen +to a good many titters from his friends.</p> + +<p>"The idea!" they would say. "Mrs. +Ladybug must have a much bigger +house than the Bumblebee family's. She +couldn't squeeze her children into such +small quarters as theirs. Why, she has +more children than she can count."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX<br /> +THE DINNER BELL</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was great excitement in Farmer +Green's orchard. The neighbors came +a-flying and a-running and a-crawling +from all directions. And little Mrs. +Ladybug was the cause of the hurly-burly. +She had appeared with a strange, flaring +object hanging by a cord from her waist—if +she could be said to have a waist. The +queer, dangling thing had a handle at its +upper end. And when Mrs. Ladybug +moved a jingling, jangling sound might +have been heard.</p> + +<p>In no time at all a crowd had gathered +around her. And some of the more curi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>ous +and ill-bred pointed at whatever it +was that puzzled them.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" they asked Mrs. Ladybug.</p> + +<p>Strange to say, she seemed pleased with +the stir that she had made.</p> + +<p>"It's a dinner bell," she explained.</p> + +<p>They gazed at it in wonder, until at last +somebody spoke up and demanded, +"What's it for?"</p> + +<p>"To give the alarm with!" she replied.</p> + +<p>"What alarm?" chimed a chorus of +voices, high and low.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug smiled an odd sort of +smile as she answered, "The fire alarm, of +course! Everybody's always talking <i>fire</i> +to me. It makes me frightfully uneasy. +There's so little one can do alone in case +of fire. But now—" she added—"now +when anyone says 'Fire!' I'm going to +ring this bell with all my might."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>Well, people didn't know what to say—then. +Later, however, they gathered +about in groups and talked a good deal +about Mrs. Ladybug and her dinner bell.</p> + +<p>Miss Moth said that she feared Mrs. +Ladybug would disturb her rest if she +rang the bell in the daytime, when Miss +Moth was accustomed to sleep. Buster +Bumblebee hoped Mrs. Ladybug wouldn't +ring it at night, because he had a short +enough night's sleep as it was, with the +family trumpeter waking everybody in +the house about dawn. And Freddie +Firefly exclaimed that it would be very +annoying to him if Mrs. Ladybug gave +the alarm of fire whenever she saw his +flickering gleams on pleasant evenings in +the meadow.</p> + +<p>If others were troubled, Mrs. Ladybug +herself was much pleased by her dinner +bell. She liked to hear it tinkle as she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +worked. She said it was a cheerful sound +and so long as she wore it she never needed +to worry about being lost. It was as good +as a cowbell for letting the world know +one's whereabouts.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing that annoyed +her. Since she hung the bell from her +waist nobody had mentioned <i>fire</i> to her. +Nobody had said a word about her children's +burning. It seemed as if none of +her neighbors wanted her to sound a fire +alarm. And if there was anything that +would have given her joy, it would have +been to seize the handle of her bell and +ring it madly.</p> + +<p>There were even some people that complained +of the tinkle it made among the +apple trees.</p> + +<p>Peppery Polly Bumblebee laughed at +them.</p> + +<p>"You've brought this trouble upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +yourselves," she told them. "How can +you expect Mrs. Ladybug to keep the +tongue of the bell still? She can't even +keep her own tongue from wagging!"</p> + +<p>No doubt Peppery Polly knew what she +was talking about. She had a very sharp +tongue, herself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX<br /> +FIRE! FIRE!</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> whole countryside was dry. It +<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: line 5 out of order in original">hadn't rained for weeks. The grass was</ins> +<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: line 4 out of order in original">turning brown. The water in the river</ins> +was low. And Broad Brook was no more +than a narrow trickle. Every morning +the sun rose streaming hot, to beat down +upon Pleasant Valley all day long until it +sank—a round, red ball—behind Blue +Mountain each night.</p> + +<p>At last, one afternoon, Farmer Green +and the hired man started for the woods +on a run. They had seen a wisp of smoke +curling up from the tree tops. And they +knew that the woods were on fire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a high wind that day. And +if they hadn't worked lively there's no +telling how far the fire would have spread. +As it was, glowing bits came sailing down +from the hill and settled in the valley. +But luckily they did no damage. At +least, no other fire had started anywhere +when the men came home from the woods +and said that all was safe again.</p> + +<p>Some of the small folk that lived in the +fields knew what was going on. But Mrs. +Ladybug never guessed that there had +been a fire. She was so busy, working +among the apple trees, that she hadn't noticed +any unusual stir. And no one took +the trouble to tell her about it.</p> + +<p>Everyone had put thoughts of fire out +of his mind when along toward evening a +loud clanging rang out upon the air.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" people asked one another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<p>And all at once somebody shouted, "It's +Mrs. Ladybug's dinner bell!"</p> + +<p>Far and wide through orchard, garden +and meadow the neighbors took up the +cry. "Fire! Fire! Mrs. Ladybug's ringing +the alarm! Her house is on fire!"</p> + +<p>Back and forth they hurried, trying to +find Mrs. Ladybug.</p> + +<p>"At last—" they told one another—"at +last we're going to find out where her +house is."</p> + +<p>And they did. At least, they soon discovered +Mrs. Ladybug standing beside a +blazing dwelling near the pasture fence. +With all her hands (and she had several!) +she was ringing her bell furiously.</p> + +<p>"We'll help you!" her friends all cried. +"Don't worry, Mrs. Ladybug! We'll +have the fire out soon. Be calm!"</p> + +<p>But there was nothing they could do. +The fire raged so fiercely that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +couldn't get near enough to it to fight it. +And before long it had burned itself out. +There was nothing left of the house but +ashes.</p> + +<p>"What a pity!" said Mrs. Ladybug's +neighbors. "It was a fine, big house."</p> + +<p>And then some one cried, "What about +the children? Where are they?"</p> + +<p>Nobody knew. If Mrs. Ladybug did, +she was too overcome to speak.</p> + +<p>People looked very solemn. They +hoped her children hadn't burned.</p> + +<p>And then—then Mr. Meadow Mouse +came running up all out of breath.</p> + +<p>"Sakes alive!" he screamed. "My +house is ruined. I wouldn't have had this +happen for anything. But it doesn't matter, +for I can easily build another."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors crowded +about her, all asking the same question.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't this your house?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No!" she admitted. "No, it wasn't." +And then she made an astonishing confession. +"I've never owned a house," she +said. "I've never had one in all my life. +I <i>can't</i> have a house. I couldn't get one +that was big enough.</p> + +<p>"I have so many children that I don't +know what to do," said little Mrs. Ladybug.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI<br /> +PLANS FOR WINTER</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was almost fall. The nights—and +some of the days—were chilly. Those +that had spent the whole summer out of +doors began to think about where they +should pass the winter. Yet everybody +was amazed by the news that Mrs. Ladybug +spread broadcast. She said that she +expected, soon, to go into winter quarters.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" cried Daddy Longlegs' wife +when she heard what Mrs. Ladybug was +saying. "She never had any quarters, so +far as anyone knows. Mrs. Ladybug +hasn't been able to tear herself away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +from the orchard long enough to live +anywhere except in the apple trees."</p> + +<p>It was plain that Daddy Longlegs' wife +didn't believe what Mrs. Ladybug was +telling her neighbors. And there were +many more folk that agreed with her.</p> + +<p>Little Mrs. Ladybug smiled a knowing +smile when she heard what her friends +thought.</p> + +<p>"They'll see! They'll see!" she said. +"I'm going to spend the winter in the biggest +and finest house on this farm."</p> + +<p>That was all she would tell. She +wouldn't breathe another word about her +plans. And naturally, every one became +very curious. There wasn't a soul that +wasn't agog to know what Mrs. Ladybug +intended to do.</p> + +<p>The neighbors asked her, begged her, +teased her—some even threatened her. +But she declined to answer. She said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +that if she told where she expected to pass +the cold months everybody would want to +go to the same place and maybe there +wouldn't be any room left for her.</p> + +<p>Perhaps some of her friends <i>had</i> intended +to follow her into her winter quarters. +Anyhow, many of them looked +guilty when she made that remark. And +a few of them looked angry, and declared +that Mrs. Ladybug was selfish.</p> + +<p>"If the house is as big as she claims it +is, it ought to hold a few extra guests without +being crowded," they grumbled.</p> + +<p>"Guests—" said Mrs. Ladybug—"guests +should always wait for an invitation."</p> + +<p>"Have you had one?" Buster Bumblebee +asked her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug did not answer his question. +Most people thought Buster Bumblebee +a stupid fellow. Many people paid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +little heed to him. Yet strange to say, he +often hit the nail on the head, so to speak. +And this time he made Mrs. Ladybug +somewhat uncomfortable. She had had +no invitation to spend the winter in the +fine, big house. But she didn't care to +have her neighbors know that.</p> + +<p>"There's just one thing to do," Buster +Bumblebee decided. "I'll ask the Carpenter +Bee if he's building a house for +her."</p> + +<p>So he went to the big poplar by the +brook, where the Carpenter Bee lived. +And that mild person himself—sawdust-covered +as usual—answered Buster's +knock at his door.</p> + +<p>"Are you building a house for Mrs. +Ladybug?" Buster Bumblebee inquired.</p> + +<p>"No!" said the Carpenter. "We +couldn't agree. She wanted me to work +twelve hours a day. And I wanted to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +work twenty-four. I told her I must +have <i>some</i> time to rest. But she couldn't +see things as I did."</p> + +<p>Buster Bumblebee was puzzled.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," he said.</p> + +<p>The Carpenter kindly made matters +clear to him.</p> + +<p>"I rest only when I'm working," he explained.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII<br /> +MRS. LADYBUG LEAVES</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Carpenter Bee, who lived in the big +poplar by the brook, wasn't building a +house for Mrs. Ladybug. That skillful +woodworker hadn't been able to agree +with her—so he told Buster Bumblebee. +Furthermore, he knew nothing of Mrs. +Ladybug's present plans as to where she +was going to spend the winter.</p> + +<p>Nor did anybody else. It was all a +great mystery. And Mrs. Ladybug +seemed to enjoy it far more than her +neighbors did. She was the only person +that could have solved it for them. And +she wouldn't.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>At the same time she took delight in +talking about her winter quarters, as she +called the place where she intended to live +during cold weather.</p> + +<p>"It will be cozy and warm there," she +often remarked to her callers, of whom +she had huge numbers. For there was +scarcely a person in the orchard or the +garden that didn't burn with curiosity to +know more about the fine, big house into +which Mrs. Ladybug expected to move.</p> + +<p>"My winter quarters will be wind-proof," +Mrs. Ladybug told them. And +that speech set them all to guessing again.</p> + +<p>Almost everybody said then that she +was going to live underground.</p> + +<p>"I shall not feel a drop of rain—not +even during the January thaw," Mrs. +Ladybug went on.</p> + +<p>And then everybody had to begin guessing +all over again; for rain drops were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +sure to trickle into an underground house +during a warm spell.</p> + +<p>"You're going to live in a pumpkin!" +cried Buster Bumblebee.</p> + +<p>And all the neighbors—even Mrs. Ladybug—laughed +when they heard that.</p> + +<p>Buster knew of an old tune called "The +Bumblebee in the Pumpkin," and he cried +with some heat that he could think of no +reason why there shouldn't be "A Ladybug +in a Pumpkin."</p> + +<p>"I told you my house was big—the biggest +one on the farm," Mrs. Ladybug reminded +him.