The Tale of Freddie Firefly | Page 4

telling him that he might count on a big turnout of the
Firefly family.
That was good news. And Chirpy Cricket felt so happy that he began to
sing earlier in the evening than was his custom.
While it was still dusk he went to the stone wall where the procession
was to form. And of course he had to wait there a long time before the
first of the Firefly family appeared.
Even for a person as cheerful as Chirpy Cricket, it was hard to wait.
But he consoled himself by chirping his loudest.
"I suppose Freddie Firefly and all his relations are very busy getting
their lights ready," he thought.
At last, when it was quite dark, Freddie Firefly lighted on a head of
timothy grass close beside the stone wall and began to flash his light
right in Chirpy Cricket's face.
"Here I am, just as I promised!" he called.

V
AT THE STONE WALL
"Where's the rest of your crowd?" Chirpy Cricket asked Freddie Firefly,
when they met by the stone wall. "It's getting darker every minute. And
the torchlight procession ought to start right away."
"They're coming," said Freddie. "If you look sharp you can see them
now, crossing the meadow."
Chirpy Cricket tried to see through the blackness of the night. After
gazing steadily for a few moments he was able to make out a patch of
twinkling lights, which looked a good deal like stars, except that they
were too low. Since they kept growing brighter, Chirpy Cricket knew
that they must be moving towards him, and that many of the Firefly
family had accepted his invitation.
Soon a great host of Freddie's relations surrounded Chirpy Cricket.
They flashed their lights in his eyes, so that he was almost blinded by
the glare. And it was only with much difficulty that he could see Moses
Mosquito, Kiddie Katydid, and Mehitable Moth, who had also arrived
by that time.
"What are we going to do?" everybody asked Chirpy Cricket at the
same time. So there was nothing he could do but mount the wall and
make a speech.
"Friends--" he said, in his loudest voice--"I'm glad to see so many of
you present. Our torchlight procession is going to be an even greater
success than the one that Farmer Green went to see in the village--if
you'll only follow my directions."
"We will!" his listeners cried.
"Please don't ask us to march after dawn breaks, for we'll be ready for
bed by that time," Freddie Firefly interrupted.
"I understand," Chirpy Cricket replied. "And now this is what I want
you all to do: you must fall in line one behind another. And when
everybody's ready I'll take my place at the head of the procession and
lead you all around the farm, and right past Farmer Green's window,
too."
"Forming a line is going to be hard work," somebody objected.
But Chirpy Cricket arranged that matter simply enough.
"Just form your line along the stone wall" he directed them. "The wall

is straight enough. And to tell the truth, that's exactly why I told
Freddie that we'd meet here."
"But what about Moses Mosquito and Kiddie Katydid and Mehitable
Moth?" Freddie inquired somewhat anxiously.
"Well, what about them?" Chirpy asked him. "What do you mean?"
"They haven't brought any lights," Freddie pointed out. "So what's the
use of their being in the procession?"
"Oh, that's all right!" Chirpy Cricket assured him. "They're going to
carry the banners."

VI
THE BANNERS
When Chirpy Cricket mentioned "banners," Mehitable Moth, Kiddie
Katydid, and Moses Mosquito stepped forward with looks of pride on
their faces-- so far as one could see their faces by the glimmer of the
flashing lights of the Firefly family. And at the same time Freddie
Firefly shouldered his way through the crowd and plucked at Chirpy
Cricket's sleeve.
"Don't you think--" he asked earnestly--"don't you think I ought to
carry one of the banners myself?"
"Perhaps so!" answered Chirpy Cricket. He was so taken aback that he
really didn't know what else to say. "Which one do you prefer?"
"I'd have to see them before I made a choice," Freddie Firefly told him
in a more hopeful tone.
So Chirpy ordered Kiddie Katydid and Moses and Mehitable to
produce their banners, which they had left leaning against the wall.
They brought them forth fearfully, each hoping that his--or hers--wasn't
going to be taken away and handed over to Freddie Firefly to carry in
the procession.
"Here are the banners!" Chirpy Cricket said to Freddie. "Which one do
you like best?"
Freddie looked at the banners and read them slowly, for he was not a
good reader.
The first that he examined was the one Moses Mosquito had brought.
And this is what it said: