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diff --git a/24608.txt b/24608.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f5c797 --- /dev/null +++ b/24608.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2621 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Kiddie Katydid, by Arthur Scott Bailey + +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 Kiddie Katydid + +Author: Arthur Scott Bailey + +Illustrator: Harry L. Smith + +Release Date: February 14, 2008 [EBook #24608] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID *** + + + + +Produced by Joe Longo, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + +THE TALE OF +KIDDIE KATYDID + + + + +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 LONG-LEGS + THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID + THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE + THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY + THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY + +[Illustration: Kiddie Sees Benjamin Bat in Front of the Moon + +_Frontispiece_--(_Page 71_)] + + + + + TUCK-ME-IN TALES + (Trademark Registered) + +THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID + +BY + +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + Author of + "SLEEPY-TIME TALES" + (Trademark Registered) + + ILLUSTRATED BY + HARRY L. SMITH + + NEW YORK + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS + + Made in the United States of America + + + + + Copyright, 1918, by + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. A GREAT SECRET 1 + + II. THE WARNING 6 + + III. MR. NIGHTHAWK 10 + + IV. A WHINING CALLER 15 + + V. SOLOMON OWL'S CRY 20 + + VI. FREDDIE FIREFLY'S DISCOVERY 26 + + VII. FREDDIE WANTS TO TELL 31 + + VIII. SPREADING THE NEWS 36 + + IX. MR. FROG IS PLEASED 40 + + X. A PAIR OF RASCALS 45 + + XI. A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER 51 + + XII. A PRESENT FOR KIDDIE 55 + + XIII. KIDDIE KATYDID IS SHY 60 + + XIV. KIDDIE KEEPS HIS PROMISE 65 + + XV. BENJAMIN BAT'S PLAN 70 + + XVI. A NOISY CROWD 75 + + XVII. KITTY DID! 79 + + XVIII. THE TWO GRASSHOPPERS 85 + + XIX. A QUARREL 89 + + XX. THE STRANGER'S MESSAGE 94 + + XXI. LEAPER THE LOCUST IS WORRIED 99 + + XXII. THE SHORT-HORNS ARRIVE 104 + + XXIII. THE BEST OF FRIENDS 110 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + KIDDIE SEES BENJAMIN BAT IN FRONT OF THE MOON _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + KIDDIE'S SECRET IS DISCOVERED BY FREDDIE FIREFLY 28 + + KIDDIE TOOK HIS NEW COAT FROM THE TWIG 59 + + KIDDIE FACED LEAPER THE LOCUST 90 + + + + +THE TALE OF +KIDDIE KATYDID + + + + +I + +A GREAT SECRET + + +Whoever Katy was, and whatever she might have done, nobody in Pleasant +Valley knew anything about her except Kiddie Katydid and his numerous +and noisy family. + +To be sure, many of the wild folk--and the people in the farmhouse, +too--remembered hearing her name mentioned the year before. + +But they had quite forgotten about her, until August came and Kiddie +Katydid and his relations brought her to their minds once more. + +Each night the Katydids' rasping chant was repeated again and again: +_Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did!_ But since in any crowd there are +always a few that want to be different from the rest, now and then some +member of Kiddie's clan insisted that Katy didn't--somewhat in this +fashion: _Katy did, Katy did; she did, she didn't!_ + +However, there were always so many others to drown any such puzzling +statement with their shrill clamor that Katy really _did_ do it +(whatever it was!) that nobody paid much attention to those few who +didn't quite agree. + +On warm, dry, midsummer nights the Katydids all made a terrific racket. +But there wasn't one of them that outdid Kiddie. He always had the best +time when he was making the most noise. And since he liked to station +himself in a tree near Farmer Green's house, his uproar often rose +plainly above that of the other Katydids. + +Lying in bed in his little room under the eaves, Johnnie Green sometimes +wished that Kiddie would keep quiet long enough to let him go to sleep +in peace. + +To be sure, the balmy breezes wafted many other night sounds through +Johnnie's open window. From near-by came Chirpy Cricket's cheerful +piping. And in the distant swamp the musical Frog family held a singing +party every evening. Johnnie Green liked to hear them. But he objected +strongly to the weird hooting and horrid laughter of Solomon Owl, who +left the hemlock woods after dark to hunt for field mice. + +As for Kiddie Katydid, he paid little attention to any other of the +night cries. No matter what anybody else said, he solemnly hurled back +at him that neverending refrain, _Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did!_ + +You would have thought, if you had heard Kiddie, that somebody had +disputed his statement. But such was not the case at all. Since no one +except the Katydids knew anything about the mysterious Katy, nobody was +able to say truthfully that she _didn't_ do it. In fact, the whole +affair was a great secret, so far as outsiders were concerned. And one +night Johnnie Green even thrust his head out of the window and cried +impatiently: + +"All right! All right! I admit that Katy did it. And now do please keep +still!" + +Of course, his plea failed to silence Kiddie Katydid. But it relieved +Johnnie Green's mind and made him feel better, anyhow. + +Kiddie told his own people about Johnnie's outburst. And they all agreed +that it was a rude thing to do. + +"Doesn't he know," they asked, "that the night belongs to us?" + + + + +II + +THE WARNING + + +It must not be supposed that all of Kiddie Katydid's family made the +same neverending din at night. Actually it was only the gentlemen that +so amused themselves. No doubt the ladies, too, knew the secret about +the mysterious Katy--and what she did. + +But for some reason they never, never mentioned the matter. Even when +they gossiped among themselves, as they sometimes did, they never +touched upon that subject. + +Furthermore, in the daytime Kiddie and his fellows were as quiet as they +could be. Having waked the echoes all night long, they were content, +when morning came, to rest silently among the trees and shrubs. And a +very good reason did they have, too, for such a habit. During the day +there were altogether too many birds flying about, to please the +Katydids. And Kiddie often remarked in a joking way that the only birds +he cared about were those that _didn't care about him_! + +Of course, there were a few birds that prowled about Pleasant Valley +after dark. Mr. Nighthawk was one of that crew of nightly wanderers. And +whenever the word was passed around that he had been seen in the +neighborhood, Kiddie Katydid tried to lower his solemn chant, because he +knew that Mr. Nighthawk was usually in search of something to eat. + +Now, when Kiddie Katydid felt hungry he drove away his gnawing pangs by +browsing upon leaves and tender twigs. But Mr. Nighthawk had no taste +for such fodder. + +He had an appetite for insects. And between dusk and dawn a good many of +Kiddie Katydid's neighbors of one kind or another found their way into +Mr. Nighthawk's tummy. + +So you see it was no wonder that Kiddie was not eager to attract the +attention of that night rover. Some of the more timid of Kiddie's +companions even begged him, at times, to hush. They said he was making +such a noise that Mr. Nighthawk would be sure to hear it, even if he +were a quarter of a mile away. + +But Kiddie Katydid usually laughed at those faint-hearted ones; and +often he shrilled his _Katy did, Katy did_, more loudly than before, +just to show them that he was not afraid. + +"A person has to take a few chances," he remarked one day. "If we were +all afraid to make a sound it would be pretty hard on Katy, for then she +would have nobody to take her part. And what would people think of her?" + +Evidently Kiddie's reason was a good one, because a number of his +cousins spoke up at once and said that they agreed with him perfectly. + +But their sisters all exclaimed that sooner or later Mr. Nighthawk would +hear them; and then there would certainly be trouble. + +Strangely enough, the words were scarcely out of their mouths before +they heard a loud call that struck them cold with fear. + +_Peent! Peent!_ The cry came out of the air above them without the least +warning. And everybody--including Kiddie Katydid--knew that Mr. +Nighthawk had come. + + + + +III + +MR. NIGHTHAWK + + +Following his cry with two or three quick beats of his wings, Mr. +Nighthawk dropped swiftly down among the trees in Farmer Green's +dooryard. + +He fell so fast that Kiddie Katydid, watching from his hiding-place in +one of the maples, couldn't help hoping that the sky-coaster would be +unable to stop himself in time to escape being dashed upon the ground. + +But Mr. Nighthawk was very skillful at that sport. Just at the right +moment he turned quickly, while the air rushed through his wing-feathers +with a roaring sound. And then he mounted upward again. + +Meanwhile Kiddie Katydid kept very still among the leaves, with his +wings folded over his back. Only his two long, thread-like feelers +_would_ wave backwards and forwards, although he tried to keep them +still. He was so nearly the color of the green of the tree-top that he +trusted Mr. Nighthawk wouldn't be able to spy him. + +But he was soon disappointed. For Mr. Nighthawk suddenly cried, "Ha!" +and alighted on a neighboring limb. + +"There you are!" he said. "You needn't think I don't see you!" + +"Why, good evening!" Kiddie Katydid answered, since he was +discovered--and there was no use denying it. "It's a great +surprise--meeting you so unexpectedly. If you'd only sent word that you +were coming I'd have made different arrangements." + +"I've no doubt you would have!" Mr. Nighthawk sneered. "But I like to +take people unawares.... I've heard about you," he added. "They say that +you're a great jumper--the spriest jumper in all Pleasant Valley." + +"Well, I can jump fairly well," Kiddie Katydid admitted. "But I don't +pride myself on my jumping. It's something that has always run in my +family, you know. All of us Katydids can leap quite a distance without +any trouble." + +"So I understand!" Mr. Nighthawk replied. "And I'll tell you some news +that ought to please you: I've come here to-night for the special +purpose of seeing you jump!" + +Kiddie Katydid almost jumped out of his skin when he