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" Chirpy Cricket exclaimed. +"Now I know! You're going to live in +the haystack. A haystack is cozy and +warm; it's wind-proof; it sheds water; +and there's nothing bigger anywhere."</p> + +<p>It really seemed as if Chirpy Cricket +had solved the great mystery.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He's guessed the riddle!" people said. +"You might as well admit now, Mrs. +Ladybug, that you're going to spend the +winter in Farmer Green's haystack."</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Ladybug dashed their +hopes.</p> + +<p>"You're wrong," she told her friends. +"And if to-night's as nippy as last night +was, perhaps you'll find out to-morrow +where I'm going. For I don't care to +freeze my toes here in the orchard."</p> + +<p>That night it was colder than ever. +And the next day Mrs. Ladybug went all +around the orchard and the garden bidding +people good-by.</p> + +<p>Still she wouldn't tell where she was going. +And if Daddy Longlegs hadn't happened +to stroll around the cherry tree outside +Farmer Green's chamber window +that afternoon, nobody would have known +where Mrs. Ladybug went. But Daddy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +Longlegs saw her. And he hastened to +spread the news.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Ladybug has gone to spend the +winter in the farmhouse!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII<br /> +BACK AGAIN</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Somehow</span> Mrs. Ladybug's friends missed +her. The orchard seemed quite a different +place after she vanished inside the +farmhouse to stay there all winter long. +In spite of her sharp tongue and her prying +ways people discovered—now that she +was gone—that they had liked Mrs. Ladybug +more than they knew.</p> + +<p>While she was with them in the orchard +they had often wished she wouldn't ask so +many questions. But now the days +seemed very long without Mrs. Ladybug +to inquire <i>how</i> and <i>why</i> and <i>when</i> and +<i>where</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then—then a rumor flashed from +lip to lip all the way across the garden and +the orchard and the meadow: "Mrs. +Ladybug is back again! She didn't stay +in the farmhouse a week."</p> + +<p>And sure enough! the rumor proved to +be true. Mrs. Ladybug, looking rather +foolish, appeared in her old haunts among +the apple trees. She acted as if something +had occurred to upset her. And +though she seemed glad to be greeted by +all her old companions, she didn't want +them to ask her a single question as to +why she hadn't spent the whole winter, +instead of only a few days of early fall, +in Farmer Green's house.</p> + +<p>If she thought her neighbors weren't +going to question her she was sadly mistaken.</p> + +<p>Only a little while before they had asked +her a thousand and one questions about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +<i>where</i> she was going to live during the +winter. And now they were all just as +curious to know why she had returned. +But this time they asked her a thousand +and two questions.</p> + +<p>You couldn't say that her answers +weren't satisfying, because she didn't +make any answers at all.</p> + +<p>Of course, things couldn't go on like +that forever. People <i>had</i> to know what +had changed Mrs. Ladybug's plans. And +in order to persuade the stubborn lady to +explain matters, a few of her friends +hinted that they expected they would have +to go to Farmer Green himself and learn +the truth.</p> + +<p>"You may ask him if you wish," Mrs. +Ladybug told them. "But it won't do +you any good. He can't tell you what +happened because he doesn't know himself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe the farmhouse was cold," +Chirpy Cricket suggested.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug made no comment on that +remark.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the roof leaked," said Daddy +Longlegs.</p> + +<p>Still no sign from Mrs. Ladybug.</p> + +<p>"She found that the farmhouse wasn't +wind-proof," said Daddy Longlegs' wife.</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Ladybug didn't deny it; nor +did she say that that was so.</p> + +<p>Then Buster Bumblebee made one of +his blundering speeches.</p> + +<p>"It was a short winter, anyhow," he +said.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors couldn't help +tittering. And somehow their amusement +stung her into telling the truth about +the whole affair, right then and there.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Green and I didn't get on well +together," she confessed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV<br /> +MRS. GREEN'S MISTAKE</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Ladybug</span> spoke at last. Her listeners +crowded close about her, jostling one +another in their eagerness to hear every +word she said. For Mrs. Ladybug was +recounting her adventures at the farmhouse.</p> + +<p>"I flew in through an open window," +Mrs. Ladybug began. And she heaved a +deep sigh, as if the telling of the tale was +costing her much pain.</p> + +<p>"I said nothing to anybody," she explained, +"because I didn't wish to trouble +the family. I knew I could find my way +about the house after a little. And it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +wasn't long before I had discovered the +stairway.</p> + +<p>"I didn't walk on the stairs for fear +there might be mud on my feet," said Mrs. +Ladybug. "I didn't walk, but flew up to +the second floor and went into the first +chamber I saw. There was a fine, big +closet off that room. The door leading into +it was ajar; so I had no trouble slipping +inside it. And there, high up on a broad +shelf, I picked out the very spot where I +could have spent the winter with every +comfort in the world."</p> + +<p>At this point Mrs. Ladybug was overcome +by her feelings for a few moments. +But the company waited politely until she +could go on with her story.</p> + +<p>She soon continued.</p> + +<p>"All went well—" said Mrs. Ladybug—"all +went well until one day—this morning, +to be exact—Mrs. Green opened the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +closet door and began to brush and sweep +and wipe and dust. I heard her say that +she was doing her fall cleaning. And of +course that pleased me; for I was glad to +learn that she was a neat housekeeper.</p> + +<p>"And then—" here Mrs. Ladybug's +voice broke slightly—"and then, the first +thing I knew she spied me and cried 'Ah, +ha! A Carpet Bug!'</p> + +<p>"The next instant she whisked me off +the shelf with a brush. Of course I played +dead the moment she touched me. And I +fell into the dustpan and never so much +as wriggled a toe.</p> + +<p>"Soon afterward Mrs. Green set the +dustpan beside the window which she had +already opened. That was my chance. I +seized it. I flew out of the window. And +here I am."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug's listeners shook their +heads in sympathy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You had a narrow escape," they told +her." It's a wonder you got away."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'm +glad now that that window was open. But +for a moment I didn't much care what became +of me. To think that anybody +should mistake me for a Carpet Bug! +Mrs. Green ought to know that the Carpet +Bug family are covered with black, +white and red scales. Ugh!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ladybug shuddered. She was +smooth and shiny herself. So it wasn't +strange that she should have felt insulted.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow," she added, "Mrs. Green is +the loser. Toward spring I would have +kept her house plants free from insects. +But now, of course, she'll have to do that +herself."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the neighbors (or words to +this effect), "we're glad to see you again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +And now—tell us!—where do you expect +to spend the winter?"</p> + +<p>"I'll let you decide that," Mrs. Ladybug +replied.</p> + +<p style='text-align:center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 3em;'>THE END +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<table width="400" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr><td align="center"> +<span style="font-size: 180%; letter-spacing: .3em;">TUCK-ME-IN TALES</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 55%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%;">By ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 76%;">AUTHOR OF THE</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 76%;">SLEEPY-TIME TALES and SLUMBER-TOWN TALES</span> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"> +<span style="font-size: 76%;">Colored Wrappers and Illustrations Drawn by +HARRY L. SMITH</span> +</td></tr> +<tr><td><p> A delightful and unusual series of bird and insect +stories for boys and girls from three to eight years old, +or thereabouts.</p></td></tr> +<tr><td> +<table width="80%" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"> +THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN<br/> +THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW<br/> +THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL<br/> +THE TALE OF JASPER JAY<br/> +THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN<br/> +THE TALE OF DADDY LONG-LEGS<br/> +THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID<br/> +THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY<br/> +THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE<br/> +THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY<br/> +THE TALE OF BOBBIE BOBOLINK<br/> +THE TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET<br/> +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG<br/> +THE TALE OF REDDY WOODPECKER<br/> +THE TALE OF GRANDMA GOOSE +</td></tr> +</table> +</td></tr> +</table> +<p class='center'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <i>Publishers</i>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<table width="430" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr><td align="center"> +<span style="font-size: 180%;">THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 180%;">SERIES</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 100%;">By LILLIAN ELIZABETH ROY</span><br /> +</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"> +<span style="font-size: 76%;">Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated.</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 76%;">For Children 6 to 12 Years</span> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td> <big>This series presents early American history in a manner +that impresses the young readers. George and Martha +Washington Parke, two young descendants of the famous +General Washington, follow in play, the life of the great +American.</big> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td> +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS<br /> + + Their thrilling battles and expeditions generally end in "punishment" +lessons read by Mrs. Parke from the "Life of Washington." The culprits +listen intently, for this reading generally gives them new ideas for +further games of Indian warfare and Colonists battles. +</td></tr> + +<tr><td> +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' RELATIVES<br /> + + The Davis children visit the Parke home and join zealously in the games +of playing George Washington. So zealously, in fact, that little Jim almost +loses his scalp. +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' TRAVELS<br /> + + The children wage a fierce battle upon the roof of a hotel in New York +City. Then, visiting the Davis home in Philadelphia, the patriotic +Washingtons vanquish the Hessians on a battle-field in the empty lot back +of the Davis property. +</td></tr> +<tr><td>THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS AT SCHOOL<br /> + + After the school-house battle the Washingtons discover a band of gypsies +camping near their homes and incidentally they recover a stolen +horse which the gypsies had taken from a farmer. +</td></tr> +<tr><td>THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' HOLIDAYS<br /> + + They spend a pleasant summer on adjoining farms in Vermont. During +a voyage they try to capture a "frigate" but little Jim is caught and +about to be punished by the Captain when his confederates save him. +</td></tr> +<tr><td>THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS; FARMERS<br /> + + Nero, the donkey, had never heard of George Washington, and so the +game the children had planned after reading the story of the General's life +on his farm turned out to be quite a different game altogether. +</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class='center'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <i>Publishers</i>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px; margin-bottom: 30px;"> +<span class="caption">Endpapers<br/><br/></span> +<img src="images/fleft.jpg" width="420" height="639" alt="Front endpaper left" title="Front endpaper left" /> +<span class="caption">Left front endpaper<br/></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px; margin-bottom: 30px;"> +<img src="images/fright.jpg" width="420" height="648" alt="Front endpaper right" title="Front endpaper right" /> +<span class="caption">Right front endpaper<br/></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px; margin-bottom: 30px;"> +<img src="images/bleft.jpg" width="432" height="660" alt="Back endpaper left" title="Back endpaper left" /> +<span class="caption">Left back endpaper<br/></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 420px; margin-bottom: 30px;"> +<img src="images/bright.jpg" width="420" height="641" alt="Back endpaper right" title="Back endpaper right" /> +<span class="caption">Right back endpaper</span> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MRS. 