The Tale of Daddy Longlegs | Page 8

him in Jimmy Rabbit's shoe shop in the meadow.
Suddenly Peter Mink stopped. And to Daddy Longlegs' great delight Peter began to take off his shoes.
Yes! Peter Mink removed his shoes. And then he removed himself. That is to say, he dropped his shoes carelessly upon the ground (for that was his way!) and took himself off.
Daddy Longlegs waited until Peter Mink had stolen away. And then he dashed out of the shoe much faster than he had entered it the evening before.
Yes; the evening before! For now it was the following morning--and broad daylight.
Daddy Longlegs stretched his eight legs, first one after another, and then all together. He was so glad to escape from his cramped quarters that he had little thought for anything except the joy of being free once more.
Then he remembered all at once that he was lost. And that was enough to start his eight legs to shaking beneath him in a very unpleasant fashion. Daddy Longlegs was frightened. Anybody could have seen that.
After a few moments he looked about him, wondering which way he had better go. And as he gazed at his surroundings he saw--not far off--a familiar looking object.
At first Daddy could scarcely believe his eyes. And he looked steadily at what he saw, as if he half expected it would fly away and vanish.
But the object did nothing of the kind. And how could it, anyhow? Because it was Farmer Green's house that had caught Daddy Longlegs' eye.... And there stood the great barn too, a little way off! And there was the bridge across Swift River!
Without knowing what he was doing, Peter Mink had brought Daddy Longlegs almost home. And then he had taken off his shoes because he wanted to go for a swim in the duck pond, in the hope of catching an eel for his breakfast.
Well, Daddy Longlegs lost no time in making his way back to the stone wall by the roadside. And the first person he met there was no other than little Mrs. Ladybug, who seemed delighted to see him and asked him how he liked working for Farmer Green.
"Yes! It's a fine day," said Daddy Longlegs. "The rain is holding off. And it looks as if Farmer Green was going to get his oats harvested without their being wet, after all."
"I see you're deaf to-day," Mrs. Ladybug observed in a pitying tone. "It's a shame. And Farmer Green ought to be very grateful to you for your help."
"He hasn't said a word to me," Daddy Longlegs told her. And Mrs. Ladybug declared she couldn't understand it.
But there were many other things, too, that she didn't understand. She had heard that Daddy was a harvestman. But she didn't know that some people called him by that name merely because he was seen in Pleasant Valley about the time Farmer Green harvested his crops. As for working in the fields, Daddy Longlegs knew no more about that than did that fat drone, Buster Bumblebee. And Farmer Green would have laughed heartily at the idea of either of them helping him.

XI
THE BIG WIND
FOR several days after his unlucky journey across the meadow, when he tried to reach the field where Farmer Green was harvesting his oats, Daddy Longlegs did not wander far from the stone wall.
But one day Rusty Wren told him that his cousin, Long Bill Wren, was going to give a party at his house in the reeds on the bank of Black Creek. And although he had not been invited to the party, Daddy Longlegs thought it would be pleasant to go to it.
Accordingly he started off at once, though the party was not to take place until the afternoon of the following day. But Daddy Longlegs knew that he was a slow walker--and Black Creek was a long distance away.
Now, it was a fine, beautiful morning when Daddy set forth on his journey. And he travelled steadily all day long without meeting with an adventure of any sort.
When night came he crept inside an old fallen tree-trunk. And he went to sleep feeling very happy, because he was thinking what a good time he was going to have at the party the next afternoon.
But when morning came, and Daddy Longlegs crawled out of the hollow tree to continue his journey, he had a great disappointment. The moment he thrust his head out of his hiding-place he knew that he was in trouble. And he saw at once that he would have to miss Rusty Wren's cousin's party, because he certainly couldn't go on, with the weather as it was.
Yet the sun was shining brightly. And there was scarcely a cloud to be seen in the sky.
A person might naturally wonder, then, what Daddy Longlegs could have found to worry him. It wasn't raining.