The second brother said, "Huh! Guess I dare do anything you do!" He said
it in a rather mean way, and that may have been because he had eaten too
much. Overeating will make any insect cross.
Now every one of them was afraid, but each waited for the others to back
out. While they were waiting, the wagon stopped beside them, the shining
fork was run into the hay, and they were shaken and stood on their heads
and lifted through the air on to the wagon. There they found themselves
all tangled up with hay in the middle of the load. It was dark and they
could hardly breathe. There were a few stems of nettles in the hay, and
they had to crawl away from them. It was no fun at all, and they didn't
talk very much.
When the wagon reached the barn, they were pitched into the mow with
the hay, and then they hopped and fluttered around until they were on
the floor over the Horses' stalls. They sat together on the floor and
wondered how they could ever get back to the meadow. Because they had
come in the middle of the load, they did not know the way.
"Oh!" said they. "Who are those four-legged people over there?"
"Kittens!" sang a Swallow over their heads. "Oh, tittle-ittle-ittle-ee!"
The Clouded Grasshoppers had never seen Kittens. It is true that the old
Cat often went hunting in the meadow, but that was at night, when
Grasshoppers were asleep.
"Meouw!" said the Yellow Kitten. "Look at those queer little brown
people on the floor. Let's each catch one."
So the Kittens began crawling slowly over the floor, keeping their
bodies and tails low, and taking very short steps. Not one of them took
his eyes off the Clouded Grasshopper whom he meant to catch. Sometimes
they stopped and crouched and watched, then they went on, nearer,
nearer, nearer, still, while the Clouded Grasshoppers were more and more
scared and wished they had never left the meadow where they had been so
safe and happy.
At last the Kittens jumped, coming down with their sharp little claws
just where the Clouded Grasshoppers--had been. The Clouded Grasshoppers
had jumped too, but they could not stay long in the air, and when they
came down the Kittens jumped again. So it went until the poor Clouded
Grasshoppers were very, very tired and could not jump half so far as
they had done at first. Sometimes the Kittens even tried to catch them
while they were fluttering, and each time they came a little nearer than
before. They were so tired that they never thought of leaping up on the
wall of the barn where the Kittens couldn't reach them.
At last the smallest Clouded Grasshopper called to his brothers, "Let us
chase the Kittens."