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[Illustration: THE GRASSHOPPER STORIES]






                      The Grasshopper Stories

                                 BY
                      Elizabeth Davis Leavitt

                                WITH
                          Illustrations by
                          Maude Dewey Doan



                           Copyright 1912
                                 by
                      Elizabeth Davis Leavitt

                         Henderson & DePew
                              PRINTERS
                         JACKSONVILLE, ILL.



[Illustration: Heigho! Little girls and boys who are good!]

                  Come, read these tales with me!
                     For the secrets they tell
                      You will understand well
                           If you're good
                              as good
                                can
                                be!




THE WISE GRASSHOPPER


"Come, Billy!"

Billy dropped his tin-soldier on the ground and ran in to help his
mother wipe the dishes. She gave him a nice, fresh towel and he began to
rub the tin plates as fast as he could. He never put one down until he
could see himself in it. As for the tin cups, his mother sometimes
thought he would rub them entirely away! But he never did quite that.
You see, Billy's mother allowed him to dry only the tin dishes because
he was so very little, she thought he might break the china ones.

Now, on this particular morning, Billy's mother ran to the front gate to
buy the dinner from the vegetable-man. While she was gone, he finished
all the tin dishes on the draining-tray. There was still a beautiful,
white, china cup to be dried.

"I believe I'll wipe just that one!" said Billy. He reached up, caught
hold of the cup and was carefully bringing it down to his other hand,
when--"Crash!"--the cup lay on the floor in pieces.

Billy was very frightened. He looked out of the door to see if his mother
was coming. But she was still talking to the vegetable-man. Then he did
a strange thing. He pushed all the pieces of the broken cup under the
table and ran out the back door to his toys. But he did not play with
them. He sat down on a stone, chin in hand. The little tin-soldier
looked up at him as if to say, "Come on, Billy, let's march!" The little
horse-and-wagon stood ready to start, as if saying, "Come on Billy,
let's go travelling!" The little Teddy Bear, with his head on one side,
seemed to say, "Come on Billy, let's have a romp!"

[Illustration: "Crash!" the cup lay on the floor, in pieces.]

But Billy did not stir. He just sat there thinking. Suddenly, something
said right out loud, "Why what's the matter, Billy?"

Billy jumped. Looking around, he saw a grasshopper sitting on a blade
of grass.

[Illustration: "Why, what's the matter, Billy?"]

"What is the matter this morning, Billy?" the grasshopper asked.

"I'm afwaid--I'm afwaid I'm a bad boy," answered Billy.

"Why, how is that?" exclaimed the grasshopper.

"Well--I was going to wipe one of my mother's china cups this morning
and it hit the floor and bwoke!" confessed Billy.

"What did you do then?" said the grasshopper, putting his head on one
side.

Billy turned very red. He hated to tell the grasshopper what he had next
done.

"If you tell me, perhaps I can help you," said the grasshopper, by way
of encouragement.

"Well," said Billy, "I hid the pieces under the table and came out
here--to think!"

"Why do you not go and tell your mother all about it?" asked the
grasshopper.

"O," gasped Billy, "I could not do that! I'm afwaid!"

"Why should you be afraid," continued the grasshopper. "Doesn't your
mother love you?"

"O yes," cried Billy, "a million bushels!"

"And don't you love your mother?" said the grasshopper.

"O yes, a hundwed million bushels!" answered Billy.

"Then go and tell her you broke the cup! You will be happy if you do!"

"I can't," said Billy, "I just can't!"

"Mercy on us!" cried the grasshopper, jumping over to another blade of
grass. "I wouldn't be afraid! What kind of a man do you think you'll
grow up to be?"

"Well," said Billy, "perhaps I will tell her. You wait here till I come
back!"

Very slowly he walked to the door. His heart beat so hard he could hear
it thumping. As he stood in the door-way, a shame-faced little Billy,
his mother looked up and said, "Did you come to help mother shell the
peas?" For that is what she was doing. But Billy did not answer. He
walked up close to her. "Mother," he said, "I--I bwoke a cup!"

"Yes, darling," she said, putting her arm around him, "Mother knows
it. She found the pieces. And she's been wondering if her little boy
wouldn't come in and tell her all about it."

Billy looked up and saw on her face the wonderful smile that he loved.

"I thought you would be sorry!" he said.

