Thumbkins was so glad to see Mrs. Thumbkins he came very near crying.  And Billy Bumblebee said to Old Man Hoppy-toad, “Now you must leave our neighborhood, for we do not permit anyone to bother anyone else in the Town of Tinythings.”

So Old Man Hoppy-toad had to pack up all his things in a red handkerchief and hustle out of town.

And Billy Bumblebee buzzed right around his head as Old Man Hoppy-toad went down the path “Lickity split-Hoppity hop!” and never once looked behind him.

Thumbkins and Mrs. Thumbkins went back home, and when Billy Bumblebee returned and told them he had made Old Man Hoppy-toad go ’way down to the river they knew they would never be troubled with him again.

Mrs. Thumbkins said she had fried pancakes all day but she was not too tired to fry more.  So she made a lot of pancakes, while Billy Bumblebee flew home and returned with a bucket of honey, and they had so many pancakes Mrs. Thumbkins asked Billy Bumblebee if he would fly around and invite all the neighbors in to help eat them.

Tommy Grasshopper, Granpa Tobackyworm, and all the other friends of the Thumbkins came and ate the lovely pancakes, covered with the delicious honey.

And, after eating as much as they could, everybody caught hold of hands and danced until late in the night, for the Katydid orchestra was there to furnish the music.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE OLD, ROUGH STONE AND THE GNARLED TREE

A great rough stone lay beneath a gnarled old tree.  Years ago a tiny squirrel had climbed upon the stone to nibble some nuts, but before he had finished he was startled away.

“There!” thought the stone to himself as he saw a nut roll to the ground, “now that nut will take root and grow into a tree and I will have to lie here for ages beneath its branches.  I wish the silly squirrel had gone some other place to eat the nuts!”

When the little nut took root and sent its tiny shoots up in the air, the old, rough Stone said, “There!  I knew it!” and he disliked the tree from that time on.

The old, rough Stone watched the tiny green shoot grow and grow until it grew into an enormous tree.

“Just see how he pushes me up in the air with his roots!” the old, rough Stone said to himself.

When the gnarled tree was covered with leaves in the summer time, the old, rough Stone said, “Just see how he hides the blue sky from my view!”

And in the winter time when the limbs of the tree were bare, the old, rough Stone said, “Just see how he lets the snow and the cold rain fall right on me!”

One night during a heavy storm the old, rough Stone heard a crash, and in the morning he saw the gnarled tree lying upon the ground.  “Now I shall be all by myself again!” he said.  Then he counted the rings in the trunk of the gnarled tree until he came to three hundred, which was as far as he could count.  “More than three hundred years have passed since that silly little squirrel dropped the nut from which this tree grew!” said the old, rough Stone to himself.