THE FALDOODLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE FALDOODLES.

A military ball was being given bv ■he Soldier Ants, and the faldoodles had 9»en invited to attend. Myrtle and Lizzie were very excited. They went to the rose bush shop and •ought lengths of dewdrop ribbon nd v •* w ' 6lippere to wear to Hie ball. > Poor Myrtle was very worried about having any front teeth, so she made three out of an orange pip, and Percy jroffttred some gum from a nearby tree V .. tst * n em mMi. They waggled ' /* little when she apolie, but were otherJnw quite nice. 3i£» afternoon of the ball the two JWlle beetles tucked themselves up in » thistledown qaiit and went to sleep. Jtercy did noi sleep. , He sat upon the bed rail in iis sisters' ■worn and tickled "their noses with a 0 •taae of ahavery grass. tmonred every sow and again, but . #id not waken. Meanwhile the ants were busy decoras*® *esta for the party. They bud toad#tools with arum lfly leaves— «W the bees brought them honey and "tne mice brought them earraway seeds, elves brought them pollen cakes, ■Bd tho frogs brought them a case of iMemary wine. ' vi *kese an< * many other delicious & 88 the 7 set tie toadstool fables. summer time, so the ball was P» be held, outside. But, just in case it rain, the sots niidft & i&rge 1 •oopy of gum leaves over the mossy ■Snare where the ball was to be held. Kftjr Mils glow worms had promised fo come and .glow. They-were gold witik H«rir eye*. hand was a lovely band, com- , °f humming birds and bees. The always wore evening dress, -gvjPd played on a fairy oomb. j by, and oae by one, the stars »ot end the ants went home to 'r «ress. / -did not rain. SjjHnodlas arrived at the ball in t «rcy sat with his feet hanging ; «» back, dropping peanut shells ;•< J**® road, so that they would all I 1 ""* tbe way home again. WKa afraid of getting lost., jtOeneral Ant greeted all the guests as, arrived. The ants wore wonderful te ; *6o*rnis—red trousere, yellow waistWV an ® Wgh, shiny, black boots. Wl. put her finger between lier teeth and gazed enraptured. Then the band struck up a lively, yy e 'he was whirled away in the S|vjrnis °f a handsome bumble bee with ... vest. en ' supper time came everyone sat 'f'2P° n n,ot>s y hank and partook of pne wonderful feast set out.

Little black ants in violet petal aprons waited upon the guests.; They Qarried tea-troe bark trays. Percy Faldoodie rather disturbed the party by breaking two glasses. • He was trying to balance them on ti'ua nose—but yoa canno* balance glasses on your nose till you learn how to do it.

After supper was over they all returned to the ballroom and danced and till the sun came yavyning and stretching over the tree tops' to tell them it was time to go home to bed. So they all did.

Ma Faldoodie was going to give a picnic on the banks of the Iris PooL This was a lovely place to have a picnic because there were pebbles to play with and a cave to hide in and beach to paddle ■on. And the tall iris plants that grew so thickly round the pool made a cool shade fo- hot little beetles to rest in.

The Fails asked all their friends to the picnic. There were: -

1. Susie Snubnose, a spinster mouse. She was white with pink eyes. Once she bad belonged to a boy and lived in a cage, but she tried" to forget those days. She was very select and did not mix with the plain brown mice very much; 'but the Pais were her special friends, and she lived next door to them in a dear little house with a licorice doormat.

2. Tommy the Wood Beetle. He brought hie pink-striped bathing trunks. As you know he was fond of swimming. 3. Joey and his wife. 4. The two little frogs. 5. Some ants.

8. Some elves.

7. And the one little goldfish who was to. meet them at tha pooL Very early on the morning of the picnic the faldoodles sad their friend* set off for tbe pooL They passed Green Caterpillar, the postman, going upon his rounds with his tat mailbag over Iris shoulder. '

"Good morning/' he said, "nice weather we are having for this time of year.*

ITien they saw the flowers waking up, the spiders shaking their dusters out of the windowfc and tbe tomtits hopping over the grass looking for breakfast. But these they hnrried by, "in case,*' as Lizzie said, "they should mistake us for wonoB."

Now, the great advantage about being a beetle is that you can fly as well as walk. So *C they set at a good spanking rate, while those of the party who could not fly came 6n behind with a hop, skip and a jump over the dewy grass. The Iris Pool was seen long before they reached it—a sparkle of crystal to a purple frame.

"Hurrah,' * shouted the party as soon as they canght sight of it. "I shall go in swimming at once," cried Tommy the Wood Beetle.

"Wait far we," called Percy. Then they went behind a large pebble to put on their bathing suits. Then everyone did jusl what they wanted to do.

The goldfish gave the little beetles rides on its back.

The elves disappeared between the iris stalks to collect wild cherries.

And just when every out was so hapm Myrtle got a bad fit. "I will climb to the top of that tallest iris item," she announced.

"No, Myrtle," said 51a, "stay here." But Myrtle took do notioc. She climbeil the stem and crawled 11 over the flow-sr.

"See, I am quite rafe," jbLc calk-t, and went to the extreme tip. The next, instant she gave an awful scream aud slipped off the edge into the middle of the pool.

She conld not swim. She was very frightened and shrieke-l seven times before Percy rescued her. When she was pulled ashore all dripping and shivering, Ma gave her a doge of wild cherry oil to stop a chill and made her sit on a stone till the sun dried her wings.

Myrtle was so bad that her toes turned up, but by and by she grew good again and was allowed to have a slice of butterfly sponge. Games of hide-and-seek and hide the slipper were then played. The elves lent a tiny slipper with a blue pom-pom on the toe. When everyone was quite tired Mr. Faldoodie told some stories. Aftewhieh they all went homo., with tbe; - shadows very long and thin running on before them, and the sun breathing scarlet and gold breath all over the sky behind them. Mrytle did not get a chill and everything was very Beetley and Good. This is tbe End. P. S.—Percy Faldoodie sajs he is verysorry to worry you again, but ha has left his peanuts behind and has to get them.