PICCOLISSIMA

BY

MRS. FOLLEN

With illustrations by Gammatt Billings and others

PREFACE. 

This little story I have translated from the French of MademoiselleMontgolfier. If children enjoy it as much as I have, and think it aspretty, they will not regret that I have preferred it to any thing Icould write for them. 

Mademoiselle Montgolfier says in her preface to the little book, "Notwithstanding the fanciful character of this story, it is, infact, simply a little lesson in Natural History, " and that "shewould engage for the truth of all that Piccolissima relates of themanners and customs of the insects with whom she makes acquaintance. "

It may also interest our young, and, perhaps, our more advancedreaders, to know, that Mademoiselle Montgolfier is the daughter ofthe celebrated Montgolfier who invented balloons, and made the firstascension. I had, when in France, the pleasure of seeing this veryinteresting lady, and know her affection for children; and I am surethat it will please her to know that her tiny naturalist is welcomedby the American children. I therefore feel a particular pleasure inintroducing the wonderfully small Piccolissima to theiracquaintance, and recommending her to their affectionate regard. 

E. L. F. 

BROOKLINE, October, 1857. 

PICCOLISSIMA. 

Piccolissima was descended on the father's side from the famous TomThumb, so well known to all children. On the mother's side, herlineage was no less distinguished. Mignonette Littlepin (this wasthe family name of Madam Tom Thumb) was the great granddaughter ofthe wonderful Princess, who once lodged in a spectacle case, out ofwhich she came so splendidly attired that the brilliancy of herlittle person illuminated all surrounding objects. A trustworthybiographer tells us that nothing occurred in the history of Mr. AndMrs. Tom Thumb to disgrace their illustrious parentage, and theywere considered none the less good citizens because they were rathersmaller than other people. 

In the mean while, however, our humble couple became suddenlycelebrated by the birth of our heroine; this small creature was sodelicate, so exquisite, so pretty, and so lively and full of spirit, that from the age of two years she became the object of generaladmiration. She was not more than one inch in height, and hermother, who had prepared the cradle and baby linen for a child ofthe usual size, was puzzled to know what to do. Finally, the half ofa cocoanut shell, lined, and furnished with soft cushions of thistledown, made a good bed for the little wonder; and the nursery maid, wife of a neighboring clockmaker, and a person of ingenuity, conceived the admirable idea of suspending the cocoanut cradle fromthe pendulum of a great clock, in order that the infant might berocked all the time. Madam Tom Thumb was enchanted with theinvention. She adhered to the old-fashioned notions, and could notsuppose it possible that her little one could sleep without rocking. What the good little mother found the most trouble from, in theextreme smallness and delicacy of the limbs of her new-born dollbaby, was the impossibility of swathing and dressing it. So she wasforced to resign herself to doing as the birds do, and bring up herlittle one on a bed of moss and down. She hardly dared to put uponthe little arm, smaller than her own little finger, a little shiftmade of the fine white skin of the inside of an eggshell. The bootsof the little one had soles cut out of the inside husks of the corn;a poppy leaf made her an ample bonnet. The spider's web which thedew whitens, and the wind winds up in balls, seemed too coarse tooweave her sheets with, and the cup of an acorn was big enough forPiccolissima. Her parents obtained all her wardrobe, and all thesmall furniture for her use from those thousands of skilfullaborers, so adroit, and yet of whom we think so little, who hidethemselves in all the walls, in the leaves of the trees turned uplike horns, under the bark of the trees; in short, that are found inall the corners and crevices of creation. 

Mr. And Mrs. Tom Thumb were not people who could be astonished. Simple themselves, every thing appeared simple to them. Mrs. Mignonette was at first a little disconcerted at finding that adrawer of baby linen which she had taken so much pains to make wasof no use, and that one of the stockings which she had knit was bigenough for her child to get into. But, when she was convinced thatthe baby could do just as well without stockings, and that thecushions of thistle down were sufficient to keep it warm, she was nolonger troubled, and she said to her neighbors, who were eager tosee her little wonder, "It is very natural that the little oneshould be so very delicate; from the first we called itPiccolissima; then, neither Mr. Tom Thumb nor I are very large; andI am told that our ancestors were still more delicately formed; whatthen is more natural than that this little one should be such a weewee thing?"

The tranquillity of Mrs. Tom Thumb had this good effect; it appeasedthe curiosity of the neighbors. At last, like her, they came to theconclusion "that it was very natural that the child was smaller thanthe mother. " and all went on as usual around our heroine, while shewas quietly rocked by the passing hours, and was amused with thesound of the silver clock bell. When, however, Piccolissima was twoinches high, and lively as a grasshopper, she became restless in hercocoanut shell; she was desirous to get out of it, to walk, and tojump, and she not only deranged the clock, but she was in realdanger. 

She was now as much as seven years old, and she amused herself withall sorts of little pranks, and loving ways, with one of herbrothers eighteen months old. The great boy, in a sort of ecstasy atsome of the drolleries of his little sister, seized her and put herin his mouth, taking into it nearly the whole head of the poorlittle thing. Her cry was so shrill that the baby boy opened hisjaws and let the unfortunate Piccolissima fall on the floor. She didnot recover for a long time from this fall. Another time, a largecat, a great mouser, ran after her, and it was with difficulty theyrescued Piccolissima from the claws of Raminagrobis. The father, Mr. Thumb, could not repress some anxiety about the fate of his amiabledaughter, who had more than common intelligence, and who, by herextreme smallness, was exposed to so many dangers. 

Piccolissima did her best to acquire knowledge. She had the bestintentions in the world; she desired in every thing to please allwho approached her; but her extreme restlessness led her away inspite of herself. One evening she lost herself in the solitude of adrawer in which was kept some tobacco; she came near dying from theeffect of it. Once she was near drowning in a superb salad dish offrothed eggs, which she may have taken for snow mountains. She had apassion for discovery, she had a prodigious activity of mind andbody, and yet they could find nothing for her to do, "because, " theysaid, "she is so little, so delicate. " She could not play withchildren of her own age, she was not allowed to run about, andwithout object, without employment, without means of studying, withno companions, no sympathy, the poor little thing was in danger offalling into a state of apathy, more to be feared than the accidentsfrom which they wished to preserve her. 

One day, towards the end of February, Piccolissima had been placedupon the mantelpiece. Her mother had gone out; her father, who didnot wish to have the trouble of watching over all his littledaughter's movements, seated her upon a pincushion in which therewere no pins, and putting the dictionary as a sort of rampart beforeher, he gave her a stick of barley sugar to entertain herself with, and after the usual admonition, left her to her dreams. Leaving thesugar to slip down by her side, she remained lost in melancholyreflections from which she was drawn by a light murmur, such as onehears sometimes in the silence of the night when persons arespeaking in a low voice in a distant part of the house. Piccolissimalistened with deep attention for some time. Usually she disliked thesound of conversation; it struck harshly on her organs, and seemed asort of mimic thunder; but these sounds had nothing discordant, nothing disagreeable in them, to her ear. As Piccolissima had beenforced to observe rather than to act, her faculties took a newdirection, and a development of which she was unconscious herselftook place, and her joy and her surprise were great when she foundthat, in what had at first appeared to her a confused murmur, shedistinguished, as she listened attentively, intelligible words. 

