"What are these great holes in the squash leaves?" she inquired.
Her cousin fidgeted and made no reply. Glancing at her, Mrs. Ladybug thought she was growing a bit red in the face.
Then all at once Mrs. Ladybug guessed the dreadful truth.
"You"ve been _eating_ these leaves!" she cried.
Her cousin tossed her head.
"A person has to eat something," she retorted.
Mrs. Ladybug threw up her hands.
"I _knew_ you weren"t trustworthy," she muttered. "I _knew_ you weren"t the sort of relation I"d want anything to do with."
Then Mrs. Ladybug left her.
Later, when Chirpy Cricket met her, he asked her if she had seen her cousin who was spending the summer among the squash vines. And he was astonished when Mrs. Ladybug glared at him and exclaimed:
"Never mention her to me again!"
XIII
JENNIE JUNEBUG
JENNIE JUNEBUG was a frolicsome fat person. And she was a great joker.
The joke that she loved most was this: she loved to b.u.mp into people that were flying through the air--to b.u.mp into them and knock them, spinning, upon the ground.
Being much heavier than many of her neighbors, Jennie Junebug suffered little from such collisions. And she never could understand why anybody should find fault with her favorite sport. If a body objected to her rough play Jennie Junebug only laughed heartily.
"I don"t mind when I take a tumble," she would retort. "So why should you?"
And if the sufferer complained that it wasn"t the tumble that hurt, so much as the shock of her hard, bulky self, Jennie would shake with merriment and crash into him again.
Really, it was useless to try to reason with her. The safest way was to avoid her if possible, especially after dark. For then was the time that she preferred for her rowdy tricks.
Mrs. Ladybug couldn"t abide her. Not only did she dislike Jennie Junebug"s jokes. She disapproved of her treatment of Farmer Green. For Jennie Junebug did everything she could to ruin the trees on the farm.
She ate their leaves. And that was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug couldn"t forgive in anybody.
"It"s a shame--" Mrs. Ladybug often said--"it"s a shame, the way Jennie Junebug riddles the foliage. Here I work my hardest to save the leaves by ridding them of tiny insects that feed upon them--insects that suck the juices from the leaves and make them wither. And there"s Jennie Junebug, trying her best to destroy the leaves that I save.... It"s enough to make an honest person weep."
Perhaps Jennie Junebug wasn"t so bad, at heart, as Mrs. Ladybug thought her. Maybe she was merely a gay, careless creature who never stopped to consider that she was injuring Farmer Green when she hurt his trees. At least, that was what some of Mrs. Ladybug"s other neighbors sometimes remarked.
But Mrs. Ladybug never could believe that Jennie had a single good trait--unless it was good nature. For she was always ready with a laugh, no matter what anybody said to her.
It was seldom that Mrs. Ladybug hesitated to speak her mind right out to a person if she happened to disapprove of him. But she had always kept out of Jennie Junebug"s way. Jennie was many times bigger than little Mrs. Ladybug. Mrs. Ladybug trembled to think what might happen to her if Jennie should ever hurl her fat body against Mrs. Ladybug with a dull, sickening thud.
"If that ever happens," Mrs. Ladybug thought, "I fear I"ll never be able to do another day"s work for Farmer Green. It might be the end of me."
Now, in spite of her fears, Mrs. Ladybug had even more than her share of courage. And as time went on, and she saw the awful havoc that Jennie Junebug played with the trees, Mrs. Ladybug reached the point where she couldn"t any longer stand by silently and let Jennie Junebug riddle the leaves. "Something will have to be done!" Mrs. Ladybug declared to her friends. "I can"t compel Jennie Junebug to stop. She"s too big for me to handle.
"I"m going to have a talk with her," said Mrs. Ladybug.
XIV
b.u.mPS
SOME busybody went straight to Jennie Junebug and told her what Mrs.
Ladybug had said.
"Mrs. Ladybug is going to have a talk with you," this meddling person told the fat and frolicsome Jennie. "She wants you to stop eating leaves. She says you are doing your best--or your worst--to hurt the trees that she is trying to save. She claims that you are no friend of Farmer Green"s. She--"
Jennie Junebug broke in upon her companion with a loud laugh.
"I"d like to have Mrs. Ladybug try to speak to me," she chuckled. "If she does, I"ll have fun with her. I"ll knock her over. I"ll send her spinning."
Jennie"s friend seemed somewhat alarmed at that.
"Now, be careful!" she begged the fat lady. "Don"t forget that Mrs.
Ladybug is a little creature! You"ll injure her if you"re too rough with her."
"Ho! ho!" laughed Jennie Junebug, and also, "Ha! ha!" She had to stop and hold her sides, while she rocked back and forth. "This is a great joke!" Jennie cried. "Imagine Mrs. Ladybug trying to talk with me! Why, she"ll be lucky if she can get her breath after I"ve flown into her once."
"Dear me!" said the tale-bearer. "I wish I hadn"t mentioned this matter to you. Of course, everybody knows that Mrs. Ladybug talks too much. And I thought maybe you"d enjoy meeting her and making her keep still. But I had no idea you would do her any harm."
"Bless you!" cried Jennie Junebug. "I wouldn"t harm a hair of her head!"
And she roared with laughter, for she had made a joke. You see, Mrs.
Ladybug had no hair. She was quite bald.
Well, Mrs. Ladybug found Jennie Junebug that very evening. She knew that Jennie wasn"t often seen except after sunset. For Jennie loved to see the lights twinkling through the gloom. And she delighted in surprising people in the dark, by flying _bang!_ into them and knocking them down.
So Mrs. Ladybug didn"t leave her work and set out to seek this dangerous fat lady until twilight came.
"Good evening!" said Mrs. Ladybug as soon as she spied Miss Junebug.
"Have you a few minutes to spare? If you have, I"d like to talk with you."
Jennie Junebug grinned broadly.
"I can give you a few seconds of my valuable time," she replied. "I was just going over to the meadow, for Freddie Firefly will be there soon.
He dances in the meadow every night. And I like to see his flickering light--and watch him bounce when I hit him. So you"ll have to talk fast, for I"m in a hurry," said Jennie Junebug.
"Good!" thought Mrs. Ladybug. "She"s going to listen to me, after all."