Whatever or whoever it was that had entered Chirpy Cricket's home--the
hole in the ground near Farmer Green's barn--it caused him a terrible
fright. It kept poking him in a most alarming fashion. Chirpy couldn't
move away from it, for his home was only big enough for himself alone.
And since he didn't care to share it with another, he soon made up his
mind that there was only one thing for him to do. He would quit his house
for the time being, with the hope of finding it empty later. Indeed
Chirpy Cricket thought he would be lucky to escape in safety. So he
scrambled up into the daylight, to be greeted with a shout and a pounce,
both at the same time. And Chirpy Cricket saw, too late, that it was a
creature much bigger than a hen that had captured him. It was Johnnie
Green!
Of course Johnnie himself had not entered Chirpy's underground home. What
he had done was merely to run a straw into the hole where Chirpy lived
and prod him with it until he came out.
"Aha!" said Johnnie Green as he looked at his prisoner, whom he held
gingerly between a finger and a thumb. "Are you the rascal that keeps me
awake at night with your everlasting noise?"
Chirpy Cricket never said a word.
"You make racket enough every night," Johnnie told him. "Can't you answer
now when you're spoken to?"
Still Chirpy Cricket made no reply. He waved his feelers frantically and
tried to jump out of Johnnie Green's grasp. But no matter how fast he
moved his six legs, he couldn't get away.
"You don't seem to like me," said his captor finally. "You don't act as
if you wanted to play with me.... What will you do for me if I let you
go?"
But not a word did Chirpy Cricket say--not one single word!
"You're a queer one," Johnnie Green told him. "You might fiddle for me,
at least--though I must say I don't care for the tune you always play. I
can get better music out of a cornstalk fiddle than I've ever heard from
you or any of your family."
Then, very carefully, Johnnie set Chirpy Cricket on the ground, with both
his hands cupped closely over him, so he couldn't jump away.
"Now, fiddle!" Johnnie Green cried. "Fiddle just once and I'll let you
go."
Though Johnnie Green waited patiently for what seemed to him a long time,
he heard nothing that sounded the least bit like fiddling. So at last he
peeped between two fingers to see what the fiddler was doing. But Johnnie
Green couldn't see him. Little by little he lifted his hands. And to his
great surprise there was nothing under them but grass--and beneath the
grass a crack in the earth.
"Well! You're a sly one!" Johnnie Green exclaimed. "You've crawled into
that crack. And you may stay there, too, for all I care." Johnnie jumped
to his feet and moved away. And not until he had been gone some time did
Chirpy Cricket make a sound. Then he played a few notes on his fiddle,
just to see that it hadn't been harmed.