playing tag, flying and squeaking.

Our little Cacinella was almost overcome with joy and completely forgot the angry drone and the serious caterpillar.

"Oh how nice," she gurgled with delight. "It's all mine—the sun, the grass, the water. I cannot understand why the others were so angry. It is all mine, but I don't interfere with anybody's life. I let them fly and buzz and be happy. It doesn't bother me."

Little Cacinella played a while and then sat down for a rest among some reeds. Sitting there, little Cacinella watched the other cacinellas playing, when suddenly a sparrow flashed by, no one knew whence, and dropped like a stone among them.

"Oh! Oh!" cried the little cacinellas, scattering in all directions.

When the sparrow flew away, many little cacinellas were missing from the flock.

"The thief," scolded the older cacinellas. "He ate about fifteen or more of us."

"That's worse than the drone," thought little Cacinella, and growing frightened, she hid with the other cacinellas deeper among the reeds. But there too, they found enemies. Two of them were eaten by a small fish and two more by a frog.

"What's all this?" wondered little Cacinella. "This is not a bit nice. It is almost impossible to live. They are perfectly horrid!"

It was a good thing that there were many little cacinellas. Those that disappeared were hardly missed; many new ones were always coming, flying about and squeaking, "It's all ours! It's all ours!"

"No, it's not," called our little Cacinella to them. "There are, besides us, angry drones, serious caterpillars, horrid sparrows, fishes and frogs. Take care, sisters! Take care!"

When night came, all the little cacinellas hid in the rushes. Stars sprinkled the sky. The moon rose and reflected everything in the water.

"My moon, my stars," thought little Cacinella; but she did not dare to say it aloud. Some one might take them away from her.

III

LUMMER passed quickly for little Cacinella. There was so much to make her happy, but there were sad times, too. Twice she was almost swallowed by a swift marten. Once a frog crept up to her unawares and nearly gobbled her up. A little cacinella has many enemies, you know.

Our little Cacinella had her own joys. One day, she met another little Cacinella with long hairy moustache, who said:

"You are so pretty, little Cacinella. Let us be friends and live together."

And they did. And they were very happy. They were always together; wherever one went, the other followed.

Summer passed before they were aware of it.

Rainy days came; nights grew cold. Our little Cacinella laid many eggs. She hid them in the thick grass, murmuring, "How tired I am."

No one saw how or when little Cacinella died. She may not have died at all. She may have only fallen asleep quietly for the winter, to wake up in the spring and be happy once more.

THE STORY OF MOSQUITO LONG-NOSE AND FUZZY BEAR, MISHKA SHORT-TAIL

I

IT happened at noon, when all the mosquitoes hid in the marsh to escape the heat.

Mr. Long-Nose settled under a leaf and fell asleep. His sleep was disturbed by a despairing shout.

"Wow! Wow! Help! Help!"

Mosquito Long-Nose jumped out from under the leaf and called:

"What happened? Why are you screaming?"

A whole swarm of mosquitoes flew about, buzzed and shrieked—apparently for no reason at all.

"Oh, my! Just think what happened! A bear came into our marsh, stretched himself out full length and fell asleep. And as he lay down, he crushed five hundred of us; and as he opened his mouth, he swallowed a hundred of us. Some trouble, brothers. We hardly escaped being crushed to death ourselves."

Mosquito Long-Nose grew furiously angry—angry at the bear and at the foolish mosquitoes, who were shouting to no purpose.

"Stop your squealing!" shouted he. "It's all very simple. I will go and chase the bear away. Your noise is foolish."

Mosquito Long-Nose grew even more angry and flew away. He reached the marsh and there lay the bear in the very thickets where the mosquitoes had lived from the beginning of time.

The Bear lay stretched full length, snoring and whistling like a trumpeter.

"The beast! Grabbed the place that doesn't belong to him ... killed off so many mosquitoes ... and now he sleeps so soundly! It's outrageous!"

"Hey, Uncle, what are you doing?" shouted Mosquito Long-Nose through the forest. He shouted so loudly that he grew afraid of himself. Fuzzy Mishka opened one eye and saw nothing. Then he opened the other eye and all he could see was a mosquito hovering over his nose.

"What do you want, Comrade?" grumbled Mishka, getting angry, and justly so. There he was all ready for a nap when along comes this good-for-nothing squealing at him and waking him up.

"Hey, Uncle, get away! Get up and go away in a friendly fashion!" advised Long-Nose.

Mishka opened his eyes, looked at Mr. Impudence, snorted and grew furiously angry.

"What do you want, you good-for-nothing?" growled Mishka.

"Leave our quarters or I'll eat you up, fur coat and all."

The bear was very much amused. He turned over on the other side, covered his face with his paw and fell asleep, snoring immediately.

II

MOSQUITO Long-nose returned to the flock, shouting across the entire marsh, "I certainly did frighten him! He will never come again."

The mosquitoes wondered. They were perplexed and asked, "But what about Mishka? Where is he now?"

"I don't know, brothers. He surely got scared when I told him I'd eat him up, if he did not go away. You know I don't like to jest, so I just said, 'I'll eat you up,' I'm afraid he perished from fear while I was coming back here. Well, it's his own fault."

The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. They were discussing how to deal with an invading bear. There never had been such a noise in the marsh before. They buzzed and hissed and finally decided to chase the bear away from their domain.

"Let him go home into his forest and sleep there. The marsh is ours. Our fathers and our grandfathers lived in this very marsh. It is ours."

One sensible old mosquito advised them to leave the bear alone. "Let him have his sleep," said she, "when he wakes up, he will leave the marsh of his own accord."

But the rest of the flock just flew at her. The poor old thing was glad to get away and hide.

"Come on, brothers!" shouted Mosquito Long-Nose, louder than the rest. "We will show him who we are!"

The whole flock followed Mosquito Long-Nose. They came to the spot where Mishka was lying as still as death.

"Didn't I say he died of fright?" boasted Mosquito Long-Nose. "It's a pity! He was a fine, strong bear!"