THE BEETLE. . 103

here. I will just see if I can find any one with whom I may
associate. I’m proud, certainly, and I’m proud of being so.”

And so he prowled about in the earth, and thought what a
pleasant dream that was about the dying horse, and the golden
shoes he had inherited.

Suddenly a hand seized the Beetle, and pressed him, and
turned him round and round.

The gardener’s little son and a companion had come to the
hotbed, and espied the Beetle, and wanted to have their fun with
him. First he was wrapped in a vine-leaf, and then put into
warm trousers pocket. He cribbled and crabbled about there
with all his might ; but he got a good pressing from the boy’s
hand for this, which served as a hint to him to keep quiet. Then
the boy went rapidly towards the great lake that lay at the end
of the garden. Here the Beetle was put in an old broken wooden
shoe, on which a little stick was placed upright for a mast, and to
this mast the Beetle was bound with a woollen thread. Now he
was a sailor, and had to sail away.

The lake was not very large, but to the Beetle it seemed an
ocean ; and he was so astonished at its extent, that he fell over
on his back and kicked out with his legs.

The little ship sailed away. The current of the water seized
it ; but whenever he went too far from the shore, one of the boys
turned up his trousers and went in after it, and brought it back
to the land. But at length, just as it went merrily out again, the
two boys were called away, and very harshly, so that they hurried
to obey the summons, ran away from the lake,-and left the little
ship to its fate. Thus it drove away from the shore, farther and
farther into the open sea: it was terrible work for the Beetle, for
he could not get away in consequence of being bound to the mast.

Then a Fly came and paid him a visit.

“What beautiful weather!” said the Fly. “I’ll rest here, and
sun myself. You have an agreeable time of it.”

“You speak without knowing the facts,” replied the Beetle.
“Don’t you see that I’m a prisoner ?”

“Ah! but I’m not a prisoner,” observed the Fly ; and he flew
away accordingly. ,

“ Well, now I know the world,” said the Beetle to himself. ‘It
is an abominable world. I’m the only honest person in it. First,
they refuse me my golden shoes ; then I have to lie on wet linen,
and to stand in the draught ; and, to crown all, they fasten a wife
upon me. Then, when I’ve taken a quick step out into the
world, and found out how one can have it there, and how I
wished to have it, one of those human boys comes and ties me
up, and leaves me to the mercy of the wild waves, while the Em-
peror’s horse prances about proudly in golden shoes. ‘That is
what annoys me more than all, But one must not look for sym-
pathy in this world! My career has been very interesting ; but