GOOD – NIGHT STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 234, 4 October 1927, Page 12

GOOD - NIGHT STORIES.

DOTTY MAKES A GREAT DISCOVERY IN HER OWN BACK YARD. (Told by BLANCHE SILVER for PETER PAN.) After l/oris Lad washed the dishes for her mamma, and had straightened up her room, she gathered up hef dollies and ran out in the back yard to play 'neath the old apple tree. . Over near the fence on a tall weed Dotty spied something new. A great big web was carefully stretched around several of the weed's leaves, and a crowd of wee little caterpillars were around in and out of the web. ° "Well, of all things!" Dotty exclaimed, and she was just about to destroy the web with a stick when a tiny hand touched her arm. Glancing around Dotty looked into a smiling elfin's face. "Why, Happy Giggles! Look, some bad spider has captured those dear little butterfly children, and they can't get out." "Don't you believe we can't get out," called out one little caterpillar, as he carefully crawled out of the webby house and nodded his funny little head at Dotty and Happy Giggles. "Any time a Tent Caterpillar can't get out of his own tent, it's because it's time for him to turn into a butterfly. Hello, there Happy, who's your friend ?" "Oh, Mr. Tent Caterpillar, this is Dotty," replied the elfin. "She thought some spider had captured all your brothers and sisters in his web." "Xot us," chuckled Mr. Tent Caterpillar. "You probably won't believe me, but we caterpillars spun that web ourselves. You see we have a funny notion that we must keep the whole family together. There must be at least a hundred of us hatched out this last time. We lived for a while on the underside of the leaves. Then as we grew our bed became too small so we built ourselves this lovely tent. Now we'll all live here together until we grow too big for this tent. Then we'll build another one." "But do you just go in there now and stay?".questioned Dotty. "Can't you ever get out ?'

ui course we can," replied Mr. Tenf uaterpillar. "Don't you see these little ioorways? Why, we go out every day to feed and come back to sleep. The othei lay the storm tore down one corner ol >ur tent, and you should have seen all of us mending it. Our mother would b< proud of us if she could RPfl 119 nnw 99

"Indeed I am mighty proud of you!" laughed another voice, and a lovely big butterfly with yellow and black wings settled on a weed beside Dotty. "How are you, Happy Giggles? Don't you think I have a lovely family t" "You surely have "a splehdid familv, Mrs. Baltimore," laughed the elfin. "This is Dotty. She lives in the white house here."

"I'm very grateful, Dotty, that vou didn't destroy the caterpillars' tent," said Mrs. Baltimore Butterfly. "This is the last web house they will build for some time now, as it is just about time for them to go into their long sleep. In that webby house they will rest for at least nine months, then by that time they will be full : grown caterpillars, they'll all strike out in different directions, find a cozy spot, and turn into chrysalis. In another fortnight each will turn into a lovely Baltimore Butterfly. Be good, youngsters, and I'll sec you later," and spreading her pretty yellow and black wings the proud mother sailed away.

Dotty and Happy Giggles sat down and watched the happy little caterpillars until her mamma called her in to lunch.