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diff --git a/old/tlffl10.txt b/old/tlffl10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf8d4fd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tlffl10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2236 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Freddie Firefly, by Arthur Scott Bailey +#2 in our series by Arthur Scott Bailey + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Tale of Freddie Firefly + +Author: Arthur Scott Bailey + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5727] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 18, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +TUCK-ME-IN TALES +(Trademark Registered) + +THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY + +BY + +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY +Author of +"SLEEPY-TIME TALES" +(Trademark Registered). + +ILLUSTRATED BY +HARRY L. SMITH + +NEW YORK + +1918 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +I. A MERRY DANCER +II. A FINE PLAN +III. FREDDIE AGREES TO HELP +IV. GETTING READY +V. AT THE STONE WALL +VI. THE BANNERS +VII. THE TORCHLIGHT PARADE +VIII. BUSTER'S SCHEME +IX. FREDDIE'S PROMISE +X. DRAWING LOTS +XI. PEPPERY POLLY +XII. A TERRIBLE SONG +XIII. CAUGHT BY A THISTLE +XIV. JENNIE JUNEBUG +XV. THE FAT LADY'S SECRET +XVI. FREDDIE'S ESCAPE +XVII. BAD BENJAMIN BAT +XVIII. PLEASING FARMER GREEN +XIX. BENJAMIN FEELS GUILTY +XX. MRS. LADYBUG'S ADVICE +XXI. ALL ABOUT TRAINS +XXII. WORK ON THE RAILROAD +XXIII. WHY FREDDIE WAS GLAD + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +YOU'RE TERRIBLY CARELESS WITH THAT +LIGHT OF YOURS . . . Frontispiece + +FREDDIE SAT ON TOP OF THE BANNER + +FREDDIE PLAYS A JOKE ON PEPPERY POLLY BUMBLEBEE + +FREDDIE WAS BUMPED INTO BY JENNIE JUNEBUG + + +THE TALE OF +FREDDIE FIREFLY + + + + +I + +A MERRY DANCER + + +Nobody in Pleasant Valley ever paid any attention to Freddie Firefly in +the daytime. But on warm, and especially on dark summer nights he always +appeared at his best. Then he went gaily flitting through the meadows. +And sometimes he even danced right in Farmer Green's dooryard, together +with a hundred or two of his nearest relations. + +No one could help noticing those sprightly revelers, flashing their +greenish-white lights through the gloom. And many of the field people, +as well as the folk that lived in the farmhouse, thought that the +dancers made a pretty sight. + +But there were others who said that the Firefly family might better be +spending their time in some more serious way. + +Benjamin Bat, who lived in Cedar Swamp, was one of those who found fault +with the merry dancers. He grumbled a good deal about them--and +especially about Freddie Firefly. + +"He's so proud of that light he carries!" Benjamin often exclaimed, +"Now, if he could hang by his feet from the limb of a tree--and SLEEP at +the same time--he'd have something to boast of!" + +No doubt Benjamin Bat was jealous. Anyhow, Solomon Owl declared that +there was still another reason why Benjamin did not like Freddie +Firefly. Solomon claimed that Benjamin would have liked to EAT Freddie. +But he didn't quite dare to grab him for fear of getting burned by +Freddie's light. + +If that was so, then it was no wonder that Freddie kept flashing his +light in the dark. And it was lucky that he had a light, because--like +Benjamin Bat himself--he was a night-prowler. + +Unlike Farmer Green, Freddie believed that the night air was very +healthful. And together with all his family, he thought that a damp +place was much to be preferred to a dry one. + +He often remarked that the pollen upon which he frequently dined tasted +best when the dew was upon it. And he never could understand why Buster +Bumblebee's sisters, the ill-tempered workers, always gathered nectar +for their honey-making in the daytime. + +"Everyone to his own taste!" Freddie sometimes said. "And I suppose that +those who sleep from sunset to dawn don't know what they're missing." + +Johnnie Green, who went to bed almost as early as the Bumblebee family, +couldn't help envying Freddie Firefly and all his sprightly company. +Johnnie thought it must be great fun to frolic the whole night long--if +only Solomon Owl wouldn't scare a person half out of his wits with that +unearthly hooting of which Solomon was so fond. + +But you may be sure that Freddie Firefly never bothered HIS head over +Solomon Owl. Perhaps he knew that Solomon was too busy hunting for mice +to take notice of anybody so small as he was, even if he did carry a +bright light everywhere he went. + + + + +II + +A FINE PLAN + + +Chirpy Cricket was one of Freddie Firefly's neighbors. He was a good +neighbor for anybody to have, too, because he was one of the most +cheerful of all the field and forest-folk that lived in Pleasant Valley. +Freddie Firefly liked him. And he often remarked that he would rather +hear Chirpy Cricket sing than sing himself. + +Since he was so fond of hearing Chirpy's songs, it was lucky for Freddie +that his sprightly neighbor usually chose to sing at night, when Freddie +could better enjoy his shrill ditty. And Freddie frequently went out of +his way on a fine, dark, summer's night to find Chirpy Cricket and thank +him for his kindness. + +At such times Chirpy Cricket always smiled mysteriously, saying "I'm +glad my voice pleases you." But it must be confessed that he was not +singing for Freddie Firefly's benefit at all. He was singing for his own +entertainment--and maybe to please some lady of his acquaintance as +well. And he chose night time for his chirping because he didn't dare +sing during the day. He knew that after sunset almost all the birds were +asleep--except for Solomon Owl and Willie Whip-poor-will and a few other +feathered folk who preferred the dark to the daylight. They were not so +numerous that they worried Chirpy very much. But between dawn and sunset +there were altogether too many birds awake to please him. Then Chirpy +Cricket kept quite silent. He didn't wish to draw attention to himself +by singing, because he didn't care to be gobbled up by any bird, no +matter how handsome or hungry the bird might be. + +Perhaps it is a wonder that Chirpy could be so cheerful as he was, +living under such difficulties as he did. But on the other hand, maybe +he felt so carefree at night that he couldn't help being jolly. + +Anyhow, he was always ready for a good time. And if there was no good +time at hand, usually Chirpy Cricket could think of some sort of frolic. + +And so, at last, he hit upon the idea of a torchlight procession. +Somebody had told him that Farmer Green's family had seen such a parade +in the village one evening. And Chirpy Cricket saw no reason why he and +his friends should not enjoy one too, right there in the shadow of Blue +Mountain. + +"What they can do in the village, we can do here!" he exclaimed. And +though it was still broad daylight--being not later than the middle of +the afternoon--Chirpy set out at once to find Freddie Firefly, because +he simply had to get Freddie to help him. + +He found Freddie in the swampy part of the meadow, near the place where +the cat-tails grew. And though Freddie was a bit sleepy, he became wide +awake the moment he heard Chirpy Cricket's voice. + +"I've thought of a fine plan!" Chirpy Cricket cried. "I'm going to have +a torchlight procession and I want you and all your family to take part +in it." + + + + +III + +FREDDIE AGREES TO HELP + + +Never in all his life had Freddie Firefly heard of a torchlight +procession--nor of any other sort of procession, either. So when Chirpy +Cricket first mentioned his plan it was no wonder that Freddie looked +somewhat blank. + +But when Chirpy explained that a procession was a parade, which meant +that you followed a leader--and a good many others--in a long line, +Freddie Firefly began to understand. + +"I need you and a few hundred of your nearest relations to furnish the +lights," Chirpy Cricket continued. "And I wish you'd ask your whole +family to take part in the procession, for we really can't have too many +of you." + +"When will the procession take place?" Freddie Firefly wanted to know. + +"To-night, as soon as it's dark enough!" Chirpy told him. + +"And where are we going to march?" + +"Oh, all around the meadow!" said Chirpy Cricket. "The line will form +along the stone wall by the roadside. ... Do you think you'll be there?" +he inquired somewhat anxiously. + +"You certainly can count on me," Freddie Firefly promised. "Of course, I +can't very well accept your invitation for more than about fifty-five of +my brothers--and maybe six dozen of my cousins. But I HOPE there'll be +more of us than that." + +"Well, I hope so, too," Chirpy Cricket said. "But even if there were no +more than you can promise, we ought to have enough. Fifty-five and six +dozen make one hundred and twenty-seven; and you make one hundred and +twenty-eight." + +"Yes," replied Freddie Firefly, though he thought it would have been +more polite had Chirpy Cricket counted him first instead of last, since +he was the first of his family to be invited. But he really couldn't be +angry with anyone so cheerful as Chirpy Cricket. + +"I'll have to leave you now," Chirpy