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Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug + + +Author: Arthur Scott Bailey + + + +Release Date: December 12, 2006 [eBook #20097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG*** + + +E-text prepared by Joe Longo and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 20097-h.htm or 20097-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/0/9/20097/20097-h/20097-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/0/9/20097/20097-h.zip) + + + + + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + + + + * * * * * + + + + _TUCK-ME-IN TALES_ + (Trademark Registered) + BY + ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + AUTHOR OF + SLEEPY-TIME TALES + (Trademark Registered) + + THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN + THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW + THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL + THE TALE OF JASPER JAY + THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN + THE TALE OF DADDY LONGLEGS + THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID + THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE + THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY + THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY + THE TALE OF BOBBY BOBOLINK + THE TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET + THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + THE TALE OF REDDY WOODPECKER + THE TALE OF GRANDMOTHER GOOSE + + + + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: Mrs. Ladybug Scolds Buster Bumblebee + _Frontispiece_.--(_Page 12_)] + + + +_Tuck-Me-in Tales_ +(Trademark Registered) + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + +by + +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + +Author of +"Sleepy-Time Tales" +(Trademark Registered) +and +"Slumber-Town Tales" +(Trademark Registered) + +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith + + + + + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers +Made in the United States of America +Copyright, 1921, by +Grosset & Dunlap + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I THE POLKA DOT LADY + II BUSTER'S RESOLVE + III HIDDEN WINGS + IV RUSTY WREN HELPS + V A HARD SHELL + VI THE TRAVELER + VII A HANDSOME STRANGER + VIII SEEKING THE TRUTH + IX THAT CARPETBAG + X A BIT OF NEWS + XI THE NEW COUSIN + XII A QUEER WAY TO HELP + XIII JENNIE JUNEBUG + XIV BUMPS + XV ENOUGH! + XVI PLAYING DEAD + XVII A BRAVE GENTLEMAN +XVIII A MYSTERY + XIX THE DINNER BELL + XX FIRE! FIRE! + XXI PLANS FOR WINTER + XXII MRS. LADYBUG LEAVES +XXIII BACK AGAIN + XXIV MRS. GREEN'S MISTAKE + + + + + + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + +I + +THE POLKA DOT LADY + + +LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug was a worker. Nobody could deny that. To be sure, +she had to stop now and then to talk to her neighbors, because Mrs. +Ladybug dearly loved a bit of gossip. At the same time there wasn't +anyone in Pleasant Valley that helped Farmer Green more than she did. +She tried her hardest to keep the trees in the orchard free from +insects. + +Some of her less worthy neighbors were known sometimes to say with a +sniff, "If Mrs. Ladybug didn't enjoy her work she wouldn't care about +helping Farmer Green. If she hadn't such a big appetite she'd stop to +chat even more than she does now." + +That might seem an odd remark--unless one happened to know how Mrs. +Ladybug freed the orchard of the tiny pests that attacked it. The truth +of the matter was this: Mrs. Ladybug _ate_ the little insects that fed +upon the fruit trees. Her constant toil meant that she devoured huge +numbers of Farmer Green's enemies. + +Goodness knows what Farmer Green would have done had Mrs. Ladybug and +all her family lost their taste for that kind of fare. The orchard might +have been a sorry sight. + +Perhaps it was only to be expected that Mrs. Ladybug should have little +patience with folk that seemed lazy. She thought that Freddie Firefly +wasted too much of his time dancing in the meadow at night. She +considered Buster Bumblebee, the Queen's son, to be a useless idler, +dressed in his black velvet and gold. Having heard that Daddy Longlegs +was a harvestman, she urged him to go to work for Farmer Green at +harvest time. And as for the beautiful Betsy Butterfly, Mrs. Ladybug +found all manner of fault with her. + +Nothing made Mrs. Ladybug angrier than to see Betsy Butterfly flitting +from flower to flower in the sunshine, followed by her admirers. + +"What _can_ they see in that gaudy creature?" Mrs. Ladybug often asked +her friends. + +It will appear, from this, that Mrs. Ladybug was not always as pleasant +as she might have been. Moreover, she was something of a busybody and +too fond of prying into the affairs of others. And if she didn't happen +to approve of her neighbors, or their ways, Mrs. Ladybug never hesitated +to speak her mind. + +When she first appeared on Farmer Green's place, wearing her bright red +gown with its black spots, everyone supposed that Mrs. Ladybug was +dressed in her working clothes. And indeed she was! Nor did she ever don +any other. + +"I've no time to fritter away," she declared when somebody asked her +what she was going to wear to Betsy Butterfly's party. "If I go to the +party I'll just drop in for a few minutes as I am, in my polka dot." + +Her neighbors thought that very strange. They even whispered to one +another that they didn't believe Mrs. Ladybug had anything else to +wear. + +Nor had she. Nor did she want any. And it wasn't long before everybody +understood Mrs. Ladybug's ways. She was so earnest that they couldn't +help liking her, no matter if her remarks were a bit tart now and then. + + + + +II + +BUSTER'S RESOLVE + + +NOT only was Betsy Butterfly a beautiful creature. She was pleasant to +everybody. And almost all her neighbors were just as pleasant to her. +Mrs. Ladybug was one of the few that were sometimes disagreeable to +Betsy. For Mrs. Ladybug did not approve of her. She thought that Betsy +Butterfly was frivolous. And she frowned whenever she saw Betsy in her +beautiful costume. + +"She _never_ wears working clothes," Mrs. Ladybug often complained, when +talking to her friends. "Now, if Betsy Butterfly would only wear +something plain and serviceable, as I do, once in a while, people might +have a different opinion of her. She ought to try this hard-finished red +and black polka dot of mine. It's a wonderful piece of goods." + +One day Mrs. Ladybug was gossiping in that fashion with Mehitable Moth, +a soberly clad person who was always a bit jealous of the gorgeous +Betsy. And Mehitable Moth nodded her head to everything that little Mrs. +Ladybug said. + +"What do you think of Betsy Butterfly's wings?" Miss Moth inquired. + +"They're all for show," Mrs. Ladybug declared. "They're so flimsy and +delicate that Betsy Butterfly never dares venture out in bad weather. Of +what use would I be to Farmer Green if I had wings like hers? If I +stayed under cover whenever the sun didn't shine, the orchard would soon +be overrun with insects." + +Now, it happened that Buster Bumblebee was sipping nectar from a head of +clover near by. Of course, he wasn't listening to what Mrs. Ladybug and +Miss Moth were saying. But he couldn't help hearing their remarks. And +being a great admirer of Betsy Butterfly, he wasn't at all pleased. He +even buzzed near the two gossipers and said to them, "Can't you find +something else to talk about?" + +"Such rudeness!" Mrs. Ladybug gasped. + +"What shocking manners!" cried Miss Mehitable Moth. + +They hoped that Buster Bumblebee heard what they said. Anyhow, he flew +off in his blundering, clumsy way without speaking to them again. + +"Who is this Mrs. Ladybug, to pick flaws in the beautiful Betsy +Butterfly?" he asked himself savagely. "Who is she to find fault with +Betsy's lovely wings? If Mrs. Ladybug herself had wings, I shouldn't +think her chatter so strange. But a person with no wings has no business +expressing his views of somebody else's." + +Buster Bumblebee was so out of patience with Mrs. Ladybug that he lost +his taste for clover heads for the rest of the afternoon. And that was a +most unusual thing with him. However, he could think of nothing but Mrs. +Ladybug and her unkind speeches. And at last, meeting Betsy Butterfly +herself along towards sunset, he stopped to tell how well she was +looking and how charming her colors were. + +Betsy Butterfly was not vain. She laughed gayly and said, "You're very +kind to say those agreeable things." + +"I can't help it," he replied heartily. + +"Everybody's not like you," Betsy Butterfly told him. + +"Then you've been hearing about Mrs. Ladybug!" he cried. "Somebody has +been tattling." + +"It doesn't matter," Betsy Butterfly assured him. "Perhaps it's good for +me to know that everyone doesn't admire me." + +Buster Bumblebee didn't agree with her. + +"I'll have to speak to Mrs. Ladybug," he declared. + +"Oh, don't!" Betsy Butterfly begged him; for she was as gentle as she +was beautiful and never wanted people to quarrel on her account. + +But Buster Bumblebee had made up his mind and nothing could change it. + + + + +III + +HIDDEN WINGS + + +THE next day Buster Bumblebee set out for the orchard to find Mrs. +Ladybug. He wanted to warn her to stop talking about Betsy Butterfly. +But Buster hadn't realized that it was not an easy matter to say +anything to Mrs. Ladybug. Mrs. Ladybug always liked to do most of the +talking herself. She preferred to let others listen. + +He found her hard at work destroying insects on an old apple tree. And +when she caught sight of him Mrs. Ladybug paused in her labors. + +"Well, young man!" she exclaimed, looking at Buster severely. "Are you +idling this lovely day away? You don't seem to be making any honey." + +Buster wished that he had spoken first. He certainly had had no +intention of discussing such matters as honey making. + +"I don't need to make honey," he told Mrs. Ladybug. "The workers in our +hive provide honey enough. Maybe you didn't know that I'm of royal +blood. I'm the Queen's son. I don't have to work," he declared somewhat +hotly. + +"Rubbish!" cried Mrs. Ladybug, regarding him with a frown. "Go get +yourself some working clothes! Take off your black velvet and gold! And +save that suit for best!" + +"You don't understand," Buster tried to explain. "Being a Queen's son, +I'm expected to wear my court costume every day." + +"Nonsense!" Mrs. Ladybug retorted. "The sooner you get such silly +notions out of your head, the better off you'll be. Everybody ought to +work. Too much play is bad for folks." + +Buster Bumblebee could feel himself flushing. The neighbors were not +expected to address a Queen's son in that fashion. + +"That's exactly the way you talk about Betsy Butterfly!" he exploded. + +"Huh!" Mrs. Ladybug sniffed. "You are a worthless pair. Betsy +Butterfly's wings--" + +At this point Buster managed to interrupt her. + +"Don't talk about wings, please!" he cried. "Who are you, to talk about +wings?