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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/4049-h.zip b/4049-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d36006f --- /dev/null +++ b/4049-h.zip diff --git a/4049-h/4049-h.htm b/4049-h/4049-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4b0b0d --- /dev/null +++ b/4049-h/4049-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2000 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen + +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: Piccolissima + +Author: Eliza Lee Follen + +Posting Date: June 11, 2009 [EBook #4049] +Release Date: May, 2003 +First Posted: October 21, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICCOLISSIMA *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PICCOLISSIMA +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +MRS. FOLLEN +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +With illustrations by Gammatt Billings and others +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE. +</H3> + +<P> +This little story I have translated from the French of Mademoiselle +Montgolfier. If children enjoy it as much as I have, and think it as +pretty, they will not regret that I have preferred it to any thing I +could write for them. +</P> + +<P> +Mademoiselle Montgolfier says in her preface to the little book, +"Notwithstanding the fanciful character of this story, it is, in +fact, simply a little lesson in Natural History," and that "she +would engage for the truth of all that Piccolissima relates of the +manners and customs of the insects with whom she makes acquaintance." +</P> + +<P> +It may also interest our young, and, perhaps, our more advanced +readers, to know, that Mademoiselle Montgolfier is the daughter of +the celebrated Montgolfier who invented balloons, and made the first +ascension. I had, when in France, the pleasure of seeing this very +interesting lady, and know her affection for children; and I am sure +that it will please her to know that her tiny naturalist is welcomed +by the American children. I therefore feel a particular pleasure in +introducing the wonderfully small Piccolissima to their +acquaintance, and recommending her to their affectionate regard. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +E. L. F. +<BR> +BROOKLINE, October, 1857. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +PICCOLISSIMA. +</H2> + +<P> +Piccolissima was descended on the father's side from the famous Tom +Thumb, so well known to all children. On the mother's side, her +lineage was no less distinguished. Mignonette Littlepin (this was +the family name of Madam Tom Thumb) was the great granddaughter of +the wonderful Princess, who once lodged in a spectacle case, out of +which she came so splendidly attired that the brilliancy of her +little person illuminated all surrounding objects. A trustworthy +biographer tells us that nothing occurred in the history of Mr. and +Mrs. Tom Thumb to disgrace their illustrious parentage, and they +were considered none the less good citizens because they were rather +smaller than other people. +</P> + +<P> +In the mean while, however, our humble couple became suddenly +celebrated by the birth of our heroine; this small creature was so +delicate, so exquisite, so pretty, and so lively and full of spirit, +that from the age of two years she became the object of general +admiration. She was not more than one inch in height, and her +mother, who had prepared the cradle and baby linen for a child of +the usual size, was puzzled to know what to do. Finally, the half of +a cocoanut shell, lined, and furnished with soft cushions of thistle +down, made a good bed for the little wonder; and the nursery maid, +wife of a neighboring clockmaker, and a person of ingenuity, +conceived the admirable idea of suspending the cocoanut cradle from +the pendulum of a great clock, in order that the infant might be +rocked all the time. Madam Tom Thumb was enchanted with the +invention. She adhered to the old-fashioned notions, and could not +suppose it possible that her little one could sleep without rocking. +What the good little mother found the most trouble from, in the +extreme smallness and delicacy of the limbs of her new-born doll +baby, was the impossibility of swathing and dressing it. So she was +forced to resign herself to doing as the birds do, and bring up her +little one on a bed of moss and down. She hardly dared to put upon +the little arm, smaller than her own little finger, a little shift +made of the fine white skin of the inside of an eggshell. The boots +of the little one had soles cut out of the inside husks of the corn; +a poppy leaf made her an ample bonnet. The spider's web which the +dew whitens, and the wind winds up in balls, seemed too coarse too +weave her sheets with, and the cup of an acorn was big enough for +Piccolissima. Her parents obtained all her wardrobe, and all the +small furniture for her use from those thousands of skilful +laborers, so adroit, and yet of whom we think so little, who hide +themselves in all the walls, in the leaves of the trees turned up +like horns, under the bark of the trees; in short, that are found in +all the corners and crevices of creation. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb were not people who could be astonished. +Simple themselves, every thing appeared simple to them. Mrs. +Mignonette was at first a little disconcerted at finding that a +drawer of baby linen which she had taken so much pains to make was +of no use, and that one of the stockings which she had knit was big +enough for her child to get into. But, when she was convinced that +the baby could do just as well without stockings, and that the +cushions of thistle down were sufficient to keep it warm, she was no +longer troubled, and she said to her neighbors, who were eager to +see her little wonder, "It is very natural that the little one +should be so very delicate; from the first we called it +Piccolissima; then, neither Mr. Tom Thumb nor I are very large; and +I am told that our ancestors were still more delicately formed; what +then is more natural than that this little one should be such a wee +wee thing?" +</P> + +<P> +The tranquillity of Mrs. Tom Thumb had this good effect; it appeased +the curiosity of the neighbors. At last, like her, they came to the +conclusion "that it was very natural that the child was smaller than +the mother." and all went on as usual around our heroine, while she +was quietly rocked by the passing hours, and was amused with the +sound of the silver clock bell. When, however, Piccolissima was two +inches high, and lively as a grasshopper, she became restless in her +cocoanut shell; she was desirous to get out of it, to walk, and to +jump, and she not only deranged the clock, but she was in real +danger. +</P> + +<P> +She was now as much as seven years old, and she amused herself with +all sorts of little pranks, and loving ways, with one of her +brothers eighteen months old. The great boy, in a sort of ecstasy at +some of the drolleries of his little sister, seized her and put her +in his mouth, taking into it nearly the whole head of the poor +little thing. Her cry was so shrill that the baby boy opened his +jaws and let the unfortunate Piccolissima fall on the floor. She did +not recover for a long time from this fall. Another time, a large +cat, a great mouser, ran after her, and it was with difficulty they +rescued Piccolissima from the claws of Raminagrobis. The father, Mr. +Thumb, could not repress some anxiety about the fate of his amiable +daughter, who had more than common intelligence, and who, by her +extreme smallness, was exposed to so many dangers. +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima did her best to acquire knowledge. She had the best +intentions in the world; she desired in every thing to please all +who approached her; but her extreme restlessness led her away in +spite of herself. One evening she lost herself in the solitude of a +drawer in which was kept some tobacco; she came near dying from the +effect of it. Once she was near drowning in a superb salad dish of +frothed eggs, which she may have taken for snow mountains. She had a +passion for discovery, she had a prodigious activity of mind and +body, and yet they could find nothing for her to do, "because," they +said, "she is so little, so delicate." She could not play with +children of her own age, she was not allowed to run about, and +without object, without employment, without means of studying, with +no companions, no sympathy, the poor little thing was in danger of +falling into a state of apathy, more to be feared than the accidents +from which they wished to preserve her. +</P> + +<P> +One day, towards the end of February, Piccolissima had been placed +upon the mantelpiece. Her mother had gone out; her father, who did +not wish to have the trouble of watching over all his little +daughter's movements, seated her upon a pincushion in which there +were no pins, and putting the dictionary as a sort of rampart before +her, he gave her a stick of barley sugar to entertain herself with, +and after the usual admonition, left her to her dreams. Leaving the +sugar to slip down by her side, she remained lost in melancholy +reflections from which she was drawn by a light murmur, such as one +hears sometimes in the silence of the night when persons are +speaking in a low voice in a distant part of the house. Piccolissima +listened with deep attention for some time. Usually she disliked the +sound of conversation; it struck harshly on her organs, and seemed a +sort of mimic thunder; but these sounds had nothing discordant, +nothing disagreeable in them, to her ear. As Piccolissima had been +forced to observe rather than to act, her faculties took a new +direction, and a development of which she was unconscious herself +took place, and her joy and her surprise were great when she found +that, in what had at first appeared to her a confused murmur, she +distinguished, as she listened attentively, intelligible words. +</P> + +<P> +"It was hardly worth while," said a small, sharp voice, "it was +hardly worth the trouble it cost me to leave my cradle. I have come +into the world where all is dead around me. Ah! if I had only known +that this world was so cold and dull, I should not have made efforts +which almost destroyed me, to break the roof and leave my narrow +house." +</P> + +<P> +"Patience," replied another voice, a little quieter, but much like +the other; "I have lived longer than thou, who art only a few +seconds old. I have learned that one minute does not resemble +another; that cold is near to heat, that light is near to darkness, +and that sweet follows bitter. It is now two hundred and twenty-one +thousand, seven hundred and sixty-one minutes, and twenty-four +seconds, since I broke my shell. This sun, which you now see so pale +in the dusk, glowed then with more fervor, and sent every where more +rays and sparkles than I can count seconds in my long life. I was +all wet as you are now—poor, helpless thing; but I turned myself to +some of those brilliant rays, and my wings directly became strong, +as you now see them, embossed and painted with seven different, +changing colors, reflections of the rays of the sun. See! there is +one of these rays now; come forth; spread thy moist wing, already +shrunk and chill; thou shalt take thy part in the blessings which +come from on high." +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima, all attention and full of curiosity, looked around +her, and saw coming out from the window frame two flies, who +appeared to be talking together. The wings of one of them remained +stuck together on its back, and it made a great effort to extend +them. Delighted at the discovery of companions in her solitude, +companions, too, whose language she could understand, Piccolissima +was eager to make their acquaintance; so she offered them her stick +of candy. One of the flies—it was the elder—having fixed upon the +little prodigy one of the thousand faces of his brown, sparkling +eyes, surrounded with golden eyelashes, he then placed, one by one, +his little black feet upon the stick of sugar candy, stretched forth +his trunk, and began to suck with eagerness. +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima had now time enough to contemplate a being whose organs +she thought were like her own in their weakness. She found pleasure +in examining the extraordinary form of its almost cylindrical body, +divided into three parts, and a head wider than it was long, an +irregular globe surmounted by two horns, or antennae, as they are +called. The eyes most excited her curiosity. She attempted to count +their numerous little faces, so regular, so finely cut into +hexagons, more polished, more brilliant than diamonds. When +Piccolissima had counted one hundred, she drew from a very small +box, which was a family treasure, some minikin pins, and stuck one +of them into the cushion on which she was seated, intending thus to +mark every hundred that she counted; but she had not counted thus +half a thousand, before she found that breath and knowledge failed +her; in truth, she did not know enough of arithmetic to count the +eyes of a fly. In the very first group which she undertook to count, +that on the right side of the fly, she had not counted a sixteenth +part. Piccolissima, from her education, resembled the flies a little +too much to boast of her perseverance. So she gave up her project. +</P> + +<P> +While bending her small head over these eyes, she distinguished, at +the bottom of these crystals, a moving dark spot, and thousands of +little Piccolissimas, one after the other, smiled upon her from +these little mirrors. O, wonderful! these thousands of crystal +groups on each side of the head were not all; a triangle of three +diamonds crowned the forehead of the fly. Piccolissima did not know +the name they give to these small eyes, nor that a writer on the +subject had said, that the diadem of the fly outshines that of +queens, but she could not refrain from saying aloud, "O, my little +friend, pray tell me what you do with so many eyes?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do I do with them, indeed! why, I look," answered the fly, a +little vexed at being disturbed in his repast. "Are there not +fingers, nails, pins, pincers, jaws, claws, beaks, which menace me +on every side? Do I not want eyes to see at a distance, and eyes to +see near? And do you not know that my head is better put on than +yours, which cannot turn to all points of the compass?" +</P> + +<P> +"What! can you look behind you without turning your head?" replied +Piccolissima, with an air which probably appeared to the fly not +very sensible; for, shrugging up his right wing disdainfully, he +returned to his sugar candy. +</P> + +<P> +After a little reflection, she looked down again, and perceived, to +her great astonishment, upon the stick of candy, which was of an +amber color, a drop of water. She was sure, however, that she had +done the civil thing to the flies, and given it to them first. How, +then, was the candy moist? thought she; but she did not dare again +to ask questions which excited such a rude buzzing in reply. So she +rested her two little elbows on her knees, and her small head upon +one of her hands, and continued to examine the fly. "Is it his +nose?" said she, in a low voice, (for, having very rarely any one to +talk with, she had a habit of talking to herself,) "is it his nose +that he stretches out thus upon my sugar? I have heard papa say that +there are animals, much larger than he, and which they call +elephants, I think, who take up with their noses all the food they +put in their mouths, and that they call this nose a trunk. Perhaps +this is a little person of the family of elephants." +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima had hardly uttered these words, when the fly, whose +antennae were longer than usual, and were turned towards the little +prattler, gave such a leap that Mademoiselle Tom Thumb trembled. The +wings of the insect fluttered, and made a little sharp noise, which, +however, had nothing terrible in it, and Piccolissima perceived that +her companion was laughing. It was evident that the fly must laugh +with his wings, because he could not laugh in any other way. It was +with his antennae that he had listened; they evidently served him as +ears; and, when he recovered his gravity, he flew on the little +girl's hand, and began to talk with her; then Piccolissima observed +him more intelligently. +</P> + +<P> +"It appears to me, little pet," said the fly, "thou must be very +green to compare my delicate trunk, this instrument so nicely made, +with the enormous and coarse cylinder upon which, in hot weather, I +have often travelled. How can any one suppose that I have any +relationship to the deformed and gigantic monster of which you have +just now spoken?" +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima thought that the little person was not wanting in +vanity, and, while the fly was taking breath, observed that the +trunk had disappeared, and that there was no possibility of +discovering what the insect had done with it. The look, gloomy, and +a little sullen, of the fly, recalled somewhat the funny mask of a +harlequin, and Piccolissima was on the point of showing how one +laughs with the lips, by laughing in the fly's face, when the latter +forced air slightly through the breathing holes which open under the +wings; the two little double scales, the winglets, which unfold at +birth, began to vibrate; and Piccolissima, who just now remarked +that this was the method that her new acquaintance took to emit +sounds, was eager to listen to what he might say; so she made an +effort to command herself, and became serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you not see, with your dull human intelligence, that my trunk is +a pump, a hollow tube, an instrument for sucking which I stretch out +and draw in at my pleasure?" +</P> + +<P> +While speaking thus, the fly thrust half way out from the cavity in +the middle of his head, just under his eyes, a trunk with two or +three joints in it; at the end was an opening like two black lips, +folded over, with grooves or little hollows. The fly, thus urged to +show the use of his trunk, or, more probably, forgetting the sequel +of a discourse upon which he had entered in such a pompous style, +flew upon the sugar, and set himself again to sucking it. +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima again observed the little drops fall which she had +noticed before. It seems that the fly, being only able to take up +liquids through his trunk, wetted and dissolved the sugar that he +might suck it up. It was a pleasant thing to see his lips swell out, +and press, handle, and knead, as it were, the amber surface of the +sugar in order to make it melt sooner, and enable him to draw it up +faster. After having examined all these proceedings for some time, +with great amusement, the little apprentice naturalist cried out, +"Well, my little guest has a remarkable talent for eating barley +sugar." +</P> + +<P> +The other fly, timid, wet, and with his wings folded, so that he +seemed naked, remained behind upon the frame of the window. "Come, +poor little wet chicken as thou art," cried the elder fly; "thou +wast complaining just now of having found in life only discomfort +and cold; dost thou not see these rays of the sun? dost thou not +perceive the perfume of this delicious food?" The young, +inexperienced fly was disposed to take Piccolissima, the dictionary, +and the barley sugar for a chain of mountains. However, when the +little girl turned her gentle, child-like face towards him, the +insect felt the pleasant warmth of her breath; it reanimated him, +and gave him courage, and with one bound he flew upon the arm of +Piccolissima. With a sudden familiarity he murmured in a low voice, +"Art thou, perhaps, an elder sister of mine? Thou warmest me. Art +thou placed in the sun to strengthen thy wings? Relate to me, +quickly, thy metamorphosis whilst I dry myself. Let us see, hast +thou been a caterpillar, a worm? How many feet didst thou once have? +I will lay a wager thou didst not have any. For me, I had three rows +of feet, forty-two in all, at least. Come, then, speak, and tell me; +answer my question." +</P> + +<P> +Usually Piccolissima did not require to be urged to speak; but these +questions were of such an extraordinary nature, so unexpected, that +the little girl remained silent. "Whether I have been a caterpillar +or a worm? A queer question at the commencement of an acquaintance." +</P> + +<P> +In the mean time the questioner was silent. Occupied with the +comfort of exposing all his little person to the sun, he extended +his wings, which, intersected with nerves, became every moment more +substantial, without losing any of their delicacy. This transparent +network, divided like stained glass windows, by dark lines, +resembled isinglass, sometimes decomposing the sun's rays, and +showing the colors of the rainbow. +</P> + +<P> +The head of the insect, as it dried, became shiny like satin; the +eyes, of a reddish brown, glowed in a circle of silver. Over a +little jet band, on the top of his head, three little soft eyes +peeped out like those which the young observer had already noticed +in the other fly. The brown trunk of this one seemed more delicate; +his bronze corselet, reflecting like emerald, was garnished with +fine hairs, like the down which the fresh morning spreads over +beautiful fruits. The belly of the insect, which showed itself +between and through the transparent wings, was of a beautiful +shining black set off by six white crescents, symmetrically placed +on the right and left. The legs appeared to Piccolissima brown, and +very delicate. As she examined them, she remembered that the young +boaster had vaunted itself of having forty-two of them; and she was +upon the point of venturing to inquire what had become of the +superfluous ones, when the lively fly, finding itself dry and +strengthened, raised two of its legs and examined them very closely, +and crossing them with great dexterity rubbed the soles of his feet +one against the other. Piccolissima was tempted so to call the two +balls of flesh covered with hair, and armed with two nails which +terminated the foot bones. The fly, having cleaned his brushes or +sponges,—for they were as much like one as the other,—employing +his trunk very skilfully, began to rub them over and under his +wings, and over his little face, his eyes, and his antennae. He +combed, brushed, sponged, and cleaned himself all over. Hardly had +he finished one side before he began upon the other, using those of +his six feet which were the most convenient. At last, he seemed +weary of being watched by Piccolissima; and, shaking himself, he +just grazed the eyelids of the little girl with his wings, and all +of a sudden flew away, and alighted on the window pane, where he +marched backward and forward with his head now up, and now down, +quite indifferent to the laws of gravity. +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima followed him with her eyes with less surprise than +curiosity; not being able to contain herself any longer, she +determined to speak to the old fly. +</P> + +<P> +"How does your companion contrive to walk with his head down in that +way?" +</P> + +<P> +The old fly, satiated with sugar, turned half round to the right, +and with one spring placed himself opposite the little girl, and +stared at her with such a stupefied look, that Piccolissima, +although her good sense refused to believe it, thought for a moment +that the ten or twelve thousand eyes were all fixed on her, +forgetting, in her confusion at being thus stared at, that though +each eye had thousands of faces to mirror all surrounding objects, +still there was behind them all only one power of seeing, only one +fly. +</P> + +<P> +"What matters it, in the name of all that is sweet in the world? Of +what consequence is it, when one walks, whether the head is on one +side or the other, up or down? Poor infirm creature that thou art," +said the fly; "dost thou see any difference?" +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima, somewhat mortified at having always walked with her +head upward, remained stupefied and silent. It seems necessary, +thought she, that every surface, in whatever direction it is placed, +should have the same power to attract and support the feet of the +flies as the ground and the floor to retain mine. +</P> + +<P> +Ignorant as she was, the little girl had not yet heard of the gummy +liquid which the wise ones had at one time supposed to be placed in +the sponges of the flies, nor of the vacuum, by means of which the +learned of the present day suppose these little cushions can adhere +to the most polished surfaces; and she had not yet seen flies enough +to form any opinion for herself. