himself before he went to sleep!" The grasshopper looked at an empty cocoon hanging from a twig of a tree.

"Is that his house?" asked Billy, looking at it very curiously, for he had never seen anything like it before. The grasshopper nodded his head and winked an eye.

Just then the butterfly began to move his beautiful yellow and black wings up and down, very, very slowly.

"Why don't you fly?" asked Billy, "I'm not going to take you home with me."

"Thank you for leaving me out in the sunshine," said the butterfly, "I want to fly up to the blue sky very much indeed and, if I wait and work my wings, they will grow stronger and then I shall be able to fly ever so high."

"Why don't you fly?"

Billy sat down on a stone and the grasshopper perched on a blade of grass.

"Did you know how to fly before you went to sleep?" asked Billy.

"O dear no!" replied the butterfly. "I was only a caterpillar and had to creep along the earth or on cabbage leaves."

"Only a caterpillar!" gasped Billy. "Then where did you get those wings?"

"They grew in the night," answered the butterfly, "while I was asleep."

At this the grasshopper began to laugh. He laughed so hard, he had to hold his sides.

"Why are you laughing, Grasshopper?" asked Billy indignantly.

The grasshopper did not answer him, but said, "Butterfly, do you know how long you slept in that little house you made for yourself when you were a caterpillar?"

"How long?" asked the butterfly, who had been working his wings up and down all this time.

"Many days and many nights, all through the cold winter. The wind rocked you in your little cradle-house; the rain kept your house nice and soft; and now, today, the warm, spring sun has waked you up and soon you will fly!"

At these words, the butterfly pressed his wings down and soared up in the air, over the trees and far away. "Good-bye," he called out as he disappeared among the tall trees, "and thank you, little boy!"

"You are welcome," called Billy and then he sat still and silent.

"What's the matter, Billy?" asked the grasshopper.

"I was wishing that I might fly!" said Billy.

"Who knows!" exclaimed the grasshopper. "Perhaps you may some day!"

"But I can run!" and Billy was off down the road on his way home. The grasshopper overtook him in one hop. "Shall we stop and pick some flowers for your mother?" he asked.

"That's so!" said Billy, "we will!"

So they went into a field and began to pick flowers. Billy picked a daisy and the grasshopper picked a daisy. Billy picked a clover and the grasshopper picked a clover. Billy picked a bluet and the grasshopper picked a bluet. Billy picked a wind flower and the grasshopper picked a wind flower. Then the grasshopper gave his flowers to Billy and Billy thanked him.

"Now, we must go home," said Billy, so they ran until they came to Billy's door.

"I am glad you went with me, Grasshopper," said Billy. "Shall we go again some day?"

"We will go again, some day!" replied the grasshopper, bowing very low.

"Good-bye," said Billy, as he ran in to give his mother the flowers and tell her all about his walk. As she smiled and listened to Billy, the grasshopper peeped in at the open window and sang out,