announced, "for I must be on my +way. I shall have to make a great many calls before sunset, because I +want to invite all my friends to join the procession. ... I'll see you +later," he said, as he turned away. + +He had not gone far before he stopped and called to Freddie Firefly. + +"Don't forget to bring your light with you to-night!" he cautioned him. + +"I'll try not to!" Freddie shouted. But if the truth was known, he +couldn't have forgotten his light, even if he had wanted to! It was just +as much a part of him as his eyes or his six legs. But Chirpy Cricket +didn't seem to know that. And Freddie Firefly didn't choose to enlighten +him. + +Then Chirpy Cricket hurried away. He went straight to the clover field, +because he wanted to ask Buster Bumblebee to take part in the torchlight +procession. And Chirpy knew that the clover field was the best place to +look for him, on account of Buster's being so fond of clover juice. + +Reaching the field where the red clover grew, Chirpy began to hunt for +the biggest blossom of them all. And when he found it, there was Buster +Bumblebee, sitting on top of it and enjoying a hearty meal. + +He listened, between sucks at the sweet juice, to Chirpy Cricket's +invitation. He seemed interested, too. + +"What music are you going to have at your parade?" he inquired, for +Buster was very fond of music. + +Chirpy Cricket replied that he hadn't thought much about that, but he +said he expected to sing. + +Buster Bumblebee grunted when he heard that. To tell the truth, he +didn't care much for Chirpy's voice, which he considered altogether too +shrill. + +"Are you going to take part in the procession?" Chirpy asked him. + +"I'll let you know to-morrow," said Buster Bumblebee. "Ah, but that will +be too late!" Chirpy cried. "We're going to have the procession to- +night." + +"To-night!" Buster exclaimed. "Then I can't come. For I shall be sound +asleep right after sunset." + + + + +IV + +GETTING READY + + +Buster Bumblemee's mind was made up. Although Chirpy Cricket told him it +would be a shame for him to miss the torchlight procession, which was +sure to be a great success, because Freddie Firefly had promised to be +there with one hundred and twenty-seven of his relations, Buster still +shook his head. + +"I wouldn't think of such a thing as staying out after dark!" he +declared with much firmness. + +"But you ought to see the Firefly family when they're all lighted up!" +Chirpy Cricket cried. + +"Are they as bright as the sun?" Buster asked. + +"N-no--but they're brighter than some of the stars," Chirpy replied. + +"Well, I don't care if they are," said Buster. "I need my rest at night. +And you'll have to get along without me, though of course, I'm much +obliged for the invitation." + +Seeing that further urging was useless, Chirpy Cricket left Buster and +hurried away to find Jennie Junebug. And to his delight, she said at +once that she would be much pleased to attend the torchlight procession. +She did wish, however, that he had invited her earlier, because she +would have liked a new gown for the occasion. + +"Oh, come just as you are!" said Chirpy Cricket. + +"What! With my apron on?" Jennie Junebug exclaimed. + +Chirpy Cricket went off laughing. Buster Bumblebee had caused him some +disappointment. But now he was feeling quite cheerful again. + +As he went from place to place inviting his friends to come to the +torchlight procession that night, he found that a good many felt as +Buster Bumblebee did. They declined to break their life-long rule of +going early to bed. But there were others, such as Mr. Moses Mosquito, +Kiddie Katydid, and Mehitable Moth, who said at once that they were glad +he asked them and that they wouldn't miss the fun for anything. + +Meanwhile Freddie Firefly was just as busy as Chirpy Cricket. And he had +somewhat better luck. For not only did fifty-five of his brothers and +six dozen of his cousins promise to take part in the procession--and +bring their lights, too--but at least three hundred others, including +some of Freddie's second and third cousins, agreed gladly to join in the +evening's sport. + +So before dark Freddie sent a message to Chirpy Cricket by Greenie +Grasshopper, telling him that he might count on a big turnout of the +Firefly family. + +That was good news. And Chirpy Cricket felt so happy that he began to +sing earlier in the evening than was his custom. + +While it was still dusk he went to the stone wall where the procession +was to form. And of course he had to wait there a long time before the +first of the Firefly family appeared. + +Even for a person as cheerful as Chirpy Cricket, it was hard to wait. +But he consoled himself by chirping his loudest. + +"I suppose Freddie Firefly and all his relations are very busy getting +their lights ready," he thought. + +At last, when it was quite dark, Freddie Firefly lighted on a head of +timothy grass close beside the stone wall and began to flash his light +right in Chirpy Cricket's face. + +"Here I am, just as I promised!" he called. + + + + +V + +AT THE STONE WALL + + +"Where's the rest of your crowd?" Chirpy Cricket asked Freddie Firefly, +when they met by the stone wall. "It's getting darker every minute. And +the torchlight procession ought to start right away." + +"They're coming," said Freddie. "If you look sharp you can see them now, +crossing the meadow." + +Chirpy Cricket tried to see through the blackness of the night. After +gazing steadily for a few moments he was able to make out a patch of +twinkling lights, which looked a good deal like stars, except that they +were too low. Since they kept growing brighter, Chirpy Cricket knew that +they must be moving towards him, and that many of the Firefly family had +accepted his invitation. + +Soon a great host of Freddie's relations surrounded Chirpy Cricket. They +flashed their lights in his eyes, so that he was almost blinded by the +glare. And it was only with much difficulty that he could see Moses +Mosquito, Kiddie Katydid, and Mehitable Moth, who had also arrived by +that time. + +"What are we going to do?" everybody asked Chirpy Cricket at the same +time. So there was nothing he could do but mount the wall and make a +speech. + +"Friends--" he said, in his loudest voice--"I'm glad to see so many of +you present. Our torchlight procession is going to be an even greater +success than the one that Farmer Green went to see in the village--if +you'll only follow my directions." + +"We will!" his listeners cried. + +"Please don't ask us to march after dawn breaks, for we'll be ready for +bed by that time," Freddie Firefly interrupted. + +"I understand," Chirpy Cricket replied. "And now this is what I want you +all to do: you must fall in line one behind another. And when +everybody's ready I'll take my place at the head of the procession and +lead you all around the farm, and right past Farmer Green's window, +too." + +"Forming a line is going to be hard work," somebody objected. + +But Chirpy Cricket arranged that matter simply enough. + +"Just form your line along the stone wall" he directed them. "The wall +is straight enough. And to tell the truth, that's exactly why I told +Freddie that we'd meet here." + +"But what about Moses Mosquito and Kiddie Katydid and Mehitable Moth?" +Freddie inquired somewhat anxiously. + +"Well, what about them?" Chirpy asked him. "What do you mean?" + +"They haven't brought any lights," Freddie pointed out. "So what's the +use of their being in the procession?" + +"Oh, that's all right!" Chirpy Cricket assured him. "They're going to +carry the banners." + + + + +VI + +THE BANNERS + + +When Chirpy Cricket mentioned "banners," Mehitable Moth, Kiddie Katydid, +and Moses Mosquito stepped forward with looks of pride on their faces-- +so far as one could see their faces by the glimmer of the flashing +lights of the Firefly family. And at the same time Freddie Firefly +shouldered his way through the crowd and plucked at Chirpy Cricket's +sleeve. + +"Don't you think--" he asked earnestly--"don't you think I ought to +carry one of the banners myself?" + +"Perhaps so!" answered Chirpy Cricket. He was so taken aback that he +really didn't know what else to say. "Which one do you prefer?" + +"I'd have to see them before I made a choice," Freddie Firefly told him +in a more hopeful tone. + +So Chirpy ordered Kiddie Katydid and Moses and Mehitable to produce +their banners, which they had left leaning against the wall. + +They brought them forth fearfully, each hoping that his--or hers--wasn't +going to be taken away and handed over to Freddie Firefly to carry in +the procession. + +"Here are the banners!" Chirpy Cricket said to Freddie. "Which one do +you like best?" + +Freddie looked at the banners and read them slowly, for he was not a +good reader. + +The first that he examined was the one Moses Mosquito had brought. And +this is what it said: + +WHY FUSS ABOUT A BITE, IF IT MAKES SOMEBODY ELSE HAPPY? + +"I don't care for that one at all," Freddie Firefly announced. And he +turned then to Kiddie Katydid's banner, which he spelled out with a good +deal of trouble, because it was not so well printed. + +This banner made the following announcement: + +HONEST TO GOODNESS, I DIDN'T DO