"I am sorry, Billy, that you broke the cup but I am glad--so glad--that
you were brave enough to tell Mother the truth about it. Mother wants
you to grow up to be a brave man." She raised his face and kissed both
his flushed little cheeks.

"I'll be back in a minute, Mother," he said, as he drew away and ran
out of the door. There was the grasshopper, hopping around. When he saw
Billy, he stopped.

"Didn't I tell you!" he said, for he saw Billy's smiling face and knew
he was happy again.

"How did you know?" asked Billy.

The grasshopper put his head on one side and said,

  "Oh, I am a grasshopper, very, very wise!
   I know about everything underneath the skies!"


At that he hopped such a big hop, Billy could not see where he went.
So he called out, "Good-bye, Grasshopper!"

Then he looked at his sad little toys, lying on the ground, and said,
"I'll be back after while to play with you! I am going in to help my
mother shell the peas!" And away he ran as fast as his little legs would
carry him.




A HAPPY DAY


Billy was off for a walk. He had kissed his mother good-bye; he had
stood his toys up in the corner; and now, with his little lunch-basket
in his hand, he was running down to the gate when somebody said,
"Good-morning, Billy! Where are you going?"

[Illustration: The grasshopper hopped such big hops.]

He looked around and there sat a grasshopper on a blade of grass.

"Good-morning, Grasshopper," said Billy. "I'm going for a walk."

"I should like to go with you," said the grasshopper. "May I?"

"Of course!" answered Billy. "Shall we run a race?"

They were off like the wind, but the grasshopper hopped such big hops,
he had to wait for Billy to catch up after each hop.

"Stop running!" he called out as he sat waiting. "You might tread on
this ant."

When Billy came up, he saw an ant trying to pull a piece of bread to the
door of her house. How hard the ant was working! Up hill and down hill,
for ridges of earth in the road seemed like great hills to the little
ant.

"Why don't you help the ant, Billy?" asked the grasshopper.

"That's so!" said Billy. "I will!" He brought a green leaf and said,
"Now Mrs. Ant, if you will pull the bread on this leaf, I will help you
to get it to your home."

"O, thank you!" said the ant. "My babies are very hungry." So she put
the bread on the leaf and sat down beside it and Billy drew the leaf to
the little hill of sand that he knew was the ant's house.

"Thank you!" said the ant. "You are very kind, little boy!"

"You are welcome," said Billy and he and the grasshopper went on their
way.

Suddenly they stopped. There, on the edge of the road, was a tiny
baby-bird. It was trying to fly, but it was too little. Its wings were
not strong enough.

"I believe I'll take it home," said Billy.

"O Billy," exclaimed the grasshopper, "Don't you hear its mother calling
to it? There she is on that branch, flapping her wings and calling. She
wants it in the nest again but she does not know how to get it there.
Why don't you put it in the nest for her?"

"That's so!" said Billy. "I will!"

So they hunted in the bushes and found the nest, low enough for Billy to
reach. There were two other little baby-birds in it and when Billy put
in the little bird that had fallen, they all began to chirp, "Peep!
Peep! Peep!" That meant "Thank you!" Then the mother-bird hopped around
so gladly and said "Thank you, little boy; you are very kind!"

"You are welcome," replied Billy and he and the grasshopper went on
their way.

Pretty soon they grew hungry. They sat down and opened the lunch-basket
and while they were eating the bread and jelly and nuts that Billy's
mother had put up for him, a little squirrel hopped out of his hole in
a tree. He cocked his head on one side and watched them with bright
little eyes.

"Why don't you give him a nut?" asked the grasshopper.

"That's so!" said Billy. "I will!"

So he threw a nut on the grass. The squirrel picked up the nut, cracked
it with his sharp little teeth and ate it with so much relish that Billy
threw him another and another. When everything was gone, the squirrel
said, "Thank you, little boy. You are very kind!"

"You are welcome," said Billy, and for some reason he felt very happy.

As he and the grasshopper were walking along again, they saw a
beautiful, big butterfly sitting on a tall, yellow poppy. It was quite
still. So Billy said, "That butterfly is asleep! I'm going to put it in
my hat and take it home!"