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," said the little girl, in a small flute voice, "that you +know much more than I; do not refuse, then, to instruct me. I cannot +explain how it is you speak and breathe. Since you have kept your +trunk in its case, I perceive above it your lips closed, and I do +not see them move." Piccolissima, fearing she might be laughed at, +did not dare to add, that she had supposed that the voice of the fly +came from under his wings. +</P> + +<P> +"I speak as all well-formed people speak," answered the haughty +insect, "with four voices;" and four puffs of air issued from the +oval breathing holes on both sides of his breast, giving a tremulous +motion to his two little egg-shell wings, his two balance wings, and +the roots of his two other wings. "I breathe through these openings +of my corselet, and I have, in order to enable me to take in the +inspiring air which was created to bear me up, as many mouths as +rings to my corselet." +</P> + +<P> +He then swelled out with a proud air his brown abdomen, which seemed +formed of rings of shell; and while he was indulging in the +admiration of himself and his powers, the sharp eyes of Piccolissima +discovered that these circles were not, as we should say, soldered +together, but were lying on a flexible membrane, or thin skin, which +held them in their place, and which was folded up or extended at the +will of the insect. On either side, between each ring, there was in +this membrane a little oval hole, smaller than those which, near the +cavities of the corselet, emitted and modulated the buzzing sound +which Piccolissima had just heard; these openings enabled the insect +to breathe. +</P> + +<P> +"You have many ways of speaking," the little girl said at last, with +a sigh; "but covered as you are all over with brilliant armor, how +can you touch any thing?" +</P> + +<P> +The fly, who was at this moment digesting his dinner, and who did +not like any interruption in any of his affairs, put forth his trunk +without making any reply, shook a little the small beard that grew +upon it, did the same with his antennae, rounded at the ends like +little cushions, and furnished with feathery hair; then stretched +forth his legs, as if yawning. Piccolissima comprehended that the +two little cushions which ornamented the extreme end of the foot of +the fly, in which she counted five joints, might easily possess the +sense of touch, and that this also rendered them more useful for +motion, and for the toilet; it was like so many intelligent brushes, +all ready to perceive and sweep away the least grain of dust. The +little beards she also thought might have the power of taste, like +the antennae, at the same time that they listened to sounds. +</P> + +<P> +"This young fly is doubtless your son," said Piccolissima to the +insect which had taken his place on her neck, in order that the +warmth might help digestion, without asking whether or not his nails +might tickle the little girl. +</P> + +<P> +"What! hast thou not seen directly that we were not relations? but I +see how it is; I pity you, poor imperfect being with only two eyes +and one mouth, and no trunk," answered the fly. "It is natural that +thou hast only a superficial knowledge. This little upstart who +devours the sugar as if he did not mean to leave any of it for any +one else, this little person, who has but a few minutes ago escaped +from his shell, yet hanging to a dead rose leaf long since forgotten +as it lay there on the window, has not, as I have, four beautiful +black streaks on his corselet. The white spots on his back offend +the eye; I prefer the modest color of my brown rings, and the soft +shade of the color of the faded leaf on a portion of my wings does +not contribute less to the majesty of my aspect than the colored +feathers which ornament my antennae. As for me, I am the domestic +fly." +</P> + +<P> +"I was wrong not to have remarked the differences which strike me +now," said the child; "but what does this young scapegrace mean by +what he says of metamorphoses, and countless legs?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes; that is well known; his race lives upon hairy prey; in my +opinion there is nothing to boast of in that. Although thou knowest, +it seems to me, very few things, still I think thou art not +ignorant, of course, that parents place their offspring where it is +best. The mother of this fly of the rose bush laid her egg in the +midst of the flock which was to nourish her little one. This one +came into the world in the shape of a worm." +</P> + +<P> +"Why dost thou shudder?" grumbled angrily the fly. "This form is as +good as any other; call this worm larva if it suits thy fancy; he +has still to each of his fourteen rings three little feet; but he +has not such elegant members as mine, a haunch, a thigh, a leg, and +an instep with five joints." While speaking, the old fly displayed +pompously one of his legs, which he began immediately to caress with +the edge of his lips, because he saw a grain of dust on one of the +small hairs. +</P> + +<P> +"But," perseveringly asked Piccolissima, who wished to hear the +history of the fly to the end, "who are these little flocks in the +midst of which your friend has passed his early days?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are the little red or green grubs which infest the rose bush; +these he pierces and grinds up with his teeth, and sucks them up +with his strange mouth one after another as he moves slowly among +them upon those forty-two roots of feet, of which he is so vain, for +I maintain that they cannot be called legs, or any thing like legs." +</P> + +<P> +"You, then," said the little girl, "have better formed members." +</P> + +<P> +The fly, who remembered that he had not at all better limbs, looked +suddenly wearied with the conversation, and shaking his wings, flew +away to the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Of what color were you formerly?" asked the little girl of her only +remaining companion; "you, who are now of such a pretty shade of +brilliant green and bronze?" +</P> + +<P> +"Me! I was of a pretty tender green. Weary of living on the ground, +I took the resolution to retire from the world. I shut myself up in +my skin, which soon became hard enough to serve for my retreat. My +house was carried, I know not how, to that spot not far from you; I +know not what artificial heat acted on me. I came to the belief that +the time had come for me to spread my wings, and I uncovered the +roof of my house in order that I might know what had been done +during my absence. They call me the rose fly." +</P> + +<P> +As he finished saying these words, the fly, quite satisfied, joined +his companion in the window. Piccolissima was grieved that she could +not follow them; she listened attentively to the noise they made in +flying, and could distinguish musical tones. But, fatigued at last +by this long tension of her mind, gradually her ideas became vague +and wandering, her little blond head fell upon her arms, and she +dropped asleep and dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +She dreamed that her two new friends, the flies, returned, +accompanied by an innumerable troop of winged insects. Each one +carried something, one a blade of grass, another a stalk of a plant, +another a petal, another a pistil. Two large beetles, with immense +horns or talons, dragged along small branches loaded with flowers, +such as Piccolissima had never seen. +</P> + +<P> +All this troop set themselves to work and constructed the most +charming, the lightest little aerial car that one can possibly +imagine. A great fly, bristling with fine hairs, extended four +strong wings, and raising his voice, invited Piccolissima to mount, +and at the same time politely offered her his paw. +</P> + +<P> +The little girl accepted the invitation, and found herself +immediately transported into the corolla of a beautiful white lily. +There she found a throne prepared for her. Very skilful little paws +lightly tickled her arms, and then her feet, in order to call her +attention to the labors of invisible waiting maids, who were about +dressing her in a robe of white velvet, cut out of the petals of a +white camellia, confined round the waist by a turquoise clasp, +borrowed from the myosotis. +</P> + +<P> +A stamen of the lily served her for a sceptre; she took her seat; a +rose leaf hung for a canopy over her head; the bells of the lily of +the valley and the campanula sent forth their joyous chime. The +bladder senna filled the air with the noise of its bursting petards. +The artillery of the prickly furze played on both sides of the +throne as the nations of flies approached to pay their homage to the +queen. +</P> + +<P> +To the cries of vivat, uttered with enthusiasm, Piccolissima replied +by inclining her sceptre; a golden rain fell from it, and was +eagerly gathered up by the surrounding crowds of humming courtiers, +whose shouts and acclamations filled the air. +</P> + +<P> +The young sovereign then had to endure a long and grave discourse +from a fat drone bee who did not understand himself. +</P> + +<P> +Ere long the little queen learned that her empire was in danger. +Dreadful enemies menaced the frontiers. "They are spiders," said the +flies. "They are the larvae of the rose bushes," said the grubs. +"They are the ichneumons," cried a crowd of winged insects. +</P> + +<P> +Every one accused some other one. Piccolissima did not know what to +understand, but she hastened to arm herself. Two bees, as her body +guard, placed upon her head for helmet a flower of the snapdragon. +Two wasps, redoubtable hussars, brought her for a shield a piece of +the gold bronze wing shell of a beetle. +</P> + +<P> +At last, she extended her hand to seize her lance, when a clap of +thunder shook the lily, dispersed the court, and the army, and +Piccolissima awoke, and found herself in the hands of her mother, +Mrs. Thomas Thumb, who said, very gently, "Tell me, dear little one, +are you not very weary?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is strange," said Mr. Tom Thumb, some months after, "that I +always find now my ball of soap in its right place." +</P> + +<P> +"It is because Piccolissima no longer rolls it into the corners for a +plaything," replied Mrs. Tom Thumb. "The little creature improves—grows +really intelligent." +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad of it," said, a little while afterwards, one of the elder +sisters of the miniature woman; "I am no longer obliged to hunt from +place to place for my thimble and my scissors they are now always in +my work box." +</P> + +<P> +"The reason is, Piccolissima does not now make a well of your +thimble, nor a spade of your scissors," answered her brother; "she +has become tiresome; she no longer frisks around me when I return +home; she has no longer any droll fancies which once amused me so +much; she is now a genuine doll; I really believe that this minikin +is putting on airs." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold your peace, Monsieur," answered the busy chambermaid, in a +scolding tone, while she cleaned the runnels of a chair, upon which the +feet of the young man had left a good portion of the soil of the garden; +"I should like to see the day when you are as well behaved as +Mademoiselle Piccolissima. It was once Mademoiselle Touch-every-thing. +Six months ago, no one dared to leave a drawer in the house open; now +every thing remains quiet in its place; she is neither more nor less +than a reasonable being; she is a waxen image, I tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Did I say any thing else, Madam Scold?" answered the school boy; +"she is a real Liliputian statue, fit for nothing but to watch the +flies fly. Ah! come, Piccola, Piccolissima!" he cried to the little +one, who was behind the shutter of a half-open window, absorbed in +the contemplation of a gnat who was up the window, singing a little +air through his nasal trumpet, "tell us, Piccola, a little of what +the flies say to you." +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima, who was always alarmed at a big voice, trembling, +turned round and stared at her brother, who, shouting with laughter, +made a pirouette, jumped over the balcony, which was near the +ground, into the garden. +</P> + +<P> +The complaints of Piccolissima's brother were not quite without +foundation; she had become more reflecting, more observing; she was +less restless and less communicative; more amused, but less amusing. +She did not dare to repeat to her sisters her conversation with the +flies, lest they should laugh at her, and she became more frequently +occupied with her own thoughts, and more silent. Her silver voice +was heard no longer in every corner of the house; she was no longer +under every one's feet; the fragments of her dress were no longer +caught by the nails in her brothers' shoes, under the legs of her +sisters' chairs, or under the castors of the furniture; and her +mother, who had a habit of saying, "This little wild thing gives me +more trouble than all her brothers and sisters," said now, "Truly, +if she does not help me, she does not hinder me." As for Mr. Tom +Thumb, who loved to complete a remark by a proverb, instead of +exclaiming, "It is not strange that she does not grow,—a rolling +stone gathers no moss," murmured, rubbing his hands, "Whoever lives +will see what I have always said: It is only weeds that grow fast." +</P> + +<P> +In order to employ the activity of Piccolissima, her father had at +one time given her some pots of flowers; for a long time, nothing +came of them, for she turned over the earth incessantly, and kept +looking at the roots to see if they began to sprout. Now that she no +longer asked ten questions, one after the other, without waiting for +an answer, and that she left her plants to grow, and no longer took +them up to look at their roots, she had in her garden, just under +the window, one foot of potatoes, three feet of hemp, a bean, and a +strawberry plant, in pots. Her brother, in jumping out of the +window, had broken off some ripe strawberries, which the little girl +had cherished for her mother, and Piccolissima went sorrowfully to +examine the havoc, and pick up the fruit. +</P> + +<P> +She no longer supported herself upon the flexible stalks of the +nasturtiums and the convolvulus, which Mr. Tom Thumb cultivated, and +who more than once had complained at finding them broken. She no +longer seated herself on the branches of the mignonette, and then +let the wind blow her at its will, backwards and forwards, a +dangerous and monotonous amusement, which soon wearied. Now, with +her elbow resting on the edge of the pot of strawberries, under the +shadow of the Persian lilac, she remained in contemplation. +</P> + +<P> +She observed running about some little creatures that she had never +seen before, and which appeared to her so wild that she dared not +begin a conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"O, what is that?" she said at last, stooping down and resting her +head on her hand, and forgetting her lost harvest of strawberries; +"here is something very curious. They are smaller than the flies. A +myosotis could accommodate a number of them in its delicate cup; +their heads are wider than they are long, and on each side I +perceive a sort of fine leg, which has a sort of elbow, and which +the insect does not use in walking; the body is in three parts, all +of a shining black; the head has these two threads, which are always +moving, and which are of a lighter color at the ends; the corselet +is smaller, rounder, and more brilliant than that of the flies; and +the belly is covered with black scales. But these little beasts trot +away, scamper away so fast with their nimble legs, that one cannot +see them. What delicate forms they have! they must have worn corsets +when they were young. Ah! there is a sort of knot in this thread +which fastens the corselet to the belly. Wait, little fellow, wait +while I look at you a little nearer!" The small, thin finger of +Piccolissima caught one of the little creatures, but she found some +difficulty in holding him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! at last I have you!" She held between her thumb and finger the +two hind legs of the insect, who stretched himself out stiff and +without motion, just as if he was sitting for his portrait. She then +saw above the arms and hands of the head, (thus she chose to call +the antennae,) two shining eyes, like two black buttons—naturalists +discover three with a microscope. "He has no trunk," said +Piccolissima, as she looked at a formidable mouth. At this moment, +the insect disengaged one of his legs, and twisting himself with +fury, and biting the finger which held him, he showed two jaws, +which worked like a pair of pincers. Piccolissima was not +sufficiently hardened to natural history. She shook her hand +violently, and uttered a cry that brought her brother to her in a +moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha! the great body," cried he, as he saw the trouble, and the +cause of it; "this is not a worthy enemy; it is only one of the +smallest ants. What would you say if you had to contend with the +herculean wood borer? Your ferocious animal is only a modest +fuliginosa, Madam Piccola; it is Formica fuliginosa, Latin words, +which mean soot-colored ant." +</P> + +<P> +"I should much prefer that they should be called at once by a name +that I could comprehend, 'little blackeys,' instead of these long +words, that it almost takes away your breath to pronounce." +</P> + +<P> +"This is because you are ignorant, sister; but for that, you would +love the Latin names, because they are so fine sounding, and can +express so many things. For example, formica; can you guess? O, +no, you will never guess," added he, with a knowing tone. "Very +well! formica means crumb carriers, because the little cunning +beasts carry all sorts of knickknacks." +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima, who once had only frisked and frolicked around her +brother, and in whose eyes she had been hitherto a sort of amusing +plaything, listened to him now with an air of intelligence and +satisfaction, with which he was secretly flattered. "Besides the +herculean borer," he continued, "there is another ant in the +forests, much larger than your enemy, and who builds mountains. They +call him rusa, which means russet. It is he who produces the formic +acid, a poison which he sheds with his abdomen into the bite which +he makes with his mandibles or jaws, which makes the wound a little +red, and makes it itch and burn a little." He was going on to add +that mandibula signified jaw bone; abdomen, meant belly. He might, +perhaps, while he was in this mood, have declined all these nouns, +but his little sister had ceased to listen; she was following with +her eye a file of her small black ants, and she saw them go and come +very busily upon a small stick which supported her only bean stalk. +Doubtless the wind had blown into Piccolissima's garden one of the +white cottony tufts which enfold the seeds of the poplar, for it was +a young shoot of poplar which served as support to the plant, and as +a garden for the ants. Upon the white cottony stem was an assemblage +of these little animals, green, brown, yellow, and transparent, all +plump, singularly alike, grave, immovable, like a Roman senate. +Certain active little creatures with fine shapes walked among them, +around them, over them, without appearing to hurt them, or +disturbing their gravity. The ants carried their easy manners still +farther; they struck lightly, rapidly, alternately, with their two +antennae, the backs and the sides of these peaceable animals; they +even went so far as to turn them over with their fore paws, and all +the while the other insects did not move, and allowed them to do as +they pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"Look! look!" cried Piccolissima. +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful little wonder," answered her brother, "these are grubs, +that's all; and who does not know nowadays, that these are the cows +of the ants?" +</P> + +<P> +"Their cows!" repeated the little girl; and she remained absorbed in +her examination. The ants still continued, in a playful and +irregular manner, to strike their little cows, whose trunks +Piccolissima saw were thrust into the bark of the aspen. Sometimes +an ant gave a little kick, and always one was at hand, with his jaws +extended, and his mouth open, ready to receive a drop of sirup, +which the eye of Piccolissima at last discovered falling from the +extremity of the body of the grub. "I see, I see!" she exclaimed; +"it is their way of milking. O the funny little pastoral people!" +Whilst she was in this ecstasy, the ant with the ends of his +antennae took the transparent little drop into his mouth; and then +carefully cleansed with the brushes of his feet the sugared antennae +which had served for fork and spoon, or rather for fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to talk with him," said Piccolissima, as she saw the +ant making his toilet, "but these are a very silent, a very reserved +people; perhaps they are dumb." +</P> + +<P> +The ant, who had just swallowed the drop of sirup, now quietly +descended the aspen walk; his belly was well stuffed and shining, +and he stopped now and then to rest, and wash his face. He met, as +he went down, an ant who was ascending the path. The new comer ran +up to him as to an intimate friend, as soon as he saw him, and +eagerly struck him with his antennae. The motion was very rapid; the +ant returned it by shaking his antennae, but more gently, and by +opening his mandibles. "Are they going to dispute, and to bite each +other?" thought Piccolissima. Not at all. The ant who had received +the sirup upon the end of his tongue, now offered a little drop of +it to the one who was hungry, who received it upon his tongue, while +he continued to caress with his antennae, and even with his little +paws, the friend who offered it. The joy of Piccolissima was so +great at the sight of this mutual kindness, that she made one of her +old leaps, and shook the frail stalk. Immediately there was a +violent commotion among the ants, who in great crowds blackened the +end of the twig. They ran hither and thither in the greatest terror, +striking their antennae one against the other. Many of them caressed +the grubs more eagerly, in a violent and impetuous manner, as if to +urge them to some exertion. Some of the grubs submitted to be taken +gently into the jaws of the ants; others, with their trunks in the +wood, looked as if they were too lazy to consent to move. +</P> + +<P> +They were however, at last, (whether they would or not,) all carried +rapidly away. Each ant, loaded with her cow, ran down the tree, and, +following a little narrow path in the ground, reached a small, deep +hole, into which the ants, one after the other, all disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"O Mimi! O Linette! O Fifine!" cried Piccolissima, running from her +brother to her sisters, "they have carried away all their cows. Each +ant has his cow between his teeth; one holds her by the belly, the +others by the wings; come see! come see!" +</P> + +<P> +"Cows with wings!" cried the astonished little girls. Mimi, who knew +all this, startled his little sister by saying, "The pet is right; +she has good eyes; there are many grubs with wings; come, come, my +small sister, it appears to me that you are discovering many things +already known. My ladies, the ants, ought to choose you for their +queen." +</P> + +<P> +The same day, Madam Tom Thumb, who began to feel some confidence in +the reason of Piccolissima, carried her into the garden, to the +great joy of the little creature. It was a delicious place; there +were in it long covered alleys, and even a small wood, where one +might enjoy a sweet freshness in the heat of the day. Around a great +hall, covered with foliage, were seats of soft green moss. It was +there that Madam Tom Thumb used to embroider with her elder +daughters; and there she placed Piccolissima, allowing her to run at +large, only recommending to her prudence and discretion. +</P> + +<P> +The child, who was formerly idle and weary of every thing, was in a +fair way to become a happy young girl, thanks to the attention she +began to give to every thing she saw, and to the interest which the +wonders around her excited in her mind. She was enchanted with the +thousand plants which embellished and covered the earth, and formed +in the smallest flower an object of admiration which filled her +soul. Very soon she met one of those beings who excited in her a +lively curiosity,—an ant much larger than the little black ones of +the shepherd race. The fine antennae, the three eyes, the top of the +head, the legs, the belly of this one were blackish, but less +glistening, and it was by the superiority of his shape, above middle +size, and above all, by the reddish color of a part of his body, +that Piccolissima recognized the russet ant of which her brother had +spoken. The insect carried very laboriously a stick ten or twelve +times as long as himself; a hillock of earth, which he met on his +road, stopped him for some time, and Piccolissima, who was eager to +help him through his difficulties, and who was tormented with a +desire to enter into conversation with him, took it into her head to +assist the insect, and hoped thus to render herself agreeable to +him. She seized one end of the little rafter he was carrying, and in +a tone which she tried to make as soft as possible, she said, "Will +you allow me, little one, to help you?" +</P> + +<P> +The ant, clinging to the earth with his hind legs, stood up +straight, and threw out his antennae with a terrible expression. +Piccolissima was so full of kind feeling that she never thought of +exciting any anger; she thought that it was only a little struggle +of his politeness; therefore she insisted, taking firmly hold of the +bit of wood, and repeated, "I assure you it is a pleasure to me, and +it will not fatigue me." Forced to loosen his burden, the ant opened +his jaws full of formidable teeth, and advanced upon Piccolissima, +walking on his hind legs; the two others stretched out in front, as +well as his antennae, in sign of defiance; his body all bent, +exhaling an odor of vinegar so pungent that Piccolissima, letting go +the little stick, ran away as fast as she could, sneezing violently, +and shutting her eyes. When she opened them and returned, thinking +the ant was at her heels, she found her terrible adversary had again +seized his big stick by one end, and had slid it over the lump of +earth by means of a stone, which served him as a point of support. +She saw him sometimes push it before him, and sometimes drag it +after him, walking backwards till he reached the flat ground, when +he pursued his way very fast. +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima, who did not forget that her mother had recommended +discretion to her, followed at a distance. As she went on carefully, +she saw long trains of ants resembling her enemy; each one of them +was charged with a burden more or less heavy. All of them took their +way towards a mountain shaped like a cone, full of little openings +which, from a distance, appeared to be semicircular vaults; Roman +architecture Piccolissima would have thought if the multiplicity of +details of little architectural ornaments, all of wood work, had not +given her the idea of an old Gothic fortress. The rapid and violent +motions of the wild mountaineers did not frighten her; she walked up +slowly, hardly touching her feet to the earth, holding her breath, +observing every thing, and she was soon convinced that this little, +busy people took no notice of her. She came nearer and nearer to the +place where two great roads, covered with ants, terminated. She +heard a confused noise, like the hum of a great city, or as the +sound of the rain among the leaves. