The Grasshopper Stories | Page 4

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