IT! + +"Why, I don't know what that's all about!" Freddie exclaimed +impatiently. "Let me see the third one!" So he looked next at the banner +of Mehitable Moth, which seemed to please him better, as he read it +aloud: + +DON'T WORRY, MRS. GREEN! I'LL CALL AT THE FARMHOUSE BEFORE FALL. + +"That's better!" cried Freddie Firefly. "I'll carry this banner with a +great deal of pleasure. And I can call at the farmhouse to-night--if +Farmer Green's family doesn't go to bed too early." + +But there was one difficulty about Freddie's plan. Mehitable Moth did +not like to have her banner, which she had made with great pains, taken +away from her like that. And she drew Chirpy Cricket to one side and +began talking to him in an undertone. + +Soon he turned again to Freddie Firefly, saying, "She thinks that if +you're going to carry her banner in the procession you ought to let her +take your light." + +"Oh, I can't do that!" Freddie exclaimed quickly. "I wouldn't THINK of +doing that!" + +"It would be only fair, it seems to me," Chirpy Cricket observed. + +"Well, I won't do it, anyhow," Freddie declared. "I'd stay out of the +procession first. And so would all my relations, too." + +Chirpy Cricket began to look worried. And it was no wonder. For he knew +he could have no torchlight procession without the Firefly family. But +pretty soon he cheered up noticeably. + +"I know what you can do!" he announced. "You can ride on top of +Mehitable Moth's banner and keep flashing your light on it!" + + + + +VII + +THE TORCHLIGHT PARADE + + +At last the torchlight procession was about to begin its march. Chirpy +Cricket took his place at its head, as leader. And close behind him came +Mehitable Moth, gaily bearing her banner aloft, with Freddie Firefly +perched on top of it, and flashing his greenish-white light so that its +rays fell full upon the words, which told Farmer Green's wife not to +worry, because Mehitable Moth agreed to pay her a call before cold +weather set in. + +It would be hard to say which was the prouder--the person under the +banner or the one on top of it. Anyhow, Chirpy Cricket was prouder than +both of them together, because his torchlight procession promised to be +a great success. + +"Are you ready?" he cried, looking back at the marchers, who stretched +behind him in a long line beside the stone wall. + +Everybody shouted "Aye, aye, sir!" So Chirpy Cricket pranced away across +the meadow, wearing a broad smile. Probably he had never before looked +quite so cheerful. + +But he had not gone far before something happened that drove the smile +from his face, replacing it with a dark frown. He had glanced behind +him, because he wanted--quite naturally--to look at that long line of +lights twinkling through the night. And to his distress he saw that +Freddie Firefly's relations were flying helter-skelter in all +directions. They had bolted out of the line and were dancing off across +the meadow after a fashion that no torchlight procession ought to +follow. + +"Stop! Stop!" Chirpy Cricket called. + +Even as he spoke, as many as a dozen lights flashed past him and went +flittering on across the fields. + +Really, the only ones besides Chirpy that had stayed in the line as they +should were Mehitable Moth, who still carried her banner right behind +him, and Freddie Firefly, who sat on top of the banner. + +And even Freddie Firefly was becoming restless. When he saw his brothers +and cousins go dancing off in the dark he couldn't help wanting to dance +too. + +"You'd better hurry!" he said to Chirpy Cricket. "Those fellows--" he +pointed to the dozen that had just passed them--"those fellows have got +ahead of you. And it looks to me very much as if you were out of line." + +Chirpy Cricket stared at Freddie Firefly in astonishment. + +"Do you think so?" he exclaimed. "I don't see how it happened." + +"Neither do I!" Freddie Firefly said. "But if I'm to stay in the +procession I certainly can't sit on this banner any longer. And besides, +if I'm going to call on Farmer Green's wife I shall have to travel +faster than we're moving now." + +Since they were then standing stock-still in the meadow, there was a +good deal of truth in what Freddie Firefly said. + +"But you don't need to call on Mrs. Green!" Chirpy Cricket cried. +"That's not your banner, you know. It belongs to Mehitable Moth." + +"I'm afraid Mrs. Green has heard I'm coming; and I don't want to +disappoint her," Freddie replied. + +And then he sprang from his perch and went zigzagging away. + +One might think that Chirpy Cricket would have been quite upset by the +breaking up of his torchlight procession. But being naturally cheerful, +he merely smiled and said that it was plain that the Fireflies were a +very flighty family. + + + + +VIII + +BUSTER'S SCHEME + + +About the time summer was half gone, Buster Bumblebee's mother, the +Queen, began to worry. She was afraid her workers were not going to make +enough honey for her family's needs. + +Then came a few days of steady rain, when the workers of the Bumblebee +family couldn't venture away from home, on account of getting their +wings wet. And of course the Queen was terribly upset. + +"I don't know what to do!" she kept exclaiming. "The days are already +growing shorter. It's a pity the honeymakers can't work in the dark." + +Buster Bumblebee happened to hear his mother talking in that fashion +with some of the older members of the family. And he spoke up at once +and said: + +"I know of a plan that might help." + +Nobody paid the slightest attention to his remark, because the whole +family thought that Buster was not only fat and lazy, but somewhat +stupid as well. + +"I know of something you could do that would help," he persisted, in a +much louder voice. "The honey-makers could work after dark if you'd only +get the Firefly family to furnish lights for them." + +A number of Buster's relations snickered when they heard his plan. It +struck them as being too silly for anything. But his mother, the Queen, +looked very thoughtful. + +"I'm not sure but that this boy has a good idea," she observed, much to +the surprise of the others. "For a long time I've been waiting for him +to say something worth listening to. And now I do believe he has had a +happy thought at last." She turned to Buster. "How did you chance upon +this scheme?" she asked him. + +"Oh, the notion just came to me. I didn't have to WORK, to think of it," +Buster explained. And he wondered why everybody laughed. + +You know, Buster Bumblebee was so lazy that he never would lift a finger +to do a stroke of work. And now the word "work" had a very funny sound, +coming from his mouth. + +"How could we get the Firefly family to help us? Have you thought of a +way to do that?" Buster's mother said to her son. + +"N-no, I haven't," he admitted. "But I'd go straight to Freddie Firefly +and tell him what's wanted." + +"Suppose you do that, then," said the Queen. + +"You wouldn't call that WORKING, would you?" Buster inquired anxiously. +Having long since promised himself that he would never work, of course +he didn't want to break his word. + +His relations--that is, except his mother--couldn't help tittering when +Buster said that. But to tell the truth, they were beginning to be the +least bit jealous of Buster Bumblebee and his plan. When the Queen +frowned at them severely, each of them tried to look as if it had been +somebody else that laughed. + +Then the Queen assured Buster that paying a call on a person couldn't be +said to be work. + +"You go and talk with Freddie Firefly," she directed him, "and if your +plan proves to be a success, it will then be your turn to laugh at +others." + + + + +IX + +FREDDIE'S PROMISE + + +Buster Bumblebee did not find Freddie Firefly very easily. It was a +sunny afternoon; and if Freddie was flashing his bright light, Buster +was unable to see it. But at last he spied Freddie eating a meal of +pollen in the meadow. + +"How would you like to work for my mother, the Queen?" Buster asked him. + +"I don't believe I'd care to, thank you," Freddie Firefly answered, with +a mouth so full of food that Buster heard him only with great +difficulty. + +"I'll wait a moment, until you have finished your lunch," said Buster. + +"You'd better not!" Freddie Firefly told him. "It will be dark by that +time. And Chirpy Cricket tells me your family always goes to bed at +sunset." + +"So we do!" Buster agreed. "But my mother, the Queen, is going to order +her honey-makers to work overtime for the present. And she wants you and +your family to furnish lights so they can see what they're doing." "Oh! +That's different!