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought they spoke only by signs which they make with the arms +that come out of their heads," said Piccolissima, still going +nearer; "why, then, this noise?" +</P> + +<P> +The little girl was soon convinced that this noise was produced by +the numerous and busy footsteps of a solemn, austere, and +preoccupied crowd of ants. Not a word was said, but every one ran +rather than walked, and they seemed like a thousand individuals, all +actuated by one purpose. Supported on the lower branch of a chestnut +tree, Piccolissima placed herself a little higher, but very near the +citadel, which was one living mountain. +</P> + +<P> +How can we relate what she saw then? It would take volumes. There +would be as many histories as individuals. Her attention was +attracted by the perseverance of one ant who carried a burden; by +another who was striving to get over some obstacle. She saw them +feed those who arrived laden and out of breath; she saw those who +repaired the doors, who opened and shut the windows, which were not +glazed like ours; others she saw as sentinels, standing on their +hind legs, charged to watch over the general safety. The busiest +carried in their mandibles, caressed with their legs and their +antennae, licked with their delicate tongues, exposed to the sun, or +carried quickly into the shade certain white balls which +Piccolissima took at first for grains of wheat, because they had the +form and size; but she was satisfied at last that these were the +children of the ants in swaddling clothes. Piccolissima was so +anxious to comprehend the mysterious talk, and the pantomime of all +this innumerable crowd, that she became yet more attentive. The +nurses caressed with their antennae in a peculiar way those eggs +which were beginning to show life, and the little observer saw the +slight movement of the incomplete being who, as soon as he was +bidden, raised his head, which was almost imperceptible even to +microscopic eyes, to receive the offered mouthful. +</P> + +<P> +Whilst Piccolissima observed all this nursery work, an ant came and +placed beneath her, in order to fill up a small hole, a sort of +bundle of little sticks, which rolled away as soon as she left it. +The ant took hold of it again, carried it to its place, and arranged +it so as to make it firm; then, satisfied with her work, she went +after something else to do. Shortly after this, a head, then some +legs, then half of the body of a caterpillar came out of the living +little fagot which the ant had mended her house with. It was a dead +leaf in which an egg had been laid and nicely rolled up by the +parent, and which my lady ant had taken for a beam, or something of +the sort, and the vexed hermit scampered away, carrying his house +with him, not caring at all for the hole which he and his house had +been intending to mend. +</P> + +<P> +Much amused at this, Piccolissima tried to find out what a great +number of ants, all with burdens, were carrying. She was, with +painful astonishment, soon convinced that these were the carcasses +of all sorts of insects. "It is a nation of hunters," she said, +"more savage than those which feed their flocks on my aspen." +</P> + +<P> +At this moment, a great ant attracted the attention of the child +towards the lower part of the mountain. An enormous grub of the +cockchafer race, a great white worm, rolled himself over, trying to +liberate himself and to crush the ants, whose number increased on +every side, and who tore off his transparent, soft skin, and pulled +him in every direction. They climbed backward up the side of their +citadel, and in spite of his desperate struggles, carried the poor +insect, writhing with torture, to one of their little air holes. +Piccolissima saw upon his wounds some drops of the sharp poison +thrown by these terrible hunters, and the crowds of ants soon hid +the sufferer from her eyes, which she gladly turned away from such a +sight. +</P> + +<P> +With her heart oppressed with fear and pity, the little girl +collected her strength that she might glide down from her branch and +run away, when a sudden alarm attracted a whole squadron of the +insects to the place where she was about to put her foot. She +immediately regained her place, and tried to understand what +important and terrible news was being communicated from antennae to +antennae, drawing together such a number of insects, with their +frightful jaws all opened. The penetrating odor reached the +frightened little girl; presently she perceived a very large ant, +nearly six lines in length, very black, very shining, doubtless a +Hercules who was defending himself against a whole army. His enemies +fastened themselves on to each of his legs, but he still fought; a +brown ant jumped upon his back and tried to break his brilliant +cuirass; another, with his body bent double, covered him with +poison. The Hercules still fought. At last, three of the fiercest of +the ants worked with their sharp teeth upon the middle of his body, +and at last cut him in two. The terrible head of the Hercules still +held in his jaws two of his deadly enemies. Piccolissima screamed, +and putting her hand before her eyes, she perhaps would have fallen +into the midst of this nation of savages, if her mother, who was +anxious about her, had not taken her in her arms and carried her +away. +</P> + +<P> +From this time, Piccolissima became one of the happiest little +creatures in the world. Her brother, instead of considering her only +as a toy to play with, began to respect her. She had no more +conversations with the flies, to be sure. Her mind grew, and she +learned that, small as she was, she was superior to the best +informed fly. She studied the habits and doings of the ants, and +learned a great deal about their different tribes and nations. +Sometimes her brother would take his sister's toilet cushion and put +it on the table before him, and seating Piccolissima upon it, say to +her, "Now, Piccola, dear, listen with both of your little ears to my +big words, and I will read some wonderful stories to you." Once he +read Gulliver's Travels to her. "O!" she exclaimed, as he read of +the Lilliputians, "O, good! good! I am a Lilliputian, and you are +all great, big Brobdignagians. Why did you not tell me this before?" +So she began to dance and skip about, like a jack-o'-lantern. Her +brother, who was delighted at her gambols, whistled a tune for her +to dance by. Presently Piccolissima began to sing, with her small, +fine voice, this song, which she made as she danced:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Merrily, merrily, dance away!<BR> + Merrily laugh, and merrily play!<BR> + Though I am a tiny thing,<BR> + I can dance, and I can sing;<BR> + I can hear, and I can see;<BR> + I don't care who laughs at me;<BR> + I can learn all things to know;<BR> + So sing merrily, merrily, O!<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The morning was lovely; the blue shadows, extending over the fields, +made the leaves of the chestnut trees, wet with the morning dew, +still more brilliant. Agitated by a light breeze, they glistened in +the rays of the rising sun. Every blade of grass lifted its dewy +head as soon as a ray fell upon it, and each in its turn was crowned +with its halo of diamonds. +</P> + +<P> +The flowers, in sweet accord, sent up their perfume towards heaven. +Already the lark had saluted the day with his brilliant song, +eternal hymn, ever repeated, never omitted. Every little bird sent +up his clear note and his joyous song from his nest; the insects +were beginning to hum. The sound of the voice of man, slow to join +in the morning prayer of the whole creation, was not yet heard when +Piccolissima, already awake, entered the garden. +</P> + +<P> +She had obtained permission to do so the evening before. Her +mother's confidence had increased with the growing prudence and good +sense of the little girl; qualities which a habit of observation has +the effect of strengthening rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +The child was desirous to witness the morning labors of the ants, +and to see how, when the dew had prepared their mortar, they built +their long galleries. They commenced their work at the top, and +Piccolissima would have liked to see them again raise and make their +walls. She was, however, disappointed in her purpose, either that +the earth dried too quick, as the sun was now high above the +horizon; or the tiny republicans, with six feet, were employed in +their interior halls, in bringing out the young ants, and were busy +tearing off the veils of silk which confined the larvae, and in +developing the wings of the males and females; or, whatever might be +the cause, the ant hills were deserted. +</P> + +<P> +The lazy amazons did not appear. Now and then a single miner might +be seen wandering alone at the entrance of their subterranean +dwelling. +</P> + +<P> +Seated upon a piece of turf near the parterre, the little girl +followed with her eye, all along the stem of a plant, two or three +brown ants who led their flock of grubs to pasture, when a murmuring +sound near her, which seemed to spread all over the beds of +mignonette, attracted her attention to some large flies, of a dull +color, who whirled about among the flowers, darting from one to the +other, and seemed very busy. +</P> + +<P> +"Can these be any of my old acquaintances?" said she; but she could +not be satisfied with this idea; the new comers, much larger, had +also a very different physiognomy from that of her old friends. They +had oval eyes, with a network over them; a protruding jaw; antennae +of twelve olive scales, terminated by a button. Their brown +corselets covered with a tawny fur; their brilliant cuirasses, and +their legs of unequal length,—all these things attracted the +attention of the young observer. +</P> + +<P> +She saw these flies rolling themselves over in the bosom of the +flowers, with a joyous activity which amused her very much, and the +reason of which she desired to understand. +</P> + +<P> +There was, however, in their appearance and manners, something +repulsive which prevented familiarity. Each one of them caused to +vibrate four gauze wings, two large and two small ones. In their +rapid and measured motions, these wings produced sound, and the air, +issuing from little breathing places situated, as in the common fly, +on each side of the corselet, produced a sort of a song. +</P> + +<P> +As if attracted by the song, these insects flew in swarms to the +flower-bed. Very soon it was evident that they were heavier when +they went away than when they came. Two large, round, red and +yellow, or rather golden balls loaded their brilliant brown thighs. +Some of them plunged into the bosom of a lily. Raising herself on +tiptoe, Piccolissima kept them in view. She saw their slanting +teeth, which formed the point of their triangular head, open and +close like two strong pincers, and shake the tops of the stamens. +She had never noticed before, but now she perceived, at the end of +the six threads in the centre of the flower, a sort of little green +box; this was the anther. These flies pressed it and pulled it, till +it opened and scattered a quantity of little yellow pellets, which +covered the insects so thoroughly, that they and the flowers seemed +to have changed garments, so completely were they clothed with it. +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima could contain herself no longer. She cried out to her +sister, whom she saw coming towards her: +</P> + +<P> +"O, come, come quickly! See the flies putting on their ball dresses, +and making their toilet in the cup of a flower." +</P> + +<P> +Linette, still at a distance, did not hasten her steps, +notwithstanding the exclamations of her sister; and before she came, +Piccolissima was convinced that the flies did not think much of +their brilliant toilet. She saw them push off all their finery by +means of the brushes with which their legs were furnished. These +excellent little square brushes were placed on their hind legs +mostly; they had brown horn backs, and short, stiff hairs, ranged +regularly. These brushes did their work so well, that in less than a +moment every fly had resumed his modest livery. +</P> + +<P> +But what had become of the rich yellow powder? The insect had taken +care to brush himself so rapidly that Piccolissima could but just +see the dust he had collected pass from one part of his body to +another, till the whole came to the third pair of his legs, and was +collected together in a little oval cavity, surrounded by a thick +circle of skin which closed in upon it. Every fly used his middle +legs afterward to press and roll up into his basket his little +store. +</P> + +<P> +"Hast thou forgotten how to walk faster than a snail?" said +Piccolissima to her sister. "These great flies were just now dressed +with a cloak of gold, and now they carry their toilet in a bundle; +look at the third joint of their largest legs, which they join +together and let hang behind them when they fly." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! I know all about them," said Linette, as she saw them fly +away with their burden; "these are bees who make honey, such as I +have brought you for your breakfast;" and the young girl put into +her sister's hand a double slice of bread and honey. +</P> + +<P> +Without noticing her breakfast, Piccolissima eagerly tasted of what +remained of the yellow dust of the stamens of the lily. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Linette," said she, "this does not taste like honey." +</P> + +<P> +"Very true; it is for the bees to entitle it to that name, and not +for me. All that I know is, that they call them honey bees because +they make honey. They also make wax; and I have often seen them +carry away little balls of the dust of flowers. Whether they make it +afterwards into honey or wax, is their business. You have only to +ask them." +</P> + +<P> +Piccolissima meant to do this as soon as she had courage. Meanwhile, +she rubbed in her fingers the dust of the lily, yellowed the end of +her nose in smelling of it, her lips in tasting of it, still without +finding in it the consistency of wax, or the taste of honey. +</P> + +<P> +"How do the flies do it?" said she. "I have tasted at the bottom of +the tube of a honeysuckle, or of a jasmine, something more like +honey than this powder." While speaking, she was going to her bread +and honey, when she perceived some one had got the start of her. A +number of bees were on the edge of it, and were so busily employed +that Piccolissima had an opportunity of examining them closely +without fear of disturbing them. It was a pleasure to see them. From +under their chins protruded, as far as their teeth, a little case +of shell, opening with two little leaves, whence projected a second +little case, polished and shining, half open, from which was thrust +a transparent tongue, covered with hairs. This tongue was stretched +out and plunged into the honey, and was then moved round and round +and soaked in it; soon it was contracted, and now again it became +larger; the insect seemed to enjoy all these various movements. +Through the hairs and the opening pores, Piccolissima saw the liquid +ascend; and between the teeth of the bee, above its admirable trunk, +she saw a pretty large mouth open to receive the honey. +</P> + +<P> +The little observer was willing to give up all her breakfast to the +little winged gormand for the sake of the satisfaction she received +from seeing how he managed to eat. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not let all your honey be swallowed by those greedy flies," said +Linette, who was the economist of the family. +</P> + +<P> +"O, it is only just that they should have part, if they have made +it," said Piccolissima, still watching them. "These are larger than +those other bees who carry away the golden powder. Are they not +satisfied? How their antennae come down! Does it not seem as if they +were tasting thus the perfume of the honey which their wonderful +trunks draw up?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are just the same flies; they belong to our neighbor Thomas; +one is not larger than another. I have seen them ever since I was +born. I don't see any thing wonderful in them," said Linette. "It is +because you are so little that you are astonished at every thing." +</P> + +<P> +"O Linette, it is true that every thing I see seems to me every day +more curious. All that I look at seems to grow more wonderful and +beautiful as I look at it; but surely these flies that are eating my +breakfast are larger than those that are opening the boxes of +sweetmeats in the flowers. Ah, look! there is one still bigger than +the others, so funny, so hairy, so cross, and he scolds and hums all +around this sweet pea." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a drone; we must chase him away; he is good for nothing; he +never makes any honey." And Linette drove away the shaggy drone bee. +</P> + +<P> +Just at this moment, the greedy flies who were eating the honey, and +their more temperate companions who were gathering the harvest of +the pollen of the flowers, all flew away at once, as if by common +consent. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you have driven them all away!" said Piccolissima; and without +perceiving that the sky had clouded over, she followed the insects +with her eyes. Presently there began to fall some large drops of +rain. +</P> + +<P> +"It rains, it rains! there is a shower coming," cried Linette. +</P> + +<P> +"Can it be that these cunning bees have foreseen it?" asked +Piccolissima. +</P> + +<P> +"What there is no question of is," said Linette, "that my poor frock +will be spoiled. It is going to rain pitchforks. There will be water +enough to drown you before we reach the house, and your mites of +shoes will be lost; but come along. There, do you think the leaf of +that cabbage will do for a shelter for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorores, sorores!" said a thundering voice; and in a moment Mimi +was between his two sisters, whom he sheltered under a large +umbrella; taking up Piccolissima and hiding her little feet in his +waistcoat pocket, and asking as he went towards the house, what had +kept her out so long. +</P> + +<P> +"I know what you have seen," said he, with the air of a professor. +"Insects of the order hymenopteres; if you ever learn Greek, +Piccolissima, you will know that that means insects with membranous +wings. Imagine what a fine thing it is to understand Greek. Every +word contains in itself many others. For example, honey bees have a +name still longer than the others; they are called mellificae. What +do you say to that? They also call them anthophilai, which means +lovers of flowers." +</P> + +<P> +"Your new friends, in particular the domestic bees, were among the +Egyptians the emblem of royalty. Are you not pleased with that, +Piccolissima? The ancient kings of France had them on their arms; +bees were embroidered on their shields, and on their standards; and +it was very proper that they adopted them. Have they not the royal +prerogative—honey and a sting? They amass treasures, and they know +how to keep them. In truth I agree with you, sisterkin; I love bees +and honey; finish your bread and honey or I shall eat it." +</P> + +<P> +From this day Piccolissima dreamed ever of bees; her most earnest +desire was to go and see a kingdom of apis mellifica, which her +brother Mimi told her was in the possession of their neighbor +Thomas, who kept twenty bee hives. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICCOLISSIMA *** + +***** This file should be named 4049-h.htm or 4049-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/4/4049/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. 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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: Piccolissima + +Author: Eliza Lee Follen + +Posting Date: June 11, 2009 [EBook #4049] +Release Date: May, 2003 +First Posted: October 21, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICCOLISSIMA *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +PICCOLISSIMA + + +BY + +MRS. FOLLEN + + + +With illustrations by Gammatt Billings and others + + + + +PREFACE. + +This little story I have translated from the French of Mademoiselle +Montgolfier. If children enjoy it as much as I have, and think it as +pretty, they will not regret that I have preferred it to any thing I +could write for them. + +Mademoiselle Montgolfier says in her preface to the little book, +"Notwithstanding the fanciful character of this story, it is, in +fact, simply a little lesson in Natural History," and that "she +would engage for the truth of all that Piccolissima relates of the +manners and customs of the insects with whom she makes acquaintance." + +It may also interest our young, and, perhaps, our more advanced +readers, to know, that Mademoiselle Montgolfier is the daughter of +the celebrated Montgolfier who invented balloons, and made the first +ascension. I had, when in France, the pleasure of seeing this very +interesting lady, and know her affection for children; and I am sure +that it will please her to know that her tiny naturalist is welcomed +by the American children. I therefore feel a particular pleasure in +introducing the wonderfully small Piccolissima to their +acquaintance, and recommending her to their affectionate regard. + +E. L. F. + +BROOKLINE, October, 1857. + + + + +PICCOLISSIMA. + + +Piccolissima was descended on the father's side from the famous Tom +Thumb, so well known to all children. On the mother's side, her +lineage was no less distinguished. Mignonette Littlepin (this was +the family name of Madam Tom Thumb) was the great granddaughter of +the wonderful Princess, who once lodged in a spectacle case, out of +which she came so splendidly attired that the brilliancy of her +little person illuminated all surrounding objects. A trustworthy +biographer tells us that nothing occurred in the history of Mr. and +Mrs. Tom Thumb to disgrace their illustrious parentage, and they +were considered none the less good citizens because they were rather +smaller than other people. + +In the mean while, however, our humble couple became suddenly +celebrated by the birth of our heroine; this small creature was so +delicate, so exquisite, so pretty, and so lively and full of spirit, +that from the age of two years she became the object of general +admiration. She was not more than one inch in height, and her +mother, who had prepared the cradle and baby linen for a child of +the usual size, was puzzled to know what to do. Finally, the half of +a cocoanut shell, lined, and furnished with soft cushions of thistle +down, made a good bed for the little wonder; and the nursery maid, +wife of a neighboring clockmaker, and a person of ingenuity, +conceived the admirable idea of suspending the cocoanut cradle from +the pendulum of a great clock, in order that the infant might be +rocked all the time. Madam Tom Thumb was enchanted with the +invention. She adhered to the old-fashioned notions, and could not +suppose it possible that her little one could sleep without rocking. +What the good little mother found the most trouble from, in the +extreme smallness and delicacy of the limbs of her new-born doll +baby, was the impossibility of swathing and dressing it. So she was +forced to resign herself to doing as the birds do, and bring up her +little one on a bed of moss and down. She hardly dared to put upon +the little arm, smaller than her own little finger, a little shift +made of the fine white skin of the inside of an eggshell. The boots +of the little one had soles cut out of the inside husks of the corn; +a poppy leaf made her an ample bonnet. The spider's web which the +dew whitens, and the wind winds up in balls, seemed too coarse too +weave her sheets with, and the cup of an acorn was big enough for +Piccolissima. Her parents obtained all her wardrobe, and all the +small furniture for her use from those thousands of skilful +laborers, so adroit, and yet of whom we think so little, who hide +themselves in all the walls, in the leaves of the trees turned up +like horns, under the bark of the trees; in short, that are found in +all the corners and crevices of creation. + +Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb were not people who could be astonished. +Simple themselves, every thing appeared simple to them. Mrs. +Mignonette was at first a little disconcerted at finding that a +drawer of baby linen which she had taken so much pains to make was +of no use, and that one of the stockings which she had knit was big +enough for her child to get into. But, when she was convinced that +the baby could do just as well without stockings, and that the +cushions of thistle down were sufficient to keep it warm, she was no +longer troubled, and she said to her neighbors, who were eager to +see her little wonder, "It is very natural that the little one +should be so very delicate; from the first we called it +Piccolissima; then, neither Mr. Tom Thumb nor I are very large; and +I am told that our ancestors were still more delicately formed; what +then is more natural than that this little one should be such a wee +wee thing?" + +The tranquillity of Mrs. Tom Thumb had this good effect; it appeased +the curiosity of the neighbors. At last, like her, they came to the +conclusion "that it was very natural that the child was smaller than +the mother." and all went on as usual around our heroine, while she +was quietly rocked by the passing hours, and was amused with the +sound of the silver clock bell. When, however, Piccolissima was two +inches high, and lively as a grasshopper, she became restless in her +cocoanut shell; she was desirous to get out of it, to walk, and to +jump, and she not only deranged the clock, but she was in real +danger. + +She was now as much as seven years old, and she amused herself with +all sorts of little pranks, and loving ways, with one of her +brothers eighteen months old. The great boy, in a sort of ecstasy at +some of the drolleries of his little sister, seized her and put her +in his mouth, taking into it nearly the whole head of the poor +little thing. Her cry was so shrill that the baby boy opened his +jaws and let the unfortunate Piccolissima fall on the floor. She did +not recover for a long time from this fall. Another time, a large +cat, a great mouser, ran after her, and it was with difficulty they +rescued Piccolissima from the claws of Raminagrobis. The father, Mr. +Thumb, could not repress some anxiety about the fate of his amiable +daughter, who had more than common intelligence, and who, by her +extreme smallness, was exposed to so many dangers. + +Piccolissima did her best to acquire knowledge. She had the best +intentions in the world; she desired in every thing to please all +who approached her; but her extreme restlessness led her away in +spite of herself. One evening she lost herself in the solitude of a +drawer in which was kept some tobacco; she came near dying from the +effect of it. Once she was near drowning in a superb salad dish of +frothed eggs, which she may have taken for snow mountains. She had a +passion for discovery, she had a prodigious activity of mind and +body, and yet they could find nothing for her to do, "because," they +said, "she is so little, so delicate." She could not play with +children of her own age, she was not allowed to run about, and +without object, without employment, without means of studying, with +no companions, no sympathy, the poor little thing was in danger of +falling into a state of apathy, more to be feared than the accidents +from which they wished to preserve her. + +One day, towards the end of February, Piccolissima had been placed +upon the mantelpiece. Her mother had gone out; her father, who did +not wish to have the trouble of watching over all his little +daughter's movements, seated her upon a pincushion in which there +were no pins, and putting the dictionary as a sort of rampart before +her, he gave her a stick of barley sugar to entertain herself with, +and after the usual admonition, left her to her dreams. Leaving the +sugar to slip down by her side, she remained lost in melancholy +reflections from which she was drawn by a light murmur, such as one +hears sometimes in the silence of the night when persons are +speaking in a low voice in a distant part of the house. Piccolissima +listened with deep attention for some time. Usually she disliked the +sound of conversation; it struck harshly on her organs, and seemed a +sort of mimic thunder; but these sounds had nothing discordant, +nothing disagreeable in them, to her ear. As Piccolissima had been +forced to observe rather than to act, her faculties took a new +direction, and a development of which she was unconscious herself +took place, and her joy and her surprise were great when she found +that, in what had at first appeared to her a confused murmur, she +distinguished, as she listened attentively, intelligible words. + +"It was hardly worth while," said a small, sharp voice, "it was +hardly worth the trouble it cost me to leave my cradle. I have come +into the world where all is dead around me. Ah! if I had only known +that this world was so cold and dull, I should not have made efforts +which almost destroyed me, to break the roof and leave my narrow +house." + +"Patience," replied another voice, a little quieter, but much like +the other; "I have lived longer than thou, who art only a few +seconds old. I have learned that one minute does not resemble +another; that cold is near to heat, that light is near to darkness, +and that sweet follows bitter. It is now two hundred and twenty-one +thousand, seven hundred and sixty-one minutes, and twenty-four +seconds, since I broke my shell. This sun, which you now see so pale +in the dusk, glowed then with more fervor, and sent every where more +rays and sparkles than I can count seconds in my long life. I was +all wet as you are now--poor, helpless thing; but I turned myself to +some of those brilliant rays, and my wings directly became strong, +as you now see them, embossed and painted with seven different, +changing colors, reflections of the rays of the sun. See! there is +one of these rays now; come forth; spread thy moist wing, already +shrunk and chill; thou shalt take thy part in the blessings which +come from on high." + +Piccolissima, all attention and full of curiosity, looked around +her, and saw coming out from the window frame two flies, who +appeared to be talking together. The wings of one of them remained +stuck together on its back, and it made a great effort to extend +them. Delighted at the discovery of companions in her solitude, +companions, too, whose language she could understand, Piccolissima +was eager to make their acquaintance; so she offered them her stick +of candy. One of the flies--it was the elder--having fixed upon the +little prodigy one of the thousand faces of his brown, sparkling +eyes, surrounded with golden eyelashes, he then placed, one by one, +his little black feet upon the stick of sugar candy, stretched forth +his trunk, and began to suck with eagerness. + +Piccolissima had now time enough to contemplate a being whose organs +she thought were like her own in their weakness. She found pleasure +in examining the extraordinary form of its almost cylindrical body, +divided into three parts, and a head wider than it was long, an +irregular globe surmounted by two horns, or antennae, as they are +called. The eyes most excited her curiosity. She attempted to count +their numerous little faces, so regular, so finely cut into +hexagons, more polished, more brilliant than diamonds. When +Piccolissima had counted one hundred, she drew from a very small +box, which was a family treasure, some minikin pins, and stuck one +of them into the cushion on which she was seated, intending thus to +mark every hundred that she counted; but she had not counted thus +half a thousand, before she found that breath and knowledge failed +her; in truth, she did not know enough of arithmetic to count the +eyes of a fly. In the very first group which she undertook to count, +that on the right side of the fly, she had not counted a sixteenth +part. Piccolissima, from her education, resembled the flies a little +too much to boast of her perseverance. So she gave up her project. + +While bending her small head over these eyes, she distinguished, at +the bottom of these crystals, a moving dark spot, and thousands of +little Piccolissimas, one after the other, smiled upon her from +these little mirrors. O, wonderful! these thousands of crystal +groups on each side of the head were not all; a triangle of three +diamonds crowned the forehead of the fly. Piccolissima did not know +the name they give to these small eyes, nor that a writer on the +subject had said, that the diadem of the fly outshines that of +queens, but she could not refrain from saying aloud, "O, my little +friend, pray tell me what you do with so many eyes?" + +"What do I do with them, indeed! why, I look," answered the fly, a +little vexed at being disturbed in his repast. "Are there not +fingers, nails, pins, pincers, jaws, claws, beaks, which menace me +on every side? Do I not want eyes to see at a distance, and eyes to +see near? And do you not know that my head is better put on than +yours, which cannot turn to all points of the compass?" + +"What! can you look behind you without turning your head?" replied +Piccolissima, with an air which probably appeared to the fly not +very sensible; for, shrugging up his right wing disdainfully, he +returned to his sugar candy. + +After a little reflection, she looked down again, and perceived, to +her great astonishment, upon the stick of candy, which was of an +amber color, a drop of water. She was sure, however, that she had +done the civil thing to the flies, and given it to them first. How, +then, was the candy moist? thought she; but she did not dare again +to ask questions which excited such a rude buzzing in reply. So she +rested her two little elbows on her knees, and her small head upon +one of her hands, and continued to examine the fly. "Is it his +nose?" said she, in a low voice, (for, having very rarely any one to +talk with, she had a habit of talking to herself,) "is it his nose +that he stretches out thus upon my sugar? I have heard papa say that +there are animals, much larger than he, and which they call +elephants, I think, who take up with their noses all the food they +put in their mouths, and that they call this nose a trunk. Perhaps +this is a little person of the family of elephants." + +Piccolissima had hardly uttered these words, when the fly, whose +antennae were longer than usual, and were turned towards the little +prattler, gave such a leap that Mademoiselle Tom Thumb trembled. The +wings of the insect fluttered, and made a little sharp noise, which, +however, had nothing terrible in it, and Piccolissima perceived that +her companion was laughing. It was evident that the fly must laugh +with his wings, because he could not laugh in any other way. It was +with his antennae that he had listened; they evidently served him as +ears; and, when he recovered his gravity, he flew on the little +girl's hand, and began to talk with her; then Piccolissima observed +him more intelligently. + +"It appears to me, little pet," said the fly, "thou must be very +green to compare my delicate trunk, this instrument so nicely made, +with the enormous and coarse cylinder upon which, in hot weather, I +have often travelled. How can any one suppose that I have any +relationship to the deformed and gigantic monster of which you have +just now spoken?" + +Piccolissima thought that the little person was not wanting in +vanity, and, while the fly was taking breath, observed that the +trunk had disappeared, and that there was no possibility of +discovering what the insect had done with it. The look, gloomy, and +a little sullen, of the fly, recalled somewhat the funny mask of a +harlequin, and Piccolissima was on the point of showing how one +laughs with the lips, by laughing in the fly's face, when the latter +forced air slightly through the breathing holes which open under the +wings; the two little double scales, the winglets, which unfold at +birth, began to vibrate; and Piccolissima, who just now remarked +that this was the method that her new acquaintance took to emit +sounds, was eager to listen to what he might say; so she made an +effort to command herself, and became serious. + +"Do you not see, with your dull human intelligence, that my trunk is +a pump, a hollow tube, an instrument for sucking which I stretch out +and draw in at my pleasure?" + +While speaking thus, the fly thrust half way out from the cavity in +the middle of his head, just under his eyes, a trunk with two or +three joints in it; at the end was an opening like two black lips, +folded over, with grooves or little hollows. The fly, thus urged to +show the use of his trunk, or, more probably, forgetting the sequel +of a discourse upon which he had entered in such a pompous style, +flew upon the sugar, and set himself again to sucking it. + +Piccolissima again observed the little drops fall which she had +noticed before. It seems that the fly, being only able to take up +liquids through his trunk, wetted and dissolved the sugar that he +might suck it up. It was a pleasant thing to see his lips swell out, +and press, handle, and knead, as it were, the amber surface of the +sugar in order to make it melt sooner, and enable him to draw it up +faster. After having examined all these proceedings for some time, +with great amusement, the little apprentice naturalist cried out, +"Well, my little guest has a remarkable talent for eating barley +sugar." + +The other fly, timid, wet, and with his wings folded, so that he +seemed naked, remained behind upon the frame of the window. "Come, +poor little wet chicken as thou art," cried the elder fly; "thou +wast complaining just now of having found in life only discomfort +and cold; dost thou not see these rays of the sun? dost thou not +perceive the perfume of this delicious food?" The young, +inexperienced fly was disposed to take Piccolissima, the dictionary, +and the barley sugar for a chain of mountains. However, when the +little girl turned her gentle, child-like face towards him, the +insect felt the pleasant warmth of her breath; it reanimated him, +and gave him courage, and with one bound he flew upon the arm of +Piccolissima. With a sudden familiarity he murmured in a low voice, +"Art thou, perhaps, an elder sister of mine? Thou warmest me. Art +thou placed in the sun to strengthen thy wings? Relate to me, +quickly, thy metamorphosis whilst I dry myself. Let us see, hast +thou been a caterpillar, a worm? How many feet didst thou once have? +I will lay a wager thou didst not have any. For me, I had three rows +of feet, forty-two in all, at least. Come, then, speak, and tell me; +answer my question." + +Usually Piccolissima did not require to be urged to speak; but these +questions were of such an extraordinary nature, so unexpected, that +the little girl remained silent. "Whether I have been a caterpillar +or a worm? A queer question at the commencement of an acquaintance." + +In the mean time the questioner was silent. Occupied with the +comfort of exposing all his little person to the sun, he extended +his wings, which, intersected with nerves, became every moment more +substantial, without losing any of their delicacy. This transparent +network, divided like stained glass windows, by dark lines, +resembled isinglass, sometimes decomposing the sun's rays, and +showing the colors of the rainbow. + +The head of the insect, as it dried, became shiny like satin; the +eyes, of a reddish brown, glowed in a circle of silver. Over a +little jet band, on the top of his head, three little soft eyes +peeped out like those which the young observer had already noticed +in the other fly. The brown trunk of this one seemed more delicate; +his bronze corselet, reflecting like emerald, was garnished with +fine hairs, like the down which the fresh morning spreads over +beautiful fruits. The belly of the insect, which showed itself +between and through the transparent wings, was of a beautiful +shining black set off by six white crescents, symmetrically placed +on the right and left. The legs appeared to Piccolissima brown, and +very delicate. As she examined them, she remembered that the young +boaster had vaunted itself of having forty-two of them; and she was +upon the point of venturing to inquire what had become of the +superfluous ones, when the lively fly, finding itself dry and +strengthened, raised two of its legs and examined them very closely, +and crossing them with great dexterity rubbed the soles of his feet +one against the other. Piccolissima was tempted so to call the two +balls of flesh covered with hair, and armed with two nails which +terminated the foot bones. The fly, having cleaned his brushes or +sponges,--for they were as much like one as the other,--employing +his trunk very skilfully, began to rub them over and under his +wings, and over his little face, his eyes, and his antennae. He +combed, brushed, sponged, and cleaned himself all over. Hardly had +he finished one side before he began upon the other, using those of +his six feet which were the most convenient. At last, he seemed +weary of being watched by Piccolissima; and, shaking himself, he +just grazed the eyelids of the little girl with his wings, and all +of a sudden flew away, and alighted on the window pane, where he +marched backward and forward with his head now up, and now down, +quite indifferent to the laws of gravity. + +Piccolissima followed him with her eyes with less surprise than +curiosity; not being able to contain herself any longer, she +determined to speak to the old fly. + +"How does your companion contrive to walk with his head down in that +way?" + +The old fly, satiated with sugar, turned half round to the right, +and with one spring placed himself opposite the little girl, and +stared at her with such a stupefied look, that Piccolissima, +although her good sense refused to believe it, thought for a moment +that the ten or twelve thousand eyes were all fixed on her, +forgetting, in her confusion at being thus stared at, that though +each eye had thousands of faces to mirror all surrounding objects, +still there was behind them all only one power of seeing, only one +fly. + +"What matters it, in the name of all that is sweet in the world? Of +what consequence is it, when one walks, whether the head is on one +side or the other, up or down? Poor infirm creature that thou art," +said the fly; "dost thou see any difference?" + +Piccolissima, somewhat mortified at having always walked with her +head upward, remained stupefied and silent. It seems necessary, +thought she, that every surface, in whatever direction it is placed, +should have the same power to attract and support the feet of the +flies as the ground and the floor to retain mine. + +Ignorant as she was, the little girl had not yet heard of the gummy +liquid which the wise ones had at one time supposed to be placed in +the sponges of the flies, nor of the vacuum, by means of which the +learned of the present day suppose these little cushions can adhere +to the most polished surfaces; and she had not yet seen flies enough +to form any opinion for herself. + +"I see," said the little girl, in a small flute voice, "that you +know much more than I; do not refuse, then, to instruct me. I cannot +explain how it is you speak and breathe. Since you have kept your +trunk in its case, I perceive above it your lips closed, and I do +not see them move." Piccolissima, fearing she might be laughed at, +did not dare to add, that she had supposed that the voice of the fly +came from under his wings. + +"I speak as all well-formed people speak," answered the haughty +insect, "with four voices;" and four puffs of air issued from the +oval breathing holes on both sides of his breast, giving a tremulous +motion to his two little egg-shell wings, his two balance wings, and +the roots of his two other wings. "I breathe through these openings +of my corselet, and I have, in order to enable me to take in the +inspiring air which was created to bear me up, as many mouths as +rings to my corselet." + +He then swelled out with a proud air his brown abdomen, which seemed +formed of rings of shell; and while he was indulging in the +admiration of himself and his powers, the sharp eyes of Piccolissima +discovered that these circles were not, as we should say, soldered +together, but were lying on a flexible membrane, or thin skin, which +held them in their place, and which was folded up or extended at the +will of the insect. On either side, between each ring, there was in +this membrane a little oval hole, smaller than those which, near the +cavities of the corselet, emitted and modulated the buzzing sound +which Piccolissima had just heard; these openings enabled the insect +to breathe. + +"You have many ways of speaking," the little girl said at last, with +a sigh; "but covered as you are all over with brilliant armor, how +can you touch any thing?" + +The fly, who was at this moment digesting his dinner, and who did +not like any interruption in any of his affairs, put forth his trunk +without making any reply, shook a little the small beard that grew +upon it, did the same with his antennae, rounded at the ends like +little cushions, and furnished with feathery hair; then stretched +forth his legs, as if yawning. Piccolissima comprehended that the +two little cushions which ornamented the extreme end of the foot of +the fly, in which she counted five joints, might easily possess the +sense of touch, and that this also rendered them more useful for +motion, and for the toilet; it was like so many intelligent brushes, +all ready to perceive and sweep away the least grain of dust. The +little beards she also thought might have the power of taste, like +the antennae, at the same time that they listened to sounds. + +"This young fly is doubtless your son," said Piccolissima to the +insect which had taken his place on her neck, in order that the +warmth might help digestion, without asking whether or not his nails +might tickle the little girl. + +"What! hast thou not seen directly that we were not relations? but I +see how it is; I pity you, poor imperfect being with only two eyes +and one mouth, and no trunk," answered the fly. "It is natural that +thou hast only a superficial knowledge. This little upstart who +devours the sugar as if he did not mean to leave any of it for any +one else, this little person, who has but a few minutes ago escaped +from his shell, yet hanging to a dead rose leaf long since forgotten +as it lay there on the window, has not, as I have, four beautiful +black streaks on his corselet. The white spots on his back offend +the eye; I prefer the modest color of my brown rings, and the soft +shade of the color of the faded leaf on a portion of my wings does +not contribute less to the majesty of my aspect than the colored +feathers which ornament my antennae. As for me, I am the domestic +fly." + +"I was wrong not to have remarked the differences which strike me +now," said the child; "but what does this young scapegrace mean by +what he says of metamorphoses, and countless legs?" + +"Yes, yes; that is well known; his race lives upon hairy prey; in my +opinion there is nothing to boast of in that. Although thou knowest, +it seems to me, very few things, still I think thou art not +ignorant, of course, that parents place their offspring where it is +best. The mother of this fly of the rose bush laid her egg in the +midst of the flock which was to nourish her little one. This one +came into the world in the shape of a worm." + +"Why dost thou shudder?" grumbled angrily the fly. "This form is as +good as any other; call this worm larva if it suits thy fancy; he +has still to each of his fourteen rings three little feet; but he +has not such elegant members as mine, a haunch, a thigh, a leg, and +an instep with five joints." While speaking, the old fly displayed +pompously one of his legs, which he began immediately to caress with +the edge of his lips, because he saw a grain of dust on one of the +small hairs. + +"But," perseveringly asked Piccolissima, who wished to hear the +history of the fly to the end, "who are these little flocks in the +midst of which your friend has passed his early days?" + +"They are the little red or green grubs which infest the rose bush; +these he pierces and grinds up with his teeth, and sucks them up +with his strange mouth one after another as he moves slowly among +them upon those forty-two roots of feet, of which he is so vain, for +I maintain that they cannot be called legs, or any thing like legs." + +"You, then," said the little girl, "have better formed members." + +The fly, who remembered that he had not at all better limbs, looked +suddenly wearied with the conversation, and shaking his wings, flew +away to the window. + +"Of what color were you formerly?" asked the little girl of her only +remaining companion; "you, who are now of such a pretty shade of +brilliant green and bronze?" + +"Me! I was of a pretty tender green. Weary of living on the ground, +I took the resolution to retire from the world. I shut myself up in +my skin, which soon became hard enough to serve for my retreat. My +house was carried, I know not how, to that spot not far from you; I +know not what artificial heat acted on me. I came to the belief that +the time had come for me to spread my wings, and I uncovered the +roof of my house in order that I might know what had been done +during my absence. They call me the rose fly." + +As he finished saying these words, the fly, quite satisfied, joined +his companion in the window. Piccolissima was grieved that she could +not follow them; she listened attentively to the noise they made in +flying, and could distinguish musical tones. But, fatigued at last +by this long tension of her mind, gradually her ideas became vague +and wandering, her little blond head fell upon her arms, and she +dropped asleep and dreamed. + +She dreamed that her two new friends, the flies, returned, +accompanied by an innumerable troop of winged insects. Each one +carried something, one a blade of grass, another a stalk of a plant, +another a petal, another a pistil. Two large beetles, with immense +horns or talons, dragged along small branches loaded with flowers, +such as Piccolissima had never seen. + +All this troop set themselves to work and constructed the most +charming, the lightest little aerial car that one can possibly +imagine. A great fly, bristling with fine hairs, extended four +strong wings, and raising his voice, invited Piccolissima to mount, +and at the same time politely offered her his paw. + +The little girl accepted the invitation, and found herself +immediately transported into the corolla of a beautiful white lily. +There she found a throne prepared for her. Very skilful little paws +lightly tickled her arms, and then her feet, in order to call her +attention to the labors of invisible waiting maids, who were about +dressing her in a robe of white velvet, cut out of the petals of a +white camellia, confined round the waist by a turquoise clasp, +borrowed from the myosotis. + +A stamen of the lily served her for a sceptre; she took her seat; a +rose leaf hung for a canopy over her head; the bells of the lily of +the valley and the campanula sent forth their joyous chime. The +bladder senna filled the air with the noise of its bursting petards. +The artillery of the prickly furze played on both sides of the +throne as the nations of flies approached to pay their homage to the +queen. + +To the cries of vivat, uttered with enthusiasm, Piccolissima replied +by inclining her sceptre; a golden rain fell from it, and was +eagerly gathered up by the surrounding crowds of humming courtiers, +whose shouts and acclamations filled the air. + +The young sovereign then had to endure a long and grave discourse +from a fat drone bee who did not understand himself. + +Ere long the little queen learned that her empire was in danger. +Dreadful enemies menaced the frontiers. "They are spiders," said the +flies. "They are the larvae of the rose bushes," said the grubs. +"They are the ichneumons," cried a crowd of winged insects. + +Every one accused some other one. Piccolissima did not know what to +understand, but she hastened to arm herself. Two bees, as her body +guard, placed upon her head for helmet a flower of the snapdragon. +Two