"It was hardly worth while, " said a small, sharp voice, "it washardly worth the trouble it cost me to leave my cradle. I have comeinto the world where all is dead around me. Ah! if I had only knownthat this world was so cold and dull, I should not have made effortswhich almost destroyed me, to break the roof and leave my narrowhouse. "

"Patience, " replied another voice, a little quieter, but much likethe other; "I have lived longer than thou, who art only a fewseconds old. I have learned that one minute does not resembleanother; that cold is near to heat, that light is near to darkness, and that sweet follows bitter. It is now two hundred and twenty-onethousand, seven hundred and sixty-one minutes, and twenty-fourseconds, since I broke my shell. This sun, which you now see so palein the dusk, glowed then with more fervor, and sent every where morerays and sparkles than I can count seconds in my long life. I wasall wet as you are now--poor, helpless thing; but I turned myself tosome of those brilliant rays, and my wings directly became strong, as you now see them, embossed and painted with seven different, changing colors, reflections of the rays of the sun. See! there isone of these rays now; come forth; spread thy moist wing, alreadyshrunk and chill; thou shalt take thy part in the blessings whichcome from on high. "

Piccolissima, all attention and full of curiosity, looked aroundher, and saw coming out from the window frame two flies, whoappeared to be talking together. The wings of one of them remainedstuck together on its back, and it made a great effort to extendthem. Delighted at the discovery of companions in her solitude, companions, too, whose language she could understand, Piccolissimawas eager to make their acquaintance; so she offered them her stickof candy. One of the flies--it was the elder--having fixed upon thelittle prodigy one of the thousand faces of his brown, sparklingeyes, surrounded with golden eyelashes, he then placed, one by one, his little black feet upon the stick of sugar candy, stretched forthhis trunk, and began to suck with eagerness. 

Piccolissima had now time enough to contemplate a being whose organsshe thought were like her own in their weakness. She found pleasurein examining the extraordinary form of its almost cylindrical body, divided into three parts, and a head wider than it was long, anirregular globe surmounted by two horns, or antennae, as they arecalled. The eyes most excited her curiosity. She attempted to counttheir numerous little faces, so regular, so finely cut intohexagons, more polished, more brilliant than diamonds. WhenPiccolissima had counted one hundred, she drew from a very smallbox, which was a family treasure, some minikin pins, and stuck oneof them into the cushion on which she was seated, intending thus tomark every hundred that she counted; but she had not counted thushalf a thousand, before she found that breath and knowledge failedher; in truth, she did not know enough of arithmetic to count theeyes of a fly. In the very first group which she undertook to count, that on the right side of the fly, she had not counted a sixteenthpart. Piccolissima, from her education, resembled the flies a littletoo much to boast of her perseverance. So she gave up her project. 

While bending her small head over these eyes, she distinguished, atthe bottom of these crystals, a moving dark spot, and thousands oflittle Piccolissimas, one after the other, smiled upon her fromthese little mirrors. O, wonderful! these thousands of crystalgroups on each side of the head were not all; a triangle of threediamonds crowned the forehead of the fly. Piccolissima did not knowthe name they give to these small eyes, nor that a writer on thesubject had said, that the diadem of the fly outshines that ofqueens, but she could not refrain from saying aloud, "O, my littlefriend, pray tell me what you do with so many eyes?"

"What do I do with them, indeed! why, I look, " answered the fly, alittle vexed at being disturbed in his repast. "Are there notfingers, nails, pins, pincers, jaws, claws, beaks, which menace meon every side? Do I not want eyes to see at a distance, and eyes tosee near? And do you not know that my head is better put on thanyours, which cannot turn to all points of the compass?"

"What! can you look behind you without turning your head?" repliedPiccolissima, with an air which probably appeared to the fly notvery sensible; for, shrugging up his right wing disdainfully, hereturned to his sugar candy. 

After a little reflection, she looked down again, and perceived, toher great astonishment, upon the stick of candy, which was of anamber color, a drop of water. She was sure, however, that she haddone the civil thing to the flies, and given it to them first. How, then, was the candy moist? thought she; but she did not dare againto ask questions which excited such a rude buzzing in reply. So sherested her two little elbows on her knees, and her small head uponone of her hands, and continued to examine the fly. "Is it hisnose?" said she, in a low voice, (for, having very rarely any one totalk with, she had a habit of talking to herself, ) "is it his nosethat he stretches out thus upon my sugar? I have heard papa say thatthere are animals, much larger than he, and which they callelephants, I think, who take up with their noses all the food theyput in their mouths, and that they call this nose a trunk. Perhapsthis is a little person of the family of elephants. "

Piccolissima had hardly uttered these words, when the fly, whoseantennae were longer than usual, and were turned towards the littleprattler, gave such a leap that Mademoiselle Tom Thumb trembled. Thewings of the insect fluttered, and made a little sharp noise, which, however, had nothing terrible in it, and Piccolissima perceived thather companion was laughing. It was evident that the fly must laughwith his wings, because he could not laugh in any other way. It waswith his antennae that he had listened; they evidently served him asears; and, when he recovered his gravity, he flew on the littlegirl's hand, and began to talk with her; then Piccolissima observedhim more intelligently. 

"It appears to me, little pet, " said the fly, "thou must be verygreen to compare my delicate trunk, this instrument so nicely made, with the enormous and coarse cylinder upon which, in hot weather, Ihave often travelled. How can any one suppose that I have anyrelationship to the deformed and gigantic monster of which you havejust now spoken?"

Piccolissima thought that the little person was not wanting invanity, and, while the fly was taking breath, observed that thetrunk had disappeared, and that there was no possibility ofdiscovering what the insect had done with it. The look, gloomy, anda little sullen, of the fly, recalled somewhat the funny mask of aharlequin, and Piccolissima was on the point of showing how onelaughs with the lips, by laughing in the fly's face, when the latterforced air slightly through the breathing holes which open under thewings; the two little double scales, the winglets, which unfold atbirth, began to vibrate; and Piccolissima, who just now remarkedthat this was the method that her new acquaintance took to emitsounds, was eager to listen to what he might say; so she made aneffort to command herself, and became serious. 

"Do you not see, with your dull human intelligence, that my trunk isa pump, a hollow tube, an instrument for sucking which I stretch outand draw in at my pleasure?"

While speaking thus, the fly thrust half way out from the cavity inthe middle of his head, just under his eyes, a trunk with two orthree joints in it; at the end was an opening like two black lips, folded over, with grooves or little hollows. The fly, thus urged toshow the use of his trunk, or, more probably, forgetting the sequelof a discourse upon which he had entered in such a pompous style, flew upon the sugar, and set himself again to sucking it. 