"He is not asleep!" contradicted the grasshopper. "He has just waked up!
He is waiting for his wings to grow strong, so he can fly. Leave him
here in the sunshine. He would be very unhappy if you took him into your
house!" The grasshopper hopped way out of sight, for this was the very
longest speech he had ever made.

"O, please come back, grasshopper!" called Billy, "and tell me, did the
butterfly sleep on that flower?"

The grasshopper was beside Billy before he had finished speaking. "No,
no!" he replied to Billy's question. "He slept in the little house that
he made for himself before he went to sleep!" The grasshopper looked at
an empty cocoon hanging from a twig of a tree.

"Is that his house?" asked Billy, looking at it very curiously, for he
had never seen anything like it before. The grasshopper nodded his head
and winked an eye.

Just then the butterfly began to move his beautiful yellow and black
wings up and down, very, very slowly.

"Why don't you fly?" asked Billy, "I'm not going to take you home with
me."

"Thank you for leaving me out in the sunshine," said the butterfly,
"I want to fly up to the blue sky very much indeed and, if I wait and
work my wings, they will grow stronger and then I shall be able to fly
ever so high."

[Illustration: "Why don't you fly?"]

Billy sat down on a stone and the grasshopper perched on a blade of
grass.

"Did you know how to fly before you went to sleep?" asked Billy.

"O dear no!" replied the butterfly. "I was only a caterpillar and had to
creep along the earth or on cabbage leaves."

"Only a caterpillar!" gasped Billy. "Then where did you get those
wings?"

"They grew in the night," answered the butterfly, "while I was asleep."

At this the grasshopper began to laugh. He laughed so hard, he had to
hold his sides.

"Why are you laughing, Grasshopper?" asked Billy indignantly.

The grasshopper did not answer him, but said, "Butterfly, do you know
how long you slept in that little house you made for yourself when you
were a caterpillar?"

"How long?" asked the butterfly, who had been working his wings up and
down all this time.

"Many days and many nights, all through the cold winter. The wind rocked
you in your little cradle-house; the rain kept your house nice and soft;
and now, today, the warm, spring sun has waked you up and soon you will
fly!"

At these words, the butterfly pressed his wings down and soared up in
the air, over the trees and far away. "Good-bye," he called out as he
disappeared among the tall trees, "and thank you, little boy!"

"You are welcome," called Billy and then he sat still and silent.

"What's the matter, Billy?" asked the grasshopper.

"I was wishing that I might fly!" said Billy.

"Who knows!" exclaimed the grasshopper. "Perhaps you may some day!"

"But I can run!" and Billy was off down the road on his way home. The
grasshopper overtook him in one hop. "Shall we stop and pick some
flowers for your mother?" he asked.

"That's so!" said Billy, "we will!"

So they went into a field and began to pick flowers. Billy picked a
daisy and the grasshopper picked a daisy. Billy picked a clover and the
grasshopper picked a clover. Billy picked a bluet and the grasshopper
picked a bluet. Billy picked a wind flower and the grasshopper picked a
wind flower. Then the grasshopper gave his flowers to Billy and Billy
thanked him.

"Now, we must go home," said Billy, so they ran until they came to
Billy's door.

"I am glad you went with me, Grasshopper," said Billy. "Shall we go
again some day?"

"We will go again, some day!" replied the grasshopper, bowing very low.

"Good-bye," said Billy, as he ran in to give his mother the flowers and
tell her all about his walk. As she smiled and listened to Billy, the
grasshopper peeped in at the open window and sang out,

  "Oh, I am a grasshopper, very, very wise!
   I know about everything underneath the skies!"




THE LITTLE PIECE OF PINK WORSTED


Billy sat on his stone in the back yard, his chin in his hand. He had
just gotten home from kindergarten and his mother had told him to go out
in the yard and play with his toys until dinner was ready.

But he was not playing with his toys. He had laid his tin-soldier on the
grass, though the little tin-soldier had been sleeping all morning and
felt like a march. He had stood his horse-and-wagon in the shade, though
the horse had been resting all morning and felt like a gallop. He had
braced his Teddy Bear against a tree, though the Teddy Bear had been
leaning against a chair all morning and felt like a romp. They all
looked reproachfully at Billy, but he did not notice them. He seemed to
be thinking deeply.

Suddenly he put his hand in his pocket. When he drew it out, it was a
little fist. When he opened the little fist, he gazed lovingly at a
piece of pink worsted, all crumpled up! He took an end of it in each
hand and stretched it out as long as he could reach. Then he crumpled
it up again and put it in his pocket.

