CHAPTER

I. A merry Dancer
II.  A fine plan
III.  Freddie agrees to help
IV.  Getting ready
V. At the stone wall
VI.  The banners
VII.  The torchlight parade
VIII.  Buster’s scheme
IX.  Freddie’s promise
X. Drawing lots
XI.  Peppery Polly
XII.  A terrible song
XIII.  Caught by A thistle
XIV.  Jennie Junebug
XV.  The fat lady’s secret
XVI.  Freddie’s escape
XVII.  Bad Benjamin Bat
XVIII.  Pleasing Farmer Green
XIX.  Benjamin feels guilty
XX.  Mrs. Ladybug’s advice
XXI.  All about trains
XXII.  Work on the railroad
XXIII.  Why Freddie was glad

ILLUSTRATIONS

You’re terribly careless with that
light of yours . . .  Frontispiece

FREDDIE SAT ON TOP OF THE BANNER

FREDDIE PLAYS A JOKE ON PEPPERY POLLY BUMBLEBEE

FREDDIE WAS BUMPED INTO BY JENNIE JUNEBUG

THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY

I

A MERRY DANCER

Nobody in Pleasant Valley ever paid any attention to Freddie Firefly in the daytime.  But on warm, and especially on dark summer nights he always appeared at his best.  Then he went gaily flitting through the meadows.  And sometimes he even danced right in Farmer Green’s dooryard, together with a hundred or two of his nearest relations.

No one could help noticing those sprightly revelers, flashing their greenish-white lights through the gloom.  And many of the field people, as well as the folk that lived in the farmhouse, thought that the dancers made a pretty sight.

But there were others who said that the Firefly family might better be spending their time in some more serious way.

Benjamin Bat, who lived in Cedar Swamp, was one of those who found fault with the merry dancers.  He grumbled a good deal about them—­and especially about Freddie Firefly.

“He’s so proud of that light he carries!” Benjamin often exclaimed, “Now, if he could hang by his feet from the limb of a tree—­and sleep at the same time—­he’d have something to boast of!”

No doubt Benjamin Bat was jealous.  Anyhow, Solomon Owl declared that there was still another reason why Benjamin did not like Freddie Firefly.  Solomon claimed that Benjamin would have liked to eat Freddie.  But he didn’t quite dare to grab him for fear of getting burned by Freddie’s light.