Piccolissima again observed the little drops fall which she hadnoticed before. It seems that the fly, being only able to take upliquids through his trunk, wetted and dissolved the sugar that hemight suck it up. It was a pleasant thing to see his lips swell out, and press, handle, and knead, as it were, the amber surface of thesugar in order to make it melt sooner, and enable him to draw it upfaster. After having examined all these proceedings for some time, with great amusement, the little apprentice naturalist cried out, "Well, my little guest has a remarkable talent for eating barleysugar. "

The other fly, timid, wet, and with his wings folded, so that heseemed naked, remained behind upon the frame of the window. "Come, poor little wet chicken as thou art, " cried the elder fly; "thouwast complaining just now of having found in life only discomfortand cold; dost thou not see these rays of the sun? dost thou notperceive the perfume of this delicious food?" The young, inexperienced fly was disposed to take Piccolissima, the dictionary, and the barley sugar for a chain of mountains. However, when thelittle girl turned her gentle, child-like face towards him, theinsect felt the pleasant warmth of her breath; it reanimated him, and gave him courage, and with one bound he flew upon the arm ofPiccolissima. With a sudden familiarity he murmured in a low voice, "Art thou, perhaps, an elder sister of mine? Thou warmest me. Artthou placed in the sun to strengthen thy wings? Relate to me, quickly, thy metamorphosis whilst I dry myself. Let us see, hastthou been a caterpillar, a worm? How many feet didst thou once have?I will lay a wager thou didst not have any. For me, I had three rowsof feet, forty-two in all, at least. Come, then, speak, and tell me;answer my question. "

Usually Piccolissima did not require to be urged to speak; but thesequestions were of such an extraordinary nature, so unexpected, thatthe little girl remained silent. "Whether I have been a caterpillaror a worm? A queer question at the commencement of an acquaintance. "

In the mean time the questioner was silent. Occupied with thecomfort of exposing all his little person to the sun, he extendedhis wings, which, intersected with nerves, became every moment moresubstantial, without losing any of their delicacy. This transparentnetwork, divided like stained glass windows, by dark lines, resembled isinglass, sometimes decomposing the sun's rays, andshowing the colors of the rainbow. 

The head of the insect, as it dried, became shiny like satin; theeyes, of a reddish brown, glowed in a circle of silver. Over alittle jet band, on the top of his head, three little soft eyespeeped out like those which the young observer had already noticedin the other fly. The brown trunk of this one seemed more delicate;his bronze corselet, reflecting like emerald, was garnished withfine hairs, like the down which the fresh morning spreads overbeautiful fruits. The belly of the insect, which showed itselfbetween and through the transparent wings, was of a beautifulshining black set off by six white crescents, symmetrically placedon the right and left. The legs appeared to Piccolissima brown, andvery delicate. As she examined them, she remembered that the youngboaster had vaunted itself of having forty-two of them; and she wasupon the point of venturing to inquire what had become of thesuperfluous ones, when the lively fly, finding itself dry andstrengthened, raised two of its legs and examined them very closely, and crossing them with great dexterity rubbed the soles of his feetone against the other. Piccolissima was tempted so to call the twoballs of flesh covered with hair, and armed with two nails whichterminated the foot bones. The fly, having cleaned his brushes orsponges, --for they were as much like one as the other, --employinghis trunk very skilfully, began to rub them over and under hiswings, and over his little face, his eyes, and his antennae. Hecombed, brushed, sponged, and cleaned himself all over. Hardly hadhe finished one side before he began upon the other, using those ofhis six feet which were the most convenient. At last, he seemedweary of being watched by Piccolissima; and, shaking himself, hejust grazed the eyelids of the little girl with his wings, and allof a sudden flew away, and alighted on the window pane, where hemarched backward and forward with his head now up, and now down, quite indifferent to the laws of gravity. 

Piccolissima followed him with her eyes with less surprise thancuriosity; not being able to contain herself any longer, shedetermined to speak to the old fly. 

"How does your companion contrive to walk with his head down in thatway?"

The old fly, satiated with sugar, turned half round to the right, and with one spring placed himself opposite the little girl, andstared at her with such a stupefied look, that Piccolissima, although her good sense refused to believe it, thought for a momentthat the ten or twelve thousand eyes were all fixed on her, forgetting, in her confusion at being thus stared at, that thougheach eye had thousands of faces to mirror all surrounding objects, still there was behind them all only one power of seeing, only onefly. 

"What matters it, in the name of all that is sweet in the world? Ofwhat consequence is it, when one walks, whether the head is on oneside or the other, up or down? Poor infirm creature that thou art, "said the fly; "dost thou see any difference?"

Piccolissima, somewhat mortified at having always walked with herhead upward, remained stupefied and silent. It seems necessary, thought she, that every surface, in whatever direction it is placed, should have the same power to attract and support the feet of theflies as the ground and the floor to retain mine. 

Ignorant as she was, the little girl had not yet heard of the gummyliquid which the wise ones had at one time supposed to be placed inthe sponges of the flies, nor of the vacuum, by means of which thelearned of the present day suppose these little cushions can adhereto the most polished surfaces; and she had not yet seen flies enoughto form any opinion for herself. 

"I see, " said the little girl, in a small flute voice, "that youknow much more than I; do not refuse, then, to instruct me. I cannotexplain how it is you speak and breathe. Since you have kept yourtrunk in its case, I perceive above it your lips closed, and I donot see them move. " Piccolissima, fearing she might be laughed at, did not dare to add, that she had supposed that the voice of the flycame from under his wings. 

"I speak as all well-formed people speak, " answered the haughtyinsect, "with four voices;" and four puffs of air issued from theoval breathing holes on both sides of his breast, giving a tremulousmotion to his two little egg-shell wings, his two balance wings, andthe roots of his two other wings. "I breathe through these openingsof my corselet, and I have, in order to enable me to take in theinspiring air which was created to bear me up, as many mouths asrings to my corselet. "

He then swelled out with a proud air his brown abdomen, which seemedformed of rings of shell; and while he was indulging in theadmiration of himself and his powers, the sharp eyes of Piccolissimadiscovered that these circles were not, as we should say, solderedtogether, but were lying on a flexible membrane, or thin skin, whichheld them in their place, and which was folded up or extended at thewill of the insect. On either side, between each ring, there was inthis membrane a little oval hole, smaller than those which, near thecavities of the corselet, emitted and modulated the buzzing soundwhich Piccolissima had just heard; these openings enabled the insectto breathe. 

"You have many ways of speaking, " the little girl said at last, witha sigh; "but covered as you are all over with brilliant armor, howcan you touch any thing?"

The fly, who was at this moment digesting his dinner, and who didnot like any interruption in any of his affairs, put forth his trunkwithout making any reply, shook a little the small beard that grewupon it, did the same with his antennae, rounded at the ends likelittle cushions, and furnished with feathery hair; then stretchedforth his legs, as if yawning. Piccolissima comprehended that thetwo little cushions which ornamented the extreme end of the foot ofthe fly, in which she counted five joints, might easily possess thesense of touch, and that this also rendered them more useful formotion, and for the toilet; it was like so many intelligent brushes, all ready to perceive and sweep away the least grain of dust. Thelittle beards she also thought might have the power of taste, likethe antennae, at the same time that they listened to sounds. 

