FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



patience, and cries excitedly: "I've got him I I've got 

 himi" 



Quick, here's a bag! In you go, my little Cricket I 

 You shall be petted and pampered, but you must teach us 

 something, and first of all you must show us your house. 



II 



HIS HOUSE 



It is a slanting gallery in the grass, on some sunny 

 bank which soon dries after a shower. It is nine inches 

 long at most, hardly as thick as one's finger, and straight 

 or bent according to the nature of the ground. As a 

 rule, a tuft of grass half conceals the home, serving as 

 a porch and throwing the entrance discreetly into shadow. 

 When the Cricket goes out to browse upon the surround- 

 ing turf he does not touch this tuft. The gently 

 sloping threshold, carefully raked and swept, extends 

 for some distance; and this is the terrace on which, when 

 everything is peaceful round about, the Cricket sits and 

 scrapes his fiddle. 



The inside of the house is devoid of luxury, with 

 bare and yet not coarse walls. The inhabitant has 

 plenty of leisure to do away with any unpleasant rough- 

 ness. At the end of the passage is the bedroom, a little 

 more carefully smoothed than the rest, and slightly 

 wider. All said, it is a very simple abode, exceedingly 



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