rom their homes in the palace
gardens. Ting-a-ling ran, as fast as he could, to where a friend of his,
whom we have mentioned before kept grasshoppers and butterflies to hire;
but he found he was too late,--every one of them was taken by the
fairies who had got there before him. "Never mind," said Ting-a-ling to
himself, "I'll catch a wild one;" and, borrowing a bridle, he went out
into the meadows, to catch a grasshopper for himself. He soon perceived
one, quietly feeding under a clover-blossom. Ting-a-ling slipped up
softly behind him; but the grasshopper heard him, and rolled his big
eyes backward, drawing in his hind-legs in the way which all boys know
so well. "What's the good of his seeing all around him?" thought
Ting-a-ling; but there is no doubt that the grasshopper thought there
was a great deal of good in it, for, just as Ting-a-ling made a rush at
him, he let fly with one of his hind-legs, and kicked our little friend
so high into the air, that he thought he was never coming down again. He
landed, however, harmlessly on the grass on the other side of a fence.
Nothing discouraged, he jumped up, with his bridle still in his hand,
and looked around for the grasshopper. There he was, with his eyes still
rolled back, and his leg ready for another kick, should Ting-a-ling
approach him again. But the little fellow had had enough of those strong
legs, and so he slipped along the fence, and, getting through it, stole
around in front of the grasshopper; and, while he was still looking
backward with all his eyes, Ting-a-ling stepped quietly up before him,
and slipped the bridle over his head! It was of no use for the
grasshopper to struggle and pull back, for Ting-a-ling was astraddle of
him in a moment, kicking him with his heels, and shouting "Hi! Hi!"

Away sprang the grasshopper like a bird, and he sped on and on, faster
than he had ever gone before in his life, and Ting-a-ling waved his
little sword over his head, and shouted "Hi! Hi!"

So on they went for a long time; and in the afternoon the grasshopper
began to get very tired, and did not make anything like such long jumps
as he had done at first. They were going down a grassy hill, and had
just reached the bottom, when Ting-a-ling heard some one calling him.
Looking around him in astonishment, he saw that it was a little fairy of
his acquaintance, younger than himself, named Parsley, who was sitting
in the shade of a wide-spreading dandelion.

"Hello, Parsle