Via 
SES eee,. 
SAS i ato 
~S ars SS = = . 
en : 
grumbled when he saw them pecking 
at the buds and blossoms, and declared 
he wouldn't have any apples at all. He 
didn’t know they were really doing a 
lot of good by eating the grubs which 
were spoiling his apple-trees. Once he 
went and brought out his gun, and when 
Tommy was busy catching caterpillars 
he heard a loud ‘bang,’ and the shot 
whistled past him and all round him, 
but luckily didn’t touch him, so he flew 
to the other end of the orchard in a 
fright. And the shot ‘tore “uptime 
branches and knocked down more buds 
and fruit than Tommy would have 
touched ina week. And the man didn’t 
know how silly and ungrateful he was, 
and that it was his own fault there 
were so many grubs, which were doing 
the real damage, and not Tommy and 
250 