"This young fly is doubtless your son, " said Piccolissima to theinsect which had taken his place on her neck, in order that thewarmth might help digestion, without asking whether or not his nailsmight tickle the little girl. 

"What! hast thou not seen directly that we were not relations? but Isee how it is; I pity you, poor imperfect being with only two eyesand one mouth, and no trunk, " answered the fly. "It is natural thatthou hast only a superficial knowledge. This little upstart whodevours the sugar as if he did not mean to leave any of it for anyone else, this little person, who has but a few minutes ago escapedfrom his shell, yet hanging to a dead rose leaf long since forgottenas it lay there on the window, has not, as I have, four beautifulblack streaks on his corselet. The white spots on his back offendthe eye; I prefer the modest color of my brown rings, and the softshade of the color of the faded leaf on a portion of my wings doesnot contribute less to the majesty of my aspect than the coloredfeathers which ornament my antennae. As for me, I am the domesticfly. "

"I was wrong not to have remarked the differences which strike menow, " said the child; "but what does this young scapegrace mean bywhat he says of metamorphoses, and countless legs?"

"Yes, yes; that is well known; his race lives upon hairy prey; in myopinion there is nothing to boast of in that. Although thou knowest, it seems to me, very few things, still I think thou art notignorant, of course, that parents place their offspring where it isbest. The mother of this fly of the rose bush laid her egg in themidst of the flock which was to nourish her little one. This onecame into the world in the shape of a worm. "

"Why dost thou shudder?" grumbled angrily the fly. "This form is asgood as any other; call this worm larva if it suits thy fancy; hehas still to each of his fourteen rings three little feet; but hehas not such elegant members as mine, a haunch, a thigh, a leg, andan instep with five joints. " While speaking, the old fly displayedpompously one of his legs, which he began immediately to caress withthe edge of his lips, because he saw a grain of dust on one of thesmall hairs. 

"But, " perseveringly asked Piccolissima, who wished to hear thehistory of the fly to the end, "who are these little flocks in themidst of which your friend has passed his early days?"

"They are the little red or green grubs which infest the rose bush;these he pierces and grinds up with his teeth, and sucks them upwith his strange mouth one after another as he moves slowly amongthem upon those forty-two roots of feet, of which he is so vain, forI maintain that they cannot be called legs, or any thing like legs. "

"You, then, " said the little girl, "have better formed members. "

The fly, who remembered that he had not at all better limbs, lookedsuddenly wearied with the conversation, and shaking his wings, flewaway to the window. 

"Of what color were you formerly?" asked the little girl of her onlyremaining companion; "you, who are now of such a pretty shade ofbrilliant green and bronze?"

"Me! I was of a pretty tender green. Weary of living on the ground, I took the resolution to retire from the world. I shut myself up inmy skin, which soon became hard enough to serve for my retreat. Myhouse was carried, I know not how, to that spot not far from you; Iknow not what artificial heat acted on me. I came to the belief thatthe time had come for me to spread my wings, and I uncovered theroof of my house in order that I might know what had been doneduring my absence. They call me the rose fly. "

As he finished saying these words, the fly, quite satisfied, joinedhis companion in the window. Piccolissima was grieved that she couldnot follow them; she listened attentively to the noise they made inflying, and could distinguish musical tones. But, fatigued at lastby this long tension of her mind, gradually her ideas became vagueand wandering, her little blond head fell upon her arms, and shedropped asleep and dreamed. 

She dreamed that her two new friends, the flies, returned, accompanied by an innumerable troop of winged insects. Each onecarried something, one a blade of grass, another a stalk of a plant, another a petal, another a pistil. Two large beetles, with immensehorns or talons, dragged along small branches loaded with flowers, such as Piccolissima had never seen. 

All this troop set themselves to work and constructed the mostcharming, the lightest little aerial car that one can possiblyimagine. A great fly, bristling with fine hairs, extended fourstrong wings, and raising his voice, invited Piccolissima to mount, and at the same time politely offered her his paw. 

The little girl accepted the invitation, and found herselfimmediately transported into the corolla of a beautiful white lily. There she found a throne prepared for her. Very skilful little pawslightly tickled her arms, and then her feet, in order to call herattention to the labors of invisible waiting maids, who were aboutdressing her in a robe of white velvet, cut out of the petals of awhite camellia, confined round the waist by a turquoise clasp, borrowed from the myosotis. 

A stamen of the lily served her for a sceptre; she took her seat; arose leaf hung for a canopy over her head; the bells of the lily ofthe valley and the campanula sent forth their joyous chime. Thebladder senna filled the air with the noise of its bursting petards. The artillery of the prickly furze played on both sides of thethrone as the nations of flies approached to pay their homage to thequeen. 

To the cries of vivat, uttered with enthusiasm, Piccolissima repliedby inclining her sceptre; a golden rain fell from it, and waseagerly gathered up by the surrounding crowds of humming courtiers, whose shouts and acclamations filled the air. 

The young sovereign then had to endure a long and grave discoursefrom a fat drone bee who did not understand himself. 

Ere long the little queen learned that her empire was in danger. Dreadful enemies menaced the frontiers. "They are spiders, " said theflies. "They are the larvae of the rose bushes, " said the grubs. "They are the ichneumons, " cried a crowd of winged insects. 

Every one accused some other one. Piccolissima did not know what tounderstand, but she hastened to arm herself. Two bees, as her bodyguard, placed upon her head for helmet a flower of the snapdragon. Two wasps, redoubtable hussars, brought her for a shield a piece ofthe gold bronze wing shell of a beetle. 

At last, she extended her hand to seize her lance, when a clap ofthunder shook the lily, dispersed the court, and the army, andPiccolissima awoke, and found herself in the hands of her mother, Mrs. Thomas Thumb, who said, very gently, "Tell me, dear little one, are you not very weary?"

"It is strange, " said Mr. Tom Thumb, some months after, "that Ialways find now my ball of soap in its right place. "

"It is because Piccolissima no longer rolls it into the corners for aplaything, " replied Mrs. Tom Thumb. "The little creature improves--growsreally intelligent. "

"I am glad of it, " said, a little while afterwards, one of the eldersisters of the miniature woman; "I am no longer obliged to hunt fromplace to place for my thimble and my scissors they are now always inmy work box. "

"The reason is, Piccolissima does not now make a well of yourthimble, nor a spade of your scissors, " answered her brother; "shehas become tiresome; she no longer frisks around me when I returnhome; she has no longer any droll fancies which once amused me somuch; she is now a genuine doll; I really believe that this minikinis putting on airs. "

"Hold your peace, Monsieur, " answered the busy chambermaid, in ascolding tone, while she cleaned the runnels of a chair, upon which thefeet of the young man had left a good portion of the soil of the garden;"I should like to see the day when you are as well behaved asMademoiselle Piccolissima. It was once Mademoiselle Touch-every-thing. Six months ago, no one dared to leave a drawer in the house open; nowevery thing remains quiet in its place; she is neither more nor lessthan a reasonable being; she is a waxen image, I tell you. "

"Did I say any thing else, Madam Scold?" answered the school boy;"she is a real Liliputian statue, fit for nothing but to watch theflies fly. Ah! come, Piccola, Piccolissima!" he cried to the littleone, who was behind the shutter of a half-open window, absorbed inthe contemplation of a gnat who was up the window, singing a littleair through his nasal trumpet, "tell us, Piccola, a little of whatthe flies say to you. "

Piccolissima, who was always alarmed at a big voice, trembling, turned round and stared at her brother, who, shouting with laughter, made a pirouette, jumped over the balcony, which was near theground, into the garden. 