[Illustration: "What's that in your pocket?"]

"What's that, Billy?"

Billy jumped. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a
grasshopper sitting on a blade of grass.

"What's that in your pocket?" asked the grasshopper.

"Just a little piece of worsted," Billy replied, putting his hand in his
pocket again to be sure it was there.

"Where did you get it?" asked the grasshopper.

"At kindergarten," answered Billy.

"Teacher give it to you?"

Billy did not answer.

"Did she?" persisted the grasshopper.

"N--no," said Billy reluctantly while his face turned very red.

"Well, who did?" continued the grasshopper.

"Nobody! I found it on the floor!" replied Billy.

"Found it on the kindergarten floor," exclaimed the grasshopper, "and
brought it home with you?"

"Well," Billy defended himself, "'findin's keepin's!'"

"O Billy," cried the grasshopper, "if you lost your little tin-soldier,
and another little boy found it, wouldn't you want him to bring it back
to you?"

"Course!"

The grasshopper put his head on one side and looked at Billy. Billy
looked at the ground. Finally he spoke. "My teacher has so much worsted!
I don't know how many cards you could sew with all she has--all colors
too!"

The grasshopper put his head on the other side and looked at Billy.
Billy began to feel very uncomfortable.

"Why don't you take it back and tell your teacher all about it?" asked
the grasshopper.

"Take it back!" gasped Billy, "and give it to my teacher! I couldn't!
I'll take it back and put it on the the floor."

"Mercy on us!" exclaimed the grasshopper, jumping over to another blade
of grass, "Be a man! You will be happier after you have told her."

Now Billy knew that his teacher always stayed at kindergarten, after the
children had gone, to "straighten up" and his kindergarten was right
across the street. So he thought a moment and then jumped up. "You wait
here till I come back!" And away he ran as fast as his little legs would
carry him. But when he reached the kindergarten door, he stopped. His
teacher was sitting with her back to the door, arranging the worsted in
the large, linen worsted-case. She was humming a little song, too.
Billy's heart beat fast, for he loved his teacher and thought her the
most beautiful lady in all the world next to his mother. He started to
run away, but he remembered the grasshopper's words, "Be a man!" So he
put his little hand in his pocket and tip-toed into the room, right up
to his teacher.

"O," she said, "I thought you were a little mouse, Billy!" She laughed
as she said it but Billy looked very grave. He pulled his little fist
out of his pocket, held it toward her and opened it.

"I bwought this back to you! I found it on the floor."

"And took it home?" asked his teacher, her beautiful eyes wide open.

"Yes," answered Billy, "I didn't think you would want it."

"And when you got home, you thought I would want it?" she asked.

Billy nodded. The tears had come to his eyes, though he had tried to
keep them back.

"Thank you, Billy," she said in a low voice as she smoothed out the
crumpled worsted and put it in the case. It was a little soiled but she
did not seem to notice that. She put her arm around Billy and drew him
close to her. "I am glad you brought the worsted back, Billy," she said,
"for it shows me that you are a brave little man! It makes me love you
very much."

Billy looked up at her with shining eyes. "I love you too!" he declared.

She kissed his forehead. "Now run home to your dinner!" she said. Billy
ran as fast as he could until he saw the grasshopper. Then he stopped.

"You look very happy, Billy," said the grasshopper, "I guess you must
have told your teacher all about it!"

"I did," cried Billy, "but how did you know it would make me happy?
I did not think it would."

The grasshopper jumped over to another blade of grass, put his head on
one side, and sang,

  "Oh, I am a grasshopper, very, very wise!
   I know about everything underneath the skies!"


With that, he hopped such a big hop, Billy could not see where he went.

"Good-bye," called Billy and then he said to his sad little toys, "just
wait till I have had my dinner and helped my mother with the dishes and
I will come out and play with you!" and away he ran into the house, the
happiest little boy in the world.

                 *       *       *       *       *


                               O ho!


                Little boys and girls who are good!
                  You've read these tales with me!
                       Their secrets you know
                        For you plainly show
                          That you're good
                              as good
                                can
                                be!






End of Project Gutenberg's The Grasshopper Stories, by Elizabeth Davis Leavitt