Among the Meadow People

by Clara Dillingham Pierson

  But the little Crickets never heard the rest of what their teacher beganto say, for at that minute Brown Bess, the Cow, came through a brokenfence toward the spot where the Crickets were. The teacher gave oneshrill "chirp," and scrambled down his hole. The little Crickets fairlytumbled over each other in their hurry to get away, and the fat oldCricket, who had been out in the great world, never again talked to themabout being brave.

  THE CONTENTED EARTHWORMS

  After a long and soaking rain, the Earthworms came out of their burrows,or rather, they came part way out, for each Earthworm put out half ofhis body, and, as there were many of them and they lived near to eachother, they could easily visit without leaving their own homes. Two ofthese long, slimy people were talking, when a Potato Bug strolled by."You poor things," said he, "what a wretched life you must lead.Spending one's days in the dark earth must be very dreary."

  "Dreary!" exclaimed one of the Earthworms, "it is delightful. The earthis a snug and soft home. It is warm in cold weather and cool in warmweather. There are no winds to trouble us, and no sun to scorch us."

  "But," said the Potato Bug, "it must be very dull. Now, out in thegrass, one finds beautiful flowers, and so many families of friends."

  "And down here," answered the Worm, "we have the roots. Some are brownand woody, like those of the trees, and some are white and slender andsoft. They creep and twine, until it is like passing through a forest togo among them. And then, there are the seeds. Such busy times as thereare in the ground in spring-time! Each tiny seed awakens and begins togrow. Its roots must strike downward, and its stalk upward toward thelight. Sometimes the seeds are buried in the earth with the root end up,and then they have a great time getting twisted around and ready togrow."

  "Still, after the plants are all growing and have their heads in theair, you must miss them."

  "We have the roots always," said the Worm. "And then, when the summer isover, the plants have done their work, helping to make the worldbeautiful and raise their seed babies, and they wither and droop to theearth again, and little by little the sun and the frost and the rainhelp them to melt back into the earth. The earth is the beginning andthe end of plants."

  "Do you ever meet the meadow people in it?" asked the Potato Bug.

  "Many of them live here as babies," said the Worm. "The May Beetles, theGrasshoppers, the great Humming-bird Moths, and many others spend theirbabyhood here, all wrapped in eggs or cocoons. Then, when they arestrong enough, and their legs and wings are grown, they push their wayout and begin their work. It is their getting-ready time, down here inthe dark. And then, there are the stones, and they are so old and queer.I am often glad that I am not a stone, for to have to lie still must behard to bear. Yet I have heard that they did not always lie so, and thatsome of the very pebbles around us tossed and rolled and ground foryears in the bed of a river, and that some of them were rubbed andbroken off of great rocks. Perhaps they are glad now to just lie andrest."

  "Truly," said the Potato Bug, "you have a pleasant home, but give me thesunshine and fresh air, my six legs, and my striped wings, and you arewelcome to it all."

  "You are welcome to them all," answered the Worms. "We are contentedwith smooth and shining bodies, with which we can bore and wriggle ourway through the soft, brown earth. We like our task of keeping theearth right for the plants, and we will work and rest happily here."

  The Potato Bug went his way, and said to his brothers, "What do youthink? I have been talking with Earthworms who would not be Potato Bugsif they could." And they all shook their heads in wonder, for theythought that to be Potato Bugs was the grandest and happiest thing inthe world.

  THE MEASURING WORM'S JOKE

  One day there crawled over the meadow fence a jolly young MeasuringWorm. He came from a bush by the roadside, and although he was still ayoung Worm he had kept his eyes open and had a very good idea how thingsgo in this world. "Now," thought he, as he rested on the top rail of thefence, "I shall meet some new friends. I do hope they will be pleasant.I will look about me and see if anyone is in sight." So he raised hishead high in the air and, sure enough, there were seven Caterpillars ofdifferent kinds on a tall clump of weeds near by.