The complaints of Piccolissima's brother were not quite withoutfoundation; she had become more reflecting, more observing; she wasless restless and less communicative; more amused, but less amusing. She did not dare to repeat to her sisters her conversation with theflies, lest they should laugh at her, and she became more frequentlyoccupied with her own thoughts, and more silent. Her silver voicewas heard no longer in every corner of the house; she was no longerunder every one's feet; the fragments of her dress were no longercaught by the nails in her brothers' shoes, under the legs of hersisters' chairs, or under the castors of the furniture; and hermother, who had a habit of saying, "This little wild thing gives memore trouble than all her brothers and sisters, " said now, "Truly, if she does not help me, she does not hinder me. " As for Mr. TomThumb, who loved to complete a remark by a proverb, instead ofexclaiming, "It is not strange that she does not grow, --a rollingstone gathers no moss, " murmured, rubbing his hands, "Whoever liveswill see what I have always said: It is only weeds that grow fast. "

In order to employ the activity of Piccolissima, her father had atone time given her some pots of flowers; for a long time, nothingcame of them, for she turned over the earth incessantly, and keptlooking at the roots to see if they began to sprout. Now that she nolonger asked ten questions, one after the other, without waiting foran answer, and that she left her plants to grow, and no longer tookthem up to look at their roots, she had in her garden, just underthe window, one foot of potatoes, three feet of hemp, a bean, and astrawberry plant, in pots. Her brother, in jumping out of thewindow, had broken off some ripe strawberries, which the little girlhad cherished for her mother, and Piccolissima went sorrowfully toexamine the havoc, and pick up the fruit. 

She no longer supported herself upon the flexible stalks of thenasturtiums and the convolvulus, which Mr. Tom Thumb cultivated, andwho more than once had complained at finding them broken. She nolonger seated herself on the branches of the mignonette, and thenlet the wind blow her at its will, backwards and forwards, adangerous and monotonous amusement, which soon wearied. Now, withher elbow resting on the edge of the pot of strawberries, under theshadow of the Persian lilac, she remained in contemplation. 

She observed running about some little creatures that she had neverseen before, and which appeared to her so wild that she dared notbegin a conversation. 

"O, what is that?" she said at last, stooping down and resting herhead on her hand, and forgetting her lost harvest of strawberries;"here is something very curious. They are smaller than the flies. Amyosotis could accommodate a number of them in its delicate cup;their heads are wider than they are long, and on each side Iperceive a sort of fine leg, which has a sort of elbow, and whichthe insect does not use in walking; the body is in three parts, allof a shining black; the head has these two threads, which are alwaysmoving, and which are of a lighter color at the ends; the corseletis smaller, rounder, and more brilliant than that of the flies; andthe belly is covered with black scales. But these little beasts trotaway, scamper away so fast with their nimble legs, that one cannotsee them. What delicate forms they have! they must have worn corsetswhen they were young. Ah! there is a sort of knot in this threadwhich fastens the corselet to the belly. Wait, little fellow, waitwhile I look at you a little nearer!" The small, thin finger ofPiccolissima caught one of the little creatures, but she found somedifficulty in holding him. 

"Ah! at last I have you!" She held between her thumb and finger thetwo hind legs of the insect, who stretched himself out stiff andwithout motion, just as if he was sitting for his portrait. She thensaw above the arms and hands of the head, (thus she chose to callthe antennae, ) two shining eyes, like two black buttons--naturalistsdiscover three with a microscope. "He has no trunk, " saidPiccolissima, as she looked at a formidable mouth. At this moment, the insect disengaged one of his legs, and twisting himself withfury, and biting the finger which held him, he showed two jaws, which worked like a pair of pincers. Piccolissima was notsufficiently hardened to natural history. She shook her handviolently, and uttered a cry that brought her brother to her in amoment. 

"Ha! ha! the great body, " cried he, as he saw the trouble, and thecause of it; "this is not a worthy enemy; it is only one of thesmallest ants. What would you say if you had to contend with theherculean wood borer? Your ferocious animal is only a modestfuliginosa, Madam Piccola; it is Formica fuliginosa, Latin words, which mean soot-colored ant. "

"I should much prefer that they should be called at once by a namethat I could comprehend, 'little blackeys, ' instead of these longwords, that it almost takes away your breath to pronounce. "

"This is because you are ignorant, sister; but for that, you wouldlove the Latin names, because they are so fine sounding, and canexpress so many things. For example, formica; can you guess? O, no, you will never guess, " added he, with a knowing tone. "Verywell! formica means crumb carriers, because the little cunningbeasts carry all sorts of knickknacks. "

Piccolissima, who once had only frisked and frolicked around herbrother, and in whose eyes she had been hitherto a sort of amusingplaything, listened to him now with an air of intelligence andsatisfaction, with which he was secretly flattered. "Besides theherculean borer, " he continued, "there is another ant in theforests, much larger than your enemy, and who builds mountains. Theycall him rusa, which means russet. It is he who produces the formicacid, a poison which he sheds with his abdomen into the bite whichhe makes with his mandibles or jaws, which makes the wound a littlered, and makes it itch and burn a little. " He was going on to addthat mandibula signified jaw bone; abdomen, meant belly. He might, perhaps, while he was in this mood, have declined all these nouns, but his little sister had ceased to listen; she was following withher eye a file of her small black ants, and she saw them go and comevery busily upon a small stick which supported her only bean stalk. Doubtless the wind had blown into Piccolissima's garden one of thewhite cottony tufts which enfold the seeds of the poplar, for it wasa young shoot of poplar which served as support to the plant, and asa garden for the ants. Upon the white cottony stem was an assemblageof these little animals, green, brown, yellow, and transparent, allplump, singularly alike, grave, immovable, like a Roman senate. Certain active little creatures with fine shapes walked among them, around them, over them, without appearing to hurt them, ordisturbing their gravity. The ants carried their easy manners stillfarther; they struck lightly, rapidly, alternately, with their twoantennae, the backs and the sides of these peaceable animals; theyeven went so far as to turn them over with their fore paws, and allthe while the other insects did not move, and allowed them to do asthey pleased. 

"Look! look!" cried Piccolissima. 

"Beautiful little wonder, " answered her brother, "these are grubs, that's all; and who does not know nowadays, that these are the cowsof the ants?"

"Their cows!" repeated the little girl; and she remained absorbed inher examination. The ants still continued, in a playful andirregular manner, to strike their little cows, whose trunksPiccolissima saw were thrust into the bark of the aspen. Sometimesan ant gave a little kick, and always one was at hand, with his jawsextended, and his mouth open, ready to receive a drop of sirup, which the eye of Piccolissima at last discovered falling from theextremity of the body of the grub. "I see, I see!" she exclaimed;"it is their way of milking. O the funny little pastoral people!"Whilst she was in this ecstasy, the ant with the ends of hisantennae took the transparent little drop into his mouth; and thencarefully cleansed with the brushes of his feet the sugared antennaewhich had served for fork and spoon, or rather for fingers. 

