The Grasshopper Stories | Page 2

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