Arthur Scott Bailey

“ Buster cried.
"He certainly was," Jimmy Rabbit replied.
"Ha! ha!" laughed Buster Bumblebee. "Isn't it odd how stupid some people are?"
"It certainly is!" said Jimmy Rabbit. And for some unknown reason he laughed harder than ever before. ”

“ Being very good-natured, Jimmy Rabbit was always ready to talk to anybody he happened to meet, no matter how small the other person might be. And now, while he was nibbling at Farmer Green's lettuce, he had chanced to glance up and spy Buster Bumblebee, who was buzzing about the tall hollyhocks, which made a sort of hedge where the flower and the vegetable garden met. ”

“ And Aunt Polly Woodchuck agreed, before she went off towards her home under the hill, that there were queer goings-on over there in the meadow.
Later she sent her nephew Billy to tell Mrs. Field Mouse that on her way home she had remembered the name of the big family. It was Bumblebee.
"They must be an odd lot," Mrs. Field Mouse remarked to her husband. "Farmer Green's meadow is becoming more unfashionable than ever. And I shall never regret having moved away from there."
So that was Buster Bumblebee's first home—the old house in the meadow. ”

“ And neither did the workers, nor any other member of the Bumblebee family.
"That's the enemy!" cried Buster suddenly, pointing to the jug. "It was talking out of its mouth right into Johnnie Green's ear when I came home."
Sounding a dreadful battle cry, all the workers turned upon the jug and buzzed so near it that they couldn't help hearing the same roaring from inside it to which Johnnie Green had listened with so much pleasure.
"Buster's almost right!" several of the workers shouted. "The enemy has hidden inside this thing. And we'll have to go in and sting him." ”

“ Buster Bumblebee seemed greatly amused.
"Ho, ho!" he laughed—as well as "Ha, ha!" And then he said: "It seems to me that you are the one that ought to buzz [Pg 44] around the hollyhocks, since you are so nervous about the Robber Fly."
The worker, Peevish Peggy, at once flew into a temper.
"You'd better look out!" she warned Buster. "Once the Robber Fly pounces on you you'll be so frightened you can't even squirm." ”

“ Buster demanded.
"Well, I'm busy building an addition to my house," the Carpenter explained. "And besides, you're a total stranger. I've never seen you before; and we might quarrel if I did any work for you."
"Oh, no!" Buster Bumblebee assured him. "You couldn't quarrel with me, because I'm the most peace-loving person in Pleasant Valley."
"There!" the Carpenter cried. "I knew as soon as I set eyes on you that we were bound not to agree.... I've always claimed that there's no peacefuller person than I am in this whole neighborhood. So here we are, quarreling already!" ”

“ And then there was nothing that Buster Bumblebee could do except to admit that he didn't know.
"Why don't you find out about it?" asked the most curious person in all Pleasant Valley—and that, of course, was old Mr. Crow. "If I were you I'd go to the Carpenter and insist on his telling me."
So Buster Bumblebee began calling at the Carpenter's house every day. Some days he even went there two or three times. It must have been annoying for anybody as busy as the Carpenter to be interrupted so often—and always for the same reason. ”

“ Ladybug's words did not offend Buster Bumblebee in the least.
"No doubt you know best," he told her. "But how can I build a house? I've never worked in all my life. And I don't intend to begin now."
"Why not get some one to build a house for you?" she asked him.
"I never thought of that!" he cried. "Whom would you suggest?"
"I know the very person!" Mrs. Ladybug told him. "He's a Carpenter Bee; and he lives in the big poplar by the brook. [Pg 58] Perhaps you know him. Johnnie Green calls him Whiteface," she said. "They do say he's a very skillful workman." ”

“ As for the workers, there wasn't one in the Bumblebee household that was deceived by Buster's bold talk. They all knew him for the coward he was.
Well, the very next day after Buster's impertinence to his mother a worker called Peevish Peggy stopped and spoke to him as he sat on a clover-head.
"If I were you I wouldn't come near the clover patch," she said. "You know the Robber Fly often prowls about on the ground. And it would be easy for him to catch you on a clover-top, you're so fat and clumsy.... Why don't you dine on the hollyhocks in the flower garden? They are high, and much safer." ”

