The Tale of Buster Bumblebee | Page 9

no workers.
And so, one fine August day, Buster left the family home, never to set foot inside it again. But he often passed that way and lingered just outside the door, to listen to the music and the sound of dancing within.
That was the thing that he missed most; for, like all his family, he was fond of music. And he was forever humming to himself as he sipped nectar from the clover-tops or the flowers in Farmer Green's garden.
[Illustration: Buster Listened to Mrs. Ladybug's Suggestion. (Page 56)]

XII
THE CARPENTER BEE
After Buster Bumblebee left the old house in the meadow, where Mrs. Field Mouse had once lived, he had no real home. Like that quarrelsome rascal, Peter Mink, he would crawl into any good place that he happened to find. Sometimes Buster chose a hole in a fence-rail, and sometimes a crack in the side of one of the farm-buildings. He really didn't much care where he spent the night, provided it was not too far from the flower garden or the clover field.
Not being one of the worrying kind, Buster was quite contented with his lot. And it would never have occurred to him to live in any different style had it not been for a remark that little Mrs. Ladybug made to him one day.
"I should think--" she said--"I should think that the son of a queen ought to have a house of his own, instead of sleeping--like a tramp--where night overtakes him."
Now, Mrs. Ladybug's words did not offend Buster Bumblebee in the least.
"No doubt you know best," he told her. "But how can I build a house? I've never worked in all my life. And I don't intend to begin now."
"Why not get some one to build a house for you?" she asked him.
"I never thought of that!" he cried. "Whom would you suggest?"
"I know the very person!" Mrs. Ladybug told him. "He's a Carpenter Bee; and he lives in the big poplar by the brook. Perhaps you know him. Johnnie Green calls him Whiteface," she said. "They do say he's a very skillful workman."
Buster Bumblebee replied that he had never met the Carpenter, but that he would go and see him at once. So over to the big poplar he flew. And soon he was knocking boldly at the door of the Carpenter's house.
Pretty soon a mild-appearing person, who looked not a little like Buster himself, stepped through the doorway. He wore a white patch across his front and his clothes needed brushing sadly, for they showed many marks of sawdust.
"Are you the Carpenter?" Buster Bumblebee inquired.
The mild stranger said he was.
"How would you like to build a house for me?" Buster asked him.
The Carpenter seemed greatly surprised at the suggestion. "I don't think I'd like it very well," he said timidly.
"Why not?" Buster demanded.
"Well, I'm busy building an addition to my house," the Carpenter explained. "And besides, you're a total stranger. I've never seen you before; and we might quarrel if I did any work for you."
"Oh, no!" Buster Bumblebee assured him. "You couldn't quarrel with me, because I'm the most peace-loving person in Pleasant Valley."
"There!" the Carpenter cried. "I knew as soon as I set eyes on you that we were bound not to agree.... I've always claimed that there's no peacefuller person than I am in this whole neighborhood. So here we are, quarreling already!"
"Maybe you're right," Buster said then. "I'll agree that you like peace more than I do. But remember! Next to you there's no one that hates a fight the way I do--and hates work, too!"

XIII
THE CARPENTER'S PROMISE
When Buster Bumblebee told Whiteface the Carpenter Bee, that he hated to work that honest artisan stared at his caller in astonishment.
"You're a queer one!" he said at last "But there's something about you that I can't help liking, though it would be hard for me to say just what it is--so please don't ask me!"
"Then you'll make me a house, after all?" Buster cried joyfully.
"I will," the Carpenter promised, "just as soon as I finish the addition I'm building to my own home."
"Good!" said Buster. And wishing the Carpenter Bee a hasty good-afternoon, he flew off to find little Mrs. Ladybug and tell her that he was going to have a house of his own, just as she had suggested.
After that the news spread quickly, for Mrs. Ladybug was somewhat of a gossip--in a pleasant enough way. Being much interested in her neighbors, she liked to talk about their affairs. And now she told everyone that Buster Bumblebee was going to have a fine new house, and that the Carpenter was going to build it for him.
Naturally, Buster's friends all told him that they were glad to hear of his good fortune. And whenever anyone mentioned the matter, Buster promptly invited him to