metimes swimming on his stomach and sometimes on his back; and as
for flying, that was out of the question. He began to doubt whether he
should escape with his life, so he remained, quietly lying where he
was. After a while the weather cleared up a little, and the beetle was
able to rub the water from his eyes, and look about him. He saw
something gleaming, and he managed to make his way up to it. It was
linen which had been laid to bleach on the grass. He crept into a fold
of the damp linen, which certainly was not so comfortable a place to
lie in as the warm stable, but there was nothing better, so he
remained lying there for a whole day and night, and the rain kept on
all the time. Towards morning he crept out of his hiding-place,
feeling in a very bad temper with the climate. Two frogs were
sitting on the linen, and their bright eyes actually glistened with
pleasure.

"Wonderful weather this," cried one of them, "and so refreshing.
This linen holds the water together so beautifully, that my hind
legs quiver as if I were going to swim."

"I should like to know," said another, "If the swallow who flies
so far in her many journeys to foreign lands, ever met with a better
climate than this. What delicious moisture! It is as pleasant as lying
in a wet ditch. I am sure any one who does not enjoy this has no
love for his fatherland."

"Have you ever been in the Emperor's stable?" asked the beetle.
"There the moisture is warm and refreshing; that's the climate for me,
but I could not take it with me on my travels. Is there not even a
dunghill here in this garden, where a person of rank, like myself,
could take up his abode and feel at home?" But the frogs either did
not or would not understand him.

"I never ask a question twice," said the beetle, after he had
asked this one three times, and received no answer. Then he went on
a little farther and stumbled against a piece of broken crockery-ware,
which certainly ought not to have been lying there. But as it was
there, it formed a good shelter against wind and weather to several
families of earwigs who dwelt in it. Their requirements were not many,
they were very sociable, and full of affection for their children,
so much so that each mother considered her own child the most
beautiful and clever of them all.

"Our dear son has engaged himself," said one mother, "dear
innocent boy; his greatest ambition is that he may one day creep
into a clergyman's ear.