my Grasshopper, Johnny
Cricket and Willy Ladybug were playing on a high bank of the river, and
watching the little fish jumping after tiny flies and bugs that fell
upon the surface of the stream.

"Let's go up higher so that we can see them better," Willy Ladybug said.

"Yes, let's climb up on the tall reeds so that we can look right down in
the water," Johnny Cricket said. "But we must be very careful and not
fall, for the fish would soon swallow us, and that would not be very
much fun!" he laughed.

So Tommy Grasshopper and Johnny Cricket caught hold of Willy Ladybug's
four little hands and helped him to climb up the tall reeds, for Willy
was not as old as the other Bug Boys, and might fall in the water if
they did not help him.

From the tall reeds the three Bug Boys could look down in the water and
see the pretty little sun fish and the long slim pickerel darting around
and turning their shiny sides so that the sun would reflect its rays on
them, just as if they were looking glasses.

The Bug Boys watched the fish until they grew tired, and they were just
starting down the tall reed when a great big dragon fly flew upon the
top of the reed and called to them.

Of course all the Bug Boys knew old Gran'pa Skeeterhawk--for it was
he--so the three returned to the reed and sat down again to pass the
time of day with Gran'pa.

Presently Willy Ladybug saw a strange fish in the water.

"What kind of a fish is that, Gran'pa Skeeterhawk?" he asked.

"That's a catfish!" Gran'pa replied. "Queer looking fish, the catfish
are; they do most of their feeding at night since Omasko, the elk,
flattened their heads."

"Dear me! Are their heads flat?" Johnny Cricket asked.

"Flat as a pancake!" Gran'pa Skeeterhawk replied, and then told them
this story:

"I've heard _my_ Gran'pa tell that once the catfish had heads that were
shaped like sunfish," Gran'pa Skeeterhawk said, "and they thought that
they were not only the most beautiful fish but the fiercest fighters in
the world, although they would always swim away as fast as they could
whenever anything came near them. You see, they really were not even a
teeney, weeney bit brave.

"But when the catfish got by themselves and they thought there was no
one else to overhear them, they would make up fairy tales of wonderful
adventures they had gone through, and fierce monsters they had
destroyed. One would say 'I wish I were large enough to drag home the
enormous giant eel I