Insect Adventures

isks in its black legions; down in the water, the orange-bellied Newt steers his way slowly with the broad rudder of his flat tail; among the reeds are

he chest, a film of gas that gleams like a silver breast plate; on the surface, the ballet of those shimmering pearls, the Whirligigs, turns and

clad in mud, is the grub of the largest of our Dragon-flies, so curious because of its manner of moving: it fills its hi

their dwelling; on the level of the water, in the glades of the water-garden, the Pond-snails take the air. Dark Leeches writhe upon their prey,

el to the child who, tired of his paper boat, amuses himself by noticing what is happening in the

h of garden. Our money was almost all gone. What was to be done? That wa

s overcome by want? I was like him. I also listened, pretending to sleep, with my elbows on the t

them and take them down to the brook. And we could feed them on the grease from the tallo

d some ducks. There may be difficulti

heir yellow suits; I took them to the pond, I watched them have their b

wenty-four of them. They had been hatched by two hens, of whom one, the big bla

ly. At first everything goes perfectly: a tub with two fingers' depth of water serves

morsels both. The time has come for dives and hunts among the tangle of the water-weeds; and for us the day of trouble has also come.

pails. By the time that the schoolmasters donkey has quenched her thirst and the neighbors have taken their provision for the

or some surly dog might frighten and scatter the little band; and it would be a puzzling task to collect them all again. But there is still another spot, part way up

s had given me a large and painful blister on the heel. If I had wanted to put on the shoes stowed away in the cupboard for Sun

d, they quacked with fatigue. They would have refused to go any farther towards t

at once. The ducklings clap their beaks and rummage here, there, and everywhere; they sift each mouthful, throwing out the clear water and swallowing the good bits. In the d

you pull out of an old ravelly stocking. Can some shepherdess, knitting a black sock and finding her work turn out badly, hav

an catch hold of it. A few of the knots burst and shed their contents. What comes out is a black ball, the size of a p

sun. If I lift a hand to seize them, that moment they disappear, I do not know where. It's a pity; I should hav

erything underneath. I see pretty shells with compact whorls, flat as beans; I notice little worms carrying tufts and feathers; I make out some with flabby fins constan

e, oh, no! He is smaller than a cherry-stone, but of an unutterable blue. The angels in paradise must wear dresses of that color. I put the glorious o

o hands, and then runs over in a stream. These falls call for a mill: that goes without saying. I build one with two bits of straw, crossed on

ones for the brickwork. I pick the most suitable; I break the larger ones. And, while

is lined with facets gathered in sixes which flash and glitter in the sun. I have seen something like this in church,

treasures now return to my mind: the names of precious stones ring out uncertainly but gloriously in my memory. I think of the king's crown, of the prince

He does more: he gives me his gold. The trickle of water from the rock falls on a bed of fine sand which it swirls into bubbles. If I bend over towards the light, I see something like go

g's crown, of the p

k them up with a straw moistened in my mouth. Let us drop this: they are too tiny and too bothersome to collect. The

-wise, like certain flat Snails that come out of the cracks of old walls in rainy weather. With its gn

he little ducklings have had all they want to eat. "Come along, youngsters," I

ppointment is waiting for me when I reach home. My parents catch sight of my bulging pockets, w

the ducks and you amuse yourself picking up stones, as though there wer

petrified ram's-horn, heavenly Beetle, are

bewails

don't mind: it does for the rabbits. But stones, which ruin your pockets; poisonous animals, which'll sting

ars I found out that the diamonds of the duck-pool were rock-crystal, the gold-dust, mica; but the fascinatio

GLAS

of the water in it even better than outdoors, where the ponds are too large and have to

d it with a movable board as a lid; he then fixed thick panes of glass in the four sides. The bottom of the pond was made of tarred sheet iron, and had a

f rushes. It is light, full of holes, and looks a little like a coral reef. Moreover, it is covered with a shor

o breathe. Somehow the pond must get rid of these gases, or its inhabitants will die. This is what the

countless sparkling points and looks like a fairy lawn of velvet, studded with thousands of diamond pin-heads. From this exquisite jewelry pearls constantly break loose

ed; they keep the carbon to use in their own cells; they breathe out the oxygen in tiny bubbles, the pearls that you have seen. These partly dissolve in the wat

spreading bubbles; I see in imagination the prehistoric times when seaweed, the first-born of plants, produced the first atmosphere for living things to breathe at the time when the land