"I should like to talk with him, " said Piccolissima, as she saw theant making his toilet, "but these are a very silent, a very reservedpeople; perhaps they are dumb. "

The ant, who had just swallowed the drop of sirup, now quietlydescended the aspen walk; his belly was well stuffed and shining, and he stopped now and then to rest, and wash his face. He met, ashe went down, an ant who was ascending the path. The new comer ranup to him as to an intimate friend, as soon as he saw him, andeagerly struck him with his antennae. The motion was very rapid; theant returned it by shaking his antennae, but more gently, and byopening his mandibles. "Are they going to dispute, and to bite eachother?" thought Piccolissima. Not at all. The ant who had receivedthe sirup upon the end of his tongue, now offered a little drop ofit to the one who was hungry, who received it upon his tongue, whilehe continued to caress with his antennae, and even with his littlepaws, the friend who offered it. The joy of Piccolissima was sogreat at the sight of this mutual kindness, that she made one of herold leaps, and shook the frail stalk. Immediately there was aviolent commotion among the ants, who in great crowds blackened theend of the twig. They ran hither and thither in the greatest terror, striking their antennae one against the other. Many of them caressedthe grubs more eagerly, in a violent and impetuous manner, as if tourge them to some exertion. Some of the grubs submitted to be takengently into the jaws of the ants; others, with their trunks in thewood, looked as if they were too lazy to consent to move. 

They were however, at last, (whether they would or not, ) all carriedrapidly away. Each ant, loaded with her cow, ran down the tree, and, following a little narrow path in the ground, reached a small, deephole, into which the ants, one after the other, all disappeared. 

"O Mimi! O Linette! O Fifine!" cried Piccolissima, running from herbrother to her sisters, "they have carried away all their cows. Eachant has his cow between his teeth; one holds her by the belly, theothers by the wings; come see! come see!"

"Cows with wings!" cried the astonished little girls. Mimi, who knewall this, startled his little sister by saying, "The pet is right;she has good eyes; there are many grubs with wings; come, come, mysmall sister, it appears to me that you are discovering many thingsalready known. My ladies, the ants, ought to choose you for theirqueen. "

The same day, Madam Tom Thumb, who began to feel some confidence inthe reason of Piccolissima, carried her into the garden, to thegreat joy of the little creature. It was a delicious place; therewere in it long covered alleys, and even a small wood, where onemight enjoy a sweet freshness in the heat of the day. Around a greathall, covered with foliage, were seats of soft green moss. It wasthere that Madam Tom Thumb used to embroider with her elderdaughters; and there she placed Piccolissima, allowing her to run atlarge, only recommending to her prudence and discretion. 

The child, who was formerly idle and weary of every thing, was in afair way to become a happy young girl, thanks to the attention shebegan to give to every thing she saw, and to the interest which thewonders around her excited in her mind. She was enchanted with thethousand plants which embellished and covered the earth, and formedin the smallest flower an object of admiration which filled hersoul. Very soon she met one of those beings who excited in her alively curiosity, --an ant much larger than the little black ones ofthe shepherd race. The fine antennae, the three eyes, the top of thehead, the legs, the belly of this one were blackish, but lessglistening, and it was by the superiority of his shape, above middlesize, and above all, by the reddish color of a part of his body, that Piccolissima recognized the russet ant of which her brother hadspoken. The insect carried very laboriously a stick ten or twelvetimes as long as himself; a hillock of earth, which he met on hisroad, stopped him for some time, and Piccolissima, who was eager tohelp him through his difficulties, and who was tormented with adesire to enter into conversation with him, took it into her head toassist the insect, and hoped thus to render herself agreeable tohim. She seized one end of the little rafter he was carrying, and ina tone which she tried to make as soft as possible, she said, "Willyou allow me, little one, to help you?"

The ant, clinging to the earth with his hind legs, stood upstraight, and threw out his antennae with a terrible expression. Piccolissima was so full of kind feeling that she never thought ofexciting any anger; she thought that it was only a little struggleof his politeness; therefore she insisted, taking firmly hold of thebit of wood, and repeated, "I assure you it is a pleasure to me, andit will not fatigue me. " Forced to loosen his burden, the ant openedhis jaws full of formidable teeth, and advanced upon Piccolissima, walking on his hind legs; the two others stretched out in front, aswell as his antennae, in sign of defiance; his body all bent, exhaling an odor of vinegar so pungent that Piccolissima, letting gothe little stick, ran away as fast as she could, sneezing violently, and shutting her eyes. When she opened them and returned, thinkingthe ant was at her heels, she found her terrible adversary had againseized his big stick by one end, and had slid it over the lump ofearth by means of a stone, which served him as a point of support. She saw him sometimes push it before him, and sometimes drag itafter him, walking backwards till he reached the flat ground, whenhe pursued his way very fast. 

Piccolissima, who did not forget that her mother had recommendeddiscretion to her, followed at a distance. As she went on carefully, she saw long trains of ants resembling her enemy; each one of themwas charged with a burden more or less heavy. All of them took theirway towards a mountain shaped like a cone, full of little openingswhich, from a distance, appeared to be semicircular vaults; Romanarchitecture Piccolissima would have thought if the multiplicity ofdetails of little architectural ornaments, all of wood work, had notgiven her the idea of an old Gothic fortress. The rapid and violentmotions of the wild mountaineers did not frighten her; she walked upslowly, hardly touching her feet to the earth, holding her breath, observing every thing, and she was soon convinced that this little, busy people took no notice of her. She came nearer and nearer to theplace where two great roads, covered with ants, terminated. Sheheard a confused noise, like the hum of a great city, or as thesound of the rain among the leaves. 

"I thought they spoke only by signs which they make with the armsthat come out of their heads, " said Piccolissima, still goingnearer; "why, then, this noise?"

The little girl was soon convinced that this noise was produced bythe numerous and busy footsteps of a solemn, austere, andpreoccupied crowd of ants. Not a word was said, but every one ranrather than walked, and they seemed like a thousand individuals, allactuated by one purpose. Supported on the lower branch of a chestnuttree, Piccolissima placed herself a little higher, but very near thecitadel, which was one living mountain. 

How can we relate what she saw then? It would take volumes. Therewould be as many histories as individuals. Her attention wasattracted by the perseverance of one ant who carried a burden; byanother who was striving to get over some obstacle. She saw themfeed those who arrived laden and out of breath; she saw those whorepaired the doors, who opened and shut the windows, which were notglazed like ours; others she saw as sentinels, standing on theirhind legs, charged to watch over the general safety. The busiestcarried in their mandibles, caressed with their legs and theirantennae, licked with their delicate tongues, exposed to the sun, orcarried quickly into the shade certain white balls whichPiccolissima took at first for grains of wheat, because they had theform and size; but she was satisfied at last that these were thechildren of the ants in swaddling clothes. Piccolissima was soanxious to comprehend the mysterious talk, and the pantomime of allthis innumerable crowd, that she became yet more attentive. Thenurses caressed with their antennae in a peculiar way those eggswhich were beginning to show life, and the little observer saw theslight movement of the incomplete being who, as soon as he wasbidden, raised his head, which was almost imperceptible even tomicroscopic eyes, to receive the offered mouthful. 