--when you haven't any yourself." + +Mrs. Ladybug started; and she gave him a queer look. "What's that?" she +inquired. "What's that? Say that again!" + +"You haven't any wings." + +"Ho!" she laughed. "You're mistaken. I _have_ wings." + +"Then you've left them at home," he insisted. + +Mrs. Ladybug smiled a very knowing sort of smile. When he saw it Buster +Bumblebee couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. Somehow he knew that he +had blundered. But just where he had erred he was unable to decide. + +"Watch sharp, young sir!" Mrs. Ladybug bade him. "Watch sharp and +perhaps you'll be able to learn something." + +Then Buster Bumblebee received the surprise of his life. As he watched, +little Mrs. Ladybug opened her shell-like, black-dotted, red back and +spread a pair of delicate brown wings. + +"See these?" she said to Buster Bumblebee, who gasped at her blankly. +"I've really _two_ pairs of wings, because my polka dot wing covers are +actually wings too--only folks don't usually call them by that name." + +Having spread her wings, Mrs. Ladybug decided to take a short flight. +And with Buster gazing dully after her she flitted off. + +"I'll have to tell my mother, the Queen, about this," he muttered. + + + + +IV + +RUSTY WREN HELPS + + +RUSTY WREN'S wife was getting very impatient. She was at home with her +fast-growing family of youngsters, at home in the cherry tree near +Farmer Green's chamber window. + +"Dear me!" Mrs. Wren exclaimed. "I don't see what's keeping Rusty. It's +at least a quarter of an hour since he brought any food to these +children." + +Mrs. Wren soon grew tired of waiting. + +"I'll go and find him!" she said under her breath. And telling her +nestlings that she would be back in a few minutes, she hurried off +towards the orchard. + +"I thought so!" Mrs. Wren muttered soon afterward, as she caught sight +of her husband. He was talking with Jolly Robin, in the old apple tree +where the Robin family lived. "I thought so!" + +"Have you forgotten your duty as a parent?" Mrs. Wren asked her husband +in a tart voice, dropping down on a branch right behind him. + +Rusty Wren jumped. + +"I've been here only a second or two," he faltered. "Mr. Robin and I had +a little business together." + +"So I see," said Mrs. Wren. "So I see. And now, if your business is +finished, allow me to remind you that you have six hungry sons and +daughters at home." Then Mrs. Wren twitched herself off her perch and +flew back to the cherry tree and her family. + +"I declare," Rusty Wren remarked to his friend Jolly Robin, "I must +have stayed here, talking with you, longer than I thought. Those +children have enormous appetites. I'll have to work more spryly than +ever to get them fed before sunset." + +"I know how that is," said Jolly Robin with a chuckle. Somehow he seemed +much more cheerful than his companion. "I was actually glad when our +last nestlings were big enough to leave home and hustle for themselves. +But, of course," he added, "I still keep an eye on them." + +Rusty Wren had already begun to hunt for tidbits. Almost immediately he +found an ant, which he snatched up and carried away. Back and forth he +flew, making dozens of trips between his house and the orchard. Grubs +and caterpillars, grasshoppers and spiders--he seized them wherever he +could spy them and took them home to his famishing children. + +Though he worked his hardest, Mrs. Wren hadn't a smile for him. And when +she said anything in his hearing, it was some such remark as this: "You +poor, hungry dears! It's a pity you can't have all you need to eat. I +only hope your scanty meals won't stunt your growth." + +Naturally such speeches didn't make her husband feel any more at his +ease. + +"I'll have to bring home something special, to please her," he thought. +"I wish I could find some dainty that would put her in better humor." + +So he looked all around to see what he could discover that was different +from the food he had been gathering. And it wasn't long before he gave a +chirp of delight. "Here's a pretty beetle!" he cried. "I know it will +make Mrs. Wren smile when I show it to her." + +Thereupon Rusty Wren pounced upon Mrs. Ladybug and bore her away, +struggling, in his bill. + + + + +V + +A HARD SHELL + + +RUSTY WREN hurried home, carrying Mrs. Ladybug despite her frantic +efforts to escape. She wriggled all her six legs at the same time. + +"She'll be pleased with this one," Rusty murmured, as he watched Mrs. +Ladybug's struggles. "Mrs. Wren will certainly thank me when I give her +this morsel." + +And she did. + +"How lovely!" Mrs. Wren exclaimed when Rusty gave her his captive. + +And he was so glad that he hastened away to try to find another just +like that one. But he hadn't gone far before he said, "Ugh! I hope I +haven't made a mistake. I don't like the taste of that beetle." And he +dropped down upon the ground and carefully wiped his bill upon the +grass. + +He couldn't help feeling somewhat worried. + +"I don't believe the children will notice anything wrong," he muttered. +"So far, they've never refused anything that was offered them. But if +Mrs. Wren tried to eat that beetle herself, I fear there'll be trouble." + +And there was. Rusty knew it a few minutes later, when little Mr. +Chippy's son, Chippy, Jr., came flitting up and peeped in his childish +voice, "Please, sir, Mrs. Wren wants you at once." + +There was nothing to do except to go home. And Rusty went. + +He found Mrs. Wren much upset. + +"Are you trying to poison us?" she demanded. + +"No, indeed--my love!" Rusty Wren replied meekly. + +"Well, you made a terrible mistake, then," she declared. + +Meanwhile Rusty Wren was looking all around. Yet he couldn't see the +pretty beetle (meaning Mrs. Ladybug) anywhere. "Somebody must have +swallowed it, anyhow," he thought. + +"You must be more careful," his wife told him severely. "That was a +horrid-tasting beetle that you brought home. It's lucky I discovered +that it was a queer one. The children--poor dears!--are so hungry that +any one of them would have bolted it had I offered it to him." + +"Then you ate it yourself," Rusty Wren faltered. + +"Oh, no, I didn't," said his wife. "I dropped it upon the ground. And no +doubt I'd have thrown it away, anyhow, no matter how it tasted." + +"Why?" he asked her. "I thought it was a pretty beetle." + +"It was pretty enough--I dare say," Mrs. Wren replied. "But it had a +very hard shell. It wouldn't have been safe to feed it to the children. +Nor should I have cared to eat it myself." + +"I thought it was a pretty beetle," Rusty said again. "It was such a gay +color--bright red, you know. It seemed to me it would please the +children, and you, too." + +Mrs. Wren still seemed to be somewhat out of patience. + +"When you gather food for the youngsters, never mind about the color of +it!" she exclaimed. "If you want to bring them playthings, that's +another matter. But don't fetch home any more pretty red beetles for +them to eat." + +"Very well--my love!" said Rusty Wren. And then he slipped away to hunt +for food, because the children were still clamoring for more. + +Mrs. Wren talked a good deal, afterward, about her terrible experience. +Yet she never stopped to think about the pretty beetle--about little +Mrs. Ladybug. For Mrs. Ladybug had had a dreadful fright. Luckily she +wasn't hurt. But it was a long time before she was her usual busy, able +self again. And later, when she told her friends about her adventure, +she said that she couldn't understand how Rusty came to make such a +mistake. + +"I supposed," Mrs. Ladybug declared, "that every bird in Pleasant Valley +knew I wasn't good to eat." + + + + +VI + +THE TRAVELER + + +FARMER GREEN'S garden was growing fast. The sweet corn waved and rustled +whenever a breeze swept it. The beets and carrots sent their pert tops a +little higher each day. The cabbages began to puff their heads out as if +they felt of some importance in the world. And the potato vines were +actually pretty, with their white blossoms amid the green leaves. Farmer +Green was very proud of his potatoes. He said, in Mrs. Ladybug's +hearing, that they were the best he had ever raised. + +"I must fly over to the garden and have a look at those potatoes," Mrs. +Ladybug thought. "It's always a pleasure to see flourishing crops." + +Before she found time to spare for her visit to the garden a traveler +entered the orchard one day. At least, he had every appearance of having +come from other parts. For he carried a traveling bag--an old-fashioned +carpetbag--and he seemed to have lost his way. + +As soon as Mrs. Ladybug saw him she couldn't help thinking what a +handsome person he was. He wore a yellow coat. And instead of being +spotted with black, as her gown was, it was striped. + +"Good morning!" said the stranger. + +"Good morning!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "Can I be of any service to you?" + +The stranger took off his cap. He was a most polite chap. + +"Perhaps you can help me," he replied. + +"I'm looking for Farmer Green's vegetable garden. Do you know where it +is?" + +"Indeed I do!" Mrs. Ladybug cried. "It's at the end of this orchard, +just beyond the fence." + +"And the potato patch--I suppose I'll have no trouble finding that?" the +stranger went on. + +"Follow your nose!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "You're headed right for it now." + +The stranger thanked her. And he was about to move on. But of course +Mrs. Ladybug wanted to talk more than that before he got away. + +"The potatoes are fine this season," she remarked. + +The stranger looked greatly pleased. + +"That's good news," he told her. "Have you seen them yourself?" + +"Not yet!" Mrs. Ladybug answered. "But I heard Farmer Green say they +were fine. And he ought to know if anybody does." + +"He certainly ought," the stranger agreed. Then, thanking Mrs. Ladybug +once more, he hurried toward the garden. + +"One moment!" she called. There were several questions that she wanted +to ask the newcomer. She was wildly curious to know who he was and where +he came from and what business had brought him to Pleasant Valley. + +But he couldn't have heard her. Anyhow, he was out of sight in no time, +leaving Mrs. Ladybug almost bursting with the questions that had sprung +to her lips. + +"He might have waited a second," she muttered. "But if he has traveled a +long way no doubt he's eager to get to his journey's end." + +Luckily Mrs. Ladybug had kept her eyes open when talking with the +gentleman in the striped yellow coat. And as he turned to leave her she +looked closely at his carpetbag. On one side of it she read, in big +letters: + + P. BUG + COLORADO + + + + +VII + +A HANDSOME STRANGER + + +LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug was too excited to work. Ever since meeting the +stranger in the orchard she had been able to think of nothing but him. +Perhaps if she hadn't happened to notice his carpetbag, with the words, +"P. Bug, Colorado," upon its side, she might not have been so stirred +up. + +Anyhow, Mrs. Ladybug kept wondering what business had brought the +stranger to Pleasant Valley. She wished she could find out what he was +going to do in the potato patch. She wanted to ask him why he chose to +have black stripes on his yellow coat, instead of spots. How long had +he been traveling? When did he expect to leave the farm? There was no +end to the questions that Mrs. Ladybug burned to put to him. + +Meanwhile she told the news to everybody she saw. For Mrs. Ladybug +dearly loved to spread choice morsels of gossip. It pleased her mightily +to tell her neighbors something they didn't know. + +People listened to her story with great interest. They were eager to +learn all about the stranger, whom Mrs. Ladybug declared to be very +handsome. + +Mrs. Ladybug made her news last as long as possible in the telling. She +made her neighbors wait a bit for every fact, so they would enjoy it to +the full. And whenever she stopped anyone and told him about the +newcomer, Mrs. Ladybug kept the best part until the last. She always +ended her remarks by saying, with a most important air, "His name is +Mr. P. Bug. And he comes from Colorado." + +That never failed to impress her listeners--which was exactly what Mrs. +Ladybug wanted. + +Since nobody asked her how she knew the traveler's name, and where he +came from, Mrs. Ladybug did not trouble herself to explain that she had +read both name and place upon his old-fashioned carpetbag. + +There was one thing that puzzled her slightly, when she paused to think +about it. How did it happen that the elegant stranger carried a most +unfashionable bag? + +Mrs. Ladybug soon settled that question to her own satisfaction. + +"He's like me!" she decided. "Mr. P. Bug is a hard worker and he doesn't +care for show. He's a plain person. No doubt he put on that yellow coat +to travel in, because it's his best. But he'll wear overalls, perhaps, +if he starts to work in the potato patch--as I suspect he will." + +At last, however, Mrs. Ladybug met with a rude shock. She was telling +her news to Peppery Polly Bumblebee, one of the workers in the hive +ruled by Buster Bumblebee's mother, the well-known Queen. And to Mrs. +Ladybug's amazement, when she related the name of the stranger, and the +place he came from, Peppery Polly laughed in her face. + +"Mr. P. Bug is not from Colorado," said Peppery Polly Bumblebee. "He has +never been off this farm." + +Well, Mrs. Ladybug was staggered. She gasped. She clung to a leaf to +keep from failing. + +"I don't believe that!" she cried, as soon as she could speak. "I'll +find Mr. Bug himself and learn the truth from him." + + + + +VIII + +SEEKING THE TRUTH + + +MRS. LADYBUG was determined to know the truth about Mr. P. Bug, the +newcomer. And as soon as she had fully recovered from the rude blow that +Peppery Polly Bumblebee dealt her, she set out for Farmer Green's garden +and the potato patch. + +For some time Mrs. Ladybug flew back and forth above the potato vines. +It was not an easy matter to find so small a person as Mr. Bug in so big +a field. But she discovered him at last. And she was somewhat surprised +to see him still in his elegant yellow coat, with the black stripes. +For Mrs. Ladybug had expected him to be hard at work, in overalls. + +To be sure, Mr. P. Bug did appear to be busy about something or other. +He was so busy that he scarcely so much as glanced at Mrs. Ladybug when +she spoke to him, mumbling "Good morning!" in answer to her greeting, +but not taking the trouble to doff his cap. + +"He's at work anyhow," thought Mrs. Ladybug. "He's helping Farmer +Green." Then she alighted on the potato vine where Mr. Bug was clinging. + +"Don't you remember me?" she asked. + +He shook his head. His mouth seemed to be full of something--Mrs. +Ladybug wasn't sure what. + +"Don't you recall speaking to me one time?" she persisted. + +After swallowing, he answered. + +"I can't say I do!" + +"I'm the person that told you how to get to this potato patch," Mrs. +Ladybug explained. "When you met me in the orchard, on your way from +Colorado, you stopped and asked me to direct you to Farmer Green's +potato patch." + +For a moment or two Mr. Bug seemed puzzled--especially when Mrs. Ladybug +mentioned Colorado. But by the time Mrs. Ladybug had finished speaking, +he nodded. + +"So I did!" he exclaimed. "I had forgotten all about that. Though now +that you speak of it, I do remember meeting a very talkative dame +dressed in a polka dot. Possibly I spoke to you about my settling in the +potato patch for the summer?" + +"No!