The Tale of Betsy Butterfly Page 2

  VI

  MRS. LADYBUG'S ADVICE

  LITTLE did Betsy Butterfly guess what Mrs. Ladybug intended to say toher. And if she had known what it was she would have been merely amused.For Betsy was entirely too sweet-tempered to take offense at anybody'sfault-finding--least of all that of Mrs. Ladybug, who was really agood-hearted soul, when she wasn't jealous. And when Betsy went to theflower garden early the next morning she felt kindly towards the wholeworld, not even excepting Johnnie Green, though he had tried to captureher.

  Well, Mrs. Ladybug was waiting for Betsy Butterfly among the flowers.She had been in such haste to reach the garden early that she had notstopped to have her breakfast. And like many people who have not drunktheir morning cup of coffee, she was in a very peevish mood.

  "Now, Miss Pert, I want you to listen to me!" That was Mrs. Ladybug'sgreeting to Betsy Butterfly on one of the most delightful days of thewhole summer. "It's my unpleasant duty--" said Mrs. Ladybug, who by thattime was enjoying herself thoroughly--"it's my unpleasant duty to tellyou that people are talking about you. They say that you're going about_covered with dust_! And as a friend, I advise you to give yourself athorough brushing each morning, and as often thereafter as may benecessary."

  Betsy Butterfly had listened in amazement to Mrs. Ladybug's words. Andshe had hard work not to laugh, too, because she thought Mrs. Ladybug'sadvice decidedly funny.

  "Thank you very much!" Betsy said most politely. "I'll remember whatyou've told me."

  Somehow Mrs. Ladybug thought that Betsy meant she would follow heradvice. And she looked quite pleased.

  "I shall expect a great improvement in your appearance the next time Isee you," she announced. And with the manner of a person who has justdone somebody a good turn she hurried away to get the breakfast that waswaiting for her, somewhere.

  Then Betsy Butterfly enjoyed a good laugh.

  "How ridiculous!" she said to herself. "But I won't tell Mrs. Ladybug ofher mistake, because she might feel upset if I did." And you can see,just by that, how kind-hearted Betsy was. She did not even tell her ownfamily about the joke, for fear of hurting Mrs. Ladybug's feelings.

  But jealous little Mrs. Ladybug had no such misgivings. _She_ went outof her way to explain to people that if they noticed a change in BetsyButterfly's appearance, they might thank _her_ for it.... "I told Betsythat she ought to brush the dust off herself," she informed her friends.

  Naturally she was displeased when she met Betsy that very afternoon andsaw that the dust still lay thick on her wings.

  "I believe you actually want to be untidy!" Mrs. Ladybug cried. "Andif you aren't going to brush that dust off, I shall do it myself!" Andgrasping a small Indian paint-brush, the weight of which she couldscarcely stagger under, Mrs. Ladybug advanced upon Betsy Butterfly witha determined look in her eye.

  "Oh, don't do that!" cried Betsy.

  "It's my painful duty to give you a thorough dusting," Mrs. Ladybugdeclared.

  VII

  BUTTERFLY BILL

  NOW, a crowd had gathered quickly around Betsy Butterfly and Mrs.Ladybug; for the field people are quick to notice anything unusual.And a sprightly young cousin of Betsy's known as Butterfly Bill saidto Mrs. Ladybug, with a wink at everybody else:

  "I suppose you'll dust the rest of us, too?"

  "Only those that need it!" replied Mrs. Ladybug.

  "Then you'll have your hands full," Butterfly Bill told her. "Maybe youhaven't noticed that every member of the Butterfly family in PleasantValley is covered with dust just as Betsy is."

  Mrs. Ladybug looked surprised.

  "Is that so?" she said faintly.

  "It certainly is!" Bill cried. "Maybe you never knew that the dust iswhat gives us our--_ahem_--our beautiful colors," he added proudly. "AndI warn you that if you so much as touch my lovely cousin with that brushyou'll have every one of us fellows in your hair."

  Of course poor Mrs. Ladybug was quite bald. But she knew what ButterflyBill meant. And she was so upset that she promptly let the paint-brushfall to the ground.

  Then Betsy's cousin nodded approvingly.

  "Now you'd better hurry home," he told Mrs. Ladybug. "There's a rumoraround the meadow that your house is on fire. And they say yourchildren are in great danger."