wasps, redoubtable hussars, brought her for a shield a piece of +the gold bronze wing shell of a beetle. + +At last, she extended her hand to seize her lance, when a clap of +thunder shook the lily, dispersed the court, and the army, and +Piccolissima awoke, and found herself in the hands of her mother, +Mrs. Thomas Thumb, who said, very gently, "Tell me, dear little one, +are you not very weary?" + +"It is strange," said Mr. Tom Thumb, some months after, "that I +always find now my ball of soap in its right place." + +"It is because Piccolissima no longer rolls it into the corners for a +plaything," replied Mrs. Tom Thumb. "The little creature improves--grows +really intelligent." + +"I am glad of it," said, a little while afterwards, one of the elder +sisters of the miniature woman; "I am no longer obliged to hunt from +place to place for my thimble and my scissors they are now always in +my work box." + +"The reason is, Piccolissima does not now make a well of your +thimble, nor a spade of your scissors," answered her brother; "she +has become tiresome; she no longer frisks around me when I return +home; she has no longer any droll fancies which once amused me so +much; she is now a genuine doll; I really believe that this minikin +is putting on airs." + +"Hold your peace, Monsieur," answered the busy chambermaid, in a +scolding tone, while she cleaned the runnels of a chair, upon which the +feet of the young man had left a good portion of the soil of the garden; +"I should like to see the day when you are as well behaved as +Mademoiselle Piccolissima. It was once Mademoiselle Touch-every-thing. +Six months ago, no one dared to leave a drawer in the house open; now +every thing remains quiet in its place; she is neither more nor less +than a reasonable being; she is a waxen image, I tell you." + +"Did I say any thing else, Madam Scold?" answered the school boy; +"she is a real Liliputian statue, fit for nothing but to watch the +flies fly. Ah! come, Piccola, Piccolissima!" he cried to the little +one, who was behind the shutter of a half-open window, absorbed in +the contemplation of a gnat who was up the window, singing a little +air through his nasal trumpet, "tell us, Piccola, a little of what +the flies say to you." + +Piccolissima, who was always alarmed at a big voice, trembling, +turned round and stared at her brother, who, shouting with laughter, +made a pirouette, jumped over the balcony, which was near the +ground, into the garden. + +The complaints of Piccolissima's brother were not quite without +foundation; she had become more reflecting, more observing; she was +less restless and less communicative; more amused, but less amusing. +She did not dare to repeat to her sisters her conversation with the +flies, lest they should laugh at her, and she became more frequently +occupied with her own thoughts, and more silent. Her silver voice +was heard no longer in every corner of the house; she was no longer +under every one's feet; the fragments of her dress were no longer +caught by the nails in her brothers' shoes, under the legs of her +sisters' chairs, or under the castors of the furniture; and her +mother, who had a habit of saying, "This little wild thing gives me +more trouble than all her brothers and sisters," said now, "Truly, +if she does not help me, she does not hinder me." As for Mr. Tom +Thumb, who loved to complete a remark by a proverb, instead of +exclaiming, "It is not strange that she does not grow,--a rolling +stone gathers no moss," murmured, rubbing his hands, "Whoever lives +will see what I have always said: It is only weeds that grow fast." + +In order to employ the activity of Piccolissima, her father had at +one time given her some pots of flowers; for a long time, nothing +came of them, for she turned over the earth incessantly, and kept +looking at the roots to see if they began to sprout. Now that she no +longer asked ten questions, one after the other, without waiting for +an answer, and that she left her plants to grow, and no longer took +them up to look at their roots, she had in her garden, just under +the window, one foot of potatoes, three feet of hemp, a bean, and a +strawberry plant, in pots. Her brother, in jumping out of the +window, had broken off some ripe strawberries, which the little girl +had cherished for her mother, and Piccolissima went sorrowfully to +examine the havoc, and pick up the fruit. + +She no longer supported herself upon the flexible stalks of the +nasturtiums and the convolvulus, which Mr. Tom Thumb cultivated, and +who more than once had complained at finding them broken. She no +longer seated herself on the branches of the mignonette, and then +let the wind blow her at its will, backwards and forwards, a +dangerous and monotonous amusement, which soon wearied. Now, with +her elbow resting on the edge of the pot of strawberries, under the +shadow of the Persian lilac, she remained in contemplation. + +She observed running about some little creatures that she had never +seen before, and which appeared to her so wild that she dared not +begin a conversation. + +"O, what is that?" she said at last, stooping down and resting her +head on her hand, and forgetting her lost harvest of strawberries; +"here is something very curious. They are smaller than the flies. A +myosotis could accommodate a number of them in its delicate cup; +their heads are wider than they are long, and on each side I +perceive a sort of fine leg, which has a sort of elbow, and which +the insect does not use in walking; the body is in three parts, all +of a shining black; the head has these two threads, which are always +moving, and which are of a lighter color at the ends; the corselet +is smaller, rounder, and more brilliant than that of the flies; and +the belly is covered with black scales. But these little beasts trot +away, scamper away so fast with their nimble legs, that one cannot +see them. What delicate forms they have! they must have worn corsets +when they were young. Ah! there is a sort of knot in this thread +which fastens the corselet to the belly. Wait, little fellow, wait +while I look at you a little nearer!" The small, thin finger of +Piccolissima caught one of the little creatures, but she found some +difficulty in holding him. + +"Ah! at last I have you!" She held between her thumb and finger the +two hind legs of the insect, who stretched himself out stiff and +without motion, just as if he was sitting for his portrait. She then +saw above the arms and hands of the head, (thus she chose to call +the antennae,) two shining eyes, like two black buttons--naturalists +discover three with a microscope. "He has no trunk," said +Piccolissima, as she looked at a formidable mouth. At this moment, +the insect disengaged one of his legs, and twisting himself with +fury, and biting the finger which held him, he showed two jaws, +which worked like a pair of pincers. Piccolissima was not +sufficiently hardened to natural history. She shook her hand +violently, and uttered a cry that brought her brother to her in a +moment. + +"Ha! ha! the great body," cried he, as he saw the trouble, and the +cause of it; "this is not a worthy enemy; it is only one of the +smallest ants. What would you say if you had to contend with the +herculean wood borer? Your ferocious animal is only a modest +fuliginosa, Madam Piccola; it is Formica fuliginosa, Latin words, +which mean soot-colored ant." + +"I should much prefer that they should be called at once by a name +that I could comprehend, 'little blackeys,' instead of these long +words, that it almost takes away your breath to pronounce." + +"This is because you are ignorant, sister; but for that, you would +love the Latin names, because they are so fine sounding, and can +express so many things. For example, formica; can you guess? O, +no, you will never guess," added he, with a knowing tone. "Very +well! formica means crumb carriers, because the little cunning +beasts carry all sorts of knickknacks." + +Piccolissima, who once had only frisked and frolicked around her +brother, and in whose eyes she had been hitherto a sort of amusing +plaything, listened to him now with an air of intelligence and +satisfaction, with which he was secretly flattered. "Besides the +herculean borer," he continued, "there is another ant in the +forests, much larger than your enemy, and who builds mountains. They +call him rusa, which means russet. It is he who produces the formic +acid, a poison which he sheds with his abdomen into the bite which +he makes with his mandibles or jaws, which makes the wound a little +red, and makes it itch and burn a little." He was going on to add +that mandibula signified jaw bone; abdomen, meant belly. He might, +perhaps, while he was in this mood, have declined all these nouns, +but his little sister had ceased to listen; she was following with +her eye a file of her small black ants, and she saw them go and come +very busily upon a small stick which supported her only bean stalk. +Doubtless the wind had blown into Piccolissima's garden one of the +white cottony tufts which enfold the seeds of the poplar, for it was +a young shoot of poplar which served as support to the plant, and as +a garden for the ants. Upon the white cottony stem was an assemblage +of these little animals, green, brown, yellow, and transparent, all +plump, singularly alike, grave, immovable, like a Roman senate. +Certain active little creatures with fine shapes walked among them, +around them, over them, without appearing to hurt them, or +disturbing their gravity. The ants carried their easy manners still +farther; they struck lightly, rapidly, alternately, with their two +antennae, the backs and the sides of these peaceable animals; they +even went so far as to turn them over with their fore paws, and all +the while the other insects did not move, and allowed them to do as +they pleased. + +"Look! look!" cried Piccolissima. + +"Beautiful little wonder," answered her brother, "these are grubs, +that's all; and who does not know nowadays, that these are the cows +of the ants?" + +"Their cows!" repeated the little girl; and she remained absorbed in +her examination. The ants still continued, in a playful and +irregular manner, to strike their little cows, whose trunks +Piccolissima saw were thrust into the bark of the aspen. Sometimes +an ant gave a little kick, and always one was at hand, with his jaws +extended, and his mouth open, ready to receive a drop of sirup, +which the eye of Piccolissima at last discovered falling from the +extremity of the body of the grub. "I see, I see!" she exclaimed; +"it is their way of milking. O the funny little pastoral people!" +Whilst she was in this ecstasy, the ant with the ends of his +antennae took the transparent little drop into his mouth; and then +carefully cleansed with the brushes of his feet the sugared antennae +which had served for fork and spoon, or rather for fingers. + +"I should like to talk with him," said Piccolissima, as she saw the +ant making his toilet, "but these are a very silent, a very reserved +people; perhaps they are dumb." + +The ant, who had just swallowed the drop of sirup, now quietly +descended the aspen walk; his belly was well stuffed and shining, +and he stopped now and then to rest, and wash his face. He met, as +he went down, an ant who was ascending the path. The new comer ran +up to him as to an intimate friend, as soon as he saw him, and +eagerly struck him with his antennae. The motion was very rapid; the +ant returned it by shaking his antennae, but more gently, and by +opening his mandibles. "Are they going to dispute, and to bite each +other?" thought Piccolissima. Not at all. The ant who had received +the sirup upon the end of his tongue, now offered a little drop of +it to the one who was hungry, who received it upon his tongue, while +he continued to caress with his antennae, and even with his little +paws, the friend who offered it. The joy of Piccolissima was so +great at the sight of this mutual kindness, that she made one of her +old leaps, and shook the frail stalk. Immediately there was a +violent commotion among the ants, who in great crowds blackened the +end of the twig. They ran hither and thither in the greatest terror, +striking their antennae one against the other. Many of them caressed +the grubs more eagerly, in a violent and impetuous manner, as if to +urge them to some exertion. Some of the grubs submitted to be taken +gently into the jaws of the ants; others, with their trunks in the +wood, looked as if they were too lazy to consent to move. + +They were however, at last, (whether they would or not,) all carried +rapidly away. Each ant, loaded with her cow, ran down the tree, and, +following a little narrow path in the ground, reached a small, deep +hole, into which the ants, one after the other, all disappeared. + +"O Mimi! O Linette! O Fifine!" cried Piccolissima, running from her +brother to her sisters, "they have carried away all their cows. Each +ant has his cow between his teeth; one holds her by the belly, the +others by the wings; come see! come see!" + +"Cows with wings!" cried the astonished little girls. Mimi, who knew +all this, startled his little sister by saying, "The pet is right; +she has good eyes; there are many grubs with wings; come, come, my +small sister, it appears to me that you are discovering many things +already known. My ladies, the ants, ought to choose you for their +queen." + +The same day, Madam Tom Thumb, who began to feel some confidence in +the reason of Piccolissima, carried her into the garden, to the +great joy of the little creature. It was a delicious place; there +were in it long covered alleys, and even a small wood, where one +might enjoy a sweet freshness in the heat of the day. Around a great +hall, covered with foliage, were seats of soft green moss. It was +there that Madam Tom Thumb used to embroider with her elder +daughters; and there she placed Piccolissima, allowing her to run at +large, only recommending to her prudence and discretion. + +The child, who was formerly idle and weary of every thing, was in a +fair way to become a happy young girl, thanks to the attention she +began to give to every thing she saw, and to the interest which the +wonders around her excited in her mind. She was enchanted with the +thousand plants which embellished and covered the earth, and formed +in the smallest flower an object of admiration which filled her +soul. Very soon she met one of those beings who excited in her a +lively curiosity,--an ant much larger than the little black ones of +the shepherd race. The fine antennae, the three eyes, the top of the +head, the legs, the belly of this one were blackish, but less +glistening, and it was by the superiority of his shape, above middle +size, and above all, by the reddish color of a part of his body, +that Piccolissima recognized the russet ant of which her brother had +spoken. The insect carried very laboriously a stick ten or twelve +times as long as himself; a hillock of earth, which he met on his +road, stopped him for some time, and Piccolissima, who was eager to +help him through his difficulties, and who was tormented with a +desire to enter into conversation with him, took it into her head to +assist the insect, and hoped thus to render herself agreeable to +him. She seized one end of the little rafter he was carrying, and in +a tone which she tried to make as soft as possible, she said, "Will +you allow me, little one, to help you?" + +The ant, clinging to the earth with his hind legs, stood up +straight, and threw out his antennae with a terrible expression. +Piccolissima was so full of kind feeling that she never thought of +exciting any anger; she thought that it was only a little struggle +of his politeness; therefore she insisted, taking firmly hold of the +bit of wood, and repeated, "I assure you it is a pleasure to me, and +it will not fatigue me." Forced to loosen his burden, the ant opened +his jaws full of formidable teeth, and advanced upon Piccolissima, +walking on his hind legs; the two others stretched out in front, as +well as his antennae, in sign of defiance; his body all bent, +exhaling an odor of vinegar so pungent that Piccolissima, letting go +the little stick, ran away as fast as she could, sneezing violently, +and shutting her eyes. When she opened them and returned, thinking +the ant was at her heels, she found her terrible adversary had again +seized his big stick by one end, and had slid it over the lump of +earth by means of a stone, which served him as a point of support. +She saw him sometimes push it before him, and sometimes drag it +after him, walking backwards till he reached the flat ground, when +he pursued his way very fast. + +Piccolissima, who did not forget that her mother had recommended +discretion to her, followed at a distance. As she went on carefully, +she saw long trains of ants resembling her enemy; each one of them +was charged with a burden more or less heavy. All of them took their +way towards a mountain shaped like a cone, full of little openings +which, from a distance, appeared to be semicircular vaults; Roman +architecture Piccolissima would have thought if the multiplicity of +details of little architectural ornaments, all of wood work, had not +given her the idea of an old Gothic fortress. The rapid and violent +motions of the wild mountaineers did not frighten her; she walked up +slowly, hardly touching her feet to the earth, holding her breath, +observing every thing, and she was soon convinced that this little, +busy people took no notice of her. She came nearer and nearer to the +place where two great roads, covered with ants, terminated. She +heard a confused noise, like the hum of a great city, or as the +sound of the rain among the leaves. + +"I thought they spoke only by signs which they make with the arms +that come out of their heads," said Piccolissima, still going +nearer; "why, then, this noise?" + +The little girl was soon convinced that this noise was produced by +the numerous and busy footsteps of a solemn, austere, and +preoccupied crowd of ants. Not a word was said, but every one ran +rather than walked, and they seemed like a thousand individuals, all +actuated by one purpose. Supported on the lower branch of a chestnut +tree, Piccolissima placed herself a little higher, but very near the +citadel, which was one living mountain. + +How can we relate what she saw then? It would take volumes. There +would be as many histories as individuals. Her attention was +attracted by the perseverance of one ant who carried a burden; by +another who was striving to get over some obstacle. She saw them +feed those who arrived laden and out of breath; she saw those who +repaired the doors, who opened and shut the windows, which were not +glazed like ours; others she saw as sentinels, standing on their +hind legs, charged to watch over the general safety. The busiest +carried in their mandibles, caressed with their legs and their +antennae, licked with their delicate tongues, exposed to the sun, or +carried quickly into the shade certain white balls which +Piccolissima took at first for grains of wheat, because they had the +form and size; but she was satisfied at last that these were the +children of the ants in swaddling clothes. Piccolissima was so +anxious to comprehend the mysterious talk, and the pantomime of all +this innumerable crowd, that she became yet more attentive. The +nurses caressed with their antennae in a peculiar way those eggs +which were beginning to show life, and the little observer saw the +slight movement of the incomplete being who, as soon as he was +bidden, raised his head, which was almost imperceptible even to +microscopic eyes, to receive the offered mouthful. + +Whilst Piccolissima observed all this nursery work, an ant came and +placed beneath her, in order to fill up a small hole, a sort of +bundle of little sticks, which rolled away as soon as she left it. +The ant took hold of it again, carried it to its place, and arranged +it so as to make it firm; then, satisfied with her work, she went +after something else to do. Shortly after this, a head, then some +legs, then half of the body of a caterpillar came out of the living +little fagot which the ant had mended her house with. It was a dead +leaf in which an egg had been laid and nicely rolled up by the +parent, and which my lady ant had taken for a beam, or something of +the sort, and the vexed hermit scampered away, carrying his house +with him, not caring at all for the hole which he and his house had +been intending to mend. + +Much amused at this, Piccolissima tried to find out what a great +number of ants, all with burdens, were carrying. She was, with +painful astonishment, soon convinced that these were the carcasses +of all sorts of insects. "It is a nation of hunters," she said, +"more savage than those which feed their flocks on my aspen." + +At this moment, a great ant attracted the attention of the child +towards the lower part of the mountain. An enormous grub of the +cockchafer race, a great white worm, rolled himself over, trying to +liberate himself and to crush the ants, whose number increased on +every side, and who tore off his transparent, soft skin, and pulled +him in every direction. They climbed backward up the side of their +citadel, and in spite of his desperate struggles, carried the poor +insect, writhing with torture, to one of their little air holes. +Piccolissima saw upon his wounds some drops of the sharp poison +thrown by these terrible hunters, and the crowds of ants soon hid +the sufferer from her eyes, which she gladly turned away from such a +sight. + +With her heart oppressed with fear and pity, the little girl +collected her strength that she might glide down from her branch and +run away, when a sudden alarm attracted a whole squadron of the +insects to the place where she was about to put her foot. She +immediately regained her place, and tried to understand what +important and terrible news was being communicated from antennae to +antennae, drawing together such a number of insects, with their +frightful jaws all opened. The penetrating odor reached the +frightened little girl; presently she perceived a very large ant, +nearly six lines in length, very black, very shining, doubtless a +Hercules who was defending himself against a whole army. His enemies +fastened themselves on to each of his legs, but he still fought; a +brown ant jumped upon his back and tried to break his brilliant +cuirass; another, with his body bent double, covered him with +poison. The Hercules still fought. At last, three of the fiercest of +the ants worked with their sharp teeth upon the middle of his body, +and at last cut him in two. The terrible head of the Hercules still +held in his jaws two of his deadly enemies. Piccolissima screamed, +and putting her hand before her eyes, she perhaps would have fallen +into the midst of this nation of savages, if her mother, who was +anxious about her, had not taken her in her arms and carried her +away. + +From this time, Piccolissima became one of the happiest little +creatures in the world. Her brother, instead of considering her only +as a toy to play with, began to respect her. She had no more +conversations with the flies, to be sure. Her mind grew, and she +learned that, small as she was, she was superior to the best +informed fly. She studied the habits and doings of the ants, and +learned a great deal about their different tribes and nations. +Sometimes her brother would take his sister's toilet cushion and put +it on the table before him, and seating Piccolissima upon it, say to +her, "Now, Piccola, dear, listen with both of your little ears to my +big words, and I will read some wonderful stories to you." Once he +read Gulliver's Travels to her. "O!" she exclaimed, as he read of +the Lilliputians, "O, good! good! I am a Lilliputian, and you are +all great, big Brobdignagians. Why did you not tell me this before?" +So she began to dance and skip about, like a jack-o'-lantern. Her +brother, who was delighted at her gambols, whistled a tune for her +to dance by. Presently Piccolissima began to sing, with her small, +fine voice, this song, which she made as she danced:-- + + Merrily, merrily, dance away! + Merrily laugh, and merrily play! + Though I am a tiny thing, + I can dance, and I can sing; + I can hear, and I can see; + I don't care who laughs at me; + I can learn all things to know; + So sing merrily, merrily, O! + +The morning was lovely; the blue shadows, extending over the fields, +made the leaves of the chestnut trees, wet with the morning dew, +still more brilliant. Agitated by a light breeze, they glistened in +the rays of the rising sun. Every blade of grass lifted its dewy +head as soon as a ray fell upon it, and each in its turn was crowned +with its halo of diamonds. + +The flowers, in sweet accord, sent up their perfume towards heaven. +Already the lark had saluted the day with his brilliant song, +eternal hymn, ever repeated, never omitted. Every little bird sent +up his clear note and his joyous song from his nest; the insects +were beginning to hum. The sound of the voice of man, slow to join +in the morning prayer of the whole creation, was not yet heard when +Piccolissima, already awake, entered the garden. + +She had obtained permission to do so the evening before. Her +mother's confidence had increased with the growing prudence and good +sense of the little girl; qualities which a habit of observation has +the effect of strengthening rapidly. + +The child was desirous to witness the morning labors of the ants, +and to see how, when the dew had prepared their mortar, they built +their long galleries. They commenced their work at the top, and +Piccolissima would have liked to see them again raise and make their +walls. She was, however, disappointed in her purpose, either that +the earth dried too quick, as the sun was now high above the +horizon; or the tiny republicans, with six feet, were employed in +their interior halls, in bringing out the young ants, and were busy +tearing off the veils of silk which confined the larvae, and in +developing the wings of the males and females; or, whatever might be +the cause, the ant hills were deserted. + +The lazy amazons did not appear. Now and then a single miner might +be seen wandering alone at the entrance of their subterranean +dwelling. + +Seated upon a piece of turf near the parterre, the little girl +followed with her eye, all along the stem of a