heard what Mr. +Nighthawk said. And it wouldn't have been anything remarkable for him +if he had. He had already squirmed out of his skin six times that +summer--though not from fear, of course. Casting his skin was almost a +habit with Kiddie. All his family were like that. + +Though he was not nearly so old as Mr. Nighthawk, Kiddie Katydid had +learned a thing or two during his brief lifetime. And though he would +have liked very much to jump--and jump out of Mr. Nighthawk's sight, +too--he had no wish to hide himself _inside_ that feathered scoundrel. +So he clung all the tighter to his perch and replied that he didn't +believe he cared to do any jumping that night. + +Now, Mr. Nighthawk had a certain odd trick of talking through his nose. +Whether that was because the late hours he kept, even on dark nights, +gave him a cold in his head, nobody seemed to know. Anyhow, he began +teasing Kiddie Katydid to jump for him--and he talked through his nose +more than ever. Yes! although Mr. Nighthawk tried his best to speak +pleasantly, he only succeeded in making Kiddie Katydid want to laugh at +him, for all Kiddie was so uneasy. + + + + +IV + +A WHINING CALLER + + +"I certainly hope you aren't going to disappoint me?" Mr. Nighthawk +whined, as he looked hungrily at Kiddie Katydid. "Please, please jump +for me--just once!" he begged. "Here I've come all the way across the +meadow on purpose to see what a fine jumper you are! And I shall feel +very unhappy if you don't perform for me." + +But Kiddie Katydid refused to budge. + +"I hadn't intended to do any leaping to-night," he told Mr. Nighthawk. +"And if I jumped for you, it would only upset my plans." + +"I know--I know," said Mr. Nighthawk, nodding his head. "But I thought +that just to oblige a friend you wouldn't object to jumping from this +tree into that one." And he pointed to the nearest maple, the branches +of which all but touched the tree-top in which they were sitting. But +Kiddie Katydid's mind was made up. + +"No jumping for me to-night!" he piped in a shrill voice. + +All this time Mr. Nighthawk was growing hungrier than ever. And one +might well wonder why he didn't make one quick spring at Kiddie Katydid +and swallow him. But that was not Mr. Nighthawk's way of dining. + +"Well," he said at last, "though you refuse to jump for me, won't you +kindly call some other member of your family and ask him to oblige me?" + +"I don't know where my relations are just now," replied Kiddie Katydid. +"Some of them were here a while ago; but they went away." And that was +quite true! At that _peent_--that first warning cry--of Mr. Nighthawk's, +they had all vanished as if by magic, among the leaves. + +"What about that Katy you're always talking about?" Mr. Nighthawk then +inquired. "Don't you suppose you could find _her_ and persuade _her_ to +do a little jumping for me--just to show me how it's done?" + +"I'm sorry--" Kiddie said somewhat stiffly, "I'm sorry; but I must +absolutely refuse to do such a thing. Now that you've mentioned her, +I'll simply say _Katy did_. And beyond that I cannot discuss her with +you." + +"She did what?" Mr. Nighthawk wanted to know--through his nose. + +But Kiddie Katydid declined to answer that question. He merely hugged +his wings closer to his green body, and shot a sly glance at Mr. +Nighthawk, as if to say, "Ah! That's for _you_ to find out! But I shan't +tell you!" + +Mr. Nighthawk looked rather foolish. He had always supposed that any one +who spent a good part of every night saying the same thing over and over +and over again must be quite dull-witted. But now he began to think that +perhaps Kiddie Katydid was brighter than the field people generally +believed him to be. And when Kiddie suddenly asked _him_ a question, he +was sure of his mistake. + +"Did you know," said Kiddie, "that Solomon Owl often visits these farm +buildings?" + +"Why, no! I wasn't aware of that," Mr. Nighthawk replied with a quick, +nervous look behind him. "What brings him here?" + +"Chickens!" Kiddie Katydid explained. "Solomon Owl is very fond of +chickens. But they do say that he's not above eating a nighthawk when he +happens to stumble upon one." + + + + +V + +SOLOMON OWL'S CRY + + +For a few moments Mr. Nighthawk fidgeted about on his branch of the +maple tree. What Kiddie Katydid said to him about Solomon Owl frightened +him. And he almost wished he hadn't come to Farmer Green's dooryard that +night. + +But the more he thought about the matter, the less he was inclined to +believe that there was really any danger. And soon he peered at Kiddie +Katydid through the darkness and said: + +"You almost fooled me. But I know now what you were trying to do. You +were trying to scare me away from here!" + +"_Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did!_" + +"You needn't say that!" Mr. Nighthawk exclaimed. "Katy has nothing to do +with my case. She hasn't even mentioned Solomon Owl's name." + +"You don't understand," Kiddie told him. "I'm speaking of an entirely +different matter." + +And then Mr. Nighthawk had another idea. He chased the frown away from +his face and smiled very pleasantly. + +"I'm sorry that you don't feel like jumping for me," he observed. "But +I'd be just as glad to see you fly! I remember being told that you fly +almost as well as you jump." + +"Oh, I can't begin to fly as well as you can," Kiddie Katydid told Mr. +Nighthawk. "I only wish I knew how to coast down out of the sky the way +you do, without being dashed upon the ground.... How do you manage to +stop so suddenly?" + +"Pooh! That's nothing!" Mr. Nighthawk said. "It's easy, once you know +how." + +In spite of his way of belittling his flying feats, Mr. Nighthawk was +secretly very proud of his skill at sky-coasting. And when Kiddie +Katydid asked him if he wouldn't kindly give an exhibition of the art of +fancy flying, Mr. Nighthawk couldn't help feeling pleased. + +He wanted to display his skill. But there was just one thing that +troubled him. He was afraid that if he climbed up into the sky, before +he dropped down again Kiddie Katydid would have vanished. And that +didn't suit Mr. Nighthawk's plans. + +"Will you promise to stay right where you are until I come back?" he +asked. + +Now, Kiddie Katydid had intended to hide himself as soon as Mr. +Nighthawk should leave him. But there was nothing he could do now except +to agree to Mr. Nighthawk's proposal. + +"I'll promise," said Kiddie, "if you'll promise me that you'll surely +return. Otherwise I might have to stay here for a month, perhaps, +waiting for you." + +"Oh! I'll come back in a minute or two," Mr. Nighthawk laughed, as he +looked hungrily at Kiddie. "Don't you worry about my not coming back to +talk with you!" + +Then he began climbing upwards into the sky. And he had gone about as +high as he wished to, when all at once a rolling _Whoo-whoo-whoo_, +_whoo-whoo_, _to-whoo-ah_ startled him. It was Solomon Owl's weird call. +And it drove every thought except one out of Mr. Nighthawk's head. That +one idea--to escape--filled his mind completely. And he turned and +hurried away from Farmer Green's place as fast as he could go; for Mr. +Nighthawk feared that Solomon Owl would arrive there at any moment. + +As for Kiddie Katydid, when he heard Solomon's cry he knew at once that +he was rid of Mr. Nighthawk. And Kiddie's _Katy did, Katy did; she did, +she did_ rang out again and again in the night. All his friends and +cousins crept out of their hiding-places and joined in the chorus. And +everybody enjoyed a good laugh over Mr. Nighthawk's visit--and his +sudden departure. + +Perhaps Kiddie may be forgiven for boasting the least bit, as his +companions crowded around him. + +"I knew better than to jump for Mr. Nighthawk!" he cried. "I happened +to know that he always wants to catch his food _on the wing_. And if I +had jumped, or tried to fly away, he would have snatched me right out of +the air as quick as lightning." + + + + +VI + +FREDDIE FIREFLY'S DISCOVERY + + +That secret about Katy, and what she did, was not the only one that +Kiddie hid from the field people. He had another--something about +himself--that nobody ever suspected, until Freddie Firefly stumbled upon +it one night. + +Probably Freddie would never have learned this second secret had he not +been trying to find out about the first one. Over in the meadow he had +heard Kiddie Katydid shrilling his well-worn ditty, _Katy did; she did, +she did!_ And he had danced his way into Farmer Green's dooryard because +he wanted to have a talk with Kiddie and ask him some questions about +that unknown lady. + +Like all others who tried to pry into the mystery, Freddie Firefly had +no luck at all. For Kiddie Katydid made no reply to his inquiries. +Kiddie merely smiled in a most annoying fashion and kept on repeating +the refrain. + +"Doesn't your voice ever get tired, singing those silly words over and +over again all night long?" Freddie Firefly finally asked. + +"Oh! no, indeed!" said Kiddie Katydid. "On the contrary it rests my +voice to do this." And he solemnly shrilled the chorus more rapidly than +ever. + +"There's something queer about that cry of yours!" Freddie Firefly +suddenly exclaimed. "I'm watching you closely; but I can't see that your +mouth moves the least bit." + +Again Kiddie Katydid smiled. He saw that Freddie Firefly was puzzled. + +"Why do you keep moving your wings when you say _Katy did_?" Freddie +Firefly asked him at last. + +But Kiddie refused to answer that question--a fact which at once made +Freddie suspicious. He moved nearer Kiddie Katydid and flashed his light +upon him every time Kiddie repeated his odd statement about Katy. And +soon Freddie Firefly grew much excited. He actually danced up and down, +he was so astonished. + +"I've found you out!" he cried in a loud voice. "It's no wonder your +voice doesn't get tired from that song! For you don't really _sing_ it +at all! You make that queer _sound by rubbing your wing covers +together_!" + +Kiddie Katydid abruptly ceased his shrilling. He looked most +uncomfortable. And it was not surprising. He had not supposed that +Freddie Firefly--or anybody else--would be shrewd enough to discover +that secret. It was a family secret--one that had been closely guarded +by the Katydids since the beginning of time, almost. And here he had +gone and let Freddie Firefly find it out! + +"I'm right about that and you can't deny it!" cried Freddie Firefly +boldly. "You may as well admit that what I say is true," he added. + +"I certainly