  Little Mrs. Ladybug at once fell to weeping.

  "It's that horrid Freddie Firefly!" she shrieked. "I've told him to keepaway from my home. I've told him that he would set it to blazing withthat light of his. But he's forever sneaking around my house as soon asmy back is turned."

  "There, there! Don't be frightened!" Betsy Butterfly said to hersoothingly. "It's only a rumor, you know."

  "That's so," Mrs. Ladybug admitted, drying her eyes. "I hear it almostevery day, too. But I never can get used to it.... I suppose this isonly a false alarm, after all."

  "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Butterfly Bill said wickedly, witha shake of his head. "And if I were you I'd look after my own family alittle more carefully, instead of troubling myself with other people'saffairs."

  Several of Bill's friends applauded his speech. But Betsy Butterflywhispered to him to hush.

  "Don't you see that Mrs. Ladybug is not quite herself?" she asked him.

  But Butterfly Bill was not a person to be easily silenced like that.

  "She's a meddling busybody!" he declared. "And it's my opinion that sheought to be put where she'll have to mind her own business."

  "Who--me?" called a wheezing voice right in his ear.

  Turning, Butterfly Bill saw that it was Jennie Junebug who had spokento him. She had noticed the crowd from a distance. And she had justarrived, quite out of breath.

  Before Betsy Butterfly's cousin Bill could answer, Jennie Junebugactually threatened him.

  "If you were talking about me I shall have to knock you down," shedeclared.

  He had heard that Jennie delighted in flying _bang_ into anybody. Buthe did not know that she indulged in that unladylike trick _only afterdark_.

  "Of course I didn't mean you!" he said hastily.

  "And I hope you didn't mean my friend Mrs. Ladybug, either," JennieJunebug added. "For if you did----"

  But Butterfly Bill waited to hear no more. Thoroughly frightened, hesought safety in flight. And as he flew away Mrs. Ladybug couldn't helpnoticing the dust on his wings.

  "They're certainly a peculiar lot--that Butterfly family!" shemuttered.

  VIII

  DO YOU LIKE BUTTER?

  AFTER Mrs. Ladybug failed in her attempt to brush the dust off BetsyButterfly she grew more jealous of Betsy than ever.

  It was really a shame that Mrs. Ladybug should feel like that. Usuallyshe was quite harmless, even if she was a busybody and a gossip. But shesimply couldn't forgive Betsy Butterfly for being so beautiful. And nowMrs. Ladybug began to neglect her children more than ever, in order tospy upon Betsy in the hope of discovering some new fault in her.

  Betsy Butterfly soon noticed that wherever she went she was sure to seeMrs. Ladybug, who had a way of bobbing up in a most startling fashion.But Betsy was always quite polite to the jealous little creature. Andshe never failed to inquire for her health and that of her children aswell, even if she met Mrs. Ladybug a dozen times a day.

  For some reason Mrs. Ladybug seemed quite touchy, where her family wasconcerned.

  "You don't need to ask about my children," she told Betsy at last in asomewhat sharp tone. "They are in the best of health. And I'll let youknow in case they fall ill.... It's strange," she continued, "howeverybody in this neighborhood is always prying into my householdaffairs."

  Betsy Butterfly smiled to herself. She did not care to quarrel with Mrs.Ladybug--nor with anyone else, for that matter. So she abruptlychanged the subject.

  "Do you like butter?" she asked.

  "Why, no!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "I don't care anything about it. At least,I never ate any."

  "Then I don't see how you know whether you like it or not," Betsyobserved, "unless you've looked into a buttercup to find out
."

  Mrs. Ladybug was interested, in spite of herself.

  "Can a person tell by doing that?" she wanted to know.

  "It's a sure way," said Betsy Butterfly. "I was just looking into thisbuttercup that I'm sitting on when you flew up and spoke to me."

  "Do _you_ like butter?" Mrs. Ladybug inquired.

  "I'm afraid not," Betsy told her.

  "I'd like to try, myself," Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed eagerly. "But I don'tknow how."

  "It's simple enough," Betsy Butterfly replied. "You just look into abuttercup blossom.

  "And if it makes your face yellow, then you're fond of butter--whetheryou ever had any or not."

  So Mrs. Ladybug perched herself on a big blossom and peered earnestlyinto its cup.