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. "I thought she wanted me +to help make honey. And that's something I know nothing about. ... But +when it comes to furnishing a light, I'm certainly a shining success." +Freddie then laughed heartily. And much to his surprise, Buster +Bumblebee gave him several hard slaps on the back, which hurt him not a +little. + +"Don't do that!" Freddie Firefly cried. + +"I thought you were choking," Buster, explained. + +Freddie Firefly shook his head. + +"I was joking," he said. + +"Well, I didn't make much of a mistake; for joking and choking sound +about the same," Buster Bumblebee replied. + +"I hope your mother's honey-makers can tell the difference," Freddie +Firefly grumbled. "If they can't, I certainly don't care to spend a +night in their company." + +"Oh, you won't have any trouble with them. They'll be working so busily +that they'll hardly notice you," Buster Bumblebee assured him. + +So Freddie Firefly promised to be at the house of the Bumblebee family, +in the meadow, at dusk. And he said he would try to bring plenty of his +relations with him, so that there might be one of them to light the way +for each of the honey-makers. + +And then Buster Bumblebee hurried away to tell his mother the news. + +The Queen praised Buster for what he had done, telling him that in her +opinion he would soon be the wisest person in Pleasant Valley--not even +excepting old Mr. Crow and Solomon Owl. + +Buster was so pleased that he made up his mind to stay awake that +evening, in order to see the workers start out for the clover field +after dark with Freddie Firefly and his relations. But when sunset came, +Buster simply couldn't keep from falling asleep. + +Not until the next morning did he know how his plan had turned out. And +since it proved to be less successful than he had expected, perhaps it +was just as well that he was not present to hear the remarks that were +made about him. + +Even Freddie Firefly said things about Buster that night that would not +have been at all pleasant to listen to. + + + + +X + +DRAWING LOTS + + +Buster Bumblebee's mother told her forty-nine honey-makers that Freddie +Firefly and at least forty-eight of his relations were expected at the +Bumblebees' house at dusk. + +"Each of the Fireflies will furnish each of you with a light," the Queen +explained, "so you'll be able to go to the clover field almost as easily +as you do in the daytime. You're to work until midnight. And after that +you may sleep until the trumpeter wakes you at dawn." + +The Queen's announcement did not please the honey-makers in the least. +They were an ill-tempered lot, anyhow. And when things did not go to +suit them they sometimes made themselves most disagreeable. + +Of course they didn't dare grumble in the Queen's hearing. But behind +her back they spoke their minds quite freely. + +"It's all the fault of that boy Buster," they told one another. "If he +hadn't suggested his horrid plan to his mother we wouldn't have to work +half the night and lose half our sleep." + +"I wish he was here now!" one of the honey-makers exclaimed fiercely. +"I'd make it hot for him!" + +Usually the honey-makers began to grow very drowsy at that time of day +(it was then late in the afternoon). But now they were so angry that +they were not the least bit sleepy. Their own buzzing kept them awake. +And the Queen was glad that it was so, because she herself never could +have stopped so many of them from going to sleep. And even then, if the +truth must be known, the Queen wished that she might go to bed. Never in +all her life had she been up so late before. + +"I wish the Fireflies would hurry!" she exclaimed as she stood at the +front-door of her house and looked across the fast darkening field. + +As she watched anxiously, the Queen soon spied a light, which kept +growing brighter and brighter, until at last Freddie Firefly dropped +down before her. He took off his cap and made a low bow. + +"Here I am, Queen!" he said. + +"Where's the rest of your family?" Buster Bumblebee's mother asked him. + +"They all had to go to a dance down by the swamp," Freddie Firefly +explained. "They wanted me to go with them; but I had promised your son +that I'd be here at dusk. And of course I wouldn't think of breaking my +promise." + +Well, the Queen was terribly disappointed. + +"You never can furnish enough light for my forty-nine workers!" she +cried. + +"Perhaps not!" Freddie admitted. "But I'd be glad to take one of them to +the clover-patch to-night, just as a trial, you know." + +The Queen said that that was a good idea. And the honey-makers, who had +come outside the house, all agreed that it was a fine suggestion. But +not one of them wanted to go with Freddie. + +"Then you'll have to draw lots," the Queen told them severely. + +When the honey-makers heard that, one of them tried to slip away. But +the Queen saw her and called her back. + +Then they drew lots. And strange to say, the worker who had tried to +escape proved to be the unlucky one who was doomed to go to the clover +field with Freddie Firefly and gather clover nectar until midnight. + +Unluckily for Freddie, she was the worst-tempered person in the whole +Bumblebee household. And when she saw that she alone of the whole family +was going to lose half her night's sleep you may be sure she felt very +surly. + +Freddie noticed a wicked gleam in her eyes. And he began to wish he had +gone to the dance over near the swamp. + + + + +XI + +PEPPERY POLLY + + +Freddie Firefly felt quite uncomfortable as he started off toward the +clover field, together with the angry honey-maker. It had not made him +feel any more at ease when the Queen of the Bumblebees told him the +worker's name. It was Peppery Polly. + +"Don't go too fast!" Peppery Polly told Freddie Firefly. "And I'll tell +you now that I'll make it warm for you if you try to play any tricks on +me to-night." + +As a matter of fact, Freddie hadn't thought of such a thing as playing a +single trick on her. But Peppery Polly's warning at once put that very +idea into his head. So he began to try to think of a good joke that +would bother her. And before they had crossed the meadow Freddie Firefly +turned to Peppery Polly Bumblebee and said: + +"That light off there must be in the farmhouse." + +Now, never having been out at night before, his companion wanted to see +all the strange sights. So she stopped at once and looked around. + +"How bright the light is!" she said. "Are you sure the farmhouse isn't +on fire?" + +Not receiving any answer, she turned her head. And to her dismay, she +couldn't see Freddie Firefly anywhere. + +"Oh! Oh! Where are you?" she cried. She was terribly frightened to be +left alone in the dark. "Come back--please come back!" she begged. + +"Why, here I am!" said Freddie Firefly. + +And wheeling about quickly, Peppery Polly found him clinging to a blade +of grass right behind her. + +Freddie had been hiding under a plantain leaf, so that she couldn't see +his light. But Peppery Polly didn't know what had happened. + +"Did your light go out?" she inquired anxiously. + +"If it did, I never noticed it," he replied. + +"Well, don't you dare to leave me alone, no matter what happens!" +Peppery Polly Bumblebee cried. "If you did, I'd never be able to find my +way home in the dark." + +"Don't worry!" Freddie said. "You're perfectly safe with me. ... What +I'm wondering is whether I'm perfectly safe with you." + +"You are--so long as you behave yourself," she declared. "But remember! +I'll make it hot for you if you try any tricks on me! Don't forget that +I carry a sting! And what's more, I know how to use it." + +Her threat, however, failed to frighten Freddie Firefly. As soon as he +saw that his companion was afraid of the dark, he ceased to be afraid of +her. So he flashed his light impudently in her eyes. + +"Come on!" he urged her with a grin which she could not see. "Let's get +to the clover field, for I like to see people work." + +"You do, eh? "snapped Peppery Polly. + +"Yes! Watching others work is play for me," he remarked cheerfully. "And +I hope to have as much fun to-night as I would have had if I'd gone to +the dance over near the swamp." + +"Are you fond of music?" Peppery Polly asked him suddenly. + +"Am I?" he exclaimed. "I should say I was!" + +"Then tell me how you like this," she said. And she began to sing the +most terrible song that Freddie Firefly had ever heard in all his life. + + + + +XII + +A TERRIBLE SONG + + +It was no wonder that Freddie Firefly grew uneasy again as he listened +to the song of Peppery Polly Bumblebee, while they flew towards the +clover field through the darkness. The chorus, especially, filled him +with alarm. And he shuddered as the disagreeable honey-maker sang it: + + "I've never learned to take a joke; + So if you try to trick me, + My sting in you I'll quickly poke-- + You'll find that it will prick ye! + It feels like fire--though twice as hot. + And I would rather sting than not!" + +"How do you like that?" Peppery Polly inquired, after she had finished +her song. + +"You have a beautiful voice," Freddie Firefly hastened to tell her. + +"Yes--of course!" she agreed. "But I refer to the words. What do you +think of them?" + +"I think they're awful!" Freddie Firefly cried; for his companion had +scared the truth out of him before he stopped to think how it would +sound. + +"Quite right!" said Peppery Polly. "I made up that song. And I flatter +myself it's about the worst I ever heard." To Freddie Firefly's relief, +she seemed quite pleased. + +He was able to draw a deep breath again as they reached the field of red +clover, where Peppery Polly Bumblebee settled quickly upon a clover-top +and began sucking up the sweet nectar with her long tongue. For some +time she worked busily without saying a word. And indeed, how could she +have spoken with her tongue buried deep in the heart of a clover +blossom? + +But when she withdrew her tongue and flitted from one clover-top to +another, she never failed to fix her wicked eyes on Freddie Firefly and +demand "more light--and be quick about it!" + +Since no harm had yet fallen him, he began to wonder after a while if +Peppery Polly's bark was not worse than her bite--or perhaps it would be +better to say that he wondered if her song was not worse than her sting. +Anyhow, he knew that he was very tired of her masterful way of speaking +to him. And he soon determined to play another trick on her. + +"Here's a big blossom you haven't tasted!" he called to her suddenly. +And Peppery Polly--thinking that Freddie meant a clover blossom-- +hastened to a bloom that Freddie pointed out to her. + +She settled upon it quickly. And the next moment Peppery Polly gave a +sharp cry of mingled rage and pain. + +"What's the matter?" Freddie Firefly asked her. + +"Matter!" she exclaimed. "It's a thistle--and I've pricked myself +badly." + +"Why, so it is a thistle blossom!" said Freddie Firefly. "It's about the +same color as a clover head; and I suppose you didn't know the +difference in the dark." + +"The question is, did YOU know the difference?" Peppery Polly screamed-- +for she was terribly angry. + +"Really, I must decline to answer when you speak to me in such a tone," +said Freddie Firefly. And he was quite surprised that the furious honey- +maker didn't dart towards him and try to sink her sting into him. + +But nothing of the sort happened. And Freddie soon saw that Peppery +Polly was in some kind of trouble. + + + + +XIII + +CAUGHT BY A THISTLE + + +"You'll have to help me," Peppery Polly Bumblebee said to Freddie +Firefly through the darkness. "If you'd been a little less stingy with +that light of yours I wouldn't have made the mistake of thinking this +thistle was a clover blossom." + +"Well, there's nectar in it, isn't there?" he inquired. + +"I suppose so," she answered. "But I can't get it. And I'm so daubed +with the sticky stuff that's spread right where I put my feet that I +can't free myself." + +Freddie flew quite close to her and flashed his light upon her. And he +saw that she had spoken truly. + +"What a pity!" he exclaimed. + +"Don't stop to talk!" the honey-maker snapped. "Just help me to get away +from this thistle. And THEN you can talk all you want to. In fact, I'll +give you something to talk about." + +Freddie Firefly was not so dull-witted but that he knew she intended to +punish him for sending her to the thistle blossom. + +"I'll go back to your house and bring somebody to help you, if I can," +he said. "Don't you see that it wouldn't be safe for me to try to pull +you loose? I might get stuck there myself. And we'd be prisoners for the +rest of the night." + +Peppery Polly hadn't thought of that. And she was inclined to believe +that there might be some such danger. + +"You may go for help," she said at last. "But please remember that +there's no time to lose. The Queen won't like it at all when she hears +about this accident, for she expected me to fetch home a good deal of +nectar before midnight." + +"I'll hurry. And I'll be back as soon as I can bring one of your fellow- +workers with me," Freddie Firefly promised. + +Since he was a person of his word, he went straight back to the home of +the Bumblebee family in the meadow. Being used to finding his way about +after dark, Freddie had no trouble reaching the Bumblebees' home. But +rousing the household was an entirely different matter. Though he +pounded his hardest at their door, none of the Bumblebee family heard +him. Having always slept from sunset till dawn without once waking, they +were wrapped in such heavy slumber that not one of them knew what was +going on. + +To be sure, the family trumpeter--who awakened the household each +morning and was a somewhat lighter sleeper than the others--the +trumpeter claimed afterward that she DREAMED that she heard somebody at +the door that night. But that was all the good that came of Freddie +Firefly's efforts. + +After trying his best to rouse Peppery Polly's people, Freddie Firefly +at last grew discouraged. He saw that the Bumblebee family was bound to +sleep until dawn came, no matter what happened. + +He reflected, then, that there were two things he could do. He could go +back alone to the clover field and try to set that ill-tempered worker +free--and no doubt get stung by her for his pains. Or he could go to the +dance of the Fireflies over near the swamp, and have a delightful time. + +"Let me see!" Freddie mused aloud. "I promised Peppery Polly that I'd +come back with one of her own people--IF _I_ COULD. And since I can't do +that, I ought not to go back to the clover-patch at all. For if I did, +it would be about the same as breaking a promise. ... No! I'll go to the +dance instead!" And away he flew. + +Luckily the dance was not half finished when he reached it. And he had +such a pleasant time that he forgot all about that Bumblebee worker, +stuck fast to the thistle blossom. + +But you may be sure that Peppery Polly did not forget him. After her +friends set her free the following morning she spent the whole day +looking for Freddie Firefly. + +But he lay very low. And all the rest of the summer he shunned the +clover field--and the flower garden, too. + + + + +XIV + +JENNIE JUNEBUG + + +On the day--or rather, on the night--when he first met Jennie Junebug, +Freddie Firefly was ill at ease. In fact it might be truthfully said +that he was quite upset. + +One beautiful, warm, dark night early in the summer Freddie was hurrying +to join a big family party which was already gathering in the hollow +beyond the hill. + +He was scooting along through the damp air, flashing his light at the +rate of about thirty-six times a minute, when a heavy body bumped into +him and knocked him head over heels upon the grass-carpeted ground. + +It was no wonder that he felt upset. And he felt quite peevish, too, as +he picked himself up and looked about him to see what had happened. + +The next moment he was flashing his light into the blinking eyes of an +enormous fat person, who seemed to be dazed, either by the shock of the +collision or by the light--Freddie Firefly couldn't tell which. + +"Why don't you look where you're going?" Freddie cried impatiently. "You +knocked the breath out of me. And you almost broke one of my legs." The +next instant he was heartily ashamed of himself; for he saw, to his +surprise, that he was talking to a lady. "Oh! I beg your pardon!" he +cried. "Ex--excuse me! I hope you're not seriously injured?" + +"Oh, no!" wheezed the fat lady. "I'm all right. It's no matter, I assure +you. I'm quite used to running into things after dark." + +Freddie Firefly didn't quite like being referred to as a THING. But he +was too polite to say so. + +"You ought to be careful," he told the strange fat lady. "It's dangerous +for one of your weight--" + +"Oh, don't!" she exclaimed quickly. "PLEASE don't tell me I'm fat! I've +tried every remedy I know and I can't lose a single pound!" + +"Don't you think that flying makes you thinner?" Freddie Firefly asked +her. + +But the stout person shook her head dolefully. + +"It only seems to make me bigger," she groaned. + +"Then why do you do it?" + +"Oh, I just adore flying!" she cried. "Don't you?" + +Freddie Firefly admitted that he did like to fly. And he was sorry, the +next moment, that he had made such a statement. For the fat lady blinked +happily at him. And clasping her hands together, she said: + +"Oh, do let's fly together, then!" + +Freddie Firefly was so taken aback that at first he couldn't think what +to say. But at last he managed to stammer a reply. + +"Why--why--I--I'll be glad to, but I don't even know your name!" he told +her. + +"It's Jennie Junebug," she explained, as she fanned herself with a fan +made from a white clover leaf. + +"You're a newcomer in these parts, aren't you?" Freddie Firefly +inquired. + +"I just arrived here this month," she informed him. "This is the month +of June, you know. And I'm one of the well-known Junebug family. ... I +already know who you are," she continued. "You've been pointed out to +me. You are Freddie Firefly; and you can't deny it." + + + + +XV + +THE FAT LADY'S SECRET + + +Somehow, the longer Freddie Firefly talked with Jennie Junebug, the more +he wished that he might fly off and leave her there in the meadow. But +he had just the same as told her that he would be glad to fly with her. +And he really didn't see how he could escape that unpleasant duty. + +"Well, we may as well move on," he said at last. "Where were you going +when we ran into each other?" + +"Oh, nowhere in particular!" she answered. "Where were YOU going?" + +Freddie Firefly had to bite his lip to keep from telling her that he had +been on his way to a family party in the hollow beyond the hill. He +certainly didn't want to go there in the company of that strange fat +lady. + +"I WAS going over the hill," he faltered at last. "But I'd rather stay +here in the meadow with you." + +"How nice of you to say that!" Jennie Junebug murmured. "And now let's +begin flying at once!" she said. + +So they rose