The Tale of Freddie Firefly | Page 8

honey-makers heard that, one of them tried to slip away. But
the Queen saw her and called her back.
Then they drew lots. And strange to say, the worker who had tried to
escape proved to be the unlucky one who was doomed to go to the
clover field with Freddie Firefly and gather clover nectar until
midnight.
Unluckily for Freddie, she was the worst-tempered person in the whole
Bumblebee household. And when she saw that she alone of the whole
family was going to lose half her night's sleep you may be sure she felt
very surly.
Freddie noticed a wicked gleam in her eyes. And he began to wish he
had gone to the dance over near the swamp.

XI
PEPPERY POLLY
Freddie Firefly felt quite uncomfortable as he started off toward the
clover field, together with the angry honey-maker. It had not made him
feel any more at ease when the Queen of the Bumblebees told him the
worker's name. It was Peppery Polly.
"Don't go too fast!" Peppery Polly told Freddie Firefly. "And I'll tell

you now that I'll make it warm for you if you try to play any tricks on
me to-night."
As a matter of fact, Freddie hadn't thought of such a thing as playing a
single trick on her. But Peppery Polly's warning at once put that very
idea into his head. So he began to try to think of a good joke that would
bother her. And before they had crossed the meadow Freddie Firefly
turned to Peppery Polly Bumblebee and said:
"That light off there must be in the farmhouse."
Now, never having been out at night before, his companion wanted to
see all the strange sights. So she stopped at once and looked around.
"How bright the light is!" she said. "Are you sure the farmhouse isn't on
fire?"
Not receiving any answer, she turned her head. And to her dismay, she
couldn't see Freddie Firefly anywhere.
"Oh! Oh! Where are you?" she cried. She was terribly frightened to be
left alone in the dark. "Come back--please come back!" she begged.
"Why, here I am!" said Freddie Firefly.
And wheeling about quickly, Peppery Polly found him clinging to a
blade of grass right behind her.
Freddie had been hiding under a plantain leaf, so that she couldn't see
his light. But Peppery Polly didn't know what had happened.
"Did your light go out?" she inquired anxiously.
"If it did, I never noticed it," he replied.
"Well, don't you dare to leave me alone, no matter what happens!"
Peppery Polly Bumblebee cried. "If you did, I'd never be able to find
my way home in the dark."
"Don't worry!" Freddie said. "You're perfectly safe with me. ... What
I'm wondering is whether I'm perfectly safe with you."
"You are--so long as you behave yourself," she declared. "But
remember! I'll make it hot for you if you try any tricks on me! Don't
forget that I carry a sting! And what's more, I know how to use it."
Her threat, however, failed to frighten Freddie Firefly. As soon as he
saw that his companion was afraid of the dark, he ceased to be afraid of
her. So he flashed his light impudently in her eyes.
"Come on!" he urged her with a grin which she could not see. "Let's get
to the clover field, for I like to see people work."
"You do, eh? "snapped Peppery Polly.

"Yes! Watching others work is play for me," he remarked cheerfully.
"And I hope to have as much fun to-night as I would have had if I'd
gone to the dance over near the swamp."
"Are you fond of music?" Peppery Polly asked him suddenly.
"Am I?" he exclaimed. "I should say I was!"
"Then tell me how you like this," she said. And she began to sing the
most terrible song that Freddie Firefly had ever heard in all his life.

XII
A TERRIBLE SONG
It was no wonder that Freddie Firefly grew uneasy again as he listened
to the song of Peppery Polly Bumblebee, while they flew towards the
clover field through the darkness. The chorus, especially, filled him
with alarm. And he shuddered as the disagreeable honey-maker sang it:
"I've never learned to take a joke; So if you try to trick me, My sting in
you I'll quickly poke-- You'll find that it will prick ye! It feels like
fire--though twice as hot. And I would rather sting than not!"
"How do you like that?" Peppery Polly inquired, after she had finished
her song.
"You have a beautiful voice," Freddie Firefly hastened to tell her.
"Yes--of course!" she agreed. "But I refer to the words. What do you
think of them?"
"I think they're awful!" Freddie Firefly cried; for his