  "Is my face yellow?" she asked Betsy.

  "I do believe it is!" Betsy Butterfly cried.

  And Mrs. Ladybug looked much pleased.

  "I've always known I had refined tastes," she remarked with a lofty air."And now I'd like to sample a bit of butter; but I don't know where tofind any."

  "Butter? They make it at the farmhouse," Betsy informed her.

  "Then perhaps Farmer Green's wife will let me have a little," Mrs.Ladybug said hopefully. "I'll go over to the farmhouse at once.... It'stoo bad you don't like butter, too," she added.

  But secretly she was delighted that Betsy Butterfly had looked into abuttercup in vain.

  IX

  UNEXPECTED NEWS

  LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug had a disappointment when she reached the farmhouse.She found, to her dismay, that she couldn't get inside it; for wirescreens blocked her way through both doors and windows. And nobody paidthe slightest attention to her when she stopped at the buttery windowand asked if she couldn't please have a bit of butter.

  There was plenty of golden butter right there in plain sight, since ithappened to be churning day. And Farmer Green's wife, with her sleevesrolled above her elbows, was working busily on the other side of thewindow screen.

  "I should think she might easily spare me a small sample!" Mrs. Ladybugcried at last. "I'm afraid Farmer Green's wife is stingy."

  Mrs. Ladybug hoped that Johnnie Green's mother would hear her remark.But she didn't. And in the end Mrs. Ladybug had to fly away with herlonging for butter still unsatisfied.

  Meanwhile Betsy Butterfly had been amusing herself in the meadow to herheart's content. To tell the truth, it was rather a relief to be rid ofMrs. Ladybug's society for so long a time. And Betsy hoped that Mrs.Ladybug's errand to the farmhouse would keep that busybody engaged forthe rest of the day.

  Now, after she left the farmhouse Mrs. Ladybug set out to find BetsyButterfly again. But meeting Daddy Longlegs near the stone wall, shestopped to gossip with him, telling him how she had learned that sheliked butter, and explaining that she had not yet tasted any.

  "So you looked into a buttercup to find out, eh?" said Daddy Longlegs."I'll have to do that, myself. Maybe I've always liked butter, too,without knowing that I do."

  "You can't tell till you try," Mrs. Ladybug remarked. "But you mustn'tbe too sure. You may be disappointed. There's Betsy Butterfly! Shedoesn't care for butter at all."

  "Are you sure about that?" Daddy Longlegs inquired. "Really, I think youmust be mistaken, for I saw her with her face just _buried_ in butterthis very day."

  At first Mrs. Ladybug looked at him in amazement. And then she grew veryangry.

  "Betsy Butterfly deceived me!" she cried in a shrill voice. "She wasafraid that if I knew she ate butter she would have to share it withme.... I'd like to know where she gets her butter," Mrs. Ladybug mused.

  "She was standing on some of Farmer Green's, when I saw her," DaddyLonglegs explained.

  "Did she ask him for it?" Mrs. Ladybug demanded.

  "I don't believe she did," he admitted. "I think she just took it."

  A wicked gleam came into Mrs. Ladybug's eyes when she learned that. Andshe threw up her hands, exclaiming, "She steals! Betsy Butterfly stealsbutter! When the field people hear the news they won't think she's sofine." And then Mrs. Ladybug turned to Daddy Longlegs once more anddemanded whether he knew of anything else that Betsy Butterfly was inthe habit of taking from Farmer Green.

  "Eggs!" he replied promptly.

  "Eggs!" Mrs. Ladybug repeated after him. "Betsy Butterfly steals butterand eggs!"

  And before Daddy Longlegs could stop her she had hurried away to spreadthe news far and wide.

  X

  THE NIGHT WATCH

  LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug stopped everybody she met in the meadow and relatedhow Betsy Butterfly was taking Farmer Green's butter--and his eggs,too--without asking his permission.

  "She's going to get some of us into trouble," Mrs. Ladybug informed herneighbors. "Just as likely as not Farmer Green and his wife will thinkothers are stealing from them. Why, I went to the farmhouse to-day andasked for a bit of butter. And what do you think? Mrs. Green pretendednot to hear me! I thought it was queer, at the time. But now I knowthat she's angry with me. She must have missed some of her butter; andshe thinks I'm the guilty party." Mrs. Ladybug shook her finger at herneighbors. "We'll have to do something to put a stop to BetsyButterfly's thieving," she declared.