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "But I thought I'd find you here. You seemed in +a great hurry to reach this place." + +"So I was!" said Mr. P. Bug. "And I'm glad I came. This is the finest +potato patch in the whole valley--so I have been told." + +"You must have seen a good many others on your journey from Colorado," +Mrs. Ladybug ventured. "It's a long way from there to here, I suppose." + +"I suppose it is," Mr. P. Bug murmured. He seemed to be a bit impatient, +as if he were in haste to return to his work and didn't care to talk any +longer. + +"I suppose you were weeks on the road," Mrs. Ladybug went on. "Are you +going back to Colorado after you've finished helping Farmer Green with +the potato crop?" + +"Colorado!" he blurted. "I don't know where that place is. I've never +been there in all my life." + + + + +IX + +THAT CARPETBAG + + +MR. P. BUG'S statement amazed Mrs. Ladybug. He said he had never been in +Colorado. More than that, he declared he didn't even know where the +place was. + +Now, Peppery Polly Bumblebee had told Mrs. Ladybug that Mr. P. Bug was +no stranger in Pleasant Valley. But Mrs. Ladybug had not believed what +she said. Even hearing Mr. Bug's own words, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't help +doubting them. + +"Can it be true--" she asked him--"can it be true that you've never been +off this farm?" + +Mr. Bug quite plainly wished that she would go away and stop bothering +him. + +"It can be--it _is_ true," he replied carelessly. + +At last Mrs. Ladybug had to believe what she heard. + +"Then you're a fraud!" she cried. '"You're a cheat! For I read on your +carpetbag, when we met in the orchard, 'P. Bug. Colorado.'" + +"Oh!" said Mr. Bug with a smile. "Oh! So _that's_ where you got your odd +notion. I wondered how you happened to make such a mistake." + +"A perfectly natural mistake, I'm sure!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed +indignantly. + +"Well, I dare say it is," he admitted. "But you see, that's not my +carpetbag. At least, I didn't get it new. It belonged to my +great-great-great-grandfather. Indeed, I'm not sure he wasn't even +still greater than I've said. _He_ lived in Colorado once--so I've been +told. But I was born and raised on this farm." + +"If all this is true," said Mrs. Ladybug, "what were you doing with that +carpetbag? And why did you ask me the way to this potato patch?" + +"I'm in a hurry to get to work," Mr. Bug remarked. "I'll answer just +this once. When we met in the orchard I had been away on a little +vacation. And Farmer Green's potato patch--so I learned--had been moved +since last year." + +"Dear me!" Mrs. Ladybug wailed. "People will laugh at me for having made +such a serious mistake." + +But Mr. P. Bug didn't say anything about that. + +"Good-by!" he grunted. And he crawled under a leaf, out of sight. + +For once in her life Mrs. Ladybug wasn't eager to talk to her neighbors. +On the contrary, she seemed to avoid them. But Peppery Polly Bumblebee +called on her and asked her if she had seen the handsome stranger, Mr. +P. Bug. + +"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "I've talked with him. And it's true that he +has always lived here. There was a slight mistake about his carpetbag. +It belonged to one of his ancestors. And since it bears his ancestor's +name and address, naturally I thought they both belonged to this Mr. +Bug." + +Peppery Polly laughed. + +"If you don't believe what I tell you, you can ask him yourself!" Mrs. +Ladybug snapped. "He's at work over in the potato patch, helping Farmer +Green." + +Peppery Polly laughed again, more unpleasantly than ever. + +"_Helping_ Farmer Green!" she exclaimed. "He's eating the leaves off the +vines as fast as he can. I know that gentleman. He's Mr. Potato Bug. And +he's one of the greatest pests on the farm." + + + + +X + +A BIT OF NEWS + + +CHIRPY CRICKET was looking for Mrs. Ladybug. He had news for her. Now, +it wasn't often that anybody could tell Mrs. Ladybug anything. Usually +she was the one that told other people bits of gossip. So Chirpy Cricket +was specially eager to find her and make known to her what he had +learned. + +It was about Mrs. Ladybug's cousin. At least, there was a person living +in the vegetable garden who claimed to be a cousin of Mrs. Ladybug's. + +Chirpy found Mrs. Ladybug in the orchard. But strange to say, she +didn't seem at all interested in his news. + +"I dare say I have a cousin in the garden," she told him. "Ours is a big +family. I have more cousins than I could ever count. They're as +plentiful as the leaves on the trees. I can't stop my work to go and see +this one. If I called on all my cousins I'd never have time to help +Farmer Green." + +Chirpy Cricket looked disappointed. He had expected Mrs. Ladybug to show +great interest in what he told her. She certainly always thought that +others ought to pay strict attention when she related the happenings +about the farm. And she always wanted them to act surprised and pleased, +too. + +"Aren't you going to the garden?" Chirpy Cricket demanded. "Don't you +intend to be polite to your cousin?" + +"Humph!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "She can't be any busier than I am. Why +doesn't she come to the orchard to call on me?" + +"She can't do that," he explained. "Your cousin says that it wouldn't be +etiquette. She says you've lived on the farm longer than she has." + +"Rubbish!" Mrs. Ladybug scolded. "I'm a plain working person. There's +too much to do, during the summer, for me to bother with such nonsense." + +Chirpy Cricket found her rather discouraging. Still he hadn't given up +hope of making Mrs. Ladybug change her mind. + +"I fear you're making a mistake," he remarked. "You ought to see this +cousin. She's different from any of your family that I've ever met +before." + +"How is she different?" Mrs. Ladybug demanded, pausing in her pursuit of +insects on the leaves of the apple tree. At last she began to show some +signs of interest. + +"I don't know," Chirpy Cricket replied. "I can't say. Maybe it's her +clothes that make her look strange." + +Mrs. Ladybug then started to ask him questions--which was the best of +proof that her curiosity had been aroused. + +"What sort of gown was my cousin wearing?" she inquired. "Was it a red +polka dot, like mine?" + +"I don't remember," he answered. + +"What colors did she have on?" + +"I didn't notice," said Chirpy Cricket. + +Mrs. Ladybug gave him a look of disgust. + +"Well, if that isn't just like a man!" she spluttered. "Men never can +tell how a body's dressed. If I want to learn anything more about this +cousin of mine I suppose I'll have to go and see her with my own eyes." + +And that afternoon she went to the vegetable garden. + + + + +XI + +THE NEW COUSIN + + +FOR Mrs. Ladybug, finding her unknown cousin in Farmer Green's vegetable +garden was not an easy task. Since Chirpy Cricket hadn't been able to +tell Mrs. Ladybug what colors her cousin wore, Mrs. Ladybug didn't know +what to expect. + +"I wish I knew whether she was dressed in red, black, blue, yellow or +some other color," Mrs. Ladybug complained to herself. "But I don't know +that. I don't even know if she carries an umbrella." + +There was nothing Mrs. Ladybug could do except to ask everyone she met. +So she inquired right and left if anybody happened to be acquainted +with her cousin. And at last Betsy Butterfly came to Mrs. Ladybug's +help. + +"Look among the squash vines!" Betsy Butterfly advised her. "I noticed +somebody there that looks a bit like you. Maybe it's your cousin." + +That was very kind of Betsy Butterfly. Mrs. Ladybug was no friend of +hers. Indeed, Mrs. Ladybug had often found fault with Betsy for being +too pleasure-loving. But Betsy Butterfly was not one of the kind that +nurses grudges. She was only too glad to do Mrs. Ladybug a favor. + +Mrs. Ladybug thanked her--albeit somewhat grumpily. Then, flying to the +place where Farmer Green had planted his squashes, she found a person at +whom she stared hard for a few moments. + +"Do you want to speak to me?" this strange lady inquired. She was a gay +appearing creature, dressed in yellow, with black patches on it. + +"I can't tell whether I care to talk to you or not," said Mrs. Ladybug. +"It all depends. If you're my cousin, I do. If you aren't, I don't." + +The strange lady laughed lightly. + +"I wonder--" she replied--"I wonder if you are Mrs. Ladybug." + +"I am," said Mrs. Ladybug. + +"Then I'm your cousin!" cried the other. "At last I've met you!" And she +rushed towards Mrs. Ladybug with every intention of embracing her. + +Mrs. Ladybug backed hastily away. + +"Not so fast!" she exclaimed. "If you really are my cousin, well and +good! But how do I know that you aren't an impostor?" + +"A _what_?" the strange lady faltered. She was, quite naturally, +somewhat taken aback by Mrs. Ladybug's coolness. + +"How do I know that you're not a cheat?" Mrs. Ladybug asked her. "Have +you any references?" + +"Any _what_?" stammered the would-be cousin. + +"Any letters about yourself," Mrs. Lady explained. "For all I know, you +may be dissembling." + +"I may be _whatting_?" quavered the lady in yellow. + +"Dear me!" Mrs. Ladybug muttered to herself. "Must I address this person +in words of one syllable?" Then, to her companion she said bluntly, +"Tell me why you think you and I are related!" + +"That's easy!" cried the yellow one. "I belong to the Ladybug family." + +Now, you might think that would have satisfied Mrs. Ladybug. But she +wasn't convinced yet. + +"My family--" she declared--"my family are all famous workers. If you're +one of us, where are your working clothes? Where's your red and black +polka dot?" + +The cousin tittered. She seemed to be a silly sort of creature. + +"I haven't any red and black polka dot," she replied. "These are my +working clothes that I'm wearing now." + +Mrs. Ladybug shook her head. It was plain that she didn't approve of +those clothes--nor of their wearer. + + + + +XII + +A QUEER WAY TO HELP + + +MRS. LADYBUG wished that she hadn't come to the vegetable garden to see +the person who called herself Mrs. Ladybug's cousin. She wasn't at all +the sort of relation that Mrs. Ladybug cared to have. + +Although the stranger in yellow was most agreeable, somehow Mrs. Ladybug +disliked her exceedingly. And strange to say, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't have +told exactly what it was in her cousin that displeased her. It wasn't +alone the yellow gown that the new cousin wore. Nor her simpering smile. +Nor her trifling manner. It was something else--something that made +Mrs. Ladybug feel that she was not to be trusted. + +"I must hurry back to the orchard," Mrs. Ladybug announced. "There's +work waiting for me there. I really ought not to have left it to come to +see you." + +"Don't take your work so seriously!" her cousin advised her. "You ought +to take more time for amusement. I hope you'll come to see me often." + +Mrs. Ladybug's opinion of the stranger sank even lower. + +"If some of us weren't earnest about our work the rest of the world +would have a sorry time," she declared. "I may as well tell you that I +shall not be able to call on you again. I shall be too busy. And there's +no use of my urging you to come to see me, because of course you have +your work to do too." + +"Oh, naturally!" said Mrs. Ladybug's cousin with an odd smile. "Still, I +could leave it once in a while to make a cousinly call." + +"It won't be necessary," Mrs. Ladybug told her. "If I need you, I'll +send for you." And she said to herself grimly, under her breath, "She'll +never hear from me." + +"If I can help you at any time, don't fail to let me know," the cousin +told Mrs. Ladybug. "Doubtless I could be of some service, though I'd +always rather work on vines--squash and pumpkin preferred." + +Mrs. Ladybug thanked her. "I shouldn't want her helping me," she +thought. "I'll warrant she's so careless that she would do more harm +than good." And Mrs. Ladybug looked at the vine on which they were +standing. + +"I see you're helping Farmer Green with his squash vines at present," +she remarked aloud. + +"Yes!" said her cousin. "I have this one almost finished." + +"Good!" said Mrs. Ladybug. And she took a closer look at the vine. It +seemed far from healthy. In fact she noticed that the leaves were +tattered and torn. + +"What are these great holes in the squash leaves?" she inquired. + +Her cousin fidgeted and made no reply. Glancing at her, Mrs. Ladybug +thought she was growing a bit red in the face. + +Then all at once Mrs. Ladybug guessed the dreadful truth. + +"You've been _eating_ these leaves!" she cried. + +Her cousin tossed her head. + +"A person has to eat something," she retorted. + +Mrs. Ladybug threw up her hands. + +"I _knew_ you weren't trustworthy," she muttered. "I _knew_ you weren't +the sort of relation I'd want anything to do with." + +Then Mrs. Ladybug left her. + +Later, when Chirpy Cricket met her, he asked her if she had seen her +cousin who was spending the summer among the squash vines. And he was +astonished when Mrs. Ladybug glared at