Dick and His Cat and Other Tales Part 8

"I am not quite sure that it was a real good thing," Rose went on, "but I found a poor little b.u.t.terfly that had fallen into a pool in the garden, where the rain had come.

8. "Its wings were wet, and it could not fly up. So I took it up and put it in the sun on the wall, and soon it was well."

9. Mrs. Sutton looked at Rose in a loving way. "I am quite sure that it was a 'real good thing' if you are not," said the old lady. "And so that was partly why you were late?"

10. "Yes, granny."

"Well, the little b.u.t.terfly is all the better, though you were the worse for having cold toast. But that is not much to bear for the sake of saving a little life, is it?"

11. And all this time I had been feasting on the sweet white lumps of sugar. No one took any notice of me, and so I went on, till one lump began to grow quite small.

12. "Look, here is a little house-fly!" said Rose. "He is standing quite still on a lump of sugar. What is he doing, granny?"

"He is eating it, dear."

"Can he bite it up?"

13. "Bite it up! No," said Mr. Sutton, putting down his paper and coming up to us. "The fly has no teeth, he has a trunk. He sends down some juice through his trunk on to the sugar.

14 "This juice melts it, and then he sucks it up again."

"How clever!" said Rose. "I wish he would let me touch him." And she put out one finger very softly towards me.

15. Now though I am a brave fly now, I could not bear at that time to see the hand of any person come near me. Though I would perch on the top of it, I did not like to be touched by it.

16. So I flew up in a great hurry, and pitched on some dark stuff which smelt like new hay, and which stood on the side table in a box. Rose did not see where I went. "Oh, how fast he went off!" she said.

_Write:_ Rose saved the life of a b.u.t.terfly. She found it in a little pool. She set it in the sun to dry its wings. It was a useful thing to do.

Questions: 1. What had Rose found in the garden? 2. What did she do for the little b.u.t.terfly? 3. How did the fly eat sugar without any teeth? 4. What did Rose wish to do? 5.

What did the fly think about being touched? 6. What did he do when he saw the hand of Rose near him?

2. IN THE TEA-CADDY.

1. "Now, granny," said Rose, when the breakfast was done, "I will not forget, to-day at least, to lock up the tea-caddy."

2. So she took up the sugar-basin, fitted it into a little place made for it inside the box where I sat, and, before I had any idea of what she was doing, she shut down the lid.

3. I was now, for the first time, left in the dark. And I began to think what a pleasant thing the suns.h.i.+ne was, and to wonder when I should be let out again.

4. But I must say that I found the sugar a great comfort. I went on eating it as long as I could. If I was to be locked up at all, I could not have been locked into a better place.

5. The sugar-basin was full and there were enough lumps in it to last a fly of my size all his life. But of course one might get tired of it, in time.

6. But I was not tired yet. So I ate and ate, until I began to feel my legs ache and my wings very heavy. Just then I heard a loud noise, and a light broke into my prison.

7. It was Rose turning the key in the lock and lifting the lid of the tea-caddy. "Oh, granny!" cried she, "here is a poor fly that can hardly move."

8. "I am afraid, dear, that the poor fly must thank himself for that,"

said Mrs. Sutton, looking closely at me. "He has been a little glutton, I fear, and has eaten so much sugar that he can hardly move."

9. "Poor little fellow," said Rose, "I will not hurt him. He shall go out of doors on to the cool gra.s.s and get well again.

10. "I dare say that, though he is not quite so pretty as a b.u.t.terfly, he likes to be alive." So Rose took me up between her finger and thumb as gently as she could, but oh, what great big hands they seemed to me!

11. And my poor sides were pinched black and blue. That is the reason why I cannot bear one of the great hands which belong to men and women to catch hold of me.

12. You see we tiny flies are made so lightly, and we are so small. A mere touch will crush our dainty wings, or break our slender legs, or hurt our eyes.

13. How thankful I am that we have eyes that can see behind and all round us as well as in front!

14. We are able to get away, thanks to these eyes, when we see a great hand coming to catch us. Even a baby's hand seems like that of a giant to us.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROSE DID HER BEST FOR ME.]

15. But dear Rose did her best for me, and put me in a spoon to carry.

At the same time I did wish that the sugar had not been quite so nice, and that I had not taken so much of it.

16. The fresh air of the garden, the suns.h.i.+ne, and the flowers did me a great deal of good, after being shut up in the tea-caddy. At night I slept in a lily bell.

_Write:_ The fly was shut into a tea-caddy by mistake. He ate so much sugar that he could hardly fly. Rose put him out of doors to get well.

Questions: 1. What did Rose do after breakfast? 2. What did the fly do inside the tea-caddy? 3. What did Rose say when she opened it again? 4. What did her grandmother say? 5.

What did Rose do for the fly? 6. Why does not the fly like to be touched?

3. I FALL INTO THE CREAM.

1. The next morning I flew in at the window. Rose had soon done her breakfast, and she locked up the caddy again, with me outside this time.

2. Though I did not fancy any sweets on that morning, I saw something in a small jug on the table which I thought looked even nicer. It was yellow and rather thick.

3. I went down to see what sort of stuff it was. It could not hurt me, at any rate, to dip one of my feet in, or the tip of my trunk, and see whether cream was better and more wholesome than sugar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOMETHING IN A SMALL JUG.]

4. I slid with care down the sides of the jug, holding firmly on with the little soles of my feet, which, I am thankful to say, have suckers on them which make it easy for me to run where I like without falling.

5. I tasted cream for the first time In my life. What a happy moment it was! I tasted it a second time, a third, and a fourth time, and after that I became so greedy for more that I lost my balance and in I went plump!

6. At first I kicked about as hard as I could, and tried to keep my wings clear. But they soon got cold, and stuck to my sides.

7. And then I could only go round and round the place, looking with despair at the steep sides of the cream-jug, which seemed far larger and steeper than they had done before my sad mishap.