  Jealous Mrs. Ladybug's story amazed all the field people. They couldscarcely believe that anyone so beautiful and dainty as Betsy Butterflywould bemean herself by robbing Farmer Green--or anybody else. But Mrs.Ladybug said that Daddy Longlegs had _seen_ Betsy with her face buriedin Farmer Green's butter. And no one could doubt the word of sorespectable a person as Daddy Longlegs.

  "What steps do you think we ought to take to prevent Betsy from eatingany more butter and eggs that don't belong to her?" asked the queen ofthe Bumblebee family.

  "I think we ought to set a careful watch on her," said Mrs. Ladybug."I'm sure I don't see when she gets her stolen goods, because I'vewatched her very closely myself for some time. And I've seen her dine onnothing but flowers."

  "Perhaps she goes to the farmhouse at night," Jennie Junebug suggested.

  "That's a happy thought!" said Mrs. Ladybug approvingly. "We'll have toget Freddie Firefly to follow her about after dark."

  So Mrs. Ladybug and her neighbors made arrangements with Freddie Fireflyto have Betsy Butterfly spied upon that very night.

  "I'll watch her till sunset," Mrs. Ladybug agreed. "And then _you_ mustrelieve me," she told Freddie. "Don't let her out of your sight untilsunrise!" she warned him.

  Freddie Firefly promised that he would be faithful to his trust. Andlater that afternoon, when the sun began to drop behind the mountains,he relieved Mrs. Ladybug, who had been spying upon Betsy ever sincetheir talk earlier in the day.

  "She's behaved herself fairly well so far," Mrs. Ladybug whispered toFreddie, as she prepared to fly home to her children. "But there's noknowing when she may start for the farmhouse. So you mustn't take youreyes off her all night long!"

  "You can trust me," Freddie assured her. And then Mrs. Ladybug said goodevening.

  * * * * *

  Freddie Firefly always claimed that that was the longest night he everspent. And he said that if he had realized that he would have to stay inone place from sunset to dawn he never would have agreed to watch BetsyButterfly.

  For Betsy Butterfly went to sleep the moment the sun went down. Freddiehad to remain for hours and hours where he could flash his light uponher. And all the while he knew that his whole family was having adelightful time dancing in the hollow over towards the swamp.

  It was especially hard for Freddie because he could see the gay lightsof the Fireflies twinkling through the dark.

  But Betsy Butterfly knew nothing of his long vigil. She slept and sleptthe whole night long. And Freddie Firefly had to admit to himself, as hewatched her, that she didn't _act_ like a robber in the least.

  XI

  A SLY ONE

  WHEN Freddie Firefly reported to Mrs. Ladybug and her neighbors thatBetsy Butterfly had taken neither butter nor eggs from Farmer Greenduri
ng the night the field people were much puzzled.

  "She's certainly a sly one!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed. "What do you thinkwe ought to do now?" she asked Daddy Longlegs, who was supposed to bevery old, and therefore very wise.

  "I think you ought to warn her," he replied, after some thought. "Youought to tell Betsy Butterfly that she must stop pilfering."

  "No doubt your advice is good," Mrs. Ladybug observed. "And I'll speakto Betsy this very morning.... You must come with me," she told Daddy."I naturally want to have a witness."

  "Oh, I'll come!" he cried in his thin, quavering voice, though what shemeant by a "witness" was more than he knew.

  So Mrs. Ladybug and Daddy Longlegs set forth to find Betsy Butterfly.And behind them followed a crowd of their neighbors. Even lazy BusterBumblebee joined the procession. Though he was a drone, and neverworked, he was always ready to exert himself for the sake of any newexcitement.

  The strange company wandered back and forth across the meadow for sometime without finding Betsy Butterfly. But at last Mrs. Ladybug spiedher. And soon Betsy found herself surrounded by the mob.

  "Goodness!" she cried, looking about her in surprise. "How nice of youall to call on me! I'm _so_ glad to see you!"

  Betsy Butterfly was so cordial that Mrs. Ladybug couldn't help lookingsomewhat uncomfortable. She couldn't avoid a strange feeling of guilt.And yet she told herself that Betsy Butterfly was really the guilty one.