him and exclaimed: + +"Never mention her to me again!" + + + + +XIII + +JENNIE JUNEBUG + + +JENNIE JUNEBUG was a frolicsome fat person. And she was a great joker. +The joke that she loved most was this: she loved to bump into people +that were flying through the air--to bump into them and knock them, +spinning, upon the ground. + +Being much heavier than many of her neighbors, Jennie Junebug suffered +little from such collisions. And she never could understand why anybody +should find fault with her favorite sport. If a body objected to her +rough play Jennie Junebug only laughed heartily. + +"I don't mind when I take a tumble," she would retort. "So why should +you?" + +And if the sufferer complained that it wasn't the tumble that hurt, so +much as the shock of her hard, bulky self, Jennie would shake with +merriment and crash into him again. + +Really, it was useless to try to reason with her. The safest way was to +avoid her if possible, especially after dark. For then was the time that +she preferred for her rowdy tricks. + +Mrs. Ladybug couldn't abide her. Not only did she dislike Jennie +Junebug's jokes. She disapproved of her treatment of Farmer Green. For +Jennie Junebug did everything she could to ruin the trees on the farm. +She ate their leaves. And that was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug couldn't +forgive in anybody. + +"It's a shame--" Mrs. Ladybug often said--"it's a shame, the way Jennie +Junebug riddles the foliage. Here I work my hardest to save the leaves +by ridding them of tiny insects that feed upon them--insects that suck +the juices from the leaves and make them wither. And there's Jennie +Junebug, trying her best to destroy the leaves that I save.... It's +enough to make an honest person weep." + +Perhaps Jennie Junebug wasn't so bad, at heart, as Mrs. Ladybug thought +her. Maybe she was merely a gay, careless creature who never stopped to +consider that she was injuring Farmer Green when she hurt his trees. At +least, that was what some of Mrs. Ladybug's other neighbors sometimes +remarked. + +But Mrs. Ladybug never could believe that Jennie had a single good +trait--unless it was good nature. For she was always ready with a laugh, +no matter what anybody said to her. + +It was seldom that Mrs. Ladybug hesitated to speak her mind right out to +a person if she happened to disapprove of him. But she had always kept +out of Jennie Junebug's way. Jennie was many times bigger than little +Mrs. Ladybug. Mrs. Ladybug trembled to think what might happen to her if +Jennie should ever hurl her fat body against Mrs. Ladybug with a dull, +sickening thud. + +"If that ever happens," Mrs. Ladybug thought, "I fear I'll never be able +to do another day's work for Farmer Green. It might be the end of me." + +Now, in spite of her fears, Mrs. Ladybug had even more than her share of +courage. And as time went on, and she saw the awful havoc that Jennie +Junebug played with the trees, Mrs. Ladybug reached the point where she +couldn't any longer stand by silently and let Jennie Junebug riddle the +leaves. "Something will have to be done!" Mrs. Ladybug declared to her +friends. "I can't compel Jennie Junebug to stop. She's too big for me to +handle. + +"I'm going to have a talk with her," said Mrs. Ladybug. + + + + +XIV + +BUMPS + + +SOME busybody went straight to Jennie Junebug and told her what Mrs. +Ladybug had said. + +"Mrs. Ladybug is going to have a talk with you," this meddling person +told the fat and frolicsome Jennie. "She wants you to stop eating +leaves. She says you are doing your best--or your worst--to hurt the +trees that she is trying to save. She claims that you are no friend of +Farmer Green's. She--" + +Jennie Junebug broke in upon her companion with a loud laugh. + +"I'd like to have Mrs. Ladybug try to speak to me," she chuckled. "If +she does, I'll have fun with her. I'll knock her over. I'll send her +spinning." + +Jennie's friend seemed somewhat alarmed at that. + +"Now, be careful!" she begged the fat lady. "Don't forget that Mrs. +Ladybug is a little creature! You'll injure her if you're too rough with +her." + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Jennie Junebug, and also, "Ha! ha!" She had to stop +and hold her sides, while she rocked back and forth. "This is a great +joke!" Jennie cried. "Imagine Mrs. Ladybug trying to talk with me! Why, +she'll be lucky if she can get her breath after I've flown into her +once." + +"Dear me!" said the tale-bearer. "I wish I hadn't mentioned this matter +to you. Of course, everybody knows that Mrs. Ladybug talks too much. And +I thought maybe you'd enjoy meeting her and making her keep still. But +I had no idea you would do her any harm." + +"Bless you!" cried Jennie Junebug. "I wouldn't harm a hair of her head!" +And she roared with laughter, for she had made a joke. You see, Mrs. +Ladybug had no hair. She was quite bald. + +Well, Mrs. Ladybug found Jennie Junebug that very evening. She knew that +Jennie wasn't often seen except after sunset. For Jennie loved to see +the lights twinkling through the gloom. And she delighted in surprising +people in the dark, by flying _bang!_ into them and knocking them down. +So Mrs. Ladybug didn't leave her work and set out to seek this dangerous +fat lady until twilight came. + +"Good evening!" said Mrs. Ladybug as soon as she spied Miss Junebug. +"Have you a few minutes to spare? If you have, I'd like to talk with +you." + +Jennie Junebug grinned broadly. + +"I can give you a few seconds of my valuable time," she replied. "I was +just going over to the meadow, for Freddie Firefly will be there soon. +He dances in the meadow every night. And I like to see his flickering +light--and watch him bounce when I hit him. So you'll have to talk fast, +for I'm in a hurry," said Jennie Junebug. + +"Good!" thought Mrs. Ladybug. "She's going to listen to me, after all." +And then she fixed Miss Junebug with her eye and spoke to her severely. + +"Don't you think you ought--" she began. + +And then Jennie Junebug bumped into her, sending Mrs. Ladybug sprawling. + +"Don't I think I ought to frolic with you?" Jennie cried. "Certainly I +do." + +Mrs. Ladybug managed to rise off the ground. + +"Won't you please--" she started to say. + +"Won't I please knock you down? Of course I will!" Jennie Junebug +exclaimed. And thereupon she struck Mrs. Ladybug again. + +Poor Mrs. Ladybug was much shaken. In her fall she had dropped her +umbrella, and her handkerchief too. But she didn't stop to pick them up. +She scrambled to her feet and rose into the air again, angrier than she +had ever been before in all her life. + +"I'll thank you--" she spluttered. + +"You'll thank me if I'll do that again, eh?" said Jennie Junebug, +interrupting her rudely. "Very well! Here goes!" This time she gave Mrs. +Ladybug a terrific blow. She dropped upon the grass, where she clung to +a blade and swayed up and down for a few moments, dizzy and trembling. +And she was gasping so hard, in order to get her breath, that she +couldn't speak. + +Watching her, Jennie Junebug shrieked with laughter. Then, seeing +Freddie Firefly's light flashing in the meadow, Miss Junebug hurried +away. + + + + +XV + +ENOUGH! + + +"SUCH impudence!" Mrs. Ladybug gasped, as soon as she could speak. "That +terrible Jennie Junebug didn't care whether I ever got my breath or +not." + +After bowling Mrs. Ladybug over three times, Miss Junebug had flown +away, leaving poor little Mrs. Ladybug clinging to a blade of grass and +wondering if she would be able to move again. + +Mrs. Ladybug had attempted to take Jennie Junebug to task. She had +intended to berate Jennie for devouring the leaves of Farmer Green's +trees and to order her to stop such damage at once. But Jennie Junebug +hadn't allowed her to say much. In her playful way she had knocked the +breath out of Mrs. Ladybug. + +"I must try some other plan," thought Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'll have to +have help." So she sent Miss Moth over to the meadow, to find Freddie +Firefly and ask him if he wouldn't come to the orchard because Mrs. +Ladybug wanted to talk with him. + +He came. He came at once; for he saw Jennie Junebug looking for him. And +he was only too glad to escape her attentions. He found her too rough to +suit him. + +Mrs. Ladybug quickly explained her difficulty. + +"What shall I do?" she asked him. + +"I don't know," he answered. "I can't do a thing with Jennie Junebug. +She knocks me down whenever I meet her. She annoys me." + +"It's not so much myself I'm thinking of," said Mrs. Ladybug. "It's +Farmer Green's fruit trees that I'm disturbed about. Jennie Junebug eats +the leaves. I must put an end to that." + +"I have it!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed suddenly. "I'll ask her why she +doesn't bump into Solomon Owl!" + +Mrs. Ladybug didn't seem to care for his suggestion. "What good would +that do?" she inquired. + +"Ah!" he said. "Solomon Owl wouldn't let her browbeat him. He'd soon +cure her of her rude pranks." + +"Then please speak to her, and to Solomon Owl at once--that is, if you +dare to," said Mrs. Ladybug. + +"I'm not afraid of him," Freddie Firefly boasted. "He won't touch me. +He's a-scared of my light." And then Freddie Firefly flitted away. + +He found Solomon Owl easily enough. He had heard Solomon's _Wha-wha_, +_whoo-ah_! booming from the edge of the woods. And he soon persuaded +Solomon to fly down into the meadow. + +Solomon Owl sailed above the waving grass, while Freddie Firefly spoke +to Jennie Junebug. + +She liked his scheme. She thought it would be a great joke to bump into +solemn Solomon Owl. And for once she forgot to fling herself against +Freddie Firefly. + +Only a little while later she struck Solomon Owl with an awful thud. To +her huge surprise she fell headlong, while he merely paused in his low +flight. + +"Who struck me?" he bawled. + +"Jennie Junebug!" said Freddie Firefly. + +"Where is she now?" Solomon hooted. "If I find her I'll fix her." + +Jennie Junebug heard everything he said. She was lying hidden in the +grass near-by. And she wouldn't have come out for anything. + +"I'll keep an eye out for her," Solomon Owl announced. "I come to the +meadow often, a-mousing." + +Jennie Junebug kept still as a mouse, herself, until Solomon had gone +back to the woods. Then she stole forth from her hiding place, showing a +battered face to her friends. + +"Good-by, everybody!" she called. "I'm going to move. I'm going 'way +down to the end of the valley to live.... I'm off already," she added, +as she spread her wings. + +Nobody ever saw Jennie Junebug on Farmer Green's place again. + +And Mrs. Ladybug was more than satisfied. + + + + +XVI + +PLAYING DEAD + + +FARMER GREEN'S apple trees looked green and flourishing. Thanks to Mrs. +Ladybug--and some of her relations--there was scarcely an insect left on +the leaves. And since there was no more work to be done in the orchard +just then, and nothing for her to eat, Mrs. Ladybug settled among the +raspberry bushes near the duck pond. She said that they needed her +attention. + +One day she paused in her labors, feeling that she had earned a few +minutes' rest. And she dropped out of the bushes and strayed close to +the water's edge. + +A light breeze ruffled the surface of the duck pond into tiny waves. + +"What a terrible, rough sea there is to-day!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured as +she gazed upon the troubled water. "Perhaps, if I cling to a tall grass +stalk, I can get a better view of it." + +She soon found a stalk that grew high above all the rest. Crawling to +the very top of it Mrs. Ladybug was able to look far out over the face +of the pond. + +"Goodness!" she said to herself. "I'm glad I'm not out there in a ship." + +A few moments later she happened to glance down near the shore. And +there, to her horror, she beheld a frog. + +He was not a big frog. On the contrary, he was the tiniest frog that +Mrs. Ladybug had ever seen. He was sitting on a lily pad, singing with a +small, shrill voice, which sounded exactly as if you were tapping two +marbles together. + +Now, Mrs. Ladybug had all her life stood in great fear of frogs. She +didn't dare move, as she gazed at this one with eyes that popped almost +out of her head. + +He was a brownish person, with a yellow throat which he puffed out like +a bag as he sang. And his skin was so rough that Mrs. Ladybug shuddered +as she looked at it. Her own was very, very smooth. + +All at once the frog looked up and spied Mrs. Ladybug staring at him. + +She would have shrieked--had she been able to. + +Then Mrs. Ladybug did the thing that she always did whenever she had a +great fright. She played dead. She pulled her feet under her body, out +of sight, and stuck, motionless, to the grass stalk. + +Nothing happened. And she was about to take another sly look at the +frog when something moved the stalk of grass. It was only the wind. But +Mrs. Ladybug didn't know that. She was sure that the frog had touched +it. + +Then Mrs. Ladybug played her next trick. She let go of the stalk and +dropped to the ground, where she lay upon her side as if she would never +move again. + +Once more she kept quite still. And since nobody disturbed her, after a +time she opened her eyes. + +She found herself looking straight into those of the tiny frog, who +still sat upon his lily pad in the duck pond. + +Mrs. Ladybug shut her eyes instantly. She only hoped that the frog +hadn't