kiddie katydid had a neighbor who was a good deal like him. indeed, a careless person had to look sharply to discover much difference between them. but there was a difference. there was, especially, a certain way in which one could always tell them apart. one had only to take the trouble to look at their horns—or feelers. for kiddie katydid had horns as long—or longer—than he was. but his neighbor, who was known as leaper the locust, wore his horns quite short.
although they saw each other often, kiddie and this neighbor of his were not on the best of terms. the trouble was simply this: they couldn't agree on the question of horns. whenever they met they were sure to have a most unpleasant dispute before they parted.
really, their quarrels were as bad as those that jimmy rabbit and frisky squirrel once had over the matter of tails. and many of the field folk said it was a shame that the grasshoppers' trouble couldn't be settled somehow.
strange as it may seem, that remark always made leaper the locust terribly angry. and it enraged kiddie katydid as did nothing else.
the difficulty was that the field people—as well as farmer green's whole family—had fallen into the lazy habit of calling those two by the same name. they spoke of kiddie katydid as "the long-horned grasshopper," while they termed his neighbor "the short-horned grasshopper."
"it's bad enough to look somewhat like leaper the locust, without being tagged with the name of grasshopper, along with him," kiddie katydid spluttered.
"honestly, i'm tempted to move away from this neighborhood," leaper the locust began to tell everyone he met. "if that chap would only trim his horns to the proper length i wouldn't mind it so much. but he's actually proud of them. he's always waving them over his head, so people will notice them."
they both declared—kiddie katydid and leaper the locust—that they couldn't abide the name "grasshopper." and they took pains to warn people in the neighborhood that they wouldn't answer to that name, no matter how loudly anyone might shout it at them.
after that a few of their neighbors took great delight in crying "grasshopper! grasshopper!" whenever one of the two happened to be within hearing. but no matter which of them it might be—whether leaper the locust or kiddie katydid—he pretended not to hear, and went right on eating.
but at last something happened that made both those jumpy gentlemen change their minds. from not wanting to be called grasshoppers, they decided suddenly that they liked the name. and each claimed that the other had no right to it.
this odd state of affairs arose when they learned that a stranger had come into the valley bearing a message marked "for mr. grasshopper."
"that's for me!" kiddie katydid cried, as soon as he heard the news.
"you're mistaken!" leaper the locust snapped. "the message is clearly intended for me. and i shan't let anybody else open it."
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