into the air. But they hadn't flown more than a few feet +when Jennie once more banged squarely into her companion. + +It was a terrific blow. And Freddie Firefly soon found himself lying +flat on the ground. He was so nearly stunned that he scarcely knew what +had happened. + +"What fun!" the fat lady gurgled right in his ear, with a horrible +laugh. "Come! Let's do it again!" + +"Do it again!" Freddie Firefly repeated after her, as a sudden fear +gripped him. "Do you mean to tell me that you ran into me ON PURPOSE?" +"Why, certainly!" she replied. "Running into a light is more than half +the fun of flying." + +Her terrible secret was out at last. If Freddie Firefly had been older +and wiser he would have known, in the beginning, that his first +collision with the fat lady was no accident. The whole Junebug family +were alike in one respect: preferring to fly at night, whenever they saw +a light anywhere they made straight for it as fast as they could fly. +Sometimes they landed with a crash against one of the farmhouse windows. +Sometimes they struck the lantern, if Farmer Green happened to be +carrying it across the farmyard. It really made little difference to a +Junebug what he--or she--hit, so long as it gleamed brightly out of the +night. + +Well, Freddie Firefly saw at last that he was in a terrible fix. He knew +now why Jennie Junebug had asked him to fly with her. It was on account +of his flashing light! And the dreadful creature actually expected him +to fly for her so that she might have the pleasure of bowling him over +every time he rose into the air. + +Such a practice was disagreeable, to say the least. Indeed, Freddie +Firefly thought it was positively dangerous, for him. + +"Come! Come!" Jennie Junebug urged him playfully, even while he lay on +the ground trying to get his breath. "If you don't hurry and fly some +more I shall knock you over right where you are!" + +Freddie Firefly answered her with a faint moan. He couldn't run away +from her. So he thought of hiding. But he had promised to fly with her. +And she was a lady. + +What could he do? + + + + +XVI + +FREDDIE'S ESCAPE + + +There was really nothing Freddie Firefly could do except struggle to his +feet and try to think at the same time. Flashing his light upon Jennie +Junebug he saw that she was looking at him fondly. And that made him +detest her more than ever. + +"You seem to be enjoying yourself," he said spitefully. + +"Yes, indeed!" the fat lady exclaimed. "I haven't had such sport for a +whole week. One of your cousins flew with me one night. And we had a +fine time. No doubt we'd be enjoying each other's company yet, if I +hadn't had a bit of bad luck." + +"What was that?" Freddie Firefly asked her quickly. He thought that if +he could only keep his dreadful companion TALKING, perhaps she would +forget about FLYING--and knocking him down. "What was your bad luck?" he +repeated impatiently. + +Jennie Junebug paused and wiped her eyes. + +"It was dreadful!" she said at last, as soon as she could control her +shaking voice. "It was the worst accident that ever happened to me. ... +Your cousin broke his neck!" + +Although Freddie Firefly sank back with a groan, she did not seem to +notice him. + +"Your cousin--" she continued--"your cousin was the easiest thing to +knock down that I ever saw. Why, once I knocked him over thirty-three +times in one minute--or in other words, as fast as he flashed his light. +. . . I had struck him so many times that he was growing weaker. Earlier +in the evening, when he flashed thirty-six times to the minute, he was a +little too quick for me." + +"Don't stop! Tell me more!" Freddie Firefly begged her, as the fat lady +ceased talking and fanned herself rapidly. And then, while she continued +to tell him about his unfortunate cousin, Freddie set his wits to work +upon a plan to escape from the dreadful creature. He hardly knew what +she was saying. But every time she paused he urged her on again with a +"Yes, yes!" or a "Go on! Go on!" + +At first a wild hope came to him that he might be able to keep her +talking all night. Then, of course, he would be safe; because when +daylight came she would no longer be able to see his light. + +But he soon had to give up that plan, for he saw plainly enough that the +fat lady was growing restless. And at last she told him flatly that she +had talked all she cared to. + +"I'm ready to fly now," she announced with an awful eagerness. + +"One moment!" he said hastily. "Your fan--I see you've torn it! And if +you'll let me take it I'll try to find you another just like it." + +"Will you?" Jennie Junebug asked him gratefully. "And will you promise +to come back just as soon as you've found me a PERFECT match for my +fan?" + +"I promise!" said Freddie Firefly, snatching the fan out of her hands in +his haste. "Wait right here!" he cautioned her. And then he leaped into +the air and started away. + +BANG! He hadn't flown longer than forty-six seconds when Jennie Junebug +floored him again. + +"I simply couldn't resist hitting you once more!" she said sweetly. "And +now, hurry! Or I shall never be able to let you leave me." + +Freddie Firefly needed no more urging. Though he was sore in every limb +(and he had a great many!) he made his escape quickly. + +All the rest of the night he worked hard, trying to find a white clover +leaf that exactly matched the one that Jennie Junebug had carried for a +fan. But every single clover leaf was different from Jennie's in one way +or another. Freddie Firefly had hoped that it would be so. For if he had +found one precisely like Jennie Junebug's, he would have had to take it +to her, as he had promised. + +How long the fat lady waited for him in the meadow, Freddie Firefly +never knew. And to tell the truth, he didn't care. He was too happy +because he had escaped the fate of his cousin, to bother his head over +Jennie Junebug. + + + + +XVII + +BAD BENJAMIN BAT + + +For a long time Benjamin Bat had had his eye on Freddie Firefly. And +every time the two met, Benjamin stopped to tell Freddie how plump he +was growing. + +"You're just about ready to--AHEM!" Benjamin remarked when he came upon +Freddie in Farmer Green's dooryard one fine evening. + +"What did you say?" Freddie inquired. + +"Never mind!" Benjamin Bat answered. "I was only talking to myself. It's +a habit I have." + +"You're a queer one!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. "But it's no wonder. +People say that you've hung upside down so much that the inside of your +head is all topsy-turvy." + +"When he heard that remark Benjamin Bat promptly flew into a rage. + +"You'd better be careful!" he warned Freddie. "I don't allow anybody to +talk to me like that." + +"Oh! You mustn't mind what I just said," Freddie Firefly replied. "I was +only talking to myself--AHEM AHEM!" + +But strange to say, Freddie's answer failed to please Benjamin. + +"Your remark was very disagreeable, anyhow," he declared. + +"Well--so was yours," Freddie retorted stoutly. + +"How can you say that?" Benjamin Bat inquired with a sly look. "I didn't +finish it, did I?" + +"No!" replied Freddie. "But you can't fool me. I know what you meant, as +well as you do." + +And straightway Benjamin Bat looked most uncomfortable, because he had +been thinking that Freddie Firefly HAD BECOME PLUMP ENOUGH TO EAT. + +Indeed, there was only one thing that kept Benjamin from devouring +Freddie Firefly right then and there. And that was Freddie's flashing +light. Yes! Benjamin Bat was afraid that if he touched Freddie Firefly +he would get burned. + +Once a forest fire broke out while Benjamin was asleep in the woods. And +he didn't wake up until the tree in which he was hanging by his heels +had begun to blaze. Luckily he escaped with his life. But the flames +singed the tips of his wings and gave him such a fright that ever +afterward he feared a fire or a light of any kind. And now he did wish +that Freddie Firefly would put out his light, just for a short time. So +he said, after a few moments: + +"Don't you think you ought to stop flashing your light?" + +"Do you mean--" asked Freddie--"do you mean that I ought to keep it +glaring steadily all the time?" + +"Oh, no!" Benjamin Bat replied hurriedly. "I mean that you ought to put +it out for a while." + +"Why should I do that?" Freddie Firefly wanted to know. + +"To please Farmer Green, of course," Benjamin replied glibly. "Don't you +know that a light always draws mosquitoes? And it can't be very pleasant +for Farmer Green to have half the mosquitoes in the neighborhood +crowding into his dooryard." + +"What would be the use of my putting out my light, when all my relations +are flashing theirs?" Freddie asked. + +"Well, maybe they'd follow your example," Benjamin Bat suggested. "And +just think what a good turn you'd be doing Farmer Green!" + + + + +XVIII + +PLEASING FARMER GREEN + + +Now, when Benjamin Bat spoke of his doing Farmer Green a good turn, +Freddie Firefly looked puzzled. + +"What has Farmer Green ever done for me?" he inquired. + +"What has he done?" Benjamin cried. "Hasn't he furnished you a fine +meadow in which to dance at night? And doesn't he let you come here in +his dooryard whenever you please? I should think THAT was something