The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug.

by Arthur Scott Bailey.

I

THE POLKA DOT LADY

LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug was a worker. n.o.body could deny that. To be sure, she had to stop now and then to talk to her neighbors, because Mrs.

Ladybug dearly loved a bit of gossip. At the same time there wasn't anyone in Pleasant Valley that helped Farmer Green more than she did.

She tried her hardest to keep the trees in the orchard free from insects.

Some of her less worthy neighbors were known sometimes to say with a sniff, "If Mrs. Ladybug didn't enjoy her work she wouldn't care about helping Farmer Green. If she hadn't such a big appet.i.te she'd stop to chat even more than she does now."

That might seem an odd remark--unless one happened to know how Mrs.

Ladybug freed the orchard of the tiny pests that attacked it. The truth of the matter was this: Mrs. Ladybug _ate_ the little insects that fed upon the fruit trees. Her constant toil meant that she devoured huge numbers of Farmer Green's enemies.

Goodness knows what Farmer Green would have done had Mrs. Ladybug and all her family lost their taste for that kind of fare. The orchard might have been a sorry sight.

Perhaps it was only to be expected that Mrs. Ladybug should have little patience with folk that seemed lazy. She thought that Freddie Firefly wasted too much of his time dancing in the meadow at night. She considered Buster b.u.mblebee, the Queen's son, to be a useless idler, dressed in his black velvet and gold. Having heard that Daddy Longlegs was a harvestman, she urged him to go to work for Farmer Green at harvest time. And as for the beautiful Betsy b.u.t.terfly, Mrs. Ladybug found all manner of fault with her.

Nothing made Mrs. Ladybug angrier than to see Betsy b.u.t.terfly flitting from flower to flower in the sunshine, followed by her admirers.

"What _can_ they see in that gaudy creature?" Mrs. Ladybug often asked her friends.

It will appear, from this, that Mrs. Ladybug was not always as pleasant as she might have been. Moreover, she was something of a busybody and too fond of prying into the affairs of others. And if she didn't happen to approve of her neighbors, or their ways, Mrs. Ladybug never hesitated to speak her mind.

When she first appeared on Farmer Green's place, wearing her bright red gown with its black spots, everyone supposed that Mrs. Ladybug was dressed in her working clothes. And indeed she was! Nor did she ever don any other.

"I've no time to fritter away," she declared when somebody asked her what she was going to wear to Betsy b.u.t.terfly's party. "If I go to the party I'll just drop in for a few minutes as I am, in my polka dot."

Her neighbors thought that very strange. They even whispered to one another that they didn't believe Mrs. Ladybug had anything else to wear.

Nor had she. Nor did she want any. And it wasn't long before everybody understood Mrs. Ladybug's ways. She was so earnest that they couldn't help liking her, no matter if her remarks were a bit tart now and then.

II

BUSTER'S RESOLVE

NOT only was Betsy b.u.t.terfly a beautiful creature. She was pleasant to everybody. And almost all her neighbors were just as pleasant to her.

Mrs. Ladybug was one of the few that were sometimes disagreeable to Betsy. For Mrs. Ladybug did not approve of her. She thought that Betsy b.u.t.terfly was frivolous. And she frowned whenever she saw Betsy in her beautiful costume.

"She _never_ wears working clothes," Mrs. Ladybug often complained, when talking to her friends. "Now, if Betsy b.u.t.terfly would only wear something plain and serviceable, as I do, once in a while, people might have a different opinion of her. She ought to try this hard-finished red and black polka dot of mine. It's a wonderful piece of goods."

One day Mrs. Ladybug was gossiping in that fashion with Mehitable Moth, a soberly clad person who was always a bit jealous of the gorgeous Betsy. And Mehitable Moth nodded her head to everything that little Mrs.

Ladybug said.

"What do you think of Betsy b.u.t.terfly's wings?" Miss Moth inquired.

"They're all for show," Mrs. Ladybug declared. "They're so flimsy and delicate that Betsy b.u.t.terfly never dares venture out in bad weather. Of what use would I be to Farmer Green if I had wings like hers? If I stayed under cover whenever the sun didn't shine, the orchard would soon be overrun with insects."

Now, it happened that Buster b.u.mblebee was sipping nectar from a head of clover near by. Of course, he wasn't listening to what Mrs. Ladybug and Miss Moth were saying. But he couldn't help hearing their remarks. And being a great admirer of Betsy b.u.t.terfly, he wasn't at all pleased. He even buzzed near the two gossipers and said to them, "Can't you find something else to talk about?"

"Such rudeness!" Mrs. Ladybug gasped.

"What shocking manners!" cried Miss Mehitable Moth.

They hoped that Buster b.u.mblebee heard what they said. Anyhow, he flew off in his blundering, clumsy way without speaking to them again.

"Who is this Mrs. Ladybug, to pick flaws in the beautiful Betsy b.u.t.terfly?" he asked himself savagely. "Who is she to find fault with Betsy's lovely wings? If Mrs. Ladybug herself had wings, I shouldn't think her chatter so strange. But a person with no wings has no business expressing his views of somebody else's."

Buster b.u.mblebee was so out of patience with Mrs. Ladybug that he lost his taste for clover heads for the rest of the afternoon. And that was a most unusual thing with him. However, he could think of nothing but Mrs.

Ladybug and her unkind speeches. And at last, meeting Betsy b.u.t.terfly herself along towards sunset, he stopped to tell how well she was looking and how charming her colors were.

Betsy b.u.t.terfly was not vain. She laughed gayly and said, "You're very kind to say those agreeable things."

"I can't help it," he replied heartily.

"Everybody's not like you," Betsy b.u.t.terfly told him.

"Then you've been hearing about Mrs. Ladybug!" he cried. "Somebody has been tattling."

"It doesn't matter," Betsy b.u.t.terfly a.s.sured him. "Perhaps it's good for me to know that everyone doesn't admire me."

Buster b.u.mblebee didn't agree with her.

"I'll have to speak to Mrs. Ladybug," he declared.

"Oh, don't!" Betsy b.u.t.terfly begged him; for she was as gentle as she was beautiful and never wanted people to quarrel on her account.

But Buster b.u.mblebee had made up his mind and nothing could change it.

III

HIDDEN WINGS

THE next day Buster b.u.mblebee set out for the orchard to find Mrs.

Ladybug. He wanted to warn her to stop talking about Betsy b.u.t.terfly.

But Buster hadn't realized that it was not an easy matter to say anything to Mrs. Ladybug. Mrs. Ladybug always liked to do most of the talking herself. She preferred to let others listen.