have heard his dawn song,
because their home was beneath the surface of the ground, in the old
house that had once belonged to Mrs. Field Mouse.

If they could have found an alarm clock somewhere it would have been easy
for them to rise as early in the morning as they wished. But lacking a
clock of that kind--or any other--they had to find a different way of
waking themselves.

That was why the workers chose one of their number to be a trumpeter. And
it was her duty to get up bright and early, at three or four o'clock, and
trumpet loudly to rouse all the other workers.

How the trumpeter herself managed to awake is something that never
bothered anybody else. It was her business not to oversleep. And she knew
that it would be very unpleasant for her if she failed even once to do
her duty.

Now, it was all well enough for the workers to have the morning silence
broken by the blare of trumpeting. They were eager to get up and begin
their day's work. But Buster Bumblebee did not like that arrangement in
the least. He preferred a good, long night's sleep. And since he never
did any work he thought it was a shame that he should be rudely awakened
in such a fashion.

At home, however, he did not mention his grievance to anyone. But he
talked the matter over with a number of his friends--outside the family.
And one and all agreed that something ought to be done to put a stop to
the trumpeter's noise.

"Why don't you have a pleasant talk with her?" Chirpy Cricket suggested.
"Perhaps she would be willing to trumpet a little more softly if she knew
that she was disturbing you."

That plan did not quite suit Buster Bumblebee.

"It would be hard to have a pleasant talk with the trumpeter," he said.
"She's quite likely to lose her temper. And she might sting me if she
became angry enough."

"Then you must first put her in a good humor," Chirpy Cricket told him
cheerfully. "Begin by saying what a good trumpeter she is and tell her
that her hat is _very_ becoming."

Still Buster Bumblebee was a bit doubtful of the outcome of the scheme.
But at last he agreed to give it a trial. "Though I must say I feel quite
nervous," he added. And all Chirpy Cricket's sprightly jokes failed to
make Buster smile.

III

THE RUDE TRUMPETER

Yes! At last Buster Bumblebee was worried. Every time he looked at the
trumpeter she seemed in a more peppery temper than ever. Beside her, some
of the other workers appeared positively ple