“ They were workers—those that overheard Buster Bumblebee's remark when his mother as much as told him that he had better beware of the wicked Robber Fly. They were workers; and they did not approve of the lazy Buster. ”

“ Buster Bumblebee asked him. "I must say I don't know what you're talking about."
"Why, The Bumblebee in the Pumpkin!" Jimmy Rabbit informed him. "That's the name of a tune. Every good fiddler knows it. And since the buzzing sound comes out of the fiddle, the bumblebee must be inside it, of course."
For a moment Buster looked almost peevish. He had intended to take Jimmy Rabbit down a peg by telling him he had been mistaken. And here was Jimmy Rabbit, explaining every strange thing, just as he always did! It was most annoying—so [Pg 115] Buster thought. ”

“ Will you?" cried Buster Bumblebee hopefully. And in his eagerness he drew even nearer to the trumpeter, who actually smiled at him. But there was something in her smile that sent a shiver up and down Buster's back. It was not at all a pleasant smile.
"If you want to make me happy all you need do is to keep out of my sight," said [Pg 13] the trumpeter rudely. "You're just a lazy, good-for-nothing drone. And for my part, I don't see why you're allowed to stay in our house. If I had my way you'd be driven out into the world to shift for yourself.... ”

“ The twins saw the workers, too. They were delighted. And so was Johnnie Green.
"Take all the bumblebees you want!" said Johnnie. "My father won't care."
Both twins grabbed at the same time. They both shrieked at the same time, too—for each of them felt a sharp pain, as if a red-hot needle had been run into his finger. And Buster Bumblebee felt himself falling. Then followed a crash of splintering glass. And in another moment Buster was hurrying away across the clover field.
When he was stung by the worker he had seized, Buster's twin had dropped the [Pg 78] honey box. ”

“ Old dog Spot couldn't help smiling the least bit.
"Why, those men aren't sawing wood. They're fiddling," he explained; "three fiddlers fiddling upon fiddles.... There's going to be a dance, you know," old dog Spot continued. "And of course nobody cares to dance without music."
"Oh, certainly not!" Buster Bumblebee agreed. And he began to be glad he had come to the farmyard, after all. You see, he was fond of music and dancing. And he thought the music played by the three fiddlers was too wonderful for words. ”

“ It was not until the next day that Johnnie Green remembered his new pet. And when he went to see him then the honey box was empty. The [Pg 79] Carpenter had cut a tunnel through the wall of his prison.
Later the Carpenter sent a message to Buster, by little Mrs. Ladybug.
"The Carpenter has lost so much time," she told Buster, "that he thinks he will never be able to finish the addition to his house. So he says you'll have to get somebody else to build your new home for you." ”

“ So maybe it's just as well for you to play the gentleman—though you must find it a dull life."
"It suits me," said Buster. "But I do wish you could manage to rouse the workers in the morning without disturbing me." He was bolder, now that he knew he was talking to his own sister.
The trumpeter pondered for a little time before replying.
"It's my duty to trumpet loudly," she said at last. "The summer is none too long. And there's a great deal of honey [Pg 19] to be made before fall.... Have you thought of stuffing your ears with cotton?" ”

“ Buster Bumblebee had no objection to explaining everything to him. And then—and only then—was Jasper willing to tell what he knew.
"Cotton—" said he—"cotton grows in fields. I know that much. And what's more, I know it doesn't grow in Pleasant Valley, for I live here the whole year round and I've never seen any."
That was bad news for Buster.
"What do you advise me to do?" he inquired anxiously.
"Ask my cousin, Mr. Crow," said Jasper Jay instantly. "He's a great traveller. Spends his winters in the South, he does. And no doubt he [Pg 23] can help you."
Buster Thanks Old Mr. ”

“ A delightful and unusual series of bird and insect stories for boys and girls from three to eight years old, or thereabouts.
THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN
Jolly Robin spreads happiness everywhere with his merry song.
THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW
A wise bird was Mr. Crow. He'd laugh when any one tried to catch him. ”