Among the Forest People Read online

  THE NIGHT MOTH WITH A CROOKED FEELER

  The beautiful, brilliant Butterflies of the Meadow had many cousinsliving in the forest, most of whom were Night Moths. They also were verybeautiful creatures, but they dressed in duller colors and did not haveslender waists. Some of the Butterflies, you know, wear whole gowns ofblack and yellow, others have stripes of black and white, while somehave clear yellow with only a bit of black trimming the edges of thewings.

  The Moths usually wear brown and have it brightened with touches of buffor dull blue. If they do wear bright colors, it is only on the back pairof wings, and when the Moth alights, he slides his front pair of wingsover these and covers all the brightness. They do not rest with theirwings folded over their heads like the Butterflies, but leave them flat.All the day long, when the sun is shining, the Moths have to rest ontrees and dead leaves. If they were dressed in yellow or red, anypassing bird would see them, and there is no telling what might happen.As it is, their brown wings are so nearly the color of dead leaves orbark that you might often look right at them without seeing them.

  Yet even among Moths there are some more brightly colored than others,and when you find part of the family quietly dressed you can know it isbecause they have to lay the eggs. Moths are safer in dull colors, andthe egg-layers should always be the safest of all. If anything happenedto them, you know, there would be no Caterpillar babies.

  One day a fine-looking Cecropia Moth came out of her chrysalis and clungto the nearest twig while her wings grew and dried and flattened. Atfirst they had looked like tiny brown leaves all drenched with rain andwrinkled by somebody's stepping on them. The fur on her fat body wasmatted and wet, and even her feelers were damp and stuck to her head.Her six beautiful legs were weak and trembling, and she moved her bodyrestlessly while she tried again and again to raise her crumpled wings.

  She had not been there so very long before she noticed another CecropiaMoth near her, clinging to the under side of a leaf. He was also justout of the chrysalis and was drying himself. "Good morning!" he cried."I think I knew you when we were Caterpillars. Fine day to break thechrysalis, isn't it?"

  "Lovely," she answered. "I remember you very well. You were theCaterpillar who showed me where to find food last summer when the hotweather had withered so many of the plants."

  "I thought you would recall me," he said. "And when we were spinning ourchrysalides we visited together. Do you remember that also?"

  Miss Cecropia did. She had been thinking of that when she first spoke,but she hoped he had forgotten. To tell the truth, he had been ratherfond of her the fall before, and she, thinking him the handsomestCaterpillar of her acquaintance, had smiled upon him and suggested thatthey spin their cocoons near together. During the long winter she hadregretted this. "I was very foolish," she thought, "to encourage him.When I get my wings I may meet people who are better off than he. Now Ishall have to be polite to him for the sake of old friendship. I onlyhope that he will make other acquaintances and leave me free. I must getinto the best society."

  All this time her neighbor was thinking, "I am so glad to see her again,so glad, so glad! When my wings are dry I will fly over to her and wewill go through the forest together." He was a kind, warm-heartedfellow, who cared more for friendship than for beauty or family.

  Meanwhile their wings were growing fast, and drying, and flattening, sothat by noon they could begin to raise them above their heads. They werevery large Moths and their wings were of a soft dust color with littleclear, transparent places in them and touches of the most beautifulblue, quite the shade worn by the Peacock, who lived on the farm. Therewas a brown and white border to their wings, and on their bodies andlegs the fur was white and dark orange. When the Cecropias rest, theyspread their wings out flat, and do not slide the front pair over theothers as their cousins, the Sphinxes, do. The most wonderful of all,though, are their feelers.

  The Butterflies have stiff feelers on their heads with little knobs onthe ends, or sometimes with part of them thick like tiny clubs. TheNight Moths have many kinds of feelers, most of them being curved, andthose of the Cecropias look like reddish-brown feathers pointed at theend.

  Miss Cecropia's feelers were perfect, and she waved them happily to andfro. Those of her friend, she was troubled to see, were not what theyshould have been. One of them was all right, the other was small andcrooked. "Oh dear," she said to herself, "how that does look! I hope hewill not try to be attentive to me." He did not mind it much. He thoughtabout other things than looks.

  As night came, a Polyphemus Moth fluttered past. "Good evening!" criedhe. "Are you just out? There are a lot of Cecropias coming out to-day."

  Miss Cecropia felt quite agitated when she heard this, and wondered ifshe looked all right. Her friend flew over to her just as she raised herwings for flight. "Let me go with you," he said.

  While she was wondering how she could answer him, several otherCecropias came along. They were all more brightly colered than she."Hullo!" cried one of them, as he alighted beside her. "First-ratenight, isn't it?"

  He was a handsome fellow, and his feelers were perfect; but MissCecropia did not like his ways, and she drew away from him just as herfriend knocked him off the branch. While they were fighting, another ofthe strangers flew to her. "May I sit here?" he asked.

  "Yes," she murmured, thinking her chance had come to get into society.

  "I must say that it served the fellow right for his rudeness to you,"said the stranger, in his sweetest way; "but who is the Moth who ispunishing him--that queer-looking one with a crooked feeler?"

  "Sir," said she, moving farther from him, "he is a friend of mine, and Ido not think it matters to you if he is queer-looking."

  "Oh!" said the stranger. "Oh! oh! oh! You have a bad temper, haven'tyou? But you are very good-looking in spite of that." There is notelling what he would have said next, for at this minute Miss Cecropia'sfriend heard the mean things he was saying, and flew against him.

  It was not long before this stranger also was punished, and then theMoth with the crooked feeler turned to the others. "Do any of you wantto try it?" he said. "You must understand that you cannot be rude beforeher." And he pointed his right fore leg at Miss Cecropia as she sattrembling on the branch.

  "Her!" they cried mockingly, as they flew away. "There are prettierMoths than she. We don't care anything for her."

  Miss Cecropia's friend would have gone after them to punish them forthis impoliteness, but she clung to him and begged him not to. "You willbe killed, I know you will," she sobbed. "And then what will become ofme?"

  "Would you miss me?" he asked, as he felt of one of his wings, nowbroken and bare.

  "Yes," she cried. "You are the best friend I have. Please don't go."

  "But I am such a homely fellow," he said. "I don't see how you can likeme since I broke my wing."

  "Well, I do like you," she said. "Your wing isn't much broken after all,and I _like_ your crooked feeler. It is so different from anybodyelse's." Miss Cecropia looked very happy as she spoke, and she quiteforgot how she once decided to go away from him. There are some people,you know, who can change their minds in such a sweet and easy way thatwe almost love them the better for it. One certainly could love MissCecropia for this, because it showed that she had learned to care morefor a warm heart and courage than for whole wings and straight feelers.

  Mr. Cecropia did not live long after this, unfortunately, but they werevery, very happy together, and she often said to her friends, as shelaid her eggs in the best places, "I only hope that when my Caterpillarbabies are grown and have come out of their chrysalides, they may be asgood and as brave as their father was."