Part 7 (1/2)

The reeted her from all round

Some came out of the trees, from the throats of the birds, the dreaded creatures who could yet produce such exquisite song; other happy calls carass and the bushes, fro ones and little ones

Maya had made it very comfortable for herself in a hole in a tree It was safe and dry, and stayed warht because the sun shone on the entrance all day long Once, early in theon the bark of the trunk, and had lost no ti of a woodpecker is as terrifying to a little insect in the bark of a tree as the breaking open of our shutters by a burglar would be to us But at night she was safe in her lofty nook At night no creatures ca

She had sealed up part of the entrance ax, leaving just space enough to slip in and out; and in a cranny in the back of the hole, where it was dark and cool, she had stored a little honey against rainy days

Thisherself out into the sunshi+ne with a cry of delight, all anticipation as to what the fresh, lovely day olden air, looking like a brisk dot driven by the wind

”I a to-day,” she cried ”I feel sure I asnature”

Never had sheand all sorts of doings; the air was alive with a hulad little cries You had to join in, you just _had_ to join in

After a while Maya let herself down into a forest of grass, where all sorts of plants and floere growing The highest were the white tufts of yarrow and butterfly-weed--the flanet She took a sip of nectar froain when she saw a perfect droll of a beast perched on a blade of grass curving above her flower She was thoroughly scared--he was such a lean green monster--but then her interest was treh rooted to the spot, and stared straight at hiht he had horns Looking closer you saas his oddly protuberant forehead that gave this irew out of his brows, and his body was the slireen all over, even to his eyes He had dainty forelegs and thin, inconspicuous wings that couldn't be very practical, Maya thought Oddest of all were his great hindlegs, which stuck up over his body like two jointed stilts His sly, saucy expression was contradicted by the look of astonishment in his eyes, and you couldn't say there was any ood humor

”Well, mademoiselle,” he said to Maya, evidently annoyed by her surprised expression, ”never seen a grasshopper before? Or are you laying eggs?”

”The idea!” cried Maya in shocked accents ”It wouldn't occur tothe sacred duties of our queen I wouldn't do such a foolish thing”

The grasshopper ducked his head and h out loud in spite of her chagrin

”Madeh himself, and said: ”You're a case! You're a case!”

The fellow's behavior h?” she asked in a not altogether friendly tone

”You can't be serious expecting rass”

There was a snap ”Hoppety-hop,” said the grasshopper, and was gone

Maya was utterly non-plussed Without the help of his wings he had swung himself up in the air in a tre on ain From where, she couldn't tell, but there he was, beside her, on a leaf of her clover

He looked her up and down, all round, before and behind

”No,” he said then, pertly, ”you certainly can't lay eggs

You're not equipped for it You haven't got a borer”

”What--borer?” Maya covered herself with her wings and turned so that the stranger could see nothing but her face

”Borer, that's what I said-- Don't fall off your base, mademoiselle-- You're a wasp, aren't you?”

To be called a wasp! Nothing worse could happen to little Maya

”I _never_!” she cried