noticed her action. + + + + +XVII + +A BRAVE GENTLEMAN + + +MRS. LADYBUG didn't know that the frog she saw was a very timid fellow. +His name was Mr. Cricket Frog. He liked to sit on a lily pad and sing. +And his singing sounded a good deal like the music that Chirpy Cricket +made. In fact, that was the reason for his odd name. + +Mr. Cricket Frog had a trick not unlike the one that Mrs. Ladybug +herself played upon him. Whenever a fish, or any other enemy, came near +him, if he hadn't time to hide in the mud at the bottom of the pond Mr. +Cricket Frog played dead. He would float in the water as if lifeless, +until his enemy had gone off about his business. + +He was so timid--this Mr. Cricket Frog--that when he saw a stranger he +would sometimes play dead. And that was exactly what happened when he +caught sight of Mrs. Ladybug as she clung to the grass stalk near the +edge of the duck pond and stared at him. + +Of course Mrs. Ladybug didn't know all this. When she shut her eyes, and +pulled her feet under her body, she wasn't aware that Mr. Cricket Frog +was just as alarmed as she was. Having closed her eyes, she couldn't see +him jump into the water and float. She couldn't see him climb out upon +the lily pad again and gaze at her. + +Now, the moment Mrs. Ladybug looked at the frog the second time he took +fright anew. Once more he sprang from his seat. Once more he floated +like a chip upon the surface of the pond. Once more he crawled back to +his seat, after he had made up his mind that the danger had passed. + +So they played dead for a long time--both Mrs. Ladybug and Mr. Cricket +Frog. And if he hadn't at last made up his mind that she was afraid of +him, they might still be trying to fool each other. + +"Pardon me, madam!" Mr. Cricket Frog called to Mrs. Ladybug. "I see +you're a bit timid. I assure you I shall not harm you." + +At that Mrs. Ladybug opened her eyes and looked at him. Slowly she +thrust her feet out from under her body. And then she tried her wings. +They were as good as ever. Her fall had not injured them. + +"You gave me a terrible fright," Mrs. Ladybug told him. + +Mr. Cricket Frog was very bold now. + +"Why were you afraid of me?" he asked her. "Do I look fierce?" he +inquired with a hopeful smile, as if he hoped that he did, but scarcely +dared think so. + +"I'm afraid of all frogs," Mrs. Ladybug explained. "Now, there's +Ferdinand Frog--" + +"A rascal!" Mr. Cricket Frog cried. "But, madam, I'm not in the least +like him. I wouldn't hurt you. In fact, I'd protect you." + +His words pleased Mrs. Ladybug. She said that thereafter she should +always feel safe, with him in the neighborhood. + +Mr. Cricket Frog bowed gallantly, with his hand on his heart. + +And Mrs. Ladybug went away without guessing that he had himself played +dead because he had been in terror of her. + +"What a brave gentleman he is!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured. + + + + +XVIII + +A MYSTERY + + +THERE was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug dreaded more than any other. That +was--fire. The slightest whiff of smoke sent her into a flutter of +alarm. The sight of a blaze made her almost frantic. + +Perhaps Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors--more than she--were to be blamed for +her fear. Some of them had an unkind way of frightening her. When they +found her a bit too prying with her countless questions about this, +that, and the other matter that did not concern her, they said to her: + +"Aren't you worried, Mrs. Ladybug? What if your house were on fire? +Wouldn't your children burn?" + +Such questions never failed to send Mrs. Ladybug hurrying away. + +After a while people began to wonder where Mrs. Ladybug went when she +dashed away like that. Nobody seemed to know where she lived. They +supposed that she must fly to her home, wherever it was. + +To everybody's surprise, Mrs. Ladybug appeared to want to keep the site +of her house a secret from all her friends. When they asked her, +point-blank, where her house was, she always pretended not to hear the +question and left them. Or she would begin to ask questions of her own +choosing, without answering theirs. + +"Humph!" said some people. "Mrs. Ladybug likes to pry into our affairs. +She wants to know all about our business. And when she learns anything +about anybody else she can't rest until she has told it to the whole +neighborhood." + +The more Mrs. Ladybug's friends thought about her house, the harder they +tried to discover its whereabouts. Sometimes they even mentioned _fire_ +to her and then tried to follow her when she hurried off. But she always +managed to give them the slip before she had gone far. + +Now and then somebody or other thought he had found Mrs. Ladybug's +house. But in the end somebody else was sure to prove that he was +mistaken. + +Once Freddie Firefly announced with great pride that at last he knew +where Mrs. Ladybug was rearing her family. + +"Her house," he explained, "is in a hole in the ground, in the meadow." + +And that night he led Miss Mehitable Moth to the spot, lighting the way +with his flickering gleams. + +She soon pointed out his mistake. He had led her to the doorway of the +Bumblebee family, who were all sound asleep inside their crowded house. + +After that Freddie Firefly had to listen to a good many titters from his +friends. + +"The idea!" they would say. "Mrs. Ladybug must have a much bigger house +than the Bumblebee family's. She couldn't squeeze her children into such +small quarters as theirs. Why, she has more children than she can +count." + + + + +XIX + +THE DINNER BELL + + +THERE was great excitement in Farmer Green's orchard. The neighbors came +a-flying and a-running and a-crawling from all directions. And little +Mrs. Ladybug was the cause of the hurly-burly. She had appeared with a +strange, flaring object hanging by a cord from her waist--if she could +be said to have a waist. The queer, dangling thing had a handle at its +upper end. And when Mrs. Ladybug moved a jingling, jangling sound might +have been heard. + +In no time at all a crowd had gathered around her. And some of the more +curious and ill-bred pointed at whatever it was that puzzled them. + +"What's that?" they asked Mrs. Ladybug. + +Strange to say, she seemed pleased with the stir that she had made. + +"It's a dinner bell," she explained. + +They gazed at it in wonder, until at last somebody spoke up and +demanded, "What's it for?" + +"To give the alarm with!" she replied. + +"What alarm?" chimed a chorus of voices, high and low. + +Mrs. Ladybug smiled an odd sort of smile as she answered, "The fire +alarm, of course! Everybody's always talking _fire_ to me. It makes me +frightfully uneasy. There's so little one can do alone in case of fire. +But now--" she added--"now when anyone says 'Fire!' I'm going to ring +this bell with all my might." + +Well, people didn't know what to say--then. Later, however, they +gathered about in groups and talked a good deal about Mrs. Ladybug and +her dinner bell. + +Miss Moth said that she feared Mrs. Ladybug would disturb her rest if +she rang the bell in the daytime, when Miss Moth was accustomed to +sleep. Buster Bumblebee hoped Mrs. Ladybug wouldn't ring it at night, +because he had a short enough night's sleep as it was, with the family +trumpeter waking everybody in the house about dawn. And Freddie Firefly +exclaimed that it would be very annoying to him if Mrs. Ladybug gave the +alarm of fire whenever she saw his flickering gleams on pleasant +evenings in the meadow. + +If others were troubled, Mrs. Ladybug herself was much pleased by her +dinner bell. She liked to hear it tinkle as she worked. She said it was +a cheerful sound and so long as she wore it she never needed to worry +about being lost. It was as good as a cowbell for letting the world know +one's whereabouts. + +There was only one thing that annoyed her. Since she hung the bell from +her waist nobody had mentioned _fire_ to her. Nobody had said a word +about her children's burning. It seemed as if none of her neighbors +wanted her to sound a fire alarm. And if there was anything that would +have given her joy, it would have been to seize the handle of her bell +and ring it madly. + +There were even some people that complained of the tinkle it made among +the apple trees. + +Peppery Polly Bumblebee laughed at them. + +"You've brought this trouble upon yourselves," she told them. "How can +you expect Mrs. Ladybug to keep the tongue of the bell still? She can't +even keep her own tongue from wagging!" + +No doubt Peppery Polly knew what she was talking about. She had a very +sharp tongue, herself. + + + + +XX + +FIRE! FIRE! + + +THE whole countryside was dry. It hadn't rained for weeks. The grass was +turning brown. The water in the river was low. And Broad Brook was no +more than a narrow trickle. Every morning the sun rose streaming hot, to +beat down upon Pleasant Valley all day long until it sank--a round, red +ball--behind Blue Mountain each night. + +At last, one afternoon, Farmer Green and the hired man started for the +woods on a run. They had seen a wisp of smoke curling up from the tree +tops. And they knew that the woods were on fire. + +There was a high wind that day. And if they hadn't worked lively there's +no telling how far the fire would have spread. As it was, glowing bits +came sailing down from the hill and settled in the valley. But luckily +they did no damage. At least, no other fire had started anywhere when +the men came home from the woods and said that all was safe again. + +Some of the small folk that lived in the fields knew what was going on. +But Mrs. Ladybug never guessed that there had been a fire. She was so +busy, working among the apple trees, that she hadn't noticed any unusual +stir. And no one took the trouble to tell her about it. + +Everyone had put thoughts of fire out of his mind when along toward +evening a loud clanging rang out upon the air. + +"What's that?" people asked one another. + +And all at once somebody shouted, "It's Mrs. Ladybug's dinner bell!" + +Far and wide through orchard, garden and meadow the neighbors took up +the cry. "Fire! Fire! Mrs. Ladybug's ringing the alarm! Her house is on +fire!" + +Back and forth they hurried, trying to find Mrs. Ladybug. + +"At last--" they told one another--"at last we're going to find out +where her house is." + +And they did. At least, they soon discovered Mrs. Ladybug standing +beside a blazing dwelling near the pasture fence. With all her hands +(and she had several!) she was ringing her bell furiously. + +"We'll help you!" her friends all cried. "Don't worry, Mrs. Ladybug! +We'll have the fire out soon. Be calm!" + +But there was nothing they could do. The fire raged so fiercely that +they couldn't get near enough to it to fight it. And before long it had +burned itself out. There was nothing left of the house but ashes. + +"What a pity!" said Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors. "It was a fine, big +house." + +And then some one cried, "What about the children? Where are they?" + +Nobody knew. If Mrs. Ladybug did, she was too overcome to speak. + +People looked very solemn. They hoped her children hadn't burned. + +And then--then Mr. Meadow Mouse came running up all out of breath. + +"Sakes alive!" he screamed. "My house is ruined. I wouldn't have had +this happen for anything. But it doesn't matter, for I can easily build +another." + +Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors crowded about her, all asking the same +question. + +"Wasn't this your house?" + +"No!" she admitted. "No, it wasn't." And then she made an astonishing +confession. "I've never owned a house," she said. "I've never had one in +all my life. I _can't_ have a house. I couldn't get one that was big +enough. + +"I have so many children that I don't know what to do," said little Mrs. +Ladybug. + + + + +XXI + +PLANS FOR WINTER + + +IT was almost fall. The nights--and some of the days--were chilly. Those +that had spent the whole summer out of doors began to think about where +they should pass the winter. Yet everybody was amazed by the news that +Mrs. Ladybug spread broadcast. She said that she expected, soon, to go +into winter quarters. + +"Humph!" cried Daddy Longlegs' wife when she heard what Mrs. Ladybug was +saying. "She never had any quarters, so far as anyone knows. Mrs. +Ladybug hasn't been able to tear herself away from the orchard long +enough to live anywhere except in the apple trees." + +It was plain that Daddy Longlegs' wife didn't believe what Mrs. Ladybug +was telling her neighbors. And there were many more folk that agreed +with her. + +Little Mrs. Ladybug smiled a knowing smile when she heard what her +friends thought. + +"They'll see! They'll see!" she said. "I'm going to spend the winter in +the biggest and finest house on this farm." + +That was all she would tell. She wouldn't breathe another word about her +plans. And naturally, every one became very curious. There wasn't a soul +that wasn't agog to know what Mrs. Ladybug intended to do. + +The neighbors asked her, begged her, teased her--some even threatened +her. But she declined to answer. She said that if she told where she +expected to pass the cold months everybody would want to go to the same +place and maybe there wouldn't be any room left for her. + +Perhaps some of her friends _had_ intended to follow her into her winter +quarters. Anyhow, many of them looked