herself the following morning.
However, she tried by her activity to make up for lost
time; she saw the other insects hurrying past her house in crowds, so she threw on her clothes as fast as possible. The Moth was prettily dressed in a soft garment of down, and as she was a modest creature, every one loved her. On leaving home, she observed the Wasp and the Hornet passing. They were dressed in rich suits of brown and yellow. At sight of them she was a little frightened, and endeavoured to run back to her house until they should pass by; but they caught sight of her, and immediately gave chase, screaming out loudly, “Oh! dear Mrs Moth, pray don’t be alarmed. We have laid by our stings for to-day, and won’t hurt you.” They soon caught her, although she ran as fast as she could. So the Wasp and the Hornet each offered her an arm, and obliged her to walk between them while they danced along, shouting, and singing, and winking waggishly to the friends they passed on the road. The poor Moth blushed very much at being seen by all her friends in the company of two such wild creatures. A Caterpillar and a Long-legged Beetle, besides one or two other insects that chanced to be near, laughed very heartily on seeing what had happened. But the Moth soon recovered her spirits; and when they arrived at the oak-tree, she was walking along with a sprightly step, first talking to the Hornet and then chatting to the Wasp, as if they were her dearest friends.
Then the sly little Dormouse peeped out of his hole,
and led to the feast his blind cousin the Mole;
And the Snail, with her horns peeping out from her shell,
Came fatigued with the distance, the length of an ell.
“Come along, you lazy fellow,” cried the little
Dormouse, knocking with his ivory-headed cane at the door of a mole-hill.
“Ay, ay, cousin,” shouted the Mole, “I’ll be there in a minute.”