"They are not here yet. Don't talk to me. I am busy."

She went on working, spinning fine silk threads and weaving them carefully into a ball-shaped cradle.

Then she put her little white eggs in it, and picked it up and carried it about with her.

"Well, you are a silly!" cried the b.u.t.terfly. "Fancy carrying that weight about with you wherever you go. Why don't you do as I do?"

"What do you do?" asked Spinny Spider.

"I leave my eggs on a stalk or a leaf," said the b.u.t.terfly. "The sun hatches them, and I have no further trouble."

"And do you mean to say you do nothing more for them?"

"Nothing at all."

"Don't you even go to see how they are? Why, something might eat them!"

"I lay them as far out of sight as I can," said the b.u.t.terfly. "That is all I can do."

"That way would never suit me," said Spinny Spider. "You call me cruel, but I say you are heartless."

"It is my nature. I cannot help it," said the b.u.t.terfly. "As you yourself said, we look at things from different standpoints."

Spinny Spider said nothing, but hugged her precious burden more closely to her. By and by, however, a wasp was caught in her nest, so she hid the cradle for safety in the darkest corner of her little house near by, while she attended to Mr. Wasp.

After a few days the children came out of their sh.e.l.ls. What a crowd!

They ran all over the little house and peeped into everything. "Come out and see the world," said Spinny Spider. She led them out into the sunshine.

Wicked Mr. Striped Spider was pa.s.sing the door. "Good day, Spinny Spider!" he said. "That is a fine family of yours. May I look at the little dears?"

"No, indeed!" cried Spinny Spider, for she knew he only wanted to eat them.

She placed herself in front of them, and a great fight began. Mr.

Striped Spider was hungry, and if he could only kill Spinny Spider he might have the whole family for dinner. But Spinny Spider was fighting for the lives of her children, and her love for them gave her strength and fierceness. Mr. Striped Spider soon lay dead at her feet. Then the family had him for dinner.

The Red b.u.t.terfly had seen it all. "How you fight!" she said. "What are you going to do next?"

"Come in and see," said Spinny Spider.

"No, thank you," said the b.u.t.terfly. She flew off. She knew Spinny Spider's ways too well.

The children began at once to make dainty little webs for themselves, and to catch their own food. Spinny Spider saw with pride that without any teaching they were able to make their webs as perfectly as she could. They soon started out in life on their own account, each one looking after himself.

TINYBOY

Tinyboy lived in a big red poppy. It was a pretty house. The walls were red silk, and the floor was black velvet, and there were plenty of soft velvet b.a.l.l.s to play with. In the day-time the bees and b.u.t.terflies came to see him; at night, when the poppy shut its petals, he crept down into the seed-box and slept in his warm blankets.

But Tinyboy grew very lonely, for he had no one to play with. The bees and b.u.t.terflies were always in such a hurry that they had no time for a game, and he had no one else to talk to. He was really a merry little fellow, but just now he was so lonely that he grew quite cross.

He sat on his doorstep and kicked his heels, and said: "Oh, dear! I wish I had somebody to play with. I'm tired of this big, lonely house, and those silly bees and b.u.t.terflies that are always in such a hurry.

I do wish somebody would come and play with me."

"How cross you are to-day," said a Red b.u.t.terfly who heard what he said. "If you are so rude we won't come to see you at all," she went on. "Fancy calling us silly!"

"Oh, well," said Tinyboy, "you know I didn't mean it. Only I'm so lonely, and you never will stop to play with me."

"I should think not," said the b.u.t.terfly. "I have my work to do, and I can't stop to play. Why don't you go out and look for a playmate?"

"How can I?" asked Tinyboy. "You know I can't get out of this house.

It's so high up that I should fall and hurt myself if I stepped out. I can't fly like you, for I have no wings."

"No, neither you have! I forgot about that," said the b.u.t.terfly.

"Well, I feel sorry for you, so I'll tell you what I shall do. I shall give you a ride round the garden on my back, and we'll look for a playmate for you."

"Oh, that will be grand," said Tinyboy. "I'm ready now."

"Jump on, then," said the b.u.t.terfly, "and hold tight."

Tinyboy jumped on and held tight, and off they started.

It was a wonderful ride. Tinyboy had never been out of his house before, so he knew nothing about the other flowers in the garden. When he saw the roses and lilies and pansies and bluebells he thought this must be the great world he had heard the bees talking about.

"Is this the world?" he asked.

The b.u.t.terfly laughed.

"No," she said; "this is only a garden. Over the hedge there is another garden, and past that there is another, and many more after that. It takes more gardens than one to make a world."

"Ah, well. I'm sure it is pretty enough to be a world," said Tinyboy; and so it was. The sun shone, the birds sang, the bees and b.u.t.terflies flew gaily about their work, and the flowers laughed and nodded to one another across the garden. It was all lovely; Tinyboy would have liked to ride all day on the b.u.t.terfly's back. But he knew the b.u.t.terfly must soon go on with her work, so he began to look about for a playmate.

"Let us see if anyone is at home here," said the b.u.t.terfly, stopping at a large pink rose.

"Come out, Rose-lady!" she called, and out came the prettiest little lady you ever saw. She was dressed in soft pink silk, and her hair was yellow and fluffy. She came out smiling at the b.u.t.terfly, who was her friend, but as soon as she saw Tinyboy she hid her face shyly in her curls and ran back into her house. The b.u.t.terfly called and Tinyboy called, but she was too shy to come out again, so they had at last to fly away to another flower.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "When she saw Tinyboy she hid her face shyly in her curls"]

The b.u.t.terfly stopped next at a bluebell's door. He had no need to call out there, for a little lady dressed all in blue sat on the doorstep.

"Good day, Red b.u.t.terfly," she called as they came near. "Who is this on your back?"

"This is Tinyboy," said the b.u.t.terfly. "He is looking for a playmate.

Will you come?"

The blue lady looked at Tinyboy and shook her head. "I don't like red," she said, pointing to Tinyboy's red clothes. "I like boys in blue suits."