Whilst Piccolissima observed all this nursery work, an ant came andplaced beneath her, in order to fill up a small hole, a sort ofbundle of little sticks, which rolled away as soon as she left it. The ant took hold of it again, carried it to its place, and arrangedit so as to make it firm; then, satisfied with her work, she wentafter something else to do. Shortly after this, a head, then somelegs, then half of the body of a caterpillar came out of the livinglittle fagot which the ant had mended her house with. It was a deadleaf in which an egg had been laid and nicely rolled up by theparent, and which my lady ant had taken for a beam, or something ofthe sort, and the vexed hermit scampered away, carrying his housewith him, not caring at all for the hole which he and his house hadbeen intending to mend. 

Much amused at this, Piccolissima tried to find out what a greatnumber of ants, all with burdens, were carrying. She was, withpainful astonishment, soon convinced that these were the carcassesof all sorts of insects. "It is a nation of hunters, " she said, "more savage than those which feed their flocks on my aspen. "

At this moment, a great ant attracted the attention of the childtowards the lower part of the mountain. An enormous grub of thecockchafer race, a great white worm, rolled himself over, trying toliberate himself and to crush the ants, whose number increased onevery side, and who tore off his transparent, soft skin, and pulledhim in every direction. They climbed backward up the side of theircitadel, and in spite of his desperate struggles, carried the poorinsect, writhing with torture, to one of their little air holes. Piccolissima saw upon his wounds some drops of the sharp poisonthrown by these terrible hunters, and the crowds of ants soon hidthe sufferer from her eyes, which she gladly turned away from such asight. 

With her heart oppressed with fear and pity, the little girlcollected her strength that she might glide down from her branch andrun away, when a sudden alarm attracted a whole squadron of theinsects to the place where she was about to put her foot. Sheimmediately regained her place, and tried to understand whatimportant and terrible news was being communicated from antennae toantennae, drawing together such a number of insects, with theirfrightful jaws all opened. The penetrating odor reached thefrightened little girl; presently she perceived a very large ant, nearly six lines in length, very black, very shining, doubtless aHercules who was defending himself against a whole army. His enemiesfastened themselves on to each of his legs, but he still fought; abrown ant jumped upon his back and tried to break his brilliantcuirass; another, with his body bent double, covered him withpoison. The Hercules still fought. At last, three of the fiercest ofthe ants worked with their sharp teeth upon the middle of his body, and at last cut him in two. The terrible head of the Hercules stillheld in his jaws two of his deadly enemies. Piccolissima screamed, and putting her hand before her eyes, she perhaps would have falleninto the midst of this nation of savages, if her mother, who wasanxious about her, had not taken her in her arms and carried heraway. 

From this time, Piccolissima became one of the happiest littlecreatures in the world. Her brother, instead of considering her onlyas a toy to play with, began to respect her. She had no moreconversations with the flies, to be sure. Her mind grew, and shelearned that, small as she was, she was superior to the bestinformed fly. She studied the habits and doings of the ants, andlearned a great deal about their different tribes and nations. Sometimes her brother would take his sister's toilet cushion and putit on the table before him, and seating Piccolissima upon it, say toher, "Now, Piccola, dear, listen with both of your little ears to mybig words, and I will read some wonderful stories to you. " Once heread Gulliver's Travels to her. "O!" she exclaimed, as he read ofthe Lilliputians, "O, good! good! I am a Lilliputian, and you areall great, big Brobdignagians. Why did you not tell me this before?"So she began to dance and skip about, like a jack-o'-lantern. Herbrother, who was delighted at her gambols, whistled a tune for herto dance by. Presently Piccolissima began to sing, with her small, fine voice, this song, which she made as she danced:--

 Merrily, merrily, dance away! Merrily laugh, and merrily play! Though I am a tiny thing, I can dance, and I can sing; I can hear, and I can see; I don't care who laughs at me; I can learn all things to know; So sing merrily, merrily, O!

The morning was lovely; the blue shadows, extending over the fields, made the leaves of the chestnut trees, wet with the morning dew, still more brilliant. Agitated by a light breeze, they glistened inthe rays of the rising sun. Every blade of grass lifted its dewyhead as soon as a ray fell upon it, and each in its turn was crownedwith its halo of diamonds. 

The flowers, in sweet accord, sent up their perfume towards heaven. Already the lark had saluted the day with his brilliant song, eternal hymn, ever repeated, never omitted. Every little bird sentup his clear note and his joyous song from his nest; the insectswere beginning to hum. The sound of the voice of man, slow to joinin the morning prayer of the whole creation, was not yet heard whenPiccolissima, already awake, entered the garden. 

She had obtained permission to do so the evening before. Hermother's confidence had increased with the growing prudence and goodsense of the little girl; qualities which a habit of observation hasthe effect of strengthening rapidly. 

The child was desirous to witness the morning labors of the ants, and to see how, when the dew had prepared their mortar, they builttheir long galleries. They commenced their work at the top, andPiccolissima would have liked to see them again raise and make theirwalls. She was, however, disappointed in her purpose, either thatthe earth dried too quick, as the sun was now high above thehorizon; or the tiny republicans, with six feet, were employed intheir interior halls, in bringing out the young ants, and were busytearing off the veils of silk which confined the larvae, and indeveloping the wings of the males and females; or, whatever might bethe cause, the ant hills were deserted. 

The lazy amazons did not appear. Now and then a single miner mightbe seen wandering alone at the entrance of their subterraneandwelling. 

Seated upon a piece of turf near the parterre, the little girlfollowed with her eye, all along the stem of a plant, two or threebrown ants who led their flock of grubs to pasture, when a murmuringsound near her, which seemed to spread all over the beds ofmignonette, attracted her attention to some large flies, of a dullcolor, who whirled about among the flowers, darting from one to theother, and seemed very busy. 

"Can these be any of my old acquaintances?" said she; but she couldnot be satisfied with this idea; the new comers, much larger, hadalso a very different physiognomy from that of her old friends. Theyhad oval eyes, with a network over them; a protruding jaw; antennaeof twelve olive scales, terminated by a button. Their browncorselets covered with a tawny fur; their brilliant cuirasses, andtheir legs of unequal length, --all these things attracted theattention of the young observer. 

She saw these flies rolling themselves over in the bosom of theflowers, with a joyous activity which amused her very much, and thereason of which she desired to understand. 

There was, however, in their appearance and manners, somethingrepulsive which prevented familiarity. Each one of them caused tovibrate four gauze wings, two large and two small ones. In theirrapid and measured motions, these wings produced sound, and the air, issuing from little breathing places situated, as in the common fly, on each side of the corselet, produced a sort of a song. 

