The Tale of Freddie Firefly | Page 6

It belongs to Mehitable Moth."
"I'm afraid Mrs. Green has heard I'm coming; and I don't want to
disappoint her," Freddie replied.
And then he sprang from his perch and went zigzagging away.
One might think that Chirpy Cricket would have been quite upset by
the breaking up of his torchlight procession. But being naturally
cheerful, he merely smiled and said that it was plain that the Fireflies
were a very flighty family.

VIII
BUSTER'S SCHEME
About the time summer was half gone, Buster Bumblebee's mother, the
Queen, began to worry. She was afraid her workers were not going to
make enough honey for her family's needs.
Then came a few days of steady rain, when the workers of the
Bumblebee family couldn't venture away from home, on account of
getting their wings wet. And of course the Queen was terribly upset.
"I don't know what to do!" she kept exclaiming. "The days are already
growing shorter. It's a pity the honeymakers can't work in the dark."
Buster Bumblebee happened to hear his mother talking in that fashion
with some of the older members of the family. And he spoke up at once
and said:
"I know of a plan that might help."
Nobody paid the slightest attention to his remark, because the whole
family thought that Buster was not only fat and lazy, but somewhat
stupid as well.
"I know of something you could do that would help," he persisted, in a
much louder voice. "The honey-makers could work after dark if you'd
only get the Firefly family to furnish lights for them."
A number of Buster's relations snickered when they heard his plan. It
struck them as being too silly for anything. But his mother, the Queen,
looked very thoughtful.

"I'm not sure but that this boy has a good idea," she observed, much to
the surprise of the others. "For a long time I've been waiting for him to
say something worth listening to. And now I do believe he has had a
happy thought at last." She turned to Buster. "How did you chance
upon this scheme?" she asked him.
"Oh, the notion just came to me. I didn't have to WORK, to think of it,"
Buster explained. And he wondered why everybody laughed.
You know, Buster Bumblebee was so lazy that he never would lift a
finger to do a stroke of work. And now the word "work" had a very
funny sound, coming from his mouth.
"How could we get the Firefly family to help us? Have you thought of a
way to do that?" Buster's mother said to her son.
"N-no, I haven't," he admitted. "But I'd go straight to Freddie Firefly
and tell him what's wanted."
"Suppose you do that, then," said the Queen.
"You wouldn't call that WORKING, would you?" Buster inquired
anxiously. Having long since promised himself that he would never
work, of course he didn't want to break his word.
His relations--that is, except his mother--couldn't help tittering when
Buster said that. But to tell the truth, they were beginning to be the least
bit jealous of Buster Bumblebee and his plan. When the Queen frowned
at them severely, each of them tried to look as if it had been somebody
else that laughed.
Then the Queen assured Buster that paying a call on a person couldn't
be said to be work.
"You go and talk with Freddie Firefly," she directed him, "and if your
plan proves to be a success, it will then be your turn to laugh at others."

IX
FREDDIE'S PROMISE
Buster Bumblebee did not find Freddie Firefly very easily. It was a
sunny afternoon; and if Freddie was flashing his bright light, Buster
was unable to see it. But at last he spied Freddie eating a meal of pollen
in the meadow.
"How would you like to work for my mother, the Queen?" Buster asked
him.
"I don't believe I'd care to, thank you," Freddie Firefly answered, with a

mouth so full of food that Buster heard him only with great difficulty.
"I'll wait a moment, until you have finished your lunch," said Buster.
"You'd better not!" Freddie Firefly told him. "It will be dark by that
time. And Chirpy Cricket tells me your family always goes to bed at
sunset."
"So we do!" Buster agreed. "But my mother, the Queen, is going to
order her honey-makers to work overtime for the present. And she
wants you and your family to furnish lights so they can see what they're
doing." "Oh! That's different!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed. "I thought
she wanted me to help make honey. And that's something I know
nothing about. ... But when it comes to furnishing a light, I'm certainly
a shining success." Freddie then laughed heartily. And much to his
surprise,