to +be thankful for!" + +"Now that you speak of it, I don't know but that you're right," Freddie +Firefly admitted, "though I never thought of such a thing before." And +not wishing to be ungrateful to Farmer Green, he promptly put out his +light. + +Of course, that was just what Benjamin was waiting for. And since he +could see perfectly in the dark, without a moment's warning he rushed +straight at Freddie Firefly, with his mouth wide open. + +If Freddie hadn't happened to flash his light just at that moment he +would never have flashed it again. + +As soon as Benjamin Bat saw the greenish-white gleam he was so afraid of +getting burned--not knowing that Freddie's light could not harm him--he +was so afraid that he swerved sharply to one side and zigzagged about +the yard for a few seconds. + +But he soon returned to speak to Freddie Firefly once more. + +"You made a good beginning," he told Freddie. "But you turned your light +on again too quickly. Just keep dark until I tell you to shine, and with +a little practice you'll be able to do the trick very well. And Farmer +Green will certainly be pleased. Now, just try it again!" + +But Freddie Firefly could not forget how terrible Benjamin had looked a +few moments before. And he began to suspect that Benjamin Bat was +playing a trick of his own. + +"It seems to me," said Freddie, "that you are a little too anxious about +Farmer Green." + +"Oh! no, indeed!" Benjamin Bat declared. "Farmer Green is a fine man. +He's a great friend of mine. He furnishes me a whole tree near the +swamp, in which I sleep every day. If you passed that way any time +between dawn and sunset you could see me hanging by my heels from one of +the branches." + +"Just where is your tree?" Freddie Firefly inquired. + +Having no idea that Freddie could do him the slightest harm, Benjamin +Bat explained that his special, favorite tree was a great cedar, which +stood close to the old bridge that crossed Black Creek, at the lower end +of the swamp. + +"I know where that is; and I'll go over there to-morrow and take a look +at you," Freddie Firefly remarked. + +"Do!" said Benjamin Bat. + +"And I'll bring Solomon Owl with me," Freddie added. "For I know he'd +like to see you, too." + +"Don't!" cried Benjamin Bat. "Oh, don't do that!" + +"What's the matter?" Freddie Firefly asked Benjamin Bat. "Why don't you +want me to fetch Solomon Owl to your tree, to see you hanging by your +heels when you're fast asleep?" + +"Solomon Owl is no friend of mine," Benjamin Bat explained with a +shudder. "He'd eat me in a minute, if he could catch me." + + + + +XIX + +BENJAMIN FEELS GUILTY + + +Freddie Firefly and Benjamin Bat faced each other in Farmer Green's dark +dooryard. + +"Yes!" Benjamin Bat's thin voice quavered. "Don't EVER bring Solomon Owl +to my tree in the daytime. Although he doesn't see so well when it's +light as he does at night, he could catch me without much trouble when I +was asleep. And he would eat me in a minute--or only half a minute, +maybe." + +"Well, wouldn't you like that?" Freddie Firefly inquired, as if he were +greatly surprised. + +"Certainly not!" said Benjamin Bat. "You talk like a--AHEM!" + +"Perhaps I do," Freddie Firefly retorted. "But I should think it would +be just as jolly for you to be eaten by Solomon Owl as it would be for +me to be eaten by you." + +Benjamin started violently. + +"What in the world ever put such a strange idea into your head?" +Benjamin Bat cried. He was greatly astonished, for he had not supposed +that Freddie Firefly suspected exactly what was in his mind. + +"You put that idea into my head yourself," Freddie Firefly said very +sternly. + +And the moment Benjamin Bat heard that, he felt very sheepish. But +unlike most people who feel ashamed, he did not hang his head. Strangely +enough, Benjamin Bat was never so proud as when his head hung lower than +his heels. And he had a habit, when he felt guilty or uncomfortable, of +RAISING his head, instead of dropping it. So now he lifted his head very +high. + +And by that tell-tale sign Freddie Firefly knew at once that Benjamin +Bat would have flushed with dismay, had he only known how. + +"You're a rascal!" Freddie cried fiercely, flashing his light again and +again in Benjamin Bat's eyes, until that gentleman blinked so fast that +it seemed as if his eyes must be in danger of turning inside out. + +"You'd better be off!" Freddie Firefly shouted. "And if you ever come to +me again, coaxing me to put out my light--so you can eat me--I'll +certainly bring Solomon Owl to your tree when you're asleep there." + +Still Benjamin Bat made no move. Yet he wanted to go away because he was +in terror of being burned by Freddie Firefly's light. But he did not +dare turn his back upon Freddie Firefly and his light and fly away. And +he began to be sorry that he had never learned to fly backwards. + +"Please--" Benjamin Bat stammered at last--"please do me a favor. I'm +not feeling very well. I'm afraid I'm going to be ill. Maybe you'll be +good enough to go and ask my friend Farmer Green to step outside his +house a moment. Just tell him I'm in trouble," he whined. + +"Trouble!" Freddie Firefly sneered, for he knew well enough--by this +time--that Benjamin Bat was scared, though he couldn't quite guess the +reason for Benjamin's fright. "You'll be in worse trouble if I show +Solomon Owl where you sleep in the daytime." + +"Stand back!" Benjamin Bat shrieked suddenly. "You'll singe my wings if +you're not careful!" + +Then Freddie Firefly knew exactly what Benjamin feared. And he was so +amused that he couldn't help taking a turn around the dooryard, to dance +and laugh and shout. + +And when he came back to the place where he had left Benjamin Bat, that +odd gentleman had vanished. + +The terrified Benjamin had floundered away toward the swamp. And never, +afterward, did he have a word to say to Freddie Firefly. + +But whenever Freddie Firefly caught sight of Benjamin Bat's dark shape, +flitting in a zigzag path across the moon, he always cried out in a loud +voice: + +"Look out, Benjamin Bat! Mr. Moon will singe your wings if you're not +careful." + + + + +XX + +MRS. LADYBUG'S ADVICE + + +Finding himself face to face with Mrs. Ladybug one night in Farmer +Green's meadow, Freddie Firefly noticed, even before she spoke, that the +little lady was not in a cheerful mood. In fact, she frowned at him +darkly and pointed one of her knitting needles straight at him as she +began to speak. + +"You're terribly careless with that light of yours," she said. "People +are always warning me that my house is on fire and telling me that I'd +better hurry home. Now--" she added--"now I think I've discovered the +reason why my friends are forever worrying about fire. No doubt when +they give me such advice they have seen you prowling around my house +with that light of yours; and they think that if you haven't already set +my house on fire, you're just a-going to." + +When Freddie Firefly saw that Mrs. Ladybug was making Benjamin Bat's +mistake of thinking that his light could start a blaze, he had to smile. + +"Nonsense!" he cried. "I'm always very careful, Mrs. Ladybug, when I'm +near your house. You know that I wouldn't want your charming children to +burn up." + +And now Mrs. Ladybug pointed her other knitting needle at Freddie. + +"Well, if you're not careless, you're silly, anyhow," she snapped. "I +wouldn't object so much to your light if only you'd put it to some good +use. But as long as I've known you--and that's several weeks--I've never +seen you do anything but caper about the meadow and dance." And then +Mrs. Ladybug began to knit furiously, as if to show Freddie Firefly that +she was never idle, even if she did spend a good deal of time away from +home. "Do you intend always to fritter your nights away as you do now?" +she inquired. + +"What else could I do? I should like to know--" Freddie began. + +"Why not use your light in some kind of work?" Mrs. Ladybug asked him. + +"What work, I should like to know--" Freddie said. And since Mrs. +Ladybug did not at once answer him, he added: "I don't believe you can +suggest anything--can you?" + +"Oh, yes, I can!" she declared quickly. "I was thinking. That's why I +didn't reply sooner. Probably you don't know that I have helped many +youngsters to begin to work. For instance, it was I that told Daddy +Longlegs to help Farmer Green with his harvesting." Little Mrs. Ladybug +felt so proud of herself that she dropped a stitch without noticing it. + +"Daddy Longlegs! HE'S not young!