won't dispute you," Kiddie Katydid replied. "I have too +good manners to do anything so rude as that." + +"I don't care about your manners," Freddie answered. "I dare say they're +good enough, although some people think it's rather rude of you to make +so much noise when a good many others are trying to sleep." + +"I should like to know who objects to my music?" Kiddie Katydid +exclaimed hotly. "If Farmer Green has been talking to you, I should like +to state that he had better be careful. Anyone who drives a clattering +mowing-machine around, when a lot of us are trying to get our rest in +the daytime, ought not to complain about a little _music_ on a pleasant +night like this." + +[Illustration: Kiddie's Secret is Discovered by Freddie Firefly + +(_Page 28_)] + + + + +VII + +FREDDIE WANTS TO TELL + + +As soon as Kiddie Katydid mentioned the word _music_, Freddie Firefly +began to dance and shout. + +"There!" he cried. "You've just the same as told me that I was right. If +you _sang_ your _Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did_, you would call +it _singing_. But since you make that ditty by rubbing your wing covers +together, it is _music_. And you just referred to it as such!" + +Well, Kiddie Katydid couldn't say a single word. Freddie Firefly was +right. They both knew it. And the secret was hopelessly "out." In fact, +it was a secret no longer--unless Kiddie Katydid could persuade Freddie +Firefly to keep the news to himself. + +"You won't say anything about this little matter, I hope," Kiddie began. + +"Won't I?" said Freddie Firefly. "Why, I just couldn't help telling +people what I've learned! It's the biggest bit of news that I've known +since I've lived in Pleasant Valley. And I must get word of it to old +Mr. Crow somehow." + +"Why Mr. Crow?" Kiddie Katydid inquired anxiously. He knew that the old +gentleman was a great gossip. "You might as well put this in a newspaper +as tell Mr. Crow about it." + +"Ah! That's just the point!" cried Freddie. "Mr. Crow _is_ a newspaper. +Perhaps you didn't know it; but every Saturday he flies over Blue +Mountain to the pond where Brownie Beaver lives and tells Brownie all +the news of the past week." + +"Then for pity's sake, don't let _him_ hear of this!" Kiddie begged. + +But nothing could have stopped Freddie Firefly. + +"You're too modest," he said. "It's a shame to be able to make music the +way you do and not let the neighbors know it. Why, the first thing you +know you'll be one of the most famous people in this whole valley." + +"But I don't want to be!" Kiddie Katydid cried. "I'm not like you. You +go dancing about every night, flashing your light so everyone can see +you. But I stay among the trees and shrubs. And I even wear a green +suit--which matches the color of the leaves--so people won't notice me. +Of course," Kiddie added, "I don't mind if the public hears my music. +But I don't care to be seen, as a rule. And I don't like callers a +bit!" + +"You don't, eh?" remarked Freddie Firefly. "Then it's time for me to be +moving along. For I never stay where I'm not welcome." And he flitted +away, feeling somewhat peevish--and all the more determined to get the +news of the discovered secret to Mr. Crow at the earliest possible +moment. + +How he was going to do that he didn't quite know. + +There was little chance of his seeing Mr. Crow, for the old gentleman +only waked up at the time Freddie Firefly was ready to go to bed--about +dawn. + +He was pondering over his difficulty, which bothered him not a little, +when a terrific croaking from the direction of the swamp reached his +ears. It was the final chorus of the Frog family's nightly singing +party. And it promptly put an idea into Freddie Firefly's head. + +"I'll hurry right over there and speak to Mr. Frog, the well-known +tailor," he said to himself. "He knows old Mr. Crow. He sees him almost +every day. And he'll be glad to give the old gentleman a message." + + + + +VIII + +SPREADING THE NEWS + + +When Freddie Firefly reached the swamp he found that the singing party +had already broken up. But luckily, Mr. Frog the tailor was the last one +to leave. He was still poised on the bank of the sluggish stream, ready +to plunge into the water and swim away, when Freddie Firefly dropped +down upon a cat-tail and called him by name, flashing his light +frantically so that Mr. Frog would be sure to notice him. + +"Wait a moment!" cried Freddie. "I've something to say to you!" + +"Out with it, then!" said Mr. Frog. "My time is valuable, you know. I +ought to be back in my shop this moment; for I promised Paddy Muskrat +I'd make him a policeman's uniform by to-morrow morning. And I haven't +begun it yet." + +"Why not?" asked Freddie, forgetting--for the moment--his own errand. + +"He wants brass buttons," explained the tailor. "And I couldn't get any +until to-night." + +"But couldn't you go ahead without them?" Freddie Firefly inquired. + +"Certainly not!" replied Mr. Frog. "I see you don't know much about +making a policeman's suit. You start by laying the buttons in a row on +the ground; and then you sew the cloth onto them.... That's my own +invention--that method," he added with an air of pride. "And now, what +was it you wanted to say to me?" + +"I don't believe there's any use of my telling you, after all," Freddie +Firefly replied. "You're going to be so busy that you won't have time +to do an errand for me. I wanted you to give Mr. Crow a message." + +"Yes--I'll be altogether too rushed to bother with it," said Mr. Frog. +"I expect to be on the jump all night--and most of to-morrow, too." + +"This message," Freddie Firefly went on, "was something about Kiddie +Katydid. I found out his secret to-night. And I thought Mr. Crow ought +to know about it." + +Now, Mr. Frog was all ready to leap into the water. But when Freddie +said that, the tailor promptly changed his mind. + +"Kiddie Katydid's secret!" he repeated in a tone of amazement. "You +don't mean to say you've discovered what it was that Katy did?" + +"Never mind!" said Freddie. "I don't want to trouble you, Mr. Frog. I +know you're too busy to bother your head with such things." + +"Tut, tut, young man!" Mr. Frog cried. "I see you have something +important to tell me. And since that is the case, I'll manage somehow to +deliver your message to Mr. Crow, even if I have to disappoint a +customer. _Always oblige a friend!_ That's my motto!" said Mr. Frog. + +"Very well, then!" Freddie Firefly replied. "I'll say what I was going +to; but it doesn't concern that Katy person you just mentioned." + +"Oh, it doesn't," the tailor echoed. "Then I don't know that I care to +listen to you, after all. I thought you were going to explain about that +mysterious lady that Kiddie's always singing about." He was sadly +disappointed. And once more he turned toward the creek. + + + + +IX + +MR. FROG IS PLEASED + + +"Kiddie Katydid doesn't sing!" Freddie Firefly told Mr. Frog hurriedly. + +And Mr. Frog was so surprised that he almost sat right down in the mud. + +"What do you mean?" he cried. "You must be crazy! For there isn't a +single person in all Pleasant Valley that hasn't heard Kiddie Katydid +singing his tiresome song on a fine midsummer night." + +"That--" replied Freddie Firefly--"that is just where you're mistaken, +Mr. Frog. And that's where everybody else is mistaken, too. To-night I +was lucky enough to learn that Kiddie Katydid has been fooling us all +this time." + +"You don't say so!" said Mr. Frog. "Then who is it that sings that +everlasting chorus?" + +"Nobody!" + +"Nonsense!" Mr. Frog scoffed. "I can be fooled once, maybe. But I'm not +to be fooled twice. And you needn't think for a moment that you can make +me believe any such thing." + +"I don't care whether you believe it or not," Freddie Firefly declared. +"All I ask you to do is to tell the story to Mr. Crow." + +"He won't believe it, either," the tailor retorted. + +"Perhaps he will when he hears the rest of the message," Freddie +answered. "I was just going to explain that Kiddie Katydid has a trick +of rubbing his wing covers together to make that _Katy did_ sound." + +"For the land's sake!" cried Mr. Frog, as he leaped into the water, +convinced at last of the truth of Freddie Firefly's claim. "I must hurry +home at once, for dawn's already breaking. And Mr. Crow may come sailing +over my place at any moment." He landed with a splash in the creek and +started to swim rapidly away. But after a few strokes he paused and +turned around. "You might almost say that Kiddie Katydid is a fiddler, +mightn't you?" he called. + +"Something like that!" Freddie Firefly agreed a bit doubtfully. + +"I'll tell Mr. Crow that, anyhow," said the tailor. "It will make the +story more interesting, at least. And so far as I can see, it can't do +any harm." + +And then he hastened away, leaving Freddie Firefly to get home as best +he could in the gray of the early morning. + +"You may as well put out your light!" Mr. Frog shouted back, as he +disappeared among the reeds. But he didn't wait to see whether Freddie +took his advice. He was too much excited over the strange news. And as +he swam easily along with practiced strokes he kept talking to himself. + +"I'm a pretty clever chap, I am!" he chuckled. "I've discovered a great +secret this night. And old Mr. Crow will be glad to hear all about it. +Perhaps he'll want me to help him with his newspaper after this. + +"And for all I know I'll have so much to do that I won't be able to make +any more clothes for my customers." + +He hadn't swum far before he had entirely forgotten that it was really +Freddie Firefly who had discovered the secret and told it to him. + +No doubt if anybody had reminded Mr. Frog of that fact he would have +been very indignant. + + + + +X + +A PAIR OF RASCALS + + +Mr. Frog reached home just as the sun peeped over the hills. He slipped +hastily out of the water, sprang up the bank of the creek, and in three +jumps landed on the roof of his tailor's shop. There he squatted, while +his queer, bulging eyes scanned the sky in every direction. He was +watching for Mr. Crow, and all but bursting with the news that he had +for the old gentleman. + +Mr. Frog had not sat there long before he heard a hoarse _Caw, caw!