The Grasshopper Stories

Grasshopper Stories, by
Elizabeth Davis Leavitt

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Title: The Grasshopper Stories
Author: Elizabeth Davis Leavitt
Illustrator: Maude Dewey Doan
Release Date: January 8, 2007 [EBook #20315]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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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