plant, two or three +brown ants who led their flock of grubs to pasture, when a murmuring +sound near her, which seemed to spread all over the beds of +mignonette, attracted her attention to some large flies, of a dull +color, who whirled about among the flowers, darting from one to the +other, and seemed very busy. + +"Can these be any of my old acquaintances?" said she; but she could +not be satisfied with this idea; the new comers, much larger, had +also a very different physiognomy from that of her old friends. They +had oval eyes, with a network over them; a protruding jaw; antennae +of twelve olive scales, terminated by a button. Their brown +corselets covered with a tawny fur; their brilliant cuirasses, and +their legs of unequal length,--all these things attracted the +attention of the young observer. + +She saw these flies rolling themselves over in the bosom of the +flowers, with a joyous activity which amused her very much, and the +reason of which she desired to understand. + +There was, however, in their appearance and manners, something +repulsive which prevented familiarity. Each one of them caused to +vibrate four gauze wings, two large and two small ones. In their +rapid and measured motions, these wings produced sound, and the air, +issuing from little breathing places situated, as in the common fly, +on each side of the corselet, produced a sort of a song. + +As if attracted by the song, these insects flew in swarms to the +flower-bed. Very soon it was evident that they were heavier when +they went away than when they came. Two large, round, red and +yellow, or rather golden balls loaded their brilliant brown thighs. +Some of them plunged into the bosom of a lily. Raising herself on +tiptoe, Piccolissima kept them in view. She saw their slanting +teeth, which formed the point of their triangular head, open and +close like two strong pincers, and shake the tops of the stamens. +She had never noticed before, but now she perceived, at the end of +the six threads in the centre of the flower, a sort of little green +box; this was the anther. These flies pressed it and pulled it, till +it opened and scattered a quantity of little yellow pellets, which +covered the insects so thoroughly, that they and the flowers seemed +to have changed garments, so completely were they clothed with it. + +Piccolissima could contain herself no longer. She cried out to her +sister, whom she saw coming towards her: + +"O, come, come quickly! See the flies putting on their ball dresses, +and making their toilet in the cup of a flower." + +Linette, still at a distance, did not hasten her steps, +notwithstanding the exclamations of her sister; and before she came, +Piccolissima was convinced that the flies did not think much of +their brilliant toilet. She saw them push off all their finery by +means of the brushes with which their legs were furnished. These +excellent little square brushes were placed on their hind legs +mostly; they had brown horn backs, and short, stiff hairs, ranged +regularly. These brushes did their work so well, that in less than a +moment every fly had resumed his modest livery. + +But what had become of the rich yellow powder? The insect had taken +care to brush himself so rapidly that Piccolissima could but just +see the dust he had collected pass from one part of his body to +another, till the whole came to the third pair of his legs, and was +collected together in a little oval cavity, surrounded by a thick +circle of skin which closed in upon it. Every fly used his middle +legs afterward to press and roll up into his basket his little +store. + +"Hast thou forgotten how to walk faster than a snail?" said +Piccolissima to her sister. "These great flies were just now dressed +with a cloak of gold, and now they carry their toilet in a bundle; +look at the third joint of their largest legs, which they join +together and let hang behind them when they fly." + +"Nonsense! I know all about them," said Linette, as she saw them fly +away with their burden; "these are bees who make honey, such as I +have brought you for your breakfast;" and the young girl put into +her sister's hand a double slice of bread and honey. + +Without noticing her breakfast, Piccolissima eagerly tasted of what +remained of the yellow dust of the stamens of the lily. + +"But, Linette," said she, "this does not taste like honey." + +"Very true; it is for the bees to entitle it to that name, and not +for me. All that I know is, that they call them honey bees because +they make honey. They also make wax; and I have often seen them +carry away little balls of the dust of flowers. Whether they make it +afterwards into honey or wax, is their business. You have only to +ask them." + +Piccolissima meant to do this as soon as she had courage. Meanwhile, +she rubbed in her fingers the dust of the lily, yellowed the end of +her nose in smelling of it, her lips in tasting of it, still without +finding in it the consistency of wax, or the taste of honey. + +"How do the flies do it?" said she. "I have tasted at the bottom of +the tube of a honeysuckle, or of a jasmine, something more like +honey than this powder." While speaking, she was going to her bread +and honey, when she perceived some one had got the start of her. A +number of bees were on the edge of it, and were so busily employed +that Piccolissima had an opportunity of examining them closely +without fear of disturbing them. It was a pleasure to see them. From +under their chins protruded, as far as their teeth, a little case +of shell, opening with two little leaves, whence projected a second +little case, polished and shining, half open, from which was thrust +a transparent tongue, covered with hairs. This tongue was stretched +out and plunged into the honey, and was then moved round and round +and soaked in it; soon it was contracted, and now again it became +larger; the insect seemed to enjoy all these various movements. +Through the hairs and the opening pores, Piccolissima saw the liquid +ascend; and between the teeth of the bee, above its admirable trunk, +she saw a pretty large mouth open to receive the honey. + +The little observer was willing to give up all her breakfast to the +little winged gormand for the sake of the satisfaction she received +from seeing how he managed to eat. + +"Do not let all your honey be swallowed by those greedy flies," said +Linette, who was the economist of the family. + +"O, it is only just that they should have part, if they have made +it," said Piccolissima, still watching them. "These are larger than +those other bees who carry away the golden powder. Are they not +satisfied? How their antennae come down! Does it not seem as if they +were tasting thus the perfume of the honey which their wonderful +trunks draw up?" + +"They are just the same flies; they belong to our neighbor Thomas; +one is not larger than another. I have seen them ever since I was +born. I don't see any thing wonderful in them," said Linette. "It is +because you are so little that you are astonished at every thing." + +"O Linette, it is true that every thing I see seems to me every day +more curious. All that I look at seems to grow more wonderful and +beautiful as I look at it; but surely these flies that are eating my +breakfast are larger than those that are opening the boxes of +sweetmeats in the flowers. Ah, look! there is one still bigger than +the others, so funny, so hairy, so cross, and he scolds and hums all +around this sweet pea." + +"That is a drone; we must chase him away; he is good for nothing; he +never makes any honey." And Linette drove away the shaggy drone bee. + +Just at this moment, the greedy flies who were eating the honey, and +their more temperate companions who were gathering the harvest of +the pollen of the flowers, all flew away at once, as if by common +consent. + +"Ah, you have driven them all away!" said Piccolissima; and without +perceiving that the sky had clouded over, she followed the insects +with her eyes. Presently there began to fall some large drops of +rain. + +"It rains, it rains! there is a shower coming," cried Linette. + +"Can it be that these cunning bees have foreseen it?" asked +Piccolissima. + +"What there is no question of is," said Linette, "that my poor frock +will be spoiled. It is going to rain pitchforks. There will be water +enough to drown you before we reach the house, and your mites of +shoes will be lost; but come along. There, do you think the leaf of +that cabbage will do for a shelter for you?" + +"Sorores, sorores!" said a thundering voice; and in a moment Mimi +was between his two sisters, whom he sheltered under a large +umbrella; taking up Piccolissima and hiding her little feet in his +waistcoat pocket, and asking as he went towards the house, what had +kept her out so long. + +"I know what you have seen," said he, with the air of a professor. +"Insects of the order hymenopteres; if you ever learn Greek, +Piccolissima, you will know that that means insects with membranous +wings. Imagine what a fine thing it is to understand Greek. Every +word contains in itself many others. For example, honey bees have a +name still longer than the others; they are called mellificae. What +do you say to that? They also call them anthophilai, which means +lovers of flowers." + +"Your new friends, in particular the domestic bees, were among the +Egyptians the emblem of royalty. Are you not pleased with that, +Piccolissima? The ancient kings of France had them on their arms; +bees were embroidered on their shields, and on their standards; and +it was very proper that they adopted them. Have they not the royal +prerogative--honey and a sting? They amass treasures, and they know +how to keep them. In truth I agree with you, sisterkin; I love bees +and honey; finish your bread and honey or I shall eat it." + +From this day Piccolissima dreamed ever of bees; her most earnest +desire was to go and see a kingdom of apis mellifica, which her +brother Mimi told her was in the possession of their neighbor +Thomas, who kept twenty bee hives. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICCOLISSIMA *** + +***** This file should be named 4049.txt or 4049.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/4/4049/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. 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If children enjoy it as much as I have, and think it as +pretty, they will not regret that I have preferred it to any thing I +could write for them. + +Mademoiselle Montgolfier says in her preface to the little book, +"Notwithstanding the fanciful character of this story, it is, in +fact, simply a little lesson in Natural History," and that "she +would engage for the truth of all that Piccolissima relates of the +manners and customs of the insects with whom she makes +acquaintance." + +It may also interest our young, and, perhaps, our more advanced +readers, to know, that Mademoiselle Montgolfier is the daughter of +the celebrated Montgolfier who invented balloons, and made the first +ascension. I had, when in France, the pleasure of seeing this very +interesting lady, and know her affection for children; and I am sure +that it will please her to know that her tiny naturalist is welcomed +by the American children. I therefore feel a particular pleasure in +introducing the wonderfully small Piccolissima to their +acquaintance, and recommending her to their affectionate regard. + +E. L. F. + +BROOKLINE, October, 1857. + + + + +PICCOLISSIMA. + + +Piccolissima was descended on the father's side from the famous Tom +Thumb, so well known to all children. On the mother's side, her +lineage was no less distinguished. Mignonette Littlepin (this was +the family name of Madam Tom Thumb) was the great granddaughter of +the wonderful Princess, who once lodged in a spectacle case, out of +which she came so splendidly attired that the brilliancy of her +little person illuminated all surrounding objects. A trustworthy +biographer tells us that nothing occurred in the history of Mr. and +Mrs. Tom Thumb to disgrace their illustrious parentage, and they +were considered none the less good citizens because they were rather +smaller than other people. + +In the mean while, however, our humble couple became suddenly +celebrated by the birth of our heroine; this small creature was so +delicate, so exquisite, so pretty, and so lively and full of spirit, +that from the age of two years she became the object of general +admiration. She was not more than one inch in height, and her +mother, who had prepared the cradle and baby linen for a child of +the usual size, was puzzled to know what to do. Finally, the half of +a cocoanut shell, lined, and furnished with soft cushions of thistle +down, made a good bed for the little wonder; and the nursery maid, +wife of a neighboring clockmaker, and a person of ingenuity, +conceived the admirable idea of suspending the cocoanut cradle from +the pendulum of a great clock, in order that the infant might be +rocked all the time. Madam Tom Thumb was enchanted with the +invention. She adhered to the old-fashioned notions, and could not +suppose it possible that her little one could sleep without rocking. +What the good little mother found the most trouble from, in the +extreme smallness and delicacy of the limbs of her new-born doll +baby, was the impossibility of swathing and dressing it. So she was +forced to resign herself to doing as the birds do, and bring up her +little one on a bed of moss and down. She hardly dared to put upon +the little arm, smaller than her own little finger, a little shift +made of the fine white skin of the inside of an eggshell. The boots +of the little one had soles cut out of the inside husks of the corn; +a poppy leaf made her an ample bonnet. The spider's web which the +dew whitens, and the wind winds up in balls, seemed too coarse too +weave her sheets with, and the cup of an acorn was big enough for +Piccolissima. Her parents obtained all her wardrobe, and all the +small furniture for her use from those thousands of skilful +laborers, so adroit, and yet of whom we think so little, who hide +themselves in all the walls, in the leaves of the trees turned up +like horns, under the bark of the trees; in short, that are found in +all the corners and crevices of creation. + +Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb were not people who could be astonished. +Simple themselves, every thing appeared simple to them. Mrs. +Mignonette was at first a little disconcerted at finding that a +drawer of baby linen which she had taken so much pains to make was +of no use, and that one of the stockings which she had knit was big +enough for her child to get into. But, when she was convinced that +the baby could do just as well without stockings, and that the +cushions of thistle down were sufficient to keep it warm, she was no +longer troubled, and she said to her neighbors, who were eager to +see her little wonder, "It is very natural that the little one +should be so very delicate; from the first we called it +Piccolissima; then, neither Mr. Tom Thumb nor I are very large; and +I am told that our ancestors were still more delicately formed; what +then is more natural than that this little one should be such a wee +wee thing?" + +The tranquillity of Mrs. Tom Thumb had this good effect; it appeased +the curiosity of the neighbors. At last, like her, they came to the +conclusion "that it was very natural that the child was smaller than +the mother." and all went on as usual around our heroine, while she +was quietly rocked by the passing hours, and was amused with the +sound of the silver clock bell. When, however, Piccolissima was two +inches high, and lively as a grasshopper, she became restless in her +cocoanut shell; she was desirous to get out of it, to walk, and to +jump, and she not only deranged the clock, but she was in real +danger. + +She was now as much as seven years old, and she amused herself with +all sorts of little pranks, and loving ways, with one of her +brothers eighteen months old. The great boy, in a sort of ecstasy at +some of the drolleries of his little sister, seized her and put her +in his mouth, taking into it nearly the whole head of the poor +little thing. Her cry was so shrill that the baby boy opened his +jaws and let the unfortunate Piccolissima fall on the floor. She did +not recover for a long time from this fall. Another time, a large +cat, a great mouser, ran after her, and it was with difficulty they +rescued Piccolissima from the claws of Raminagrobis. The father, Mr. +Thumb, could not repress some anxiety about the fate of his amiable +daughter, who had more than common intelligence, and who, by her +extreme smallness, was exposed to so many dangers. + +Piccolissima did her best to acquire knowledge. She had the best +intentions in the world; she desired in every thing to please all +who approached her; but her extreme restlessness led her away in +spite of herself. One evening she lost herself in the solitude of a +drawer in which was kept some tobacco; she came near dying from the +effect of it. Once she was near drowning in a superb salad dish of +frothed eggs, which she may have taken for snow mountains. She had a +passion for discovery, she had a prodigious activity of mind and +body, and yet they could find nothing for her to do, "because," they +said, "she is so little, so delicate." She could not play with +children of her own age, she was not allowed to run about, and +without object, without employment, without means of studying, with +no companions, no sympathy, the poor little thing was in danger of +falling into a state of apathy, more to be feared than the accidents +from which they wished to preserve her. + +One day, towards the end of February, Piccolissima had been placed +upon the mantelpiece. Her mother had gone out; her father, who did +not wish to have the trouble of watching over all his little +daughter's movements, seated her upon a pincushion in which there +were no pins, and putting the dictionary as a sort of rampart before +her, he gave her a stick of barley sugar to entertain herself with, +and after the usual admonition, left her to her dreams. Leaving the +sugar to slip down by her side, she remained lost in melancholy +reflections from which she was drawn by a light murmur, such as one +hears sometimes in the silence of the night when persons are +speaking in a low voice in a distant part of the house. Piccolissima +listened with deep attention for some time. Usually she disliked the +sound of conversation; it struck harshly on her organs, and seemed a +sort of mimic thunder; but these sounds had nothing discordant, +nothing disagreeable in them, to her ear. As Piccolissima had been +forced to observe rather than to act, her faculties took a new +direction, and a development of which she was unconscious herself +took place, and her joy and her surprise were great when she found +that, in what had at first appeared to her a confused murmur, she +distinguished, as she listened attentively, intelligible words. + +"It was hardly worth while," said a small, sharp voice, "it was +hardly worth the trouble it cost me to leave my cradle. I have come +into the world where all is dead around me. Ah! if I had only known +that this world was so cold and dull, I should not have made efforts +which almost destroyed me, to break the roof and leave my narrow +house." + +"Patience," replied another voice, a little quieter, but much like +the other; "I have lived longer than thou, who art only a few +seconds old. I have learned that one minute does not resemble +another; that cold is near to heat, that light is near to darkness, +and that sweet follows bitter. It is now two hundred and twenty-one +thousand, seven hundred and sixty-one minutes, and twenty-four +seconds, since I broke my shell. This sun, which you now see so pale +in the dusk, glowed then with more fervor, and sent every where more +rays and sparkles than I can count seconds in my long life. I was +all wet as you are now--poor, helpless thing; but I turned myself to +some of those brilliant rays, and my wings directly became strong, +as you now see them, embossed and painted with seven different, +changing colors, reflections of the rays of the sun. See! there is +one of these rays now; come forth; spread thy moist wing, already +shrunk and chill; thou shalt take thy part in the blessings which +come from on high." + +Piccolissima, all attention and full of curiosity, looked around +her, and saw coming out from the window frame two flies, who +appeared to be talking together. The wings of one of them remained +stuck together on its back, and it made a great effort to extend +them. Delighted at the discovery of companions in her solitude, +companions, too, whose language she could understand, Piccolissima +was eager to make their acquaintance; so she offered them her stick +of candy. One of the flies--it was the elder--having fixed upon the +little prodigy one of the thousand faces of his brown, sparkling +eyes, surrounded with golden eyelashes, he then placed, one by one, +his little black feet upon the stick of sugar candy, stretched forth +his trunk, and began to suck with eagerness. + +Piccolissima had now time enough to contemplate a being whose organs +she thought were like her own in their weakness. She found pleasure +in examining the extraordinary form of its almost cylindrical body, +divided into three parts, and a head wider than it was long, an +irregular globe surmounted by two horns, or antennae, as they are +called. The eyes most excited her curiosity. She attempted to count +their numerous little faces, so regular, so finely cut into +hexagons, more polished, more brilliant than diamonds. When +Piccolissima had counted one hundred, she drew from a very small +box, which was a family treasure, some minikin pins, and stuck one +of them into the cushion on which she was seated, intending thus to +mark every hundred that she counted; but she had not counted thus +half a thousand, before she found that breath and knowledge failed +her; in truth, she did not know enough of arithmetic to count the +eyes of a fly. In the very first group which she undertook to count, +that on the right side of the fly, she had not counted a sixteenth +part. Piccolissima, from her education, resembled the flies a little +too much to boast of her perseverance. So she gave up her project. + +While bending her small head over these eyes, she distinguished, at +the bottom of these crystals, a moving dark spot, and thousands of +little Piccolissimas, one after the other, smiled upon her from +these little mirrors. O, wonderful! these thousands of crystal +groups on each side of the head were not all; a triangle of three +diamonds crowned the forehead of the fly. Piccolissima did not know +the name they give to these small eyes, nor that a writer on the +subject had said, that the diadem of the fly outshines that of +queens, but she could not refrain from saying aloud, "O, my little +friend, pray tell me what you do with so many eyes ?" + +"What do I do with them, indeed! why, I look," answered the fly, a +little vexed at being disturbed in his repast. "Are there not +fingers, nails, pins, pincers, jaws, claws, beaks, which menace me +on every side? Do I not want eyes to see at a distance, and eyes to +see near? And do you not know that my head is better put on than +yours, which cannot turn to all points of the compass?" + +"What! can you look behind you without turning your head?" replied +Piccolissima, with an air which probably appeared to the fly not +very sensible; for, shrugging up his right wing disdainfully, he +returned to his sugar candy. + +After a little reflection, she looked down again, and perceived, to +her great astonishment, upon the stick of candy, which was of an +amber color, a drop of water. She was sure, however, that she had +done the civil thing to the flies, and given it to them first. How, +then, was the candy moist? thought she; but she did not dare again +to ask questions which excited such a rude buzzing in reply. So she +rested her two little elbows on her knees, and her small head upon +one of her hands, and continued to examine the fly. "Is it his +nose?" said she, in a low voice, (for, having very rarely any one to +talk with, she had a habit of talking to herself,) "is it his nose +that he stretches out thus upon my sugar? I have heard papa say that +there are animals, much larger than he, and which they call +elephants, I think, who take up with their noses all the food they +put in their mouths, and that they call this nose a trunk. Perhaps +this is a little person of the family of elephants." + +Piccolissima had hardly uttered these words, when the fly, whose +antennae were longer than usual, and were turned towards the little +prattler, gave such a leap that Mademoiselle Tom Thumb trembled. The +wings of the insect fluttered, and made a little sharp noise, which, +however, had nothing terrible in it, and Piccolissima perceived that +her companion was laughing. It was evident that the fly must laugh +with his wings, because he could not laugh in any other way. It was +with his antennae that he had listened; they evidently served him as +ears; and, when he recovered his gravity, he flew on the little +girl's hand, and began to talk with her; then Piccolissima observed +him more intelligently. + +"It appears to me, little pet," said the fly, "thou must be very +green to compare my delicate trunk, this instrument so nicely made, +with the enormous and coarse cylinder upon which, in hot weather, I +have often travelled. How can any one suppose that I have any +relationship to the deformed and gigantic monster of which you have +just now spoken?" + +Piccolissima thought that the little person was not wanting in +vanity, and, while the fly was taking breath, observed that the +trunk had disappeared, and that there was no possibility of +discovering what the insect had done with it. The look, gloomy, and +a little sullen, of the fly, recalled somewhat the funny mask of a +harlequin, and Piccolissima was on the point of showing how one +laughs with the lips, by laughing in the fly's face, when the latter +forced air slightly through the breathing holes which open under the +wings; the two little double scales, the winglets, which unfold at +birth, began to vibrate; and Piccolissima, who just now remarked +that this was the method that her new acquaintance took to emit +sounds, was eager to listen to what he might say; so