26 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



drum o' your ear, dashing against the face 

 o' you, who are wishin' ill to nae leevin' 

 thing ; and although you are engaged out 

 to dinner, stickin' a lang, poishoned stang 

 in just beloe your ee, that afore you can 

 run hame frae the garden swells up to a 

 fearsome hicht, making you on that side 

 look like a blackamoor, and on the oppo- 

 site white as death ; sae intolerable is the 

 agony from the tail of the yellow imp that, 

 according to his bulk, is stronger far than 

 the dragon o' the desert." 



That is a spirited tribute to the tem- 

 per of my lady the wasp, but she does 

 not deserve it. Vespa is not angry ex- 

 cepting when an honest wasp ought to 

 be. 



She will not endure having her nest torn 

 down about her ears and her dear grubs 

 and her eggs killed before her eyes. 



She falls into a fine rage when boys or 

 other folk or animals whom she fears 

 come close to her paper palace or stumble 