_ in +the distance. + +"There he is!" cried the tailor aloud. "There's the old boy! He'll be in +sight in a moment." + +And sure enough! soon Mr. Crow flapped out of the woods and came sailing +over the meadows. + +Thereupon Mr. Frog set up a great croaking. And to his delight his +elderly friend heard him calling and dropped down at once. + +"I've some news for you," Mr. Frog announced, as soon as the old black +scamp alighted near him. + +"It'll have to keep," Mr. Crow replied. "I'm on my way to the cornfield. +I haven't had my breakfast yet. And a person of my age has to eat his +meals regularly." + +The sprightly tailor looked slightly disappointed. + +"I don't know whether the news will keep or not," he replied slyly. +"It's very important. And I may have to tell it to someone else first +if you don't care to hear it now." + +"What's your news about?" Mr. Crow asked him gruffly. "I suppose you've +made another suit for somebody. And you remember I told you I couldn't +put that news in my newspaper any more unless you paid me something. +It's advertising. And nobody gets free advertising." + +"This news is something entirely different from anything you've ever +heard," Mr. Frog insisted. "It's about Kiddie Katydid. He's a----" + +"Wait till I come back from the cornfield!" Mr. Crow pleaded. + +"I can't! I simply _must_ tell it now!" Mr. Frog cried. + +"Very well! But please talk fast; for I'm terribly hungry." + +"Kiddie Katydid is a fiddler," Mr. Frog announced. "He fiddles every +night. And that's the way he makes that ditty of his--_Katy did, +Katy_----" + +"Don't!" Mr. Crow begged. "Please don't! It's bad enough to have to hear +that silly chorus every time I happen to wake up during the night--bad +enough, I say, without being obliged to listen to it in broad daylight." + +"Very well!" the tailor yielded. "But he fiddles it, all the same. And +when you tell my tale to Brownie Beaver I guess he'll be surprised." + +"I shan't tell him," Mr. Crow declared, thereby astonishing Mr. Frog. + +"Why not?" the tailor demanded. + +"We've had a slight disagreement," said Mr. Crow with a hoarse laugh. +"I'm not his newspaper any longer." + +"Well, there's nothing to prevent your telling this story to other +people, is there? And you certainly will be willing to mention me at the +same time, won't you?" Mr. Frog inquired with an anxious pucker between +his strange eyes. + +"Where do _you_ come in, pray tell?" Mr. Crow inquired coldly. + +"Why, I discovered the secret!" + +"Perhaps you did--and perhaps you didn't," Mr. Crow observed. Being +very, very old, he was very, very wise. And he had long since learned +that Mr. Frog was a somewhat slippery person. "If I spread any such news +as this about Pleasant Valley I shall do it in my own way," he remarked. +And thereupon the old gentleman rose quickly and disappeared in the +direction of the cornfield, without so much as a "Thank you!" + +Mr. Frog gazed after him mournfully. + +"If that isn't just my luck!" he lamented. "I ought to have kept the +secret till after the old boy had his breakfast. Then perhaps he'd have +been better natured." + + + + +XI + +A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER + + +Well, the day was not half gone before all the wild creatures in +Pleasant Valley had heard all about Kiddie Katydid and his fiddling. At +least twenty-seven people came to Mr. Frog at different times and told +him the news. And he was furious. + +"Old Mr. Crow has deceived me!" he complained. "I found out this secret +myself. And now that black rascal's taking all the credit for it." + +"Mr. Crow has suggested that Kiddie Katydid be invited to join the +Pleasant Valley orchestra," Long Bill Wren informed Mr. Frog. "They have +no fiddlers, you know. And Kiddie will be a great help to them. Mr. +Crow has appointed a committee to call on Kiddie to-night and ask him to +come to the next concert." + +That was the last straw, so far as Mr. Frog was concerned. + +"Mr. Crow might at least have put me on the committee," he spluttered. +"But he has left me out in the cold." + +"Why, it's not cold to-day!" Long Bill exclaimed. "Quite warm--I call +it!" + +"It'll be good and cold by night," said Mr. Frog. "I look for a sudden +change in the weather. Nobody ought to venture out to-night without his +heaviest overcoat on." + +After flinging that remark over his shoulder, Mr. Frog flung himself +inside his tailor's shop and slammed the door behind him. And then, +sitting down cross-legged upon his table, he began to think, wrinkling +his low brow until you might have supposed he would need to smooth it +out again with one of his flat-irons. + +At last the tailor suddenly quit thinking and smiled very widely from +ear to ear. And carefully selecting some soft, warm, green cloth he +began to fashion a small garment, which was tiny enough to fit--well, to +fit a person as little as Kiddie Katydid. + +Being a spry worker, Mr. Frog finished his task by nightfall. And then, +taking his handiwork with him, he left his shop--after locking the door +behind him--and hid himself beneath a shelving rock on the bank of the +creek. + +He was in a very happy mood; for his ideas about the weather had proved +to be good. It was already turning cold. + +"If it wasn't midsummer I should think we were going to have a frost!" +Mr. Frog exclaimed, buttoning the long coat which he had donned before +going out of doors. "I wish they'd hurry up!" he added mysteriously. He +kept a close watch upon his shop door. It was evident that he expected +callers. + +Not long afterward a crowd began to gather in front of Mr. Frog's door. +"Back Soon" said the sign upon it. And the thinly clad, shivering knot +of field folk sat themselves down unhappily and waited for the tailor to +appear. Every one of them wanted a warm new overcoat, for each expected +to be out late that night. + +Meanwhile Mr. Frog watched them--and giggled as loud as he dared. It was +Mr. Crow's committee that thronged about his door--the people who were +expecting to call upon Kiddie Katydid that very night to invite him to +join the Pleasant Valley orchestra. + +[Illustration: Kiddie Took His New Coat From the Twig + +(_Page 59_)] + + + + +XII + +A PRESENT FOR KIDDIE + + +Mr. Frog had a delightful time listening to the remarks of his callers, +who had no idea that he was so near at hand. And as the weather grew +colder, they began to shiver and their voices began to shake. And by the +time it was almost dark all the waiting company were quite discouraged. + +"I'll never be able to stay out to-night!" Chirpy Cricket declared. "I'm +so cold now that I can scarcely move." + +And it was the same with everybody else. Even Freddie Firefly complained +that his light didn't warm him in the least. And he said he would have +to go home at once. + +"Mr. Crow will be very angry with us to-morrow when he learns we haven't +called on Kiddie Katydid," somebody remarked. And a hush fell upon the +company. But Chirpy Cricket had a happy thought, which made them all +feel better. + +"Kiddie Katydid won't stay out of doors on a night like this!" he +suddenly exclaimed. "He'll find some snug place to creep into. And we +wouldn't be able to find him in Farmer Green's dooryard even if we tried +to." + +"That's so!" Chirpy's companions shouted. + +"Then there's no need of our freezing here any longer, waiting for that +wretched tailor, Mr. Frog!" said Freddie Firefly. + +And somehow, Mr. Frog did not smile quite so widely over that speech. + +Nevertheless, he was pleased, on the whole. And not waiting to watch +the shivering party leave the neighborhood, he set off at once toward +Farmer Green's house, making first for the river, which ran near the +farm buildings, because Mr. Frog did not like to travel by land. + +Because the air was cool, the water felt all the warmer. And by the time +Mr. Frog had reached his journey's end he was almost overheated. +Besides, as he noticed, it was not so cold in Farmer Green's dooryard as +it had been by the creek. + +He stopped, for a few moments, to cool himself in the watering-trough. +And then he hopped briskly on to the front yard. + +To his great delight he had scarcely reached the clump of maple trees +when right above him he heard Kiddie Katydid's famous refrain. + +"Good evening!" Mr. Frog called. "I've brought a little present for you, +all the way from the creek." + +"How-dy do!" said Kiddie Katydid. "It's a cool night, isn't it?" + +"You won't mind the weather when you put this on," Mr. Frog replied, +holding up the small garment he had made that afternoon. + +"What's that?" Kiddie Katydid asked. + +"An overcoat, fashioned expressly for you by the finest tailor in +Pleasant Valley!" said Mr. Frog very proudly. + +"You're exceedingly kind, I'm sure," said Kiddie. And he was about to +jump down and slip into the coat when he noticed that Mr. Frog had an +extremely wide mouth.... Suppose, after slipping into the coat, he +should find himself slipping down the tailor's throat? + +"Just hang the coat on a twig and I'll get into it a little later," +Kiddie Katydid suggested. + +"I see!" Mr. Frog cried. "That's your way of accepting a gift. And I +wouldn't dream of quarreling with you about that. So I'll hang the coat +right here and go back to the watering-trough to wet my feet. While I'm +gone you can try the coat on, and tell me how you like it when I come +back." + +"I hope it's a green one!" said Kiddie Katydid somewhat anxiously. "For +if it isn't green, I couldn't wear it, you know. I always wear green. +It's my favorite color." + +"Ah! Trust me not to make a mistake!" Mr. Frog chuckled happily. And +then he withdrew. But he could not help pausing for a moment, to look +back and watch, while Kiddie sprang down from his tree and took his new +coat from the twig on which the tailor had hung it. + + + + +XIII + +KIDDIE KATYDID IS SHY + + +"Now--" said Mr. Frog, when he had returned from the +watering-trough--"now tell me, how do you like the overcoat I made for +you?" + +And Kiddie Katydid, safe in his tree once more, and snugly buttoned in +Mr. Frog's gift, replied that it was the finest garment he had ever +owned in all his life. + +"Good!" said Mr. Frog. "And I dare say you've had many overcoats in your +time, too." + +Kiddie Katydid did not correct Mr. Frog's mistake. To tell the truth, he +had never before had an overcoat on his back. + +"I've come here to-night to deliver an important message to you," Mr. +Frog went on. "And thinking the weather might be cooler than you liked, +I made you that fine coat so you could stay out here in your tree and +listen to what I have to tell you.... I hear--" he said--"I hear that +you're a musician." + +"Yes!" said Kiddie Katydid--for he knew well enough that Freddie Firefly +could not have kept the