THE BEWITCHED COCOONS 



6 9 



too, that I caught it before it had hurt its wings by flying about 

 the room ; and so as to make sure of the others, I put the co- 

 coons right in a box, and looked at them a dozen times a day. 



" The next surprise was one I shall never forget. One morn- 

 ing I opened the lid of the box and looked in, and what do you 

 think happened ? A great yellow wasp flew up into my face, and 

 almost frightened me to death. Mamma heard me scream, and 

 came in and drove the wasp out of the window. He was a dread- 

 ful ugly thing, and I am very glad he did not sting me. . . . And 

 this morning came the third surprise, and I don't know as I want 

 any more of this kind of cocoons. I opened the box, and found 

 it swarming with small wasps with red and black bodies and 

 stings half an inch long. I was glad enough to let them fly out 

 of the window. Are they the big wasp's young ones, or what ? . . . 

 \es, indeed, your cocoons have been ' surprises,' as you promised 

 real mean frauds, I call them, and I shall not forgive you until 

 you tell me all about them. I begin to believe, as mamma says, 

 that you packed all this mischief into them yourself, just for a lark." 



!' 



5 



"MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND, I was greatly amused at your 

 letter giving the account of your experi- 

 ence with those three Polyphemus cocoons. 

 Never mind whether or not I knew how 

 they were loaded ; you may be sure that 

 whatever 'mischief was 'packed into 

 them ' was put there before they came 

 into my possession. Bewitched they cer- 

 tainly were, but not by me. I can make 

 a silver ' quarter ' disappear, and mystify 

 you with various card tricks, but I 

 have no such magic touch as the 

 witch that charmed those two 

 cocoons. ... I am sorry you 

 did not keep a specimen 

 of the 'ugly wasps' 



