The Tale of Betsy Butterfly | Page 2

And of course there was nothing a body could do except to agree with
Betsy Butterfly. For it was bound to be a beautiful, bright day, or she
wouldn't have been out.
So even those that didn't like Betsy had to give up trying to quarrel with
her.

II
JOHNNIE GREEN'S NET
JOHNNIE GREEN was never quite happy unless he was collecting
something. One year he went about with a hammer, chipping a piece
off almost every rock in Pleasant Valley. And of course he gathered
birds' eggs.
After he tired of that he began collecting postage stamps. Next he
turned his attention to tobacco tags, even hailing travellers who passed

the house, to ask them whether they hadn't a "hard one," meaning by
that a tag that was hard to get.
When he felt quite sure that he had a sample of every kind of tobacco
tag in the whole world, Johnnie Green had to think of something else to
collect. And since it was summer, and a good time to find them, he
decided to start a collection of butterflies.
News spreads fast among the field people; and almost as soon as
Johnnie Green had made up his mind about his new collection, the
whole Butterfly family knew of it.
Old Mr. Crow was the one that first learned of Johnnie's plan. And he
was not pleased, either.
"Butterflies!" he scoffed. "I should think Johnnie Green might better
spend his time doing something worth while. Butterflies, indeed! Now,
if he would only collect Crows there'd be some sense in that!"
But that was before old Mr. Crow and his neighbors understood exactly
what a collection was. And the Butterflies felt quite proud because
Johnnie Green was going to busy himself with them.
Later, when the field people discovered that collecting Butterflies
meant catching them and sticking pins through their heads, the
Butterfly family became greatly excited and worried. And as for old Mr.
Crow, he was very glad that Johnnie had not decided to collect him and
his relations.
Well, if you had been in Pleasant Valley that summer, on almost any
fine day you might have seen Johnnie Green running about the fields or
the flower garden with a butterfly net in his hand.
He had made the net from a barrel hoop and a piece of mosquito netting,
to which he nailed an old broomstick for a handle. And for the first few
days when he started making his new collection he didn't visit the
swimming hole once. When his father asked him to do a little work for
him--such as feeding the chickens, or leading the old horse Ebenezer to

water--Johnnie Green was not so pleasant as he might have been. He
complained that he was too busy to bother with the farm chores just
then.
But Farmer Green told him to run along and do his work.
"You'll have plenty of time to play," said Johnnie's father.
The Butterfly family was sorry that Farmer Green didn't keep his boy at
work from dawn till dark. They didn't like to have to watch out for fear
that horrid net might swoop down upon them and catch them. They
wanted to have a good time among the flowers without being in
constant terror of capture at the hands of Johnnie Green.
But, strange to say, Betsy Butterfly was not in the least uneasy. She
was so gentle herself that she couldn't believe anybody would harm her.
Little did Betsy realize that she was really in great danger. Her fatal
beauty was sure to catch Johnnie Green's eye. And though Betsy
Butterfly did not know it, only an accident could prevent her being
added to Johnnie Green's collection.

III
A MISHAP
EXCEPT for the work that his father made him do now and then, there
was only one thing that bothered Johnnie Green in making his
collection of butterflies. The weather was not so good as it might have
been. He soon found that there was no use hunting for butterflies except
in the sunshine. So when a three days' rain came, Johnnie began to wish
he had started a different sort of collection.
But the weather cleared at last. And the sun came out so bright that
Johnnie fairly pulled old Ebenezer away from the watering-trough and
hustled him back to his stall; for he was in a hurry to get to the flower
garden with his butterfly net. As for the chickens, they had very little

food that day.
Once in the garden, Johnnie Green found more butterflies than he had
ever noticed before. But as soon as he began chasing them, they flew
away to the meadow. That is, all but Betsy Butterfly. She said she was
sure Johnnie Green wouldn't annoy her.
And that