secret. + +"I hear that you're a fiddler," Mr. Frog added. + +"Why, no! I've never played the fiddle!" Kiddie Katydid exclaimed. "I +don't know how to do that." + +"Well, how do you know that you can't, if you've never tried?" Mr. Frog +retorted. "If you can play _Katy did, Katy did; she did, she did_, by +rubbing your wing covers together, there's no knowing what you could do +with a real fiddle and bow." + +"That's true," Kiddie admitted. "I never thought of that." + +"Well," said Mr. Frog, who appeared greatly pleased with himself, +"anyhow, I want you to join our singing society. Perhaps you've heard me +and my friends over in the swamp. Almost every night we have a singing +party there. And if you'll only agree to fiddle for us, while we sing, I +venture to say that we'll have Farmer Green getting up out of his bed to +listen to us." + +Naturally, the invitation pleased Kiddie Katydid. But for all that, he +shook his head slowly. + +"I'm afraid I'm too shy," he told Mr. Frog. "I like to stay hidden among +the leaves, where people can't see me." + +"That'll be all right!" Mr. Frog assured him. "You can hide in some bush +near-by, where we can't look at you." + +But still Kiddie Katydid wouldn't accept the invitation. Although Mr. +Frog teased and teased, all he would say was that he would think the +matter over. + +"Promise me this, at least--" Mr. Frog finally said--"promise me that +you won't agree to make music for anybody else! Now that people know +you're musical, they'll be asking you to play in an orchestra, or a +band, or a fife-and-drum corps, or something. But I've invited you +first, and if you oblige anybody it ought to be me--especially after +I've given you that beautiful warm overcoat." The tailor looked upwards +into the tree so beseechingly that Kiddie Katydid hadn't the heart to +refuse his request. + +"I'll promise that," he said. + +"Hurrah!" cried Mr. Frog, opening his mouth so widely that Kiddie +Katydid couldn't help shuddering at the sight. + +And then Mr. Frog leaped into the air three times. And each time that he +leaped, he struck his heels together three times, just to show how happy +he was. + +Then, with a hearty "Good night!" he turned away and went skipping off. + +And Kiddie Katydid, making his curious music in the top of the maple +tree, kept thinking that the tailor was one of the oddest chaps he had +ever seen. + +He did wish, too, that Mr. Frog had a smaller mouth. + + + + +XIV + +KIDDIE KEEPS HIS PROMISE + + +Old Mr. Crow flew into a terrible rage when he found, the next morning, +that his committee had not called on Kiddie Katydid during the night. +And when Chirpy Cricket told him that the weather was too cold for +anybody to stay out late, Mr. Crow said "Nonsense! What about Mr. Frog?" + +That was a hard question to answer. And Chirpy Cricket was so afraid of +angry Mr. Crow that he promptly hid himself among the roots of a clump +of grass. + +Now, the fact that Mr. Frog had been away from his shop the night before +set Mr. Crow to worrying. + +"That slippery tailor has been up to some mischief," Mr. Crow declared. +"And if he has played a trick on me I'll never hear the last of it." + +The old gentleman was so disturbed that he quite lost his appetite +during the rest of the day. And he moped and groaned about, hoping for +the best, but fearing the worst. One thing that made him especially +uneasy was the fact that when he called on Mr. Frog he found the tailor +in a gayer mood than he had ever known him to be in. + +Mr. Frog bounded about his shop like a rubber ball. And the worst of it +was, he _would_ sing, although Mr. Crow begged him, with tears in his +eyes, to stop. + +"What's the matter?" Mr. Frog asked him. "Don't you like my voice? Or is +it the songs I sing? I've a new one that I'd like to sing for you. It's +about one of the Katydid family; and I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing it." + +But Mr. Crow wouldn't stay there any longer. With a loud squawk of rage +he scurried away. He was sure, then, that Mr. Frog had tricked him. + +That night Mr. Crow's committee called on Kiddie Katydid. It was a fine, +warm, moonlight night. And as they drew near Farmer Green's place they +could hear Kiddie's shrill music, even while they were still a quarter +of a mile away. + +"He plays better than ever," said Freddie Firefly. "I wish Mr. Crow +could hear him." And they hurried on, believing that everything was +going to turn out all right, in the end. + +"Mr. Crow will be sorry, to-morrow, that he scolded us," said Chirpy +Cricket. + +But the committee met with a sad disappointment. When they invited +Kiddie Katydid to join the Pleasant Valley orchestra he told them that +he couldn't. + +"Why not?" Freddie Firefly asked. + +"I've promised somebody that I wouldn't," Kiddie said. + +And though they pressed him for an explanation, he wouldn't give them +any. He wouldn't say another word. + +It was a downcast company that left Farmer Green's front yard. And they +quarreled among themselves, too, before they parted. For there wasn't +one of them that was willing to tell Mr. Crow that Kiddie had declined +his invitation. + +But they finally hit upon a plan that suited everybody. They agreed to +get Mr. Crow's cousin, Jasper Jay, to break the news gently to the old +gentleman. + +It turned out that Jasper was delighted to undertake the task. He hoped +that Mr. Crow would fly into a passion when he heard the sad tale. And +Jasper was not disappointed. For old Mr. Crow was furious. + +"It's the work of that sly rascal, Mr. Frog!" he squalled. "He must have +called on Kiddie Katydid and hoodwinked him somehow.... I'd like to know +what he said." + +But Mr. Crow never found that out. So Kiddie Katydid had another secret, +which was known only to himself and Mr. Frog. + +And Mr. Frog wouldn't tell anybody, because he preferred to tease Mr. +Crow. + +And Kiddie Katydid wouldn't tell anybody, because he liked secrets. So +when people tried to pry into the affair, he just folded his wings +tightly over himself--and said nothing. + + + + +XV + +BENJAMIN BAT'S PLAN + + +Of course, Kiddie Katydid was not always to be found in his favorite +nook among the trees in Farmer Green's front yard. Quite often he went +skipping about from tree to tree or from bush to bush, sometimes flying +and sometimes leaping. It really made little difference to him which +mode of travel he used. And he never stopped to think how lucky he was +to be able to move so spryly with the help of either his legs or his +wings. He took his good fortune as a matter of course. + +There was Mr. Frog! He was a famous jumper; but he couldn't fly. And +there was Mr. Nighthawk! He was a skillful flier; but he couldn't jump. + +Such thoughts, however, never entered Kiddie Katydid's head. He went +cheerfully about his business--which was _eating_, principally--and +jumped or flew as the mood seized him. Indeed, if it hadn't been for +that queer fellow, Benjamin Bat, probably Kiddie never would have +realized just what he could--or couldn't--do. + +Since Benjamin was another night-prowler like himself, Kiddie Katydid +saw him often. It seemed to Kiddie that he could scarcely ever gaze at +the full moon without catching sight of Benjamin Bat's dusky shape +flitting jerkily across the great, round, yellow disk. + +When Benjamin was astir in the neighborhood, Kiddie Katydid lay low--or +high--in his favorite tree-top. At least, he kept very still until the +night was nearly gone, to give Benjamin Bat plenty of time to satisfy +his hunger. For Kiddie found Benjamin Bat a much more agreeable +companion when he had eaten his fill. Early in the evening, soon after +he had waked up, Benjamin was positively ferocious. But the more he ate, +the pleasanter he grew. And by the time faint streaks of light began to +show in the east he could smile and crack a joke as easily as anybody +else. + +Well, late one night--or early one morning--Kiddie Katydid and Benjamin +Bat were enjoying a chat in the tree-tops, when Benjamin put a new idea +into Kiddie's head. + +"We ought to have some sports right here in Farmer Green's yard," he +suggested. "You're such a fine jumper that you could try your skill +against Mr. Frog. And you're such a fine flier that you and Freddie +Firefly ought to have a race.... I'd suggest--" he added--"I'd suggest +that the sports take place after dark, almost any evening." + +But Kiddie Katydid spoke up quickly and said that he wouldn't care to +join in the fun until the night was almost gone. He said he was sure he +could jump and fly better at that time. And that was quite true, because +he knew that if Mr. Bat swallowed him early in the evening he wouldn't +be able to take any part in the sports. + +"Very well, then!" Benjamin Bat replied. "But it will be the worst +possible time for me." + +"What do you mean?" Kiddie Katydid inquired. "Do you expect to enter any +of the contests?" + +"Oh, yes!" said Benjamin. "I'm going to hang by my heels from the limb +of a tree. And since I'm never so heavy early in the evening, before +I've had a chance to eat much, I'd prefer to have the sports begin soon +after dark." + +But Kiddie Katydid said that there was no doubt Benjamin Bat would win +in the sport of hanging head downward by his heels. And he told Benjamin +not to worry. + + + + +XVI + +A NOISY CROWD + + +When the night of the races and other sports finally came, a great crowd +began to gather about Farmer Green's place soon after dark. Although +Benjamin Bat had told people that the fun wasn't going to begin until +almost morning, they were all so excited that they couldn't wait for the +night to pass. + +They lingered around the dooryard and talked so loudly that they +actually disturbed the household. Farmer Green was even tempted to get +up and shut his window, he found it so hard to go to sleep. + +The noisiest of all the gathering was Mr. Frog, the tailor, who lived +over by the creek. + +He had a great deal to say about everything; and it soon became plain to +everyone that he was trying to manage the whole affair. + +Mr. Frog objected to every arrangement that Benjamin Bat had made. When +he learned that he was expected to enter a jumping contest with Kiddie +Katydid he exclaimed that he and Kiddie were such good friends that he +hated the thought of trying to beat Kiddie at jumping. + +"Kiddie might feel bad," said Mr. Frog. "People might laugh at him +because I won." + +"Don't you worry about me!" Kiddie Katydid called out. + +"Where are you?" asked