  The Measuring Worm hurried over to where they were, and making his bestbow said: "I have just come from the roadside and think I shall live inthe meadow. May I feed with you?"

  The Caterpillars were all glad to have him, and he joined their party.He asked many questions about the meadow, and the people who livedthere, and the best place to find food. The Caterpillars said, "Oh, themeadow is a good place, and the people are nice enough, but they are notat all fashionable--not at all."

  "Why," said the Measuring Worm, "if you have nice people and a pleasantplace in which to live, I don't see what more you need."

  "That is all very well," said a black and yellow Caterpillar, "but whatwe want is fashionable society. The meadow people always do things inthe same way, and one gets so tired of that. Now can you not tell ussomething different, something that Worms do in the great world fromwhich you come?"

  Just at this minute the Measuring Worm had a funny idea, and he wonderedif the Caterpillars would be foolish enough to copy him. He thought itwould be a good joke if they did, so he said very soberly, "I noticethat when you walk you keep your body quite close to the ground. I haveseen many Worms do the same thing, and it is all right if they wish to,but none of my family ever do so. Did you notice how I walk?"

  "Yes, yes," cried the Caterpillars, "show us again."

  So the Measuring Worm walked back and forth for them, arching his bodyas high as he could, and stopping every little while to raise his headand look haughtily around.

  "What grace!" exclaimed the Caterpillars. "What grace, and what style!"and one black and brown one tried to walk in the same way.

  The Measuring Worm wanted to laugh to see how awkward the black andbrown Caterpillar was, but he did not even smile, and soon every one ofthe Caterpillars was trying the same thing, and saying "Look at me.Don't I do well?" or, "How was that?"

  You can just imagine how those seven Caterpillars looked when trying towalk like the Measuring Worm. Every few minutes one of them would tumbleover, and they all got warm and tired. At last they thought they hadlearned it very well, and took a long rest, in which they planned totake a long walk and show the other meadow people the fashion they hadreceived from the outside world.

  "We will walk in a line," they said, "as far as we can, and let them allsee us. Ah, it will be a great day for the meadow when we begin to setthe fashions!"

  The mischievous young Measuring Worm said not a word, and off theystarted. The big black and yellow Caterpillar went first, the black andbrown one next, and so on down to the smallest one at the end of theline, all arching their bodies as high as they could. All the meadowpeople stared at them, calling each other to come and look, and wheneverthe Caterpillars reached a place where there were many watching them,they would all raise their heads and look around exactly as theMeasuring Worm had done. When they got back to their clump of bushes,they had the most dreadful backaches, but they said to each other,"Well, we have been fashionable for once."

  And, at the same time, out in the grass, the meadow people were saying,"Did you ever see anything so ridiculous in your life?" All of whichgoes to show how very silly people sometimes are when they think toomuch of being fashionable.

  A PUZZLED CICADA

  Seventeen years is a long, long time to be getting ready to fly; yetthat is what the Seventeen-year Locusts, or Cicadas, have to expect.First, they lie for a long time in eggs, down in the earth. Then, whenthey awaken, and crawl out of their shells, they must grow strong enoughto dig before they can make their way out to where the beautiful greengrass is growing and waving in the wind.

  The Cicada who got so very much puzzled had not been long out of hishome in the warm, brown earth. He was the only Cicada anywhere around,and it was very lonely for him. However, he did not mind that so muchwhen he was eating, or s
inging, or resting in the sunshine, and as hewas either eating, or singing, or resting in the sunshine most of thetime, he got along fairly well.

  Because he was young and healthy he grew fast. He grew so very fast thatafter a while he began to feel heavy and stiff, and more like sittingstill than like crawling around. Beside all this, his skin got tight,and you can imagine how uncomfortable it must be to have one's skin tootight. He was sitting on the branch of a bush one day, thinking aboutthe wonderful great world, when--pop!--his skin had cracked open rightdown the middle of his back! The poor Cicada was badly frightened atfirst, but then it seemed so good and roomy that he took a deep breath,and--pop!--the crack was longer still!