she made an +effort to command herself, and became serious. + +"Do you not see, with your dull human intelligence, that my trunk is +a pump, a hollow tube, an instrument for sucking which I stretch out +and draw in at my pleasure?" + +While speaking thus, the fly thrust half way out from the cavity in +the middle of his head, just under his eyes, a trunk with two or +three joints in it; at the end was an opening like two black lips, +folded over, with grooves or little hollows. The fly, thus urged to +show the use of his trunk, or, more probably, forgetting the sequel +of a discourse upon which he had entered in such a pompous style, +flew upon the sugar, and set himself again to sucking it. + +Piccolissima again observed the little drops fall which she had +noticed before. It seems that the fly, being only able to take up +liquids through his trunk, wetted and dissolved the sugar that he +might suck it up. It was a pleasant thing to see his lips swell out, +and press, handle, and knead, as it were, the amber surface of the +sugar in order to make it melt sooner, and enable him to draw it up +faster. After having examined all these proceedings for some time, +with great amusement, the little apprentice naturalist cried out, +"Well, my little guest has a remarkable talent for eating barley +sugar." + +The other fly, timid, wet, and with his wings folded, so that he +seemed naked, remained behind upon the frame of the window. "Come, +poor little wet chicken as thou art," cried the elder fly; "thou +wast complaining just now of having found in life only discomfort +and cold; dost thou not see these rays of the sun? dost thou not +perceive the perfume of this delicious food?" The young, +inexperienced fly was disposed to take Piccolissima, the dictionary, +and the barley sugar for a chain of mountains. However, when the +little girl turned her gentle, child-like face towards him, the +insect felt the pleasant warmth of her breath; it reanimated him, +and gave him courage, and with one bound he flew upon the arm of +Piccolissima. With a sudden familiarity he murmured in a low voice, +"Art thou, perhaps, an elder sister of mine? Thou warmest me. Art +thou placed in the sun to strengthen thy wings? Relate to me, +quickly, thy metamorphosis whilst I dry myself. Let us see, hast +thou been a caterpillar, a worm? How many feet didst thou once have? +I will lay a wager thou didst not have any. For me, I had three rows +of feet, forty-two in all, at least. Come, then, speak, and tell me; +answer my question." + +Usually Piccolissima did not require to be urged to speak; but these +questions were of such an extraordinary nature, so unexpected, that +the little girl remained silent. "Whether I have been a caterpillar +or a worm? A queer question at the commencement of an acquaintance." + +In the mean time the questioner was silent. Occupied with the +comfort of exposing all his little person to the sun, he extended +his wings, which, intersected with nerves, became every moment more +substantial, without losing any of their delicacy. This transparent +network, divided like stained glass windows, by dark lines, +resembled isinglass, sometimes decomposing the sun's rays, and +showing the colors of the rainbow. + +The head of the insect, as it dried, became shiny like satin; the +eyes, of a reddish brown, glowed in a circle of silver. Over a +little jet band, on the top of his head, three little soft eyes +peeped out like those which the young observer had already noticed +in the other fly. The brown trunk of this one seemed more delicate; +his bronze corselet, reflecting like emerald, was garnished with +fine hairs, like the down which the fresh morning spreads over +beautiful fruits. The belly of the insect, which showed itself +between and through the transparent wings, was of a beautiful +shining black set off by six white crescents, symmetrically placed +on the right and left. The legs appeared to Piccolissima brown, and +very delicate. As she examined them, she remembered that the young +boaster had vaunted itself of having forty-two of them; and she was +upon the point of venturing to inquire what had become of the +superfluous ones, when the lively fly, finding itself dry and +strengthened, raised two of its legs and examined them very closely, +and crossing them with great dexterity rubbed the soles of his feet +one against the other. Piccolissima was tempted so to call the two +balls of flesh covered with hair, and armed with two nails which +terminated the foot bones. The fly, having cleaned his brushes or +sponges,--for they were as much like one as the other,--employing +his trunk very skilfully, began to rub them over and under his +wings, and over his little face, his eyes, and his antennae. He +combed, brushed, sponged, and cleaned himself all over. Hardly had +he finished one side before he began upon the other, using those of +his six feet which were the most convenient. At last, he seemed +weary of being watched by Piccolissima; and, shaking himself, he +just grazed the eyelids of the little girl with his wings, and all +of a sudden flew away, and alighted on the window pane, where he +marched backward and forward with his head now up, and now down, +quite indifferent to the laws of gravity. + +Piccolissima followed him with her eyes with less surprise than +curiosity; not being able to contain herself any longer, she +determined to speak to the old fly. + +"How does your companion contrive to walk with his head down in that +way?" + +The old fly, satiated with sugar, turned half round to the right, +and with one spring placed himself opposite the little girl, and +stared at her with such a stupefied look, that Piccolissima, +although her good sense refused to believe it, thought for a moment +that the ten or twelve thousand eyes were all fixed on her, +forgetting, in her confusion at being thus stared at, that though +each eye had thousands of faces to mirror all surrounding objects, +still there was behind them all only one power of seeing, only one +fly. + +"What matters it, in the name of all that is sweet in the world? Of +what consequence is it, when one walks, whether the head is on one +side or the other, up or down? Poor infirm creature that thou art," +said the fly; "dost thou see any difference?" + +Piccolissima, somewhat mortified at having always walked with her +head upward, remained stupened and silent. It seems necessary, +thought she, that every surface, in whatever direction it is placed, +should have the same power to attract and support the feet of the +flies as the ground and the floor to retain mine. + +Ignorant as she was, the little girl had not yet heard of the gummy +liquid which the wise ones had at one time supposed to be placed in +the sponges of the flies, nor of the vacuum, by means of which the +learned of the present day suppose these little cushions can adhere +to the most polished surfaces; and she had not yet seen flies enough +to form any opinion for herself. + +"I see," said the little girl, in a small flute voice, "that you +know much more than I; do not refuse, then, to instruct me. I cannot +explain how it is you speak and breathe. Since you have kept your +trunk in its case, I perceive above it your lips closed, and I do +not see them move." Piccolissima, fearing she might be laughed at, +did not dare to add, that she had supposed that the voice of the fly +came from under his wings. + +"I speak as all well-formed people speak," answered the haughty +insect, "with four voices;" and four puffs of air issued from the +oval breathing holes on both sides of his breast, giving a tremulous +motion to his two little egg-shell wings, his two balance wings, and +the roots of his two other wings. "I breathe through these openings +of my corselet, and I have, in order to enable me to take in the +inspiring air which was created to bear me up, as many mouths as +rings to my corselet." + +He then swelled out with a proud air his brown abdomen, which seemed +formed of rings of shell; and while he was indulging in the +admiration of himself and his powers, the sharp eyes of Piccolissima +discovered that these circles were not, as we should say, soldered +together, but were lying on a flexible membrane, or thin skin, which +held them in their place, and which was folded up or extended at the +will of the insect. On either side, between each ring, there was in +this membrane a little oval hole, smaller than those which, near the +cavities of the corselet, emitted and modulated the buzzing sound +which Piccolissima had just heard; these openings enabled the insect +to breathe. + +"You have many ways of speaking," the little girl said at last, with +a sigh; "but covered as you are all over with brilliant armor, how +can you touch any thing?" + +The fly, who was at this moment digesting his dinner, and who did +not like any interruption in any of his affairs, put forth his trunk +without making any reply, shook a little the small beard that grew +upon it, did the same with his antennae, rounded at the ends like +little cushions, and furnished with feathery hair; then stretched +forth his legs, as if yawning. Piccolissima comprehended that the +two little cushions which ornamented the extreme end of the foot of +the fly, in which she counted five joints, might easily possess the +sense of touch, and that this also rendered them more useful for +motion, and for the toilet; it was like so many intelligent brushes, +all ready to perceive and sweep away the least grain of dust. The +little beards she also thought might have the power of taste, like +the antennae, at the same time that they listened to sounds. + +"This young fly is doubtless your son," said Piccolissima to the +insect which had taken his place on her neck, in order that the +warmth might help digestion, without asking whether or not his nails +might tickle the little girl. + +"What! hast thou not seen directly that we were not relations? but I +see how it is; I pity you, poor imperfect being with only two eyes +and one mouth, and no trunk," answered the fly. "It is natural that +thou hast only a superficial knowledge. This little upstart who +devours the sugar as if he did not mean to leave any of it for any +one else, this little person, who has but a few minutes ago escaped +from his shell, yet hanging to a dead rose leaf long since forgotten +as it lay there on the window, has not, as I have, four beautiful +black streaks on his corselet. The white spots on his back offend +the eye; I prefer the modest color of my brown rings, and the soft +shade of the color of the faded leaf on a portion of my wings does +not contribute less to the majesty of my aspect than the colored +feathers which ornament my antennae. As for me, I am the domestic +fly." + +"I was wrong not to have remarked the differences which strike me +now," said the child; "but what does this young scapegrace mean by +what he says of metamorphoses, and countless legs?" + +"Yes, yes; that is well known; his race lives upon hairy prey; in my +opinion there is nothing to boast of in that. Although thou knowest, +it seems to me, very few things, still I think thou art not +ignorant, of course, that parents place their offspring where it is +best. The mother of this fly of the rose bush laid her egg in the +midst of the flock which was to nourish her little one. This one +came into the world in the shape of a worm." + +"Why dost thou shudder?" grumbled angrily the fly. "This form is as +good as any other; call this worm larva if it suits thy fancy; he +has still to each of his fourteen rings three little feet; but he +has not such elegant members as mine, a haunch, a thigh, a leg, and +an instep with five joints." While speaking, the old fly displayed +pompously one of his legs, which he began immediately to caress with +the edge of his lips, because he saw a grain of dust on one of the +small hairs. + +"But," perseveringly asked Piccolissima, who wished to hear the +history of the fly to the end, "who are these little flocks in the +midst of which your friend has passed his early days?" + +"They are the little red or green grubs which infest the rose bush; +these he pierces and grinds up with his teeth, and sucks them up +with his strange mouth one after another as he moves slowly among +them upon those forty-two roots of feet, of which he is so vain, for +I maintain that they cannot be called legs, or any thing like legs." + +"You, then," said the little girl, "have better formed members." + +The fly, who remembered that he had not at all better limbs, looked +suddenly wearied with the conversation, and shaking his wings, flew +away to the window. + +"Of what color were you formerly?" asked the little girl of her only +remaining companion; "you, who are now of such a pretty shade of +brilliant green and bronze?" + +"Me! I was of a pretty tender green. Weary of living on the ground, +I took the resolution to retire from the world. I shut myself up in +my skin, which soon became hard enough to serve for my retreat. My +house was carried, I know not how, to that spot not far from you; I +know not what artificial heat acted on me. I came to the belief that +the time had come for me to spread my wings, and I uncovered the +roof of my house in order that I might know what had been done +during my absence. They call me the rose fly." + +As he finished saying these words, the fly, quite satisfied, joined +his companion in the window. Piccolissima was grieved that she could +not follow them; she listened attentively to the noise they made in +flying, and could distinguish musical tones. But, fatigued at last +by this long tension of her mind, gradually her ideas became vague +and wandering, her little blond head fell upon her arms, and she +dropped asleep and dreamed. + +She dreamed that her two new friends, the flies, returned, +accompanied by an innumerable troop of winged insects. Each one +carried something, one a blade of grass, another a stalk of a plant, +another a petal, another a pistil. Two large beetles, with immense +horns or talons, dragged along small branches loaded with flowers, +such as Piccolissima had never seen. + +All this troop set themselves to work and constructed the most +charming, the lightest little aerial car that one can possibly +imagine. A great fly, bristling with fine hairs, extended four +strong wings, and raising his voice, invited Piccolissima to mount, +and at the same time politely offered her his paw. + +The little girl accepted the invitation, and found herself +immediately transported into the corolla of a beautiful white lily. +There she found a throne prepared for her. Very skilful little paws +lightly tickled her arms, and then her feet, in order to call her +attention to the labors of invisible waiting maids, who were about +dressing her in a robe of white velvet, cut out of the petals of a +white camellia, confined round the waist by a turquoise clasp, +borrowed from the myosotis. + +A stamen of the lily served her for a sceptre; she took her seat; a +rose leaf hung for a canopy over her head; the bells of the lily of +the valley and the campanula sent forth their joyous chime. The +bladder senna filled the air with the noise of its bursting petards. +The artillery of the prickly furze played on both sides of the +throne as the nations of flies approached to pay their homage to the +queen. + +To the cries of vivat, uttered with enthusiasm, Piccolissima replied +by inclining her sceptre; a golden rain fell from it, and was +eagerly gathered up by the surrounding crowds of humming courtiers, +whose shouts and acclamations filled the air. + +The young sovereign then had to endure a long and grave discourse +from a fat drone bee who did not understand himself. + +Ere long the little queen learned that her empire was in danger. +Dreadful enemies menaced the frontiers. "They are spiders," said the +flies. "They are the larvae of the rose bushes," said the grubs. +"They are the ichneumons," cried a crowd of winged insects. + +Every one accused some other one. Piccolissima did not know what to +understand, but she hastened to arm herself. Two bees, as her body +guard, placed upon her head for helmet a flower of the snapdragon. +Two wasps, redoubtable hussars, brought her for a shield a piece of +the gold bronze wing shell of a beetle. + +At last, she extended her hand to seize her lance, when a clap of +thunder shook the lily, dispersed the court, and the army, and +Piccolissima awoke, and found herself in the hands of her mother, +Mrs. Thomas Thumb, who said, very gently, "Tell me, dear little one, +are you not very weary?" + +"It is strange," said Mr. Tom Thumb, some months after, "that I +always find now my ball of soap in its right place." + +"It is because Piccolissima no longer rolls it into the corners for +a plaything," replied Mrs. Tom Thumb. "The little creature improves +--grows really intelligent." + +"I am glad of it," said, a little while afterwards, one of the elder +sisters of the miniature woman; "I am no longer obliged to hunt from +place to place for my thimble and my scissors they are now always in +my work box." + +"The reason is, Piccolissima does not now make a well of your +thimble, nor a spade of your scissors," answered her brother; "she +has become tiresome; she no longer frisks around me when I return +home; she has no longer any droll fancies which once amused me so +much; she is now a genuine doll; I really believe that this minikin +is putting on airs." + +"Hold your peace, Monsieur," answered the busy chambermaid, in a +scolding tone, while she cleaned the runnels of a chair, upon which +the feet of the young man had left a good portion of the soil of the +garden; "I should like to see the day when you are as well behaved +as Mademoiselle Piccolissima. It was once Mademoiselle Touch-every- +thing. Six months ago, no one dared to leave a drawer in the house +open; now every thing remains quiet in its place; she is neither +more nor less than a reasonable being; she is a waxen image, I tell +you." + +"Did I say any thing else, Madam Scold?" answered the school boy; +"she is a real Liliputian statue, fit for nothing but to watch the +flies fly. Ah! come, Piccola, Piccolissima!" he cried to the little +one, who was behind the shutter of a half-open window, absorbed in +the contemplation of a gnat who was up the window, singing a little +air through his nasal trumpet, "tell us, Piccola, a little of what +the flies say to you." + +Piccolissima, who was always alarmed at a big voice, trembling, +turned round and stared at her brother, who, shouting with laughter, +made a pirouette, jumped over the balcony, which was near the +ground, into the garden. + +The complaints of Piccolissima's brother were not quite without +foundation; she had become more reflecting, more observing; she was +less restless and less communicative; more amused, but less amusing. +She did not dare to repeat to her sisters her conversation with the +flies, lest they should laugh at her, and she became more frequently +occupied with her own thoughts, and more silent. Her silver voice +was heard no longer in every corner of the house; she was no longer +under every one's feet; the fragments of her dress were no longer +caught by the nails in her brothers' shoes, under the legs of her +sisters' chairs, or under the castors of the furniture; and her +mother, who had a habit of saying, "This little wild thing gives me +more trouble than all her brothers and sisters," said now, "Truly, +if she does not help me, she does not hinder me." As for Mr. Tom +Thumb, who loved to complete a remark by a proverb, instead of +exclaiming, "It is not strange that she does not grow,--a rolling +stone gathers no moss," murmured, rubbing his hands, "Whoever lives +will see what I have always said: It is only weeds that grow fast." + +In order to employ the activity of Piccolissima, her father had at +one time given her some pots of flowers; for a long time, nothing +came of them, for she turned over the earth incessantly, and kept +looking at the roots to see if they began to sprout. Now that she no +longer asked ten questions, one after the other, without waiting for +an answer, and that she left her plants to grow, and no longer took +them up to look at their roots, she had in her garden, just under +the window, one foot of potatoes, three feet of hemp, a bean, and a +strawberry plant, in pots. Her brother, in jumping out of the +window, had broken off some ripe strawberries, which the little girl +had cherished for her mother, and Piccolissima went sorrowfully to +examine the havoc, and pick up the fruit. + +She no longer supported herself upon the flexible stalks of the +nasturtiums and the convolvulus, which Mr. Tom Thumb cultivated, and +who more than once had complained at finding them broken. She no +longer seated herself on the branches of the mignonette, and then +let the wind blow her at its will, backwards and forwards, a +dangerous and monotonous amusement, which soon wearied. Now, with +her elbow resting on the edge of the pot of strawberries, under the +shadow of the Persian lilac, she remained in contemplation. + +She observed running about some little creatures that she had never +seen before, and which appeared to her so wild that she dared not +begin a conversation. + +"O, what is that?" she said at last, stooping down and resting her +head on her hand, and forgetting her lost harvest of strawberries; +"here is something very curious. They are smaller than the flies. A +myosotis could accommodate a number of them in its delicate cup; +their heads are wider than they are long, and on each side I +perceive a sort of fine leg, which has a sort of elbow, and which +the insect does not use in walking; the body is in three parts, all +of a shining black; the head has these two threads, which are always +moving, and which are of a lighter color at the ends; the corselet +is smaller, rounder, and more brilliant than that of the flies; and +the belly is covered with black scales. But these little beasts trot +away, scamper away so fast with their nimble legs, that one cannot +see them. What delicate forms they have! they must have worn corsets +when they were young. Ah! there is a sort of knot in this thread +which fastens the corselet to the belly. Wait, little fellow, wait +while I look at you a little nearer!" The small, thin finger of +Piccolissima caught one of the little creatures, but she found some +difficulty in holding him. + +"Ah! at last I have you!" She held between her thumb and finger the +two hind legs of the insect, who stretched himself out stiff and +without motion, just as if he was sitting for his portrait. She then +saw above the arms and hands of the head, (thus she chose to call +the antennae,) two shining eyes, like two black buttons--naturalists +discover three with a microscope. "He has no trunk," said +Piccolissima, as she looked at a formidable mouth. At this moment, +the insect disengaged one of his legs, and twisting himself with +fury, and biting the finger which held him, he showed two jaws, +which worked like a pair of pincers. Piccolissima was not +sufficiently hardened to natural history. She shook her hand +violently, and uttered a cry that brought her brother to her in a +moment. + +"Ha! ha! the great body," cried he, as he saw the trouble, and the +cause of it; "this is not a worthy enemy; it is only one of the +smallest ants. What would you say if you had to contend with the +herculean wood borer? Your ferocious animal is only a modest +fuliginosa, Madam Piccola; it is Formica fuliginosa, Latin words, +which mean soot-colored ant." + +"I should much prefer that they should be called at once by a name +that I could comprehend, 'little blackeys,' instead of these long +words, that it almost takes away your breath to pronounce." + +"This is because you are ignorant, sister; but for that, you would +love the Latin names, because they are so fine sounding, and can +express so many things. For example, formica; can you guess? O, +no, you will never guess," added he, with a knowing tone. "Very +well! formica means crumb carriers, because the little cunning +beasts carry all sorts of knickknacks." + +Piccolissima, who once had only frisked and frolicked around her +brother, and in whose eyes she had been hitherto a sort of amusing +plaything, listened to him now with an air of intelligence and +satisfaction, with which he was secretly flattered. "Besides the +herculean borer," he continued, "there is another ant in the +forests, much larger than your enemy, and who builds mountains. They +call him rusa, which means russet. It is he who produces the formic +acid, a poison which he sheds with his abdomen into the bite which +he makes with his mandibles or jaws, which makes the wound a little +red, and makes it itch and burn a little." He was going on to add +that mandibula signified jaw bone; abdomen, meant belly. He might, +perhaps, while he was in this mood, have declined all these nouns, +but his little sister had ceased to listen; she was following with +her eye a file of her small black ants, and she saw them go and come +very busily upon a small stick which supported her only bean stalk. +Doubtless the wind had blown into Piccolissima's garden one of the +white cottony tufts which enfold the seeds of the poplar, for it was +a young shoot of poplar which served as support to the plant, and as +a garden for the ants. Upon the white cottony stem was an assemblage +of these little animals, green, brown, yellow, and transparent, all +plump, singularly alike, grave, immovable, like a Roman senate. +Certain active little creatures with fine shapes walked among them, +around them, over them, without appearing to hurt them, or +disturbing their gravity. The ants carried their easy manners still +farther; they struck lightly, rapidly, alternately, with their two +antennae, the backs and the sides of these peaceable animals; they +even went so far as to turn them over with their fore paws, and all +the while the other insects did not move, and allowed them to do as +they pleased. + +"Look! look!" cried Piccolissima. + +"Beautiful little wonder," answered her brother, "these are grubs, +that's all; and who does not know nowadays, that these are the cows +of the ants?" + +"Their cows!" repeated the little girl; and she remained absorbed in +her examination. The ants still continued, in a playful and +irregular manner, to strike their little cows, whose trunks +Piccolissima saw were thrust into the bark of the aspen. Sometimes +an ant gave a little kick, and always one was at hand, with his jaws +extended, and his mouth open, ready to receive a drop of sirup, +which the eye of Piccolissima at last discovered falling from the +extremity of the body of the grub. "I see, I see!" she exclaimed; +"it is their way of milking. O the funny little pastoral people!" +Whilst she was in this ecstasy, the ant with the ends of his +antennae took the transparent little drop into his mouth; and then +carefully cleansed with the brushes of his feet the sugared antennse +which had served for fork and spoon, or rather for fingers. + +"I should like to talk with him," said Piccolissima, as she saw the +ant making his toilet, "but these are a very silent, a very reserved +people; perhaps they are dumb." + +The ant, who had just swallowed the drop of sirup, now quietly +descended the aspen walk; his belly was well stuffed and shining, +and he stopped now and then to rest, and wash his face. He met, as +he went down, an ant who was ascending the path. The new comer ran +up to him as to an intimate friend, as soon as he saw him, and +eagerly struck him with his antennae. The motion was very rapid; the +ant returned it by shaking his antennae, but more gently, and by +opening his mandibles. "Are they going to dispute, and to bite each +other?" thought Piccolissima. Not at all. The ant who had received +the sirup upon the end of his tongue, now offered a little drop of +it to the one who was hungry, who received it upon his tongue, while +he continued to caress with his antennae, and even with his little +paws, the friend who offered it. The joy of Piccolissima was so +great at the sight of this mutual kindness, that she made one of her +old leaps, and shook the frail stalk. Immediately there was a +violent commotion among the ants, who in great crowds blackened the +end of the twig. They ran hither and thither in the greatest terror, +striking their antennae one against the other. Many of them caressed +the grubs more eagerly, in a violent and impetuous manner, as if to +urge them to some exertion. Some of the grubs submitted to be taken +gently into the jaws of the ants; others, with their trunks in the +wood, looked as if they were too lazy to consent to move. + +They were however, at last, (whether they would or not,) all carried +rapidly away. Each ant, loaded with her cow, ran down the tree, and, +following a little narrow path in the ground, reached a small, deep +hole, into which the ants, one after the other, all disappeared. + +"O Mimi! O Linette! O Fifine!" cried Piccolissima, running from her +brother to her sisters, "they have carried away all their cows. Each +ant has his cow between his teeth; one holds her by the belly, the +others by the wings; come see! come see!" + +"Cows with wings!" cried the astonished little girls. Mimi, who knew +all this, startled his little sister by saying, "The pet is right; +she has good eyes; there are many grubs with wings; come, come, my +small sister, it appears to me that you are discovering many things +already known. My ladies, the ants, ought to choose you for their +queen." + +The same day, Madam Tom Thumb, who began to feel some confidence in +the reason of Piccolissima, carried her into the garden, to the +great joy of the little creature. It was a delicious place; there +were in it long covered alleys, and even a small wood, where one +might enjoy a sweet freshness in the heat of the day. Around a great +hall, covered with foliage, were seats of soft green moss. It was +there that Madam Tom Thumb used to embroider with her elder +daughters; and there she placed Piccolissima, allowing her to run at +large, only recommending to her prudence and discretion. + +The child, who was formerly idle and weary of every thing, was in a +fair way to become a happy young girl, thanks to the attention she +began to give to every thing she saw, and to the interest which the +wonders around her excited in her mind. She was enchanted with the +thousand plants which embellished and covered the earth, and formed +in the smallest flower an object of admiration which filled her +soul. Very soon she met one of those beings who excited in her a +lively curiosity,--an ant much larger than the little black ones of +the shepherd race. The fine antennae, the three eyes, the top of the +head, the legs, the belly of this one were blackish, but less +glistening, and it was by the superiority of his shape, above middle +size, and above all, by the reddish color of a part of his body, +that Piccolissima recognized the russet ant of which her brother had +spoken. The insect carried very laboriously a stick ten or twelve +times as long as himself; a hillock of earth, which he met on his +road, stopped him for some time, and Piccolissima, who was eager to +help him through his difficulties, and who was tormented with a +desire to enter into conversation with him, took it into her head to +assist the insect, and hoped thus to render herself agreeable to +him. She seized one end of the little rafter he was carrying, and in +a tone which she tried to make as soft as possible, she said, "Will +you allow me, little one, to help you?" + +The ant, clinging to the earth with his hind legs, stood up +straight, and threw out his antennae with a terrible expression. +Piccolissima was so full of kind feeling that she never thought of +exciting any anger; she thought that it was only a little struggle +of his politeness; therefore she insisted, taking firmly hold of the +bit of wood, and repeated, "I assure you it is a pleasure to me, and +it will not fatigue me." Forced to loosen his burden, the ant opened +his jaws full of formidable teeth, and advanced upon Piccolissima, +walking on his hind legs; the two others stretched out in front, as +well as his antennae, in sign of defiance; his body all bent, +exhaling an odor of vinegar so pungent that Piccolissima, letting go +the little stick, ran away as fast as she could, sneezing violently, +and shutting her eyes. When she opened them and returned, thinking +the ant was at her heels, she found her terrible adversary had again +seized his big stick by one end, and had slid it over the lump of +earth by means of a stone, which served him as a point of support. +She saw him sometimes push it before him, and sometimes drag it +after him, walking backwards till he reached the flat ground, when +he pursued his way very fast. + +Piccolissima, who did not forget that her mother had recommended +discretion to her, followed at a distance. As she went on carefully, +she saw long trains of ants resembling her enemy; each one of them +was charged with a burden more or less heavy. All of them took their +way towards a mountain shaped like a cone, full of little openings +which, from a distance, appeared to be semicircular vaults; Roman +architecture Piccolissima would have thought if the multiplicity of +details of little architectural ornaments, all of wood work, had not +given her the idea of an old Gothic fortress. The rapid and violent +motions of the wild mountaineers did not frighten her; she walked up +slowly, hardly touching her feet to the earth, holding her breath, +observing every thing, and she was soon convinced that this little, +busy people took no notice of her. She came nearer and nearer to the +place where two great roads, covered with ants, terminated. She +heard a confused noise, like the hum of a great city, or as the +sound of the rain among the leaves. + +"I thought they spoke only by signs which they make with the arms +that come out of their heads," said Piccolissima, still going +nearer; "why, then, this noise?" + +The little girl was soon convinced that this noise was produced by +the numerous and busy footsteps of a solemn, austere, and +preoccupied crowd of ants. Not a word was said, but every one ran +rather than walked, and they seemed like a thousand individuals, all +actuated by one purpose. Supported on the lower branch of a chestnut +tree, Piccolissima placed herself a little higher, but very near the +citadel, which was one living mountain. + +How can we relate what she saw then? It would take volumes. There +would be as many histories as individuals. Her attention was +attracted by the perseverance of one ant who carried a burden; by +another who was striving to get over some obstacle. She saw them +feed those who arrived laden and out of breath; she saw those who +repaired the doors, who opened and shut the windows, which were not +glazed like ours; others she saw as sentinels, standing on their +hind legs, charged to watch over the general safety. The busiest +carried in their mandibles, caressed with their legs and their +antennae, licked with their delicate tongues, exposed to the sun, or +carried quickly into the shade certain white balls which +Piccolissima took at first for grains of wheat, because they had the +form and size; but she was satisfied at last that these were the +children of the ants in swaddling clothes. Piccolissima was so +anxious to comprehend the mysterious talk, and the pantomime of all +this innumerable crowd, that she became yet more attentive. The +nurses caressed with their antennae in a peculiar way those eggs +which were beginning to show life, and the little observer saw the +slight movement of the incomplete being who, as soon as he was +bidden, raised his head, which was almost imperceptible even to +microscopic eyes, to receive the offered mouthful. + +Whilst Piccolissima observed all this nursery work, an ant came and +placed beneath her, in order to fill up a small hole, a sort of +bundle of little sticks, which rolled away as soon as she left it. +The ant took hold of it again, carried it to its place, and arranged +it so as to make it firm; then, satisfied with her work, she went +after something else to do. Shortly after this, a head, then some +legs, then half of the body of a caterpillar came out of the living +little fagot which the ant had mended her house with. It was a dead +leaf in which an egg had been laid and nicely rolled up by the +parent, and which my lady ant had taken for a beam, or something of +the sort, and the vexed hermit scampered away, carrying his house +with him, not caring at all for the hole which he and his house had +been intending to mend. + +Much amused at this, Piccolissima tried to find out what a great +number of ants, all with burdens, were carrying. She was, with +painful astonishment, soon convinced that these were the carcasses +of all sorts of insects. "It is a nation of hunters," she said, +"more savage than those which feed their flocks on my aspen." + +At this moment, a great ant attracted the attention of the child +towards the lower part of the mountain. An enormous grub of the +cockchafer race, a great white worm, rolled himself over, trying to +liberate himself and to crush the ants, whose number increased on +every side, and who tore off his transparent, soft skin, and pulled +him in every direction. They climbed backward up the side of their +citadel, and in spite of his desperate struggles, carried the poor +insect, writhing with torture, to one of their little air holes. +Piccolissima saw upon his wounds some drops of the sharp poison +thrown by these terrible hunters, and the crowds of ants soon hid +the sufferer from her eyes, which she gladly turned away from such a +sight. + +With her heart oppressed with fear and pity, the little girl +collected her strength that she might glide down from her branch and +run away, when a sudden alarm attracted a whole squadron of the +insects to the place where she was about to put her foot. She +immediately regained her place, and tried to understand what +important and terrible news was being communicated from antennae to +antennae, drawing together such a number of insects, with their +frightful jaws all opened. The penetrating odor reached the +frightened little girl; presently she perceived a very large ant, +nearly six lines in length, very black, very shining, doubtless a +Hercules who was defending himself against a whole army. His enemies +fastened themselves on to each of his legs, but he still fought; a +brown ant jumped upon his back and tried to break his brilliant +cuirass; another, with his body bent double, covered him with +poison. The Hercules still fought. At last, three of the fiercest of +the ants worked with their sharp teeth upon the middle of his body, +and at last cut him in two. The terrible head of the Hercules still +held in his jaws two of his deadly enemies. Piccolissima screamed, +and putting her hand before her eyes, she perhaps would have fallen +into the midst of this nation of savages, if her mother, who was +anxious about her, had not taken her in her arms and carried her +away. + +From this time, Piccolissima became one of the happiest little +creatures in the world. Her brother, instead of considering her only +as a toy to play with, began to respect her. She had no more +conversations with the flies, to be sure. Her mind grew, and she +learned that, small as she was, she was superior to the best +informed fly. She studied the habits and doings of the ants, and +learned a great deal about their different tribes and nations. +Sometimes her brother would take his sister's toilet cushion and put +it on the table before him, and seating Piccolissima upon it, say to +her, "Now, Piccola, dear, listen with both of your little ears to my +big words, and I will read some wonderful stories to you." Once he +read Gulliver's Travels to her. "O!" she exclaimed, as he read of +the Lilliputians, "O, good! good! I am a Lilliputian, and you are +all great, big Brobdignagians. Why did you not tell me this before?" +So she began to dance and skip about, like a jack-o'-lantern. Her +brother, who was delighted at her gambols, whistled a tune for her +to dance by. Presently Piccolissima began to sing, with her small, +fine voice, this song, which she made as she danced:-- + + Merrily, merrily, dance away! + Merrily laugh, and merrily play! + Though I am a tiny thing, + I can dance, and I can sing; + I can hear, and I can see; + I don't care who laughs at me; + I can learn all things to know; + So sing merrily, merrily, O! + +The morning was lovely; the blue shadows, extending over the fields, +made the leaves of the chestnut trees, wet with the morning dew, +still more brilliant. Agitated by a light breeze, they glistened in +the rays of the rising sun. Every blade of grass lifted its dewy +head as soon as a ray fell upon it, and each in its turn was crowned +with its halo of diamonds. + +The flowers, in sweet accord, sent up their perfume towards heaven. +Already the lark had saluted the day with his brilliant song, +eternal hymn, ever repeated, never omitted. Every little bird sent +up his clear note and his joyous song from his nest; the insects +were beginning to hum. The sound of the voice of man, slow to join +in the morning prayer of the whole creation, was not yet heard when +Piccolissima, already awake, entered the garden. + +She had obtained permission to do so the evening before. Her +mother's confidence had increased with the growing prudence and good +sense of the little girl; qualities which a habit of observation has +the effect of strengthening rapidly. + +The child was desirous to witness the morning labors of the ants, +and to see how, when the dew had prepared their mortar, they built +their long galleries. They commenced their work at the top, and +Piccolissima would have liked to see them again raise and make their +walls. She was, however, disappointed in her purpose, either that +the earth dried too quick, as the sun was now high above the +horizon; or the tiny republicans, with six feet, were employed in +their interior halls, in bringing out the young ants, and were busy +tearing off the veils of silk which confined the larvae, and in +developing the wings of the males and females; or, whatever might be +the cause, the ant hills were deserted. + +The lazy amazons did not appear. Now and then a single miner might +be seen wandering alone at the entrance of their subterranean +dwelling. + +Seated upon a piece of turf near the parterre, the little girl +followed with her eye, all along the stem of a plant, two or three +brown ants who led their flock of grubs to pasture, when a murmuring +sound near her, which seemed to spread all over the beds of +mignonette, attracted her attention to some large flies, of a dull +color, who whirled about among the flowers, darting from one to the +other, and seemed very busy. + +"Can these be any of my old acquaintances?" said she; but she could +not be satisfied with this idea; the new comers, much larger, had +also a very different physiognomy from that of her old friends. They +had oval eyes, with a network over them; a protruding jaw; antennae +of twelve olive scales, terminated by a button. Their brown +corselets covered with a tawny fur; their brilliant cuirasses, and +their legs of unequal length,--all these things attracted the +attention of the young observer. + +She saw these flies rolling themselves over in the bosom of the +flowers, with a joyous activity which amused her very much, and the +reason of which she desired to understand. + +There was, however, in their appearance and manners, something +repulsive which prevented familiarity. Each one of them caused to +vibrate four gauze wings, two large and two small ones. In their +rapid and measured motions, these wings produced sound, and the air, +issuing from little breathing places situated, as in the common fly, +on each side of the corselet, produced a sort of a song. + +As if attracted by the song, these insects flew in swarms to the +flower-bed. Very soon it was evident that they were heavier when +they went away than when they came. Two large, round, red and +yellow, or rather golden balls loaded their brilliant brown thighs. +Some of them plunged into the bosom of a lily. Raising herself on +tiptoe, Piccolissima kept them in view. She saw their slanting +teeth, which formed the point of their triangular head, open and +close like two strong pincers, and shake the tops of the stamens. +She had never noticed before, but now she perceived, at the end of +the six threads in the centre of the flower, a sort of little green +box; this was the anther. These flies pressed it and pulled it, till +it opened and scattered a quantity of little yellow pellets, which +covered the insects so thoroughly, that they and the flowers seemed +to have changed garments, so completely were they clothed with it. + +Piccolissima could contain herself no longer. She cried out to her +sister, whom she saw coming towards her: + +"O, come, come quickly! See the flies putting on their ball dresses, +and making their toilet in the cup of a flower." + +Linette, still at a distance, did not hasten her steps, +notwithstanding the exclamations of her sister; and before she came, +Piccolissima was convinced that the flies did not think much of +their brilliant toilet. She saw them push off all their finery by +means of the brushes with which their legs were furnished. These +excellent little square brushes were placed on their hind legs +mostly; they had brown horn backs, and short, stiff hairs, ranged +regularly. These brushes did their work so well, that in less than a +moment every fly had resumed his modest livery. + +But what had become of the rich yellow powder? The insect had taken +care to brush himself so rapidly that Piccolissima could but just +see the dust he had collected pass from one part of his body to +another, till the whole came to the third pair of his legs, and was +collected together in a little oval cavity, surrounded by a thick +circle of skin which closed in upon it. Every fly used his middle +legs afterward to press and roll up into his basket his little +store. + +"Hast thou forgotten how to walk faster than a snail?" said +Piccolissima to her sister. "These great flies were just now dressed +with a cloak of gold, and now they carry their toilet in a bundle; +look at the third joint of their largest legs, which they join +together and let hang behind them when they fly." + +"Nonsense! I know all about them," said Linette, as she saw them fly +away with their burden; "these are bees who make honey, such as I +have brought you for your breakfast;" and the young girl put into +her sister's hand a double slice of bread and honey. + +Without noticing her breakfast, Piccolissima eagerly tasted of what +remained of the yellow dust of the stamens of the lily. + +"But, Linette," said she, "this does not taste like honey." + +"Very true; it is for the bees to entitle it to that name, and not +for me. All that I know is, that they call them honey bees because +they make honey. They also make wax; and I have often seen them +carry away little balls of the dust of flowers. Whether they make it +afterwards into honey or wax, is their business. You have only to +ask them." + +Piccolissima meant to do this as soon as she had courage. Meanwhile, +she rubbed in her fingers the dust of the lily, yellowed the end of +her nose in smelling of it, her lips in tasting of it, still without +finding in it the consistency of wax, or the taste of honey. + +"How do the flies do it?" said she. "I have tasted at the bottom of +the tube of a honeysuckle, or of a jasmine, something more like +honey than this powder." While speaking, she was going to her bread +and honey, when she perceived some one had got the start of her. A +number of bees were on the edge of it, and were so busily employed +that Piccolissima had an opportunity of examining them closely +without fear of disturbing them. It was a pleasure to see them. From +under their chins protruded, as far as their teeth, a little case +of shell, opening with two little leaves, whence projected a second +little case, polished and shining, half open, from which was thrust +a transparent tongue, covered with hairs. This tongue was stretched +out and plunged into the honey, and was then moved round and round +and soaked in it; soon it was contracted, and now again it became +larger; the insect seemed to enjoy all these various movements. +Through the hairs and the opening pores, Piccolissima saw the liquid +ascend; and between the teeth of the bee, above its admirable trunk, +she saw a pretty large mouth open to receive the honey. + +The little observer was willing to give up all her breakfast to the +little winged gormand for the sake of the satisfaction she received +from seeing how he managed to eat. + +"Do not let all your honey be swallowed by those greedy flies," said +Linette, who was the economist of the family. + +"O, it is only just that they should have part, if they have made +it," said Piccolissima, still watching them. "These are larger than +those other bees who carry away the golden powder. Are they not +satisfied? How their antennae come down! Does it not seem as if they +were tasting thus the perfume of the honey which their wonderful +trunks draw up?" + +"They are just the same flies; they belong to our neighbor Thomas; +one is not larger than another. I have seen them ever since I was +born. I don't see any thing wonderful in them," said Linette. "It is +because you are so little that you are astonished at every thing." + +"O Linette, it is true that every thing I see seems to me every day +more curious. All that I look at seems to grow more wonderful and +beautiful as I look at it; but surely these flies that are eating my +breakfast are larger than those that are opening the boxes of +sweetmeats in the flowers. Ah, look! there is one still bigger than +the others, so funny, so hairy, so cross, and he scolds and hums all +around this sweet pea." + +"That is a drone; we must chase him away; he is good for nothing; he +never makes any honey." And Linette drove away the shaggy drone bee. + +Just at this moment, the greedy flies who were eating the honey, and +their more temperate companions who were gathering the harvest of +the pollen of the flowers, all flew away at once, as if by common +consent. + +"Ah, you have driven them all away!" said Piccolissima; and without +perceiving that the sky had clouded over, she followed the insects +with her eyes. Presently there began to fall some large drops of +rain. + +"It rains, it rains! there is a shower coming," cried Linette. + +"Can it be that these cunning bees have foreseen it?" asked +Piccolissima. + +"What there is no question of is," said Linette, "that my poor frock +will be spoiled. It is going to rain pitchforks. There will be water +enough to drown you before we reach the house, and your mites of +shoes will be lost; but come along. There, do you think the leaf of +that cabbage will do for a shelter for you?" + +"Sorores, sorores!" said a thundering voice; and in a moment Mimi +was between his two sisters, whom he sheltered under a large +umbrella; taking up Piccolissima and hiding her little feet in his +waistcoat pocket, and asking as he went towards the house, what had +kept her out so long. + +"I know what you have seen," said he, with the air of a professor. +"Insects of the order hymenopteres; if you ever learn Greek, +Piccolissima, you will know that that means insects with membranous +wings. Imagine what a fine thing it is to understand Greek. Every +word contains in itself many others. For example, honey bees have a +name still longer than the others; they are called mellificae. What +do you say to that? They also call them anthophilai, which means +lovers of flowers." + +"Your new friends, in particular the domestic bees, were among the +Egyptians the emblem of royalty. Are you not pleased with that, +Piccolissima? The ancient kings of France had them on their arms; +bees were embroidered on their shields, and on their standards; and +it was very proper that they adopted them. Have they not the royal +prerogative--honey and a sting? They amass treasures, and they know +how to keep them. In truth I agree with you, sisterkin; I love bees +and honey; finish your bread and honey or I shall eat it." + +From this day Piccolissima dreamed ever of bees; her most earnest +desire was to go and see a kingdom of apis mellifica, which her +brother Mimi told her was in the possession of their neighbor +Thomas, who kept twenty bee hives. + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Piccolissima, by Eliza Lee Follen + diff --git a/old/pccls10.zip b/old/pccls10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9455a73 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pccls10.zip |