1. "Now, granny," said Rose, when the breakfast was done, "I will not
forget, to-day at least, to lock up the tea-caddy."
2. So she took up the sugar-basin, fitted it into a little place made
for it inside the box where I sat, and, before I had any idea of what
she was doing, she shut down the lid.
3. I was now, for the first time, left in the dark. And I began to
think what a pleasant thing the sunshine was, and to wonder when I
should be let out again.
4. But I must say that I found the sugar a great comfort. I went on
eating it as long as I could. If I was to be locked up at all, I could
not have been locked into a better place.
5. The sugar-basin was full and there were enough lumps in it to last a
fly of my size all his life. But of course one might get tired of it,
in time.
6. But I was not tired yet. So I ate and ate, until I began to feel my
legs ache and my wings very heavy. Just then I heard a loud noise, and
a light broke into my prison.
7. It was Rose turning the key in the lock and lifting the lid of the
tea-caddy. "Oh, granny!" cried she, "here is a poor fly that can hardly
move."
8. "I am afraid, dear, that the poor fly must thank himself for that,"
said Mrs. Sutton, looking closely at me. "He has been a little glutton,
I fear, and has eaten so much sugar that he can hardly move."
9. "Poor little fellow," said Rose, "I will not hurt him. He shall go
out of doors on to the cool grass and get well again.
10. "I dare say that, though he is not quite so pretty as a butterfly,
he likes to be alive." So Rose took me up between her finger and thumb
as gently as she could, but oh, what great big hands they seemed to me!
11. And my poor sides were pinched black and blue. That is the reason
why I cannot bear one of the great hands which belong to men and women
to catch hold of me.
12. You see we tiny flies are made so lightly, and we are so small. A
mere touch will crush our dainty wings, or break our slender legs, or
hurt our eyes.
13. How thankful I am that we have eyes that can see behind and all
round us as well as in front!
14. We are able to get away, thanks to these eyes, when we see a great
hand coming to catch us. Even a baby's hand seems like that of a giant
to us.
[Illustration: ROSE DID HER BEST FOR ME.]
15. But dear Rose did her best for me, and put me in a spoon to carry.
At the same time I did wish that the sugar had not been quite so nice,
and that I had not taken so much of it.
16. The fresh air of the garden, the sunshine, and the flowers did me a
great deal of good, after being shut up in the tea-caddy. At night I
slept in a lily bell.
* * * * *
_Write:_ The fly was shut into a tea-caddy by mistake. He ate so much
sugar that he could hardly fly. Rose put him out of doors to get well.
Questions: 1. What did Rose do after breakfast? 2. What did
the fly do inside the tea-caddy? 3. What did Rose say when
she opened it again? 4. What did her grandmother say? 5.
What did Rose do for the fly? 6. Why does not the fly like
to be touched?