leaper the locust was a rude fellow. he actually tried to snatch the message out of kiddie katydid's hands. but the stranger promptly bowled him over and told him sternly to be off.
leaper did not dare disobey. so he hurried away. but after a few moments he came sailing back again and hung on the outskirts of the crowd, to see what was going on.
he soon discovered that there was some difficulty. kiddie katydid had torn open the message; and now he turned it over and over, wondering what it said—for to tell the truth, he couldn't read a single word.
"ah!" the stranger remarked presently. "i see what your trouble is. you haven't your spectacles on!"
he was a polite person—that stranger. he knew better than to suggest that a body didn't know his letters!
"let me help you!" he continued. and taking the message from kiddie katydid, he held it upside down and began reciting in a sing-song voice:
dear mr. grasshopper,
in pleasant valley——
though you do not know me, i am a distant cousin of yours; and i am now on my way to your neighborhood, with my family. not being acquainted in your part of the country, i am sending you this message with the hope that you will be ready to welcome us when we arrive. please see that there's a plenty to eat!
"that's odd!" kiddie katydid exclaimed, after the stranger had finished. "won't you please read that once more? i want to be sure that i understand it."
thereupon the travel-worn messenger repeated the contents of the letter. and this time he held it with the back towards him, so that he couldn't see the writing at all. like kiddie katydid, he didn't know how to read a word. but luckily he had learned the message by heart before starting on his journey.
"what's my cousin's name?" kiddie katydid asked him abruptly. "hasn't he signed the message?"
"i'm afraid he forgot to do that," the stranger muttered. "no doubt he wants to surprise you," he added, as he handed the letter back to kiddie.
"this cousin of mine—is he a long-horn or a short-horn?" kiddie katydid inquired.
at that question the stranger shifted uneasily from one foot to another. and since he had six feet, he looked for a moment as if he were engaged in a queer sort of dance.
"i should say—" he said at last—"i should say his horns were about medium."
kiddie katydid stared at the fellow very hard.
"i believe you know more than you're willing to tell!" he suddenly cried. and then he quickly shoved the letter inside the stranger's mail-pouch. "that's not for me, after all!" he declared. "unless i'm greatly mistaken, the person that sent this letter is a short-horn, the same as you. and i want nothing to do with him!"
"where's that other fellow that was clamoring for the message?" the stranger asked. and spying leaper the locust on the edge of the crowd, he sprang upon him, collared him, and explained that there had been a mistake.
"the message is for you," he announced.
"but i don't want it now!" leaper the locust shouted. "i've heard it twice already; and i don't like it in the least!"