guilty when she made that remark. +And a few of them looked angry, and declared that Mrs. Ladybug was +selfish. + +"If the house is as big as she claims it is, it ought to hold a few +extra guests without being crowded," they grumbled. + +"Guests--" said Mrs. Ladybug--"guests should always wait for an +invitation." + +"Have you had one?" Buster Bumblebee asked her. + +Mrs. Ladybug did not answer his question. Most people thought Buster +Bumblebee a stupid fellow. Many people paid little heed to him. Yet +strange to say, he often hit the nail on the head, so to speak. And this +time he made Mrs. Ladybug somewhat uncomfortable. She had had no +invitation to spend the winter in the fine, big house. But she didn't +care to have her neighbors know that. + +"There's just one thing to do," Buster Bumblebee decided. "I'll ask the +Carpenter Bee if he's building a house for her." + +So he went to the big poplar by the brook, where the Carpenter Bee +lived. And that mild person himself--sawdust-covered as usual--answered +Buster's knock at his door. + +"Are you building a house for Mrs. Ladybug?" Buster Bumblebee inquired. + +"No!" said the Carpenter. "We couldn't agree. She wanted me to work +twelve hours a day. And I wanted to work twenty-four. I told her I must +have _some_ time to rest. But she couldn't see things as I did." + +Buster Bumblebee was puzzled. + +"I don't understand," he said. + +The Carpenter kindly made matters clear to him. + +"I rest only when I'm working," he explained. + + + + +XXII + +MRS. LADYBUG LEAVES + + +THE Carpenter Bee, who lived in the big poplar by the brook, wasn't +building a house for Mrs. Ladybug. That skillful woodworker hadn't been +able to agree with her--so he told Buster Bumblebee. Furthermore, he +knew nothing of Mrs. Ladybug's present plans as to where she was going +to spend the winter. + +Nor did anybody else. It was all a great mystery. And Mrs. Ladybug +seemed to enjoy it far more than her neighbors did. She was the only +person that could have solved it for them. And she wouldn't. + +At the same time she took delight in talking about her winter quarters, +as she called the place where she intended to live during cold weather. + +"It will be cozy and warm there," she often remarked to her callers, of +whom she had huge numbers. For there was scarcely a person in the +orchard or the garden that didn't burn with curiosity to know more about +the fine, big house into which Mrs. Ladybug expected to move. + +"My winter quarters will be wind-proof," Mrs. Ladybug told them. And +that speech set them all to guessing again. + +Almost everybody said then that she was going to live underground. + +"I shall not feel a drop of rain--not even during the January thaw," +Mrs. Ladybug went on. + +And then everybody had to begin guessing all over again; for rain drops +were sure to trickle into an underground house during a warm spell. + +"You're going to live in a pumpkin!" cried Buster Bumblebee. + +And all the neighbors--even Mrs. Ladybug--laughed when they heard that. + +Buster knew of an old tune called "The Bumblebee in the Pumpkin," and he +cried with some heat that he could think of no reason why there +shouldn't be "A Ladybug in a Pumpkin." + +"I told you my house was big--the biggest one on the farm," Mrs. Ladybug +reminded him. + +"Ah!" Chirpy Cricket exclaimed. "Now I know! You're going to live in the +haystack. A haystack is cozy and warm; it's wind-proof; it sheds water; +and there's nothing bigger anywhere." + +It really seemed as if Chirpy Cricket had solved the great mystery. + +"He's guessed the riddle!" people said. "You might as well admit now, +Mrs. Ladybug, that you're going to spend the winter in Farmer Green's +haystack." + +But Mrs. Ladybug dashed their hopes. + +"You're wrong," she told her friends. "And if to-night's as nippy as +last night was, perhaps you'll find out to-morrow where I'm going. For I +don't care to freeze my toes here in the orchard." + +That night it was colder than ever. And the next day Mrs. Ladybug went +all around the orchard and the garden bidding people good-by. + +Still she wouldn't tell where she was going. And if Daddy Longlegs +hadn't happened to stroll around the cherry tree outside Farmer Green's +chamber window that afternoon, nobody would have known where Mrs. +Ladybug went. But Daddy Longlegs saw her. And he hastened to spread the +news. + +"Mrs. Ladybug has gone to spend the winter in the farmhouse!" + + + + +XXIII + +BACK AGAIN + + +SOMEHOW Mrs. Ladybug's friends missed her. The orchard seemed quite a +different place after she vanished inside the farmhouse to stay there +all winter long. In spite of her sharp tongue and her prying ways people +discovered--now that she was gone--that they had liked Mrs. Ladybug more +than they knew. + +While she was with them in the orchard they had often wished she +wouldn't ask so many questions. But now the days seemed very long +without Mrs. Ladybug to inquire _how_ and _why_ and _when_ and _where_. + +And then--then a rumor flashed from lip to lip all the way across the +garden and the orchard and the meadow: "Mrs. Ladybug is back again! She +didn't stay in the farmhouse a week." + +And sure enough! the rumor proved to be true. Mrs. Ladybug, looking +rather foolish, appeared in her old haunts among the apple trees. She +acted as if something had occurred to upset her. And though she seemed +glad to be greeted by all her old companions, she didn't want them to +ask her a single question as to why she hadn't spent the whole winter, +instead of only a few days of early fall, in Farmer Green's house. + +If she thought her neighbors weren't going to question her she was sadly +mistaken. + +Only a little while before they had asked her a thousand and one +questions about _where_ she was going to live during the winter. And +now they were all just as curious to know why she had returned. But this +time they asked her a thousand and two questions. + +You couldn't say that her answers weren't satisfying, because she didn't +make any answers at all. + +Of course, things couldn't go on like that forever. People _had_ to know +what had changed Mrs. Ladybug's plans. And in order to persuade the +stubborn lady to explain matters, a few of her friends hinted that they +expected they would have to go to Farmer Green himself and learn the +truth. + +"You may ask him if you wish," Mrs. Ladybug told them. "But it won't do +you any good. He can't tell you what happened because he doesn't know +himself." + +"Maybe the farmhouse was cold," Chirpy Cricket suggested. + +Mrs. Ladybug made no comment on that remark. + +"Perhaps the roof leaked," said Daddy Longlegs. + +Still no sign from Mrs. Ladybug. + +"She found that the farmhouse wasn't wind-proof," said Daddy Longlegs' +wife. + +And Mrs. Ladybug didn't deny it; nor did she say that that was so. + +Then Buster Bumblebee made one of his blundering speeches. + +"It was a short winter, anyhow," he said. + +Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors couldn't help tittering. And somehow their +amusement stung her into telling the truth about the whole affair, right +then and there. + +"Mrs. Green and I didn't get on well together," she confessed. + + + + +XXIV + +MRS. GREEN'S MISTAKE + + +MRS. LADYBUG spoke at last. Her listeners crowded close about her, +jostling one another in their eagerness to hear every word she said. For +Mrs. Ladybug was recounting her adventures at the farmhouse. + +"I flew in through an open window," Mrs. Ladybug began. And she heaved a +deep sigh, as if the telling of the tale was costing her much pain. + +"I said nothing to anybody," she explained, "because I didn't wish to +trouble the family. I knew I could find my way about the house after a +little. And it wasn't long before I had discovered the stairway. + +"I didn't walk on the stairs for fear there might be mud on my feet," +said Mrs. Ladybug. "I didn't walk, but flew up to the second floor and +went into the first chamber I saw. There was a fine, big closet off that +room. The door leading into it was ajar; so I had no trouble slipping +inside it. And there, high up on a broad shelf, I picked out the very +spot where I could have spent the winter with every comfort in the +world." + +At this point Mrs. Ladybug was overcome by her feelings for a few +moments. But the company waited politely until she could go on with her +story. + +She soon continued. + +"All went well--" said Mrs. Ladybug--"all went well until one day--this +morning, to be exact--Mrs. Green opened the closet door and began to +brush and sweep and wipe and dust. I heard her say that she was doing +her fall cleaning. And of course that pleased me; for I was glad to +learn that she was a neat housekeeper. + +"And then--" here Mrs. Ladybug's voice broke slightly--"and then, the +first thing I knew she spied me and cried 'Ah, ha! A Carpet Bug!' + +"The next instant she whisked me off the shelf with a brush. Of course I +played dead the moment she touched me. And I fell into the dustpan and +never so much as wriggled a toe. + +"Soon afterward Mrs. Green set the dustpan beside the window which she +had already opened. That was my chance. I seized it. I flew out of the +window. And here I am." + +Mrs. Ladybug's listeners shook their heads in sympathy. + +"You had a narrow escape," they told her. "It's a wonder you got away." + +"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'm glad now that that window was open. +But for a moment I didn't much care what became of me. To think that +anybody should mistake me for a Carpet Bug! Mrs. Green ought to know +that the Carpet Bug family are covered with black, white and red scales. +Ugh!" + +Mrs. Ladybug shuddered. She was smooth and shiny herself. So it wasn't +strange that she should have felt insulted. + +"Anyhow," she added, "Mrs. Green is the loser. Toward spring I would +have kept her house plants free from insects. But now, of course, she'll +have to do that herself." + +"Well," said the neighbors (or words to this effect), "we're glad to see +you again. And now--tell us!--where do you expect to spend the winter?" + +"I'll let you decide that," Mrs. Ladybug replied. + +THE END + + + + * * * * * + + + TUCK-ME-IN TALES + (Trademark Registered) + By ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + AUTHOR OF THE +SLEEPY-TIME TALES and SLUMBER-TOWN TALES + +Colored Wrappers and Illustrations Drawn by HARRY L. SMITH + +A delightful and unusual series of bird and insect stories for boys and +girls from three to eight years old, or thereabouts. + +THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN +THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW +THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL +THE TALE OF JASPER JAY +THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN +THE TALE OF DADDY LONG-LEGS +THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID +THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY +THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE +THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY +THE TALE OF BOBBIE BOBOLINK +THE TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG +THE TALE OF REDDY WOODPECKER +THE TALE OF GRANDMA GOOSE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + * * * * * + + + THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS + SERIES + +Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. + For Children 6 to 12 Years + +This series presents early American history in a manner that impresses +the young readers. George and Martha Washington Parke, two young +descendants of the famous General Washington, follow in play, the life +of the great American. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS + +Their thrilling battles and expeditions generally end in "punishment" +lessons read by Mrs. Parke from the "Life of Washington." The culprits +listen intently, for this reading generally gives them new ideas for +further games of Indian warfare and Colonists battles. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' RELATIVES + +The Davis children visit the Parke home and join zealously in the games +of playing George Washington. So zealously, in fact, that little Jim +almost loses his scalp. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' TRAVELS + +The children wage a fierce battle upon the roof of a hotel in New York +City. Then, visiting the Davis home in Philadelphia, the patriotic +Washingtons vanquish the Hessians on a battle-field in the empty lot +back of the Davis property. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS AT SCHOOL + +After the school-house battle the Washingtons discover a band of gypsies +camping near their homes and incidentally they recover a stolen horse +which the gypsies had taken from a farmer. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' HOLIDAYS + +They spend a pleasant summer on adjoining farms in Vermont. During a +voyage they try to capture a "frigate" but little Jim is caught and +about to be punished by the Captain when his confederates save him. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS; FARMERS + +Nero, the donkey, had never heard of George Washington, and so the game +the children had planned after reading the story of the General's life +on his farm turned out to be quite a different game altogether. + +Grosset & Dunlap, _Publishers_, New York + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MRS. 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