  The Cicada found that he had another whole skin under the outside onewhich had cracked, so he thought, "How much cooler and more comfortableI shall be if I crawl out of this broken covering," and out he crawled.

  It wasn't very easy work, because he didn't have anybody to help him. Hehad to hook the claws of his outer skin into the bark of the branch,hook them in so hard that they couldn't pull out, and then he began towriggle out of the back of his own skin. It was exceedingly hard work,and the hardest of all was the pulling his legs out of their cases. Hewas so tired when he got free that he could hardly think, and his newskin was so soft and tender that he felt limp and queer. He found thathe had wings of a pretty green, the same color as his legs. He knewthese wings must have been growing under his old skin, and he stretchedthem slowly out to see how big they were. This was in the morning, andafter he had stretched his wings he went to sleep for a long time.

  When he awakened, the sun was in the western sky, and he tried to thinkwho he was. He looked at himself, and instead of being green he was adull brown and black. Then he saw his old skin clinging to the branchand staring him in the face. It was just the same shape as when he wasin it, and he thought for a minute that he was dreaming. He rubbed hishead hard with his front legs to make sure he was awake, and then hebegan to wonder which one he was. Sometimes he thought that the old skinwhich clung to the bush was the Cicada that had lain so long in theground, and sometimes he thought that the soft, fat, new-looking onewas the Cicada. Or were both of them the Cicada? If he were only one ofthe two, what would he do with the other?

  While he was wondering about this in a sleepy way, an old Cicada fromacross the river flew down beside him. He thought he would ask her, sohe waved his feelers as politely as he knew how, and said, "Excuse me,Madam Cicada, for I am much puzzled. It took me seventeen years to growinto a strong, crawling Cicada, and then in one day I separated. Thethinking, moving part of me is here, but the outside shell of me isthere on that branch. Now, which part is the real Cicada?"

  "Why, that is easy enough," said the Madam Cicada; "You are _you_, ofcourse. The part that you cast off and left clinging to the branch wasvery useful once. It kept you warm on cold days and cool on warm days,and you needed it while you were only a crawling creature. But whenyour wings were ready to carry you off to a higher and happier life,then the skin that had been a help was in your way, and you did right towriggle out of it. It is no longer useful to you. Leave it where it isand fly off to enjoy your new life. You will never have trouble if youremember that the thinking part is the real _you_."

  And then Madam Cicada and her new friend flew away to her home over theriver, and he saw many strange sights before he returned to the meadow.

  THE TREE FROG'S STORY

  In all the meadow there was nobody who could tell such interestingstories as the old Tree Frog. Even the Garter Snake, who had been therethe longest, and the old Cricket, who had lived in the farm-yard, couldtell no such exciting tales as the Tree Frog. All the wonderful thingsof which he told had happened before he came to the meadow, and while hewas still a young Frog. None of his friends had known him then, but hewas an honest fellow, and they were sure that everything he told wastrue: besides, they must be true, for how could a body ever think outsuch remarkable tales from his own head?

  When he first came to his home by the elm tree he was very thin, andlooked as though he had been sick. The Katydids who stayed near saidthat he croaked in his sleep, and that, you know, is not what well andhappy Frogs should do.

  One day when many of the meadow people were gathered around him, he toldthem his story. "When I was a little fellow," he said, "I was strong andwell, and could leap farther than any other Frog of my size. I washatched in the pond beyond the farm-house, and ate my way from the eggto the water outside like any other Frog. Perhaps I ought to say, 'likeany other Tadpole,' for, of course, I began life as a Tadpole. I playedand ate with my brothers and sisters, and little dreamed what troublewas in store for me when I grew up. We were all in a hurry to be Frogs,and often talked of what we would do and how far we would travel when wewere grown.

