FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60  
61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   >>   >|  
kable in that there are both blondes and brunettes among its ladies. The one shown in the drawing is a blonde. The brunettes are so much darker as to be nearly black; and so different that at one time everyone thought they were of a different kind altogether. TALE 28 The Beautiful Poison Caterpillar [Illustration: The Beautiful Poison Caterpillar (the moth is a little over life size)] The lovely Io Moth is one that you will see early, and never forget, for it is common, and ranges over all the country from Canada to the Gulf. When you see it, you will be inclined to spell its name Eye-oh--for it has on each wing a splendid eye like that on a peacock's tail-feather, while the rest of its dress is brown velvet and gold. There is a strange chapter in the life of Io, which you should know because it shows that Mother Carey never gives any wonderful gift to her creatures without also giving with it some equal burden of sorrow. This is how it all came about. Long ago when the little ones of the Io Moth were small, they were, like most caterpillars, very ugly little things. They felt very badly about it, and so they set out one day for the great Home Place of Mother Carey in the Whispering Grove of the Ages. There they prayed, "Dear Mother Carey, we are not of an ugly race, why should we be so ugly as caterpillars? Will you not make us beautiful, for beauty is one of the best things of all?" Mother Carey smiled and waved a finger toward a little Brownie, who came with a tray on which were two cups; one full of bright sparkling pink stuff, and the other with something that looked like dark green oil. But the glasses were joined at the top, there was but one place to drink, and that reached both. Then Mother Carey said, "These are the goblets of life, one is balm and will give you joy, the other is gall and will give you suffering. You may drink little or much, but you must drink equally of both. Now what would ye?" The little ugly creatures whispered together, then one said: "Mother Carey, if we drink, will it give us beauty?" "Yes, my children, the red goblet of life will give you beauty, but with it the other will give you grief." They whispered together, then all the little crawlers went silently forward, and each took a long drink of the double goblet. Then they crawled away, and at once became the most beautiful of all caterpillars, brilliant jewel-green with stripes of pink, velvet, and g
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60  
61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Mother

 

caterpillars

 

beauty

 
creatures
 

velvet

 

whispered

 

beautiful

 
things
 

goblet

 

brunettes


Beautiful

 

Caterpillar

 
Poison
 

looked

 

finger

 
bright
 

smiled

 

Brownie

 

sparkling

 

crawlers


silently
 

forward

 
children
 

brilliant

 

stripes

 

double

 

crawled

 

reached

 
goblets
 

glasses


joined
 

equally

 

suffering

 

Canada

 
country
 

ranges

 

forget

 

common

 
inclined
 

splendid


peacock

 

lovely

 

drawing

 

blonde

 
darker
 

ladies

 

blondes

 

Illustration

 
altogether
 

thought