Mr. Frog, looking all around. "I can hear you, +but I can't see you." + +But Kiddie Katydid refused to show himself. + +He preferred, for the time being, to remain safely hidden among the +leaves, where he could listen to what people said--and talk to them when +he wanted to. + +"Wouldn't you prefer some other sort of contest?" Mr. Frog then asked +him. "Now, there's swimming! We could swim in the watering-trough, or +the duck pond. And if I beat you, you could stick your head under water, +so you wouldn't hear what people said. Don't you think that's a good +idea?" + +"Goodness, no!" cried Kiddie. "I'd drown myself in no time." + +"Dear me!" said Mr. Frog. "I never thought of that." + +And then everybody laughed so loudly at him that he hurried off to the +watering-trough to dive under water, and stay there until he was sure +that his remarks had been forgotten. + +Meanwhile Benjamin Bat was worrying. He couldn't find anybody who was +willing to try the sport of hanging head downward by his heels. He asked +Kiddie Katydid; and Kiddie declined flatly to do any such thing. + +Now, since Benjamin had not yet dined, he was very short-tempered. And +he grew angry at once. + +"What's the matter?" he sneered. "Don't you know how to do an easy trick +like that? If I could see you--" he declared, peering among the maple +leaves--"if I could see you I'd show you how it feels to hang beneath a +limb." + +Kiddie Katydid said no word in reply. He knew well enough what Benjamin +Bat meant. Benjamin wanted to eat him! And he wished that Benjamin would +go away and get a good meal somewhere before he came back again. + + + + +XVII + +KITTY DID! + + +As the hours sped by and the moon at last crossed the sky and dropped +out of sight, Kiddie Katydid saw that there was going to be trouble. + +He was worried about Benjamin Bat. Early in the evening Benjamin had +begun to abuse Mr. Frog. And he was so busy doing that that he wouldn't +take the time to go away and snatch even a bite to eat. + +Naturally, Benjamin's temper grew worse as the night lengthened. And +Kiddie Katydid had to admit to himself that he would be most unwise if +he did any jumping or flying just then. For Benjamin Bat was in so +fierce a humor that he was ready to snap at anybody who was smaller than +he was. All the tiny flying folk gave him a wide berth. And it began to +look as if he were going to spoil the night's fun. + +But all the while Mr. Frog never once lost his temper. Even when +Benjamin Bat called him a long-legged, flat-headed, paddle-footed +meddler, Mr. Frog only smiled and turned a few somersaults backward. + +"What's the matter with you?" Benjamin Bat asked him at last. "Can't you +speak?" + +"Certainly! Certainly!" Mr. Frog said then. "I've been trying to think +of some way to prevent so much quarreling. It hardly seems fair to +Kiddie Katydid--this uproar right in his dooryard. And since you are the +one that's making the greatest disturbance, I'd suggest that you go +away and leave us to enjoy the rest of the night in peace." + +"I'll do nothing of the kind!" Benjamin Bat screamed. "This is _my_ +party. I thought of it in the first place. And I'm going to stay here +until dawn." + +"Very well! Then the rest of us will leave at once," Mr. Frog told him. +And calling good-by to all his friends, Mr. Frog flopped himself briskly +away. + +The smaller folk, too, vanished as if by magic. Though Benjamin Bat +watched sharply, he didn't even see Freddie Firefly when he slipped +away. + +"That's strange!" thought Benjamin. "He must have put out his light, to +fool me. But I don't care, because Kiddie Katydid is hidden somewhere in +this tree. And I'm going to find him--for I'm terribly hungry." + +So Benjamin began flying in and out among the maple branches. Nobody but +he could have twisted and turned in such a helter-skelter fashion. It +made Kiddie Katydid almost dizzy just to watch him. But Kiddie didn't +take his eyes off Benjamin, because he intended to jump--and jump fast +and far--in case Benjamin should spy him. + +Now, although the Bat family was able to see in the dark as well as +Farmer Green's cat could, Benjamin failed to find Kiddie Katydid +anywhere. Crouching motionless upon a leaf, and dressed all in green, +Kiddie Katydid was almost invisible. But if he had moved the least bit, +Benjamin Bat would have found him out. + +Looking only for a tiny green figure among the green leaves, Benjamin +Bat paid no attention to the grayish branches of the tree. He was really +strangely careless. Quite unsuspected by him, while he was wrangling +with Mr. Frog, the cat had crept out of the woodshed and stolen softly +into that very tree, where she lay motionless along a limb. She had come +out upon an early morning hunt for birds. + +She was a fierce old cat. There was nothing, almost, that she wasn't +ready and willing to fight. Even old dog Spot had learned to shun her. +And now she waited patiently until Benjamin Bat should come within reach +of her quick paws. + +That stupid, blundering fellow bumped squarely into her at last. And how +he escaped is still a mystery. The old cat always claimed that when she +found Benjamin wasn't a bird she was so surprised that she let him go. +And as for Benjamin himself, he never would discuss his adventure with +anybody. Kiddie Katydid was the only other one who saw what happened. +But he was so frightened at the time that he only knew that Benjamin Bat +tore away toward the swamp as if a thousand cats were following him. And +people do say that for some time afterward, Kiddie Katydid shrilled a +slightly different ditty. It was _Kitty did, Kitty did; she did, she +did_! + +But when Mr. Frog mentioned that news, with a laugh, to Benjamin Bat, +over in the swamp, Benjamin only said, "Stuff and nonsense!" + +Yet he looked most uncomfortable. + + + + +XVIII + +THE TWO GRASSHOPPERS + + +Kiddie Katydid had a neighbor who was a good deal like him. Indeed, a +careless person had to look sharply to discover much difference between +them. But there was a difference. There was, especially, a certain way +in which one could always tell them apart. One had only to take the +trouble to look at their horns--or feelers. For Kiddie Katydid had horns +as long--or longer--than he was. But his neighbor, who was known as +Leaper the Locust, wore his horns quite short. + +Although they saw each other often, Kiddie and this neighbor of his were +not on the best of terms. The trouble was simply this: they couldn't +agree on the question of horns. Whenever they met they were sure to +have a most unpleasant dispute before they parted. + +Really, their quarrels were as bad as those that Jimmy Rabbit and Frisky +Squirrel once had over the matter of tails. And many of the field folk +said it was a shame that the Grasshoppers' trouble couldn't be settled +somehow. + +Strange as it may seem, that remark always made Leaper the Locust +terribly angry. And it enraged Kiddie Katydid as did nothing else. + +The difficulty was that the field people--as well as Farmer Green's +whole family--had fallen into the lazy habit of calling those two by the +same name. They spoke of Kiddie Katydid as "the Long-horned +Grasshopper," while they termed his neighbor "the Short-horned +Grasshopper." + +[Illustration: Kiddie Faced Leaper the Locust + +(_Page 90_)] + +"It's bad enough to look somewhat like Leaper the Locust, without +being tagged with the name of Grasshopper, along with him," Kiddie +Katydid spluttered. + +"Honestly, I'm tempted to move away from this neighborhood," Leaper the +Locust began to tell everyone he met. "If that chap would only trim his +horns to the proper length I wouldn't mind it so much. But he's actually +proud of them. He's always waving them over his head, so people will +notice them." + +They both declared--Kiddie Katydid and Leaper the Locust--that they +couldn't abide the name "Grasshopper." And they took pains to warn +people in the neighborhood that they wouldn't answer to that name, no +matter how loudly anyone might shout it at them. + +After that a few of their neighbors took great delight in crying +"Grasshopper! Grasshopper!" whenever one of the two happened to be +within hearing. But no matter which of them it might be--whether Leaper +the Locust or Kiddie Katydid--he pretended not to hear, and went right +on eating. + +But at last something happened that made both those jumpy gentlemen +change their minds. From not wanting to be called Grasshoppers, they +decided suddenly that they liked the name. And each claimed that the +other had no right to it. + +This odd state of affairs arose when they learned that a stranger had +come into the valley bearing a message marked "For Mr. Grasshopper." + +"That's for me!" Kiddie Katydid cried, as soon as he heard the news. + +"You're mistaken!" Leaper the Locust snapped. "The message is clearly +intended for me. And I shan't let anybody else open it." + + + + +XIX + +A QUARREL + + +Kiddie Katydid and Leaper the Locust quarreled so loudly that they soon +drew a crowd around them. + +"That message for 'Mr. Grasshopper' is certainly meant for me," Kiddie +insisted. "You know yourself how you have objected to being called by +the name of 'Grasshopper.' Why, only last night you refused to stop when +Freddie Firefly shouted it after you." + +"And you--" cried Leaper the Locust--"you paid no attention when Chirpy +Cricket went up to you just as the moon rose this evening and said, +'How-dy do, Mr. Grasshopper!' right in your ear. You have no right to +open the message. And I promise you that I shall make trouble for you if +you don't mind your own affairs." + +"Well, well--what's all this row about, anyhow?" asked a strange voice. +It was a newcomer in Pleasant Valley who had just spoken. He elbowed his +way briskly through the throng until he reached the center of it, where +Kiddie and Leaper the Locust faced each other angrily. People noticed +that the stranger looked as if he had travelled a long distance. And he +had a mail-pouch slung over his back. Furthermore, he was enough like +Kiddie and Leaper to be a cousin of either one of them. + +A person couldn't see his horns, on account of the hat that he wore. + +When this traveller asked about the dispute, everybody hastened to +explain the quarrel to him. + +He listened carefully, and when he had heard the whole story he said: + +"This message--do you know where it is? Do you know who has it now?" + +"No!" Leaper the Locust cried, while Kiddie Katydid echoed the word. + +"Ah! I thought