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.”
And then she fixed Miss Junebug with her eye and spoke
to her severely.
“Don’t you think you ought ”
she began.
And then Jennie Junebug bumped into her, sending Mrs.
Ladybug sprawling.
“Don’t I think I ought
to frolic with you?” Jennie cried. “Certainly
I do.”
Mrs. Ladybug managed to rise off the ground.
“Won’t you please ” she
started to say.
“Won’t I please knock
you down? Of course I will!” Jennie Junebug
exclaimed. And thereupon she struck Mrs. Ladybug
again.
Poor Mrs. Ladybug was much shaken.
In her fall she had dropped her umbrella, and her
handkerchief too. But she didn’t stop to
pick them up. She scrambled to her feet and rose
into the air again, angrier than she had ever been
before in all her life.
“I’ll thank you ” she
spluttered.
“You’ll thank me if I’ll
do that again, eh?” said Jennie Junebug, interrupting
her rudely. “Very well! Here goes!”
This time she gave Mrs. Ladybug a terrific blow.
She dropped upon the grass, where she clung to a blade
and swayed up and down for a few moments, dizzy and
trembling. And she was gasping so hard, in order
to get her breath, that she couldn’t speak.
Watching her, Jennie Junebug shrieked
with laughter. Then, seeing Freddie Firefly’s
light flashing in the meadow, Miss Junebug hurried
away.