old. Never before were there seen such exquisite little crawlers.

But now a sad thing happened. They were so beautiful that many creatures
became their enemies, and began to kill them and eat them one after
another. They crawled as fast as they could, and hid away, but many of
them were killed by birds and beasts of prey, as well as by big fierce
insects.

They did not know what to do, so next day the few that were left crawled
back to the Grove of Ages, and once more stood before Mother Carey.

"Well, my Beauty-crawlers," she said, "what would you?"

"Oh, Mother Carey, it is fearful, everyone seeks to destroy us. Most of
us are killed, and many of us wounded. Will you not protect us?"

"You drank of the two goblets, my children. I warned you that your
beauty would bring terrible trouble with it."

They bowed their little heads in silent sorrow, for they knew that that
was true.

"Now," said the All-Mother, "do you wish to go back and be ugly again?"

They whispered together and said: "No, Mother Carey, it is better to be
beautiful and die."

[Illustration: The Splendid Silk-Moth (about 1/2 life size)]

Then Mother Carey looked on them very kindly, and said: "Little ones, I
love your brave spirit. You shall not die. Neither shall you lose your
beauty. I will give you a defence that will keep off all your enemies
but one, that is the Long-stinger Wasp, for you must in some way pay for
your loveliness." She waved her wand, and all over each of the
Beauty-crawlers, there came out bunches of sharp stickers like porcupine
quills, only they were worse than porcupine quills for each of the
stickers was poisoned at the tip, so that no creature could touch the
Beauty-crawlers without being stung.

The birds and beasts let them alone now, or suffer a terrible punishment
from the poison spears. You children, too, must beware of them; touch
them not, they will give you festering wounds. There is only one
creature now that the Beauty-crawlers truly fear; that is the
Long-stinger Wasp. He does indeed take toll of their race, but that is
the price they still must pay for their beauty. Did they not drink of
the double goblet?

TALE 29

The Great Splendid Silk-Moth or _Samia Cecropia_

When I was a very small boy, I saw my father bring in from the orchard a
ragged looking thing like parchment wrapped up with some tangled hair;
it was really the bundle-baby of this Moth. He kept it all winter, and
when the spring came