CHRISTMAS IN GRASSHOPPER KINGDOM. 31

A frog, standing upright, was stripping the
branches of its fire-flies, and stuffing them into
alittle lantern. At last all the light in the cave
was held there.

A strange noise arose above the many
other noises.

Whir-r-r |

It sounded like the spinning of a watch-
man’s rattle. The grasshoppers were hopping
and flying past Elsie, toward the mouth of the

' Cave.

Now the frog grew ill at ease:

“ Cracky, cracky,” he said, “Old Stinger is
waking up. It's time to go out.”

Away ina far corner Elsie espied a huge
Serpent; it lay, like a-coil of thick rope, but
waved its awful head and tail impatiently in the
air. Elsie screamed. And then—how very odd!
—Froggy came beside her, and caught her
hand. Together they found their way to the
cave’s entrance, by the light of Froggy’s lan-
tern.

They stepped out into a beautiful white
covered field. But it didn’t feel a bit cold.

“Why isn’t it chilly if we’re in the snow?”
Elsie asked.

“This isn’t snow; we're in a daisy field,”
Froggy replied.

“ But I thought this was Christmas.”