  "Oh, how happy we were then! I remember the day when my hind legs beganto grow, and how the other Tadpoles crowded around me in the water andswam close to me to feel the two little bunches that were to be legs. Myfore legs did not grow until later, and these bunches came just in frontof my tail."

  "Your tail!" cried a puzzled young Cricket; "why, you haven't any tail!"

  "I did have when I was a Tadpole," said the Tree Frog. "I had abeautiful, wiggly little tail with which to swim through the waters ofthe pond; but as my legs grew larger and stronger, my tail grew littlerand weaker, until there wasn't any tail left. By the time my tail wasgone I had four good legs, and could breathe through both my nose andmy skin. The knobs on the ends of my toes were sticky, so that I couldclimb a tree, and then I was ready to start on my travels. Some of theother Frogs started with me, but they stopped along the way, and at lastI was alone.

  "I was a bold young fellow, and when I saw a great white thing among thetrees up yonder, I made up my mind to see what it was. There was a greatred thing in the yard beside it, but I liked the white one better. Ihopped along as fast as I could, for I did not then know enough to beafraid. I got close up to them both, and saw strange, big creaturesgoing in and out of the red thing--the barn, as I afterward found it wascalled. The largest creatures had four legs, and some of them had horns.The smaller creatures had only two legs on which to walk, and two otherlimbs of some sort with which they lifted and carried things. Thequeerest thing about it was, that the smaller creatures seemed to makethe larger ones do whatever they wanted them to. They even made some ofthem help do their work. You may not believe me, but what I tell you istrue. I saw two of the larger ones tied to a great load of dried grassand pulling it into the barn.

  "As you may guess, I stayed there a long time, watching these strangecreatures work. Then I went over toward the white thing, and that, Ifound out, was the farm-house. Here were more of the two-leggedcreatures, but they were dressed differently from those in the barn.There were some bright-colored flowers near the house, and I crawled inamong them. There I rested until sunset, and then began my evening song.While I was singing, one of the people from the house came out and foundme. She picked me up and carried me inside. Oh, how frightened I was! Myheart thumped as though it would burst, and I tried my best to get awayfrom her. She didn't hurt me at all, but she would not let me go.

  "She put me in a very queer prison. At first, when she put me down on astone in some water, I did not know that I was in prison. I tried to hopaway, and--bump! went my head against something. Yet when I drew back, Icould see no wall there. I tried it again and again, and every time Ihurt my head. I tell you the truth, my friends, those walls were made ofsomething which one could see through."

  "Wonderful!" exclaimed all the meadow people; "wonderful, indeed!"

  "And at the top," continued the Tree Frog, "was something white over thedoorway into my prison. In the bottom were water and a stone, and fromthe bottom to the top was a ladder. There I had to live for most of thesummer. I had enough to eat; but anybody who has been free cannot behappy shut in. I watched my chance, and three times I got out when thelittle door was not quite closed. Twice I was caught and put back. Inthe pleas
ant weather, of course, I went to the top of the ladder, andwhen it was going to rain I would go down again. Every time that I wentup or down, those dreadful creatures would put their faces up close tomy prison, and I could hear a roaring sound which meant they weretalking and laughing.

  "The last time I got out, I hid near the door of the house, and althoughthey hunted and hunted for me, they didn't find me. After they stoppedhunting, the wind blew the door open, and I hopped out."

  "You don't say!" exclaimed a Grasshopper.

  "Yes, I hopped out and scrambled away through the grass as fast as everI could. You people who have never been in prison cannot think howhappy I was. It seemed to me that just stretching my legs was enough tomake me wild with joy. Well, I came right here, and you were all kind tome, but for a long time I could not sleep without dreaming that I wasback in prison, and I would croak in my sleep at the thought of it."

  "I heard you," cried the Katydid, "and I wondered what was the matter."

  "Matter enough," said the Tree Frog. "It makes my skin dry to think ofit now. And, friends, the best way I can ever repay your kindness to me,is to tell you to never, never, never, never go near the farm-house."

  And they all answered, "We never will."