As if attracted by the song, these insects flew in swarms to theflower-bed. Very soon it was evident that they were heavier whenthey went away than when they came. Two large, round, red andyellow, or rather golden balls loaded their brilliant brown thighs. Some of them plunged into the bosom of a lily. Raising herself ontiptoe, Piccolissima kept them in view. She saw their slantingteeth, which formed the point of their triangular head, open andclose like two strong pincers, and shake the tops of the stamens. She had never noticed before, but now she perceived, at the end ofthe six threads in the centre of the flower, a sort of little greenbox; this was the anther. These flies pressed it and pulled it, tillit opened and scattered a quantity of little yellow pellets, whichcovered the insects so thoroughly, that they and the flowers seemedto have changed garments, so completely were they clothed with it. 

Piccolissima could contain herself no longer. She cried out to hersister, whom she saw coming towards her:

"O, come, come quickly! See the flies putting on their ball dresses, and making their toilet in the cup of a flower. "

Linette, still at a distance, did not hasten her steps, notwithstanding the exclamations of her sister; and before she came, Piccolissima was convinced that the flies did not think much oftheir brilliant toilet. She saw them push off all their finery bymeans of the brushes with which their legs were furnished. Theseexcellent little square brushes were placed on their hind legsmostly; they had brown horn backs, and short, stiff hairs, rangedregularly. These brushes did their work so well, that in less than amoment every fly had resumed his modest livery. 

But what had become of the rich yellow powder? The insect had takencare to brush himself so rapidly that Piccolissima could but justsee the dust he had collected pass from one part of his body toanother, till the whole came to the third pair of his legs, and wascollected together in a little oval cavity, surrounded by a thickcircle of skin which closed in upon it. Every fly used his middlelegs afterward to press and roll up into his basket his littlestore. 

"Hast thou forgotten how to walk faster than a snail?" saidPiccolissima to her sister. "These great flies were just now dressedwith a cloak of gold, and now they carry their toilet in a bundle;look at the third joint of their largest legs, which they jointogether and let hang behind them when they fly. "

"Nonsense! I know all about them, " said Linette, as she saw them flyaway with their burden; "these are bees who make honey, such as Ihave brought you for your breakfast;" and the young girl put intoher sister's hand a double slice of bread and honey. 

Without noticing her breakfast, Piccolissima eagerly tasted of whatremained of the yellow dust of the stamens of the lily. 

"But, Linette, " said she, "this does not taste like honey. "

"Very true; it is for the bees to entitle it to that name, and notfor me. All that I know is, that they call them honey bees becausethey make honey. They also make wax; and I have often seen themcarry away little balls of the dust of flowers. Whether they make itafterwards into honey or wax, is their business. You have only toask them. "

Piccolissima meant to do this as soon as she had courage. Meanwhile, she rubbed in her fingers the dust of the lily, yellowed the end ofher nose in smelling of it, her lips in tasting of it, still withoutfinding in it the consistency of wax, or the taste of honey. 

"How do the flies do it?" said she. "I have tasted at the bottom ofthe tube of a honeysuckle, or of a jasmine, something more likehoney than this powder. " While speaking, she was going to her breadand honey, when she perceived some one had got the start of her. Anumber of bees were on the edge of it, and were so busily employedthat Piccolissima had an opportunity of examining them closelywithout fear of disturbing them. It was a pleasure to see them. Fromunder their chins protruded, as far as their teeth, a little caseof shell, opening with two little leaves, whence projected a secondlittle case, polished and shining, half open, from which was thrusta transparent tongue, covered with hairs. This tongue was stretchedout and plunged into the honey, and was then moved round and roundand soaked in it; soon it was contracted, and now again it becamelarger; the insect seemed to enjoy all these various movements. Through the hairs and the opening pores, Piccolissima saw the liquidascend; and between the teeth of the bee, above its admirable trunk, she saw a pretty large mouth open to receive the honey. 

The little observer was willing to give up all her breakfast to thelittle winged gormand for the sake of the satisfaction she receivedfrom seeing how he managed to eat. 

"Do not let all your honey be swallowed by those greedy flies, " saidLinette, who was the economist of the family. 

"O, it is only just that they should have part, if they have madeit, " said Piccolissima, still watching them. "These are larger thanthose other bees who carry away the golden powder. Are they notsatisfied? How their antennae come down! Does it not seem as if theywere tasting thus the perfume of the honey which their wonderfultrunks draw up?"

"They are just the same flies; they belong to our neighbor Thomas;one is not larger than another. I have seen them ever since I wasborn. I don't see any thing wonderful in them, " said Linette. "It isbecause you are so little that you are astonished at every thing. "

"O Linette, it is true that every thing I see seems to me every daymore curious. All that I look at seems to grow more wonderful andbeautiful as I look at it; but surely these flies that are eating mybreakfast are larger than those that are opening the boxes ofsweetmeats in the flowers. Ah, look! there is one still bigger thanthe others, so funny, so hairy, so cross, and he scolds and hums allaround this sweet pea. "

"That is a drone; we must chase him away; he is good for nothing; henever makes any honey. " And Linette drove away the shaggy drone bee. 

Just at this moment, the greedy flies who were eating the honey, andtheir more temperate companions who were gathering the harvest ofthe pollen of the flowers, all flew away at once, as if by commonconsent. 

"Ah, you have driven them all away!" said Piccolissima; and withoutperceiving that the sky had clouded over, she followed the insectswith her eyes. Presently there began to fall some large drops ofrain. 

"It rains, it rains! there is a shower coming, " cried Linette. 

"Can it be that these cunning bees have foreseen it?" askedPiccolissima. 

"What there is no question of is, " said Linette, "that my poor frockwill be spoiled. It is going to rain pitchforks. There will be waterenough to drown you before we reach the house, and your mites ofshoes will be lost; but come along. There, do you think the leaf ofthat cabbage will do for a shelter for you?"

"Sorores, sorores!" said a thundering voice; and in a moment Mimiwas between his two sisters, whom he sheltered under a largeumbrella; taking up Piccolissima and hiding her little feet in hiswaistcoat pocket, and asking as he went towards the house, what hadkept her out so long. 

"I know what you have seen, " said he, with the air of a professor. "Insects of the order hymenopteres; if you ever learn Greek, Piccolissima, you will know that that means insects with membranouswings. Imagine what a fine thing it is to understand Greek. Everyword contains in itself many others. For example, honey bees have aname still longer than the others; they are called mellificae. Whatdo you say to that? They also call them anthophilai, which meanslovers of flowers. "

"Your new friends, in particular the domestic bees, were among theEgyptians the emblem of royalty. Are you not pleased with that, Piccolissima? The ancient kings of France had them on their arms;bees were embroidered on their shields, and on their standards; andit was very proper that they adopted them. Have they not the royalprerogative--honey and a sting? They amass treasures, and they knowhow to keep them. In truth I agree with you, sisterkin; I love beesand honey; finish your bread and honey or I shall eat it. "

From this day Piccolissima dreamed ever of bees; her most earnestdesire was to go and see a kingdom of apis mellifica, which herbrother Mimi told her was in the possession of their neighborThomas, who kept twenty bee hives.