not!" said the stranger, "I thought not, because I have +it in this mail-bag. And now I must confess that I'm puzzled myself; for +I don't know which one it's intended for." And he pulled off his hat and +began fanning himself with it. + +It was perfectly plain to everyone that he was sadly perplexed. + +Then Leaper the Locust gave a great shout. + +"You're a Short-horn!" he exclaimed. "It can't be that you would have a +message for a person with horns like _his_!" He pointed a scornful +finger at poor Kiddie Katydid. + +One glance at the stranger's head--now that he had removed his hat--told +everybody that Leaper the Locust was not mistaken. + +The stranger's horns _were_ short. There was no denying that fact. + +"I believe you must be the Mr. Grasshopper I'm looking for," said the +stranger. + +Then he put his hand inside his mail-pouch and pulled out a letter. + +Leaper the Locust made a sudden jump for the message. But he was so +eager that he sprang too far. He sailed far over the stranger's head and +landed some distance away. + +"Hullo! He doesn't want it!" said the stranger. "It must be for _you_!" +And he shoved the message into Kiddie Katydid's willing hands. + +Almost immediately Leaper the Locust jumped back again. + +But of course he was too late. + + + + +XX + +THE STRANGER'S MESSAGE + + +Leaper the Locust was a rude fellow. He actually tried to snatch the +message out of Kiddie Katydid's hands. But the stranger promptly bowled +him over and told him sternly to be off. + +Leaper did not dare disobey. So he hurried away. But after a few moments +he came sailing back again and hung on the outskirts of the crowd, to +see what was going on. + +He soon discovered that there was some difficulty. Kiddie Katydid had +torn open the message; and now he turned it over and over, wondering +what it said--for to tell the truth, he couldn't read a single word. + +"Ah!" the stranger remarked presently. "I see what your trouble is. You +haven't your spectacles on!" + +He was a polite person--that stranger. He knew better than to suggest +that a body didn't know his letters! + +"Let me help you!" he continued. And taking the message from Kiddie +Katydid, he held it upside down and began reciting in a sing-song voice: + + Dear Mr. Grasshopper, + in Pleasant Valley---- + + Though you do not know me, I am a distant + cousin of yours; and I am now on my way to your + neighborhood, with my family. Not being + acquainted in your part of the country, I am + sending you this message with the hope that + you will be ready to welcome us when we arrive. + _Please see that there's a plenty to eat!_ + +"That's odd!" Kiddie Katydid exclaimed, after the stranger had finished. +"Won't you please read that once more? I want to be sure that I +understand it." + +Thereupon the travel-worn messenger repeated the contents of the letter. +And this time he held it with the back towards him, so that he couldn't +see the writing at all. Like Kiddie Katydid, he didn't know how to read +a word. But luckily he had learned the message by heart before starting +on his journey. + +"What's my cousin's name?" Kiddie Katydid asked him abruptly. "Hasn't he +signed the message?" + +"I'm afraid he forgot to do that," the stranger muttered. "No doubt he +wants to surprise you," he added, as he handed the letter back to +Kiddie. + +"This cousin of mine--is he a Long-horn or a Short-horn?" Kiddie Katydid +inquired. + +At that question the stranger shifted uneasily from one foot to another. +And since he had six feet, he looked for a moment as if he were engaged +in a queer sort of dance. + +"I should say--" he said at last--"I should say his horns were about +_medium_." + +Kiddie Katydid stared at the fellow very hard. + +"I believe you know more than you're willing to tell!" he suddenly +cried. And then he quickly shoved the letter inside the stranger's +mail-pouch. "That's not for me, after all!" he declared. "Unless I'm +greatly mistaken, the person that sent this letter is a Short-horn, the +same as you. And I want nothing to do with him!" + +"Where's that other fellow that was clamoring for the message?" the +stranger asked. And spying Leaper the Locust on the edge of the crowd, +he sprang upon him, collared him, and explained that there had been a +mistake. + +"The message is for you," he announced. + +"But I don't want it now!" Leaper the Locust shouted. "I've heard it +twice already; and I don't like it in the least!" + + + + +XXI + +LEAPER THE LOCUST IS WORRIED + + +Kiddie Katydid looked on happily while Leaper the Locust struggled to +free himself from the clutches of the messenger. But Leaper was no match +for the stranger. In the end he had to accept the message as his own. + +"Now," said the stranger, "your cousin and his family will reach here by +to-morrow at the latest. So you'd better be making arrangements to +welcome him. + +"Remember! Have plenty of food ready! I'll warn you now that if your +cousin's family have to go hungry they'll be pretty angry with you." + +"I don't believe I need to worry," Leaper the Locust remarked +carelessly. "If they don't like what I have they can go without, for all +I care." + +Though the stranger said nothing in reply to that, he glared at Leaper +in a threatening fashion which haunted him all the rest of the night. + +"I wish I had never heard of this horrid message!" he exclaimed at last. +"I wish I had never laid claim to it. It's going to cause me trouble, I +know!" + +The more he worried over the visit of his unknown cousin, the more +Leaper the Locust wished he were safely rid of the whole affair. + +"I know what I'll do!" he cried at last. "I'll disguise myself. I'll +make my horns so long that people will think I'm somebody else." + +So he set to work. And biting off some slender grasses, he bound them +to his stubby horns with threads from a spider's web which he found in +the pasture. + +Then he looked at himself in a pool. + +"I'm a Long-horn now!" he exclaimed. And he was greatly pleased at the +sight of himself--he who had once scoffed at Kiddie Katydid's horns and +advised him to have them trimmed. + +Meanwhile the strange messenger had disappeared. It was said that he had +gone to meet the other travellers and guide them to their cousin, Leaper +the Locust. + +And there was great excitement throughout Pleasant Valley. A good many +of the field people stopped at Farmer Green's dooryard and told Kiddie +Katydid that they thought he had made a mistake. + +"You might have had the honor of receiving the guests," they said. + +"No, thank you!" he replied to all such remarks. "I'm willing enough to +let Leaper the Locust do the honors. And unless I'm much mistaken, he's +trembling in his shoes this very moment." + +Then the field people would shake their heads and say that they didn't +understand. Wasn't everybody _glad_ to have company once in a while? And +wouldn't it be a _pleasure_ to talk with strangers who came from some +far-off place, and ask them how the crops were where they lived, and +what the weather was? + +But Kiddie Katydid only said mysteriously, "Wait a bit! And if you want +_strangers_ to talk to, there'll soon be plenty of them in this +neighborhood, if I'm not mistaken." + +Well, Kiddie's neighbors couldn't imagine what he meant. They made a +good many guesses. But there was always somebody to point out some flaw +and upset every calculation. So at last everybody stopped guessing and +admitted that he had no idea as to what Kiddie Katydid had in mind. It +was just another one of his secrets. And people might as well wait +patiently to see what happened. Even Solomon Owl agreed to that. "Time +will tell!" he said with a wise nod of his head. + + + + +XXII + +THE SHORT-HORNS ARRIVE + + +In at least one respect, the short-horned messenger had told the truth. +Before twenty-four hours had gone by, the fellow returned to Farmer +Green's dooryard; and with him came a great, fat person who belonged +without question to the Locust family. + +Nobody could call his horns long. Nor could anyone call them medium. +They were short; and no one in his right mind would deny it. + +"Where's that fellow you call Leaper?" the messenger asked Chirpy +Cricket. "Here's his cousin! And the rest of the family will be +dropping down here in just a few minutes." + +Chirpy Cricket replied that he hadn't seen Leaper the Locust since the +night before. + +"That's strange!" the messenger remarked, turning to his fat companion. +"He was to be here to welcome you." + +"Ah! I see him now! He's right here in this tree!" exclaimed the fat +one. And he half-jumped, half-flew into Kiddie Katydid's favorite tree. + +"You're wrong!" said Kiddie Katydid. "I'm a Long-horn--and you can't +claim to be a cousin of mine." + +"My mistake! My mistake!" said the fat gentleman hastily. And he left +even more suddenly than he had come. + +"I hope your friend Leaper hasn't given us the slip," he remarked to the +messenger as he joined him again. + +"Never fear! If he fails us we'll find him and punish him as he +deserves," said the messenger with a savage frown. + +And Kiddie Katydid, looking down from his tree-top, was gladder than +ever that he had escaped this terrible trouble that had come to Leaper +the Locust. + +Soon a patter, patter, patter made itself heard among the leaves. + +"My goodness! Can that be rain?" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. "The moon is +shining. And I don't see a cloud in the sky." + +Even as he spoke the strange sound grew louder. + +"Can it be hailing?" Freddie asked Kiddie Katydid anxiously. + +"Oh, no!" Kiddie told him. "What you hear is nothing but Leaper the +Locust's cousin's family. They're just beginning to arrive." + +Freddie Firefly could scarcely believe his own ears. + +"Why, there must be dozens of them!" he cried. + +"More than that!" Kiddie Katydid replied. + +"Hundreds, then!" + +"Still more!" Kiddie Katydid said. + +"Well, _thousands_, then!" cried Freddie Firefly. "You don't mean to say +there are more of 'em than that?" + +"There are tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands," Kiddie Katydid +declared solemnly. "They'll eat everything they can find. And we shall +be lucky if they leave enough for the rest of us to live on, after they +pass on." + +"How did you learn all this?" Freddie Firefly wanted to know. + +"That's another of my secrets," said Kiddie Katydid. + +So Freddie Firefly went off to hunt for Leaper the Locust. He knew now +why Leaper had struggled to escape from that mysterious messenger with +the curious message. And Freddie intended to ask Leaper a good many +questions about his cousins. + +But he couldn't find Leaper anywhere. He searched for him high and low, +and far and wide. But nobody knew where Leaper was. + +"There are lots of Short-horns everywhere to-night," Benjamin Bat told +him. "I claim any one of them is just as good as another." And Benjamin +grinned horribly. + +Freddie Firefly shuddered. It seemed to him that he had never passed +such a dreadful night before. + +But Benjamin Bat was having the time of his life. He said that he hoped +the Short-horns would like Pleasant Valley so well that they would +decide to stay right there for the rest of their days. But, strange to +say, Benjamin made things as unpleasant as possible for the newcomers. +He _ate_ as many of them as he could, remarking that from such a horde a +few would scarcely be missed. + + + + +XXIII + +THE BEST OF FRIENDS + + +In spite of his lengthened horns, Leaper the Locust hardly dared show +himself while his cousins remained in the neighborhood. + +But when he did venture out, not one of the hungry horde paid the +slightest heed to him. They just ate and ate and ate. And Pleasant +Valley soon began to take on a brown, withered look, as if fall had +already come. + +Kiddie Katydid soon saw that he would have to move, if Leaper's cousins +lingered there much longer. And he didn't like the thought of quitting +his home. + +"I wouldn't mind going, if I could take Farmer Green's dooryard with +me," he remarked to a long-horned gentleman who stopped to talk with him +one evening. "But of course," Kiddie added with a smile, "that's out of +the question." + +"I quite agree with you," said the other. "In fact, I'm ready to agree +to almost anything you say." + +"These Short-horns are a terrible lot!" Kiddie Katydid observed. + +"They are, indeed!" exclaimed the polite stranger. "I wish they'd finish +their visit here and leave us in peace." + +"I never want to see another Short-horn as long as I live," Kiddie +Katydid declared. + +"Nor I!" echoed the strange gentleman. + +And Kiddie Katydid couldn't help thinking what a pleasant person the +long-horned stranger was and how gentle were his manners. + +"I'd like to know your name!" he cried. "It's a long time since I have +met anybody so agreeable as you are." + +The stranger drew nearer and lowered his voice. + +"Don't you know me?" he asked. + +Kiddie Katydid stared at him for a moment. + +"No!" he said at length. "To be sure, you do have a familiar look, in a +way. But I must say I don't recognize you." + +Then the stranger spoke in a whisper: + +"They used to call me 'Leaper the Locust'!" + +"Go 'way!" cried Kiddie Katydid. "_He_ was nothing but a Short-horned +Grasshopper. And anyone can see with half an eye that your horns are +fully as long as my own." + +"They're not real horns," said the other sadly. "That is, they're real +only a part of the way." + +And looking more closely, Kiddie Katydid saw that what he said was true. +It was, indeed, Leaper the Locust. And he was greatly changed in more +ways than one. + +He had lost his old, quarrelsome air; and he had become very meek and +mild. + +"Don't tell my cousins what I've done!" he begged Kiddie Katydid. "I +don't want them to know who I am." + +Kiddie assured the poor fellow that he would not betray him. He was +sorry for Leaper the Locust. + +"You'll be glad when your relations move on, won't you?" he said. "Then +you can take those bits of grass off your horns and be yourself again." + +Leaper's answer almost took Kiddie Katydid's breath away, for it was a +most surprising statement. + +"I'm never going to be a Short-horn again!" he declared. "I shall wear +my horns long to the end of my days." + +He kept his word, too. And so earnestly did he try to be like Kiddie +Katydid in every way that he even attempted Kiddie's well known _Katy +did_ melody. But he never really succeeded at that. Anyone with an ear +for music could tell the difference at once. + +Luckily the grasshopper horde soon swept on to new fields. And a few +warm rains, with sunshine sandwiched in between showers, soon turned the +countryside green again. It was really _Pleasant_ Valley once more. And +on fine autumn nights Kiddie Katydid's shrill music could be heard more +than ever near the farmhouse. + +Leaper the Locust never could hear enough of it. He was always begging +Kiddie to repeat the odd ditty about the mysterious Katy--hoping, +perhaps, that sometime he might learn more about her. + +But Kiddie Katydid guarded his secret too well. + + +THE END + + + + + TUCK-ME-IN TALES + + (Trademark Registered) + + By ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + AUTHOR OF THE + SLEEPY-TIME TALES and SLUMBER-TOWN TALES + +=Colored Wrapper and Text 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 + +Jolly Robin spreads happiness everywhere with his merry song. + + +THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW + +A wise bird was Mr. Crow. He'd laugh when any one tried to catch him. + + +THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL + +Solomon Owl looked so solemn that many people thought he knew +everything. + + +THE TALE OF JASPER JAY + +Jasper Jay was very mischievous. But many of his neighbors liked him. + + +THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN + +Rusty Wren fought bravely to keep all strangers out of his house. + + +THE TALE OF DADDY LONG-LEGS + +Daddy Long-Legs could point in all directions at once--with his +different legs. + + +THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID + +He was a musical person and chanted all night during the autumn. + + +THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY + +Betsy spent most of her time among the flowers. + + +THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE + +Buster was clumsy and blundering, but was known far and wide. + + +THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY + +Freddie had great sport dancing in the meadow and flashing his light. + + +THE TALE OF BOBBY BOBOLINK + +Bobby had a wonderful voice and loved to sing. + + +THE TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET + +Chirpy loved to stroll about after dark and "chirp." + + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + +Mrs. Ladybug loved to find out what her neighbors were doing and to give +them advice. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + SLEEPY-TIME TALES + + (Trademark Registered.) + + By ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + AUTHOR OF THE + TUCK-ME-IN TALES and SLUMBER-TOWN TALES + +=Colored Wrapper and Text Illustrations Drawn by HARRY L. SMITH= + +This series of animal stories for children from three to eight years, +tells of the adventures of the four-footed creatures of our American +woods and fields in an amusing way, which delights small two-footed +human beings. + + THE TALE OF CUFFY BEAR + THE TALE OF FRISKY SQUIRREL + THE TALE OF TOMMY FOX + THE TALE OF FATTY COON + THE TALE OF BILLY WOODCHUCK + THE TALE OF JIMMY RABBIT + THE TALE OF PETER MINK + THE TALE OF SANDY CHIPMUNK + THE TALE OF BROWNIE BEAVER + THE TALE OF PADDY MUSKRAT + THE TALE OF FERDINAND FROG + THE TALE OF DICKIE DEER MOUSE + THE TALE OF TIMOTHY TURTLE + THE TALE OF BENNY BADGER + THE TALE OF MAJOR MONKEY + THE TALE OF GRUMPY WEASEL + THE TALE OF GRANDFATHER MOLE + THE TALE OF MASTER MEADOW MOUSE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + THE MAKE-BELIEVE STORIES + + (Trademark Registered.) + + By LAURA LEE HOPE + Author of THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS, Etc. + +Colored Wrappers and Illustrations by HARRY L. SMITH + +In this fascinating line of books Miss Hope has the various toys come to +life "when nobody is looking" and she puts them through a series of +adventures as interesting as can possibly be imagined. + + +THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL + +How the toys held a party at the Toy Counter; how the Sawdust Doll was +taken to the home of a nice little girl, and what happened to her there. + + +THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE + +He was a bold charger and a man purchased him for his son's birthday. +Once the Horse had to go to the Toy Hospital, and my! what sights he saw +there. + + +THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS + +She was a dainty creature and a sailor bought her and took her to a +little girl's relative and she had a great time. + + +THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER + +He was Captain of the Company and marched up and down in the store at +night. Then he went to live with a little boy and had the time of his +life. + + +THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT + +He was continually in danger of losing his life by being eaten up. But +he had plenty of fun, and often saw his many friends from the Toy +Counter. + + +THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK + +He was mighty lively and could do many tricks. The boy who owned him +gave a show, and many of the Monkey's friends were among the actors. + + +THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN + +He was a truly comical chap and all the other toys loved him greatly. + + +THE STORY OF A NODDING DONKEY + +He made happy the life of a little lame boy and did lots of other good +deeds. + + +THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT + +The China Cat had many adventures, but enjoyed herself most of the time. + + +THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR + +This fellow came from the North Pole, stopped for a while at the toy +store, and was then taken to the seashore by his little master. + + +THE STORY OF A STUFFED ELEPHANT + +He was a wise looking animal and had a great variety of adventures. + + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Tuck Me In Tales: "legs" changed to "Legs" to match rest of usage. (Tale +of Daddy Long-Legs) + +Page 71, "Bejamin" changed to "Benjamin" (queer fellow, Benjamin Bat) + +Ad pages, TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET: "Crirpy" changed to "Chirpy" (Chirpy +loved to) + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Kiddie Katydid, by Arthur Scott Bailey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID *** + +***** This file should be named 24608.txt or 24608.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/0/24608/ + +Produced by Joe Longo, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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