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. + +"Oh! yes, he is! He's not so old as you think," Mrs. Ladybug replied. +"He's just about your age. And if he can work, you certainly can." + +"But I didn't know that Daddy Longlegs was working for Farmer Green," +Freddie Firefly said. + +"He tried to, one day. But the wind blew too hard. ... It wasn't really +Daddy's fault," Mrs. Ladybug explained. "And you ought not to attempt to +work on windy nights, either," she went on. "For your light might go +out, and then there'd be a terrible accident." + + + + +XXI + +ALL ABOUT TRAINS + + +"What do you mean?" Freddie Firefly asked little Mrs. Ladybug. "What +accident could happen if the wind blew out my light?" And he laughed +very hard, because he knew that no gale was strong enough even to dim +his greenish-white gleams. + +"Why," replied Mrs. Ladybug, "the train would strike you and be wrecked. +You see," she continued, "I have everything planned for you. You're +going to spend your nights on the railroad tracks, signalling the +trains." + +Well, Freddie Firefly rather liked Mrs. Ladybug's idea. And though he +knew that she was mistaken about some things, he began to think that +perhaps she was quite wise, after all. + +"Aren't you afraid I might set fire to the trains?" he inquired slyly. + +"No, indeed!" she answered. "You'd stop them, you know, before they ran +over you." + +"But I don't know how to make a train stop," he objected. "I've never +worked on a railroad in all my life." + +"Why, it's simple enough," said little Mrs. Ladybug. "When a train came +along you would stand on the track right in front of it and wave your +light." And while she smiled at Freddie Firefly as if to say, "You see +how easy it is," she dropped six more stitches out of her knitting--and +never found them, either. + +Freddie Firefly, however, did not smile at all. On the contrary, he +looked somewhat worried. + +"Are you sure it's safe?" he asked her. "If the train failed to stop, +with me on the track in front of it--" + +"Don't worry about that!" cried little Mrs. Ladybug. "You'll never +amount to anything if you worry. And if you don't wish to fritter away +your time dancing in this meadow, you'll take my advice and begin to +work at once." + +"I'll think about the matter," said Freddie Firefly. And then he added +somewhat doubtfully: "It's a long way to the railroad." + +"Pooh!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed. "Old Mr. Crow often visits it. And if he +can fly that far, at his age, a youngster like you ought not to mind the +trip." + +"Perhaps you know best," Freddie Firefly told Mrs. Ladybug at last. +"I'll take your advice just this once, and I'll see how I like the work. +But there's another question I'd like to ask you: What will the trains +do after they stop?" + +While laughing over Freddie's question Mrs. Ladybug shook so hard that +she unravelled sixteen rows of her knitting before she could stop. + +"Bless you!" she cried, as soon as she could speak. "I don't know what +the trains will do. That's their affair--not yours nor mine. Everybody's +aware that trains are made for two purposes--to start and to stop. But I +never should think of being so rude as to ask them WHY, or WHAT, or +WHEN, or WHERE." + +So Freddie Firefly thanked Mrs. Ladybug most politely. He was sure, now, +that she was one of the wisest persons in the whole valley. No doubt, he +thought, she knew almost as much as old Mr. Crow, or even Solomon Owl. +And he wished he knew half what she did. + +"I'll start for the railroad track at once," Freddie told Mrs. Ladybug. +And waving his cap at her, while she waved her knitting at him, he set +forth towards the village, the lights of which twinkled dimly in the +distance. + + + + +XXII + +WORK ON THE RAILROAD + + +Freddie Firefly did not intend to go into the village itself. He +expected to travel only as far as the railroad tracks, where they curved +around a bend in the river before stretching straight away towards the +town. + +Though he spent a much longer time in making the journey than old Mr. +Crow ever took, Freddie at last reached the railroad, where he promptly +sat himself down between the rails to wait for a train. And there +Freddie Firefly stayed all alone, in the dark, with nothing to keep from +feeling forlorn except the croaking of a band of noisy frogs in a pool +near-by. + +After a while Freddie began to grow so weary of his new task that he +wished he had never taken Mrs. Ladybug's advice. + +"I don't believe I like working," he said with a sigh, as he thought of +the good time his family was having at that very moment, dancing in +Farmer Green's meadow. + +And then all at once he heard a faint whistle, far off down the valley. +And a little later a low rumble caught his ear--a rumble which grew +louder and louder until at last it turned into a roar, just as a stream +of light shot around the curve in the track ahead of him, which followed +the bend of the river. + +Freddie Firefly was startled. He couldn't think what made that long lane +of light. And he was about to jump into the bushes and hide when he saw +all at once that it was exactly what he had been waiting for. + +"It's a train!" he cried aloud. And he began flashing his light bravely +while he swayed from side to side, for Mrs. Ladybug had told him that he +must swing his light--if he expected to stop the train. + +And all the while the train tore on towards Freddie Firefly. To his +great surprise it showed not the slightest sign of stopping. And in +spite of what Mrs. Ladybug had said, Freddie Firefly began to be afraid +that it wasn't going to pause at all. + +He soon saw that if he did not do something quickly the train would run +over him. But by the time he had made up his mind to jump off the track, +out of harm's way, it was too late for him to escape in that fashion. + +So Freddie Firefly crawled hurriedly into a chink beneath the railroad +tie on which he had been sitting. And with a horrible scream the train +thundered over him. To Freddie's dismay it paid no heed to his flashing +light, though he thought it must surely have seen that signal. + +Those were terrible moments for Freddie Firefly, while the train was +passing above him. The frightful noise, the trembling of the ground, the +rush of the air--all those things made him wonder whether he could ever +reach home again, alive and unharmed. He was even more scared than he +had been when he found himself in the power of that dreadful creature, +Jennie Junebug. + + + + +XXIII + +WHY FREDDIE WAS GLAD + + +Even after the train had rushed shrieking into the village two miles +away, and the echoes had grown still, Freddie Firefly cowered in his +hiding-place on the railroad track, crouched in the chink beneath one of +the ties. + +At last he crept out, trembling in every limb. But in spite of his +terror he skipped off the track very spryly. + +Safe at one side of the rails, which gleamed in the moonlight, Freddie +felt himself all over, to make sure that he had broken no bones. + +"I seem to be unhurt," he mused. "But never, never again will I listen +to anything that Mrs. Ladybug says." + +And having made himself that solemn promise, he hurried away toward +Farmer Green's meadow, which he reached just before dawn. + +As he crossed the fields he thought that he smelled smoke. But he +couldn't see a blaze anywhere. And when he came to the meadow he was so +eager to dance that he forgot to ask anybody if there had been a fire. + +Luckily he arrived in time to take part in the last dance of the night. +And after the dance was over he astonished all his family with the +strange tale that he told them. + +Before going to their homes all Freddie's relations gathered around him +to listen to his story of the night's adventure. And there were many +"Ohs" and "Ahs" when he reached the point where the train ran over him. + +"You're lucky you didn't have a leg cut off," his favorite cousin +remarked, "though that wouldn't have been so bad as losing a wing." + +Freddie Firefly shuddered. + +"Anyway, you're better off than Mrs. Ladybug is," somebody piped up. + +"Why, what's happened to her?" Freddie Firefly inquired. + +"Haven't you heard?" several of his cousins cried. + +"No! no!" he shouted. + +"Her house caught fire to-night, while she was away from home," they +explained. + +"I thought I smelled smoke as I was coming back from the railroad," +Freddie observed. And then a sad picture came into his mind. + +"And Mrs. Lady bug's children--" he began breathlessly. + +"Oh! The neighbors saved them," his favorite cousin said. "They're only +slightly scorched. But their ma's house is ruined." + +Then, to everybody's great surprise, Freddie Firefly began to dance up +and down and sing with joy. + +"Oh, I'm so glad! Oh, I'm so glad!" he chanted over and over again. + +His relations could scarcely believe that he was quite himself. + +"His fright on the railroad must have injured his mind," they said to +one another. "Or perhaps the train ran over his head when he didn't know +it." They could think of no other reason for Freddie's queer actions. +Always before he had seemed too kind-hearted to rejoice over another +person's ill luck. + +"What do you mean?" three hundred voices shouted. "Why are you glad?" + +"I'm glad I tried to stop the train," Freddie Firefly answered, "because +now Mrs. Ladybug can't say that I set her house on fire. She knows that +I was working on the railroad to-night. And nobody can be in two places +at the same time." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Freddie Firefly, by Arthur Scott Bailey + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY *** + +This file should be named tlffl10.txt or tlffl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, tlffl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tlffl10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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