THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN

Rusty Wren is another little neighbor in Pleasant Valley.  His particular home there is Farmer Green’s yard where he lives in a bright shiny home which is really a tin can with a hole in it!  And dear me!  I forgot all about Rusty Wren’s family—­his wife and six baby children who had to be given Wren food by Rusty and little Chippy, Jr.  You will laugh heartily when you read about Chippy growing so big and fat that he gets stuck in Rusty’s tiny doorway and can’t get pulled out.  My, what an exciting time it was!  And you will laugh again when you watch Rusty Wren go ’way over to the bank of Black Creek all ready for a party when there really is no party.  Yes, you will agree with Farmer Green’s boy and the rest of our friends in Pleasant Valley that Rusty certainly is a very interesting little neighbor.

THE TALE OF DADDY LONG-LEGS

Daddy is a person of such unusual appearance with his eight scrawny legs in contrast to ordinary people’s two, and everything about his private life is such a mystery to his neighbors that his acquaintances give him credit for having a marvelous ability to look into the future.  In fact, there are many two-legged humans, even to-day, who think he is a sort of soothsayer and mystery man.  Perhaps, if you are one of these, you will be inclined to change your mind after reading about his contest with Old Mr. Crow to see which is really the wiser of the two.  And would you not naturally suppose that anybody with so many legs to carry him would be the champion walker of the world?  Maybe Daddy finds that it takes time to decide which of his feet he should put forward in taking the next step, or may be each separate foot has a notion of its own as to the direction Daddy should choose; at any rate, he proves to be the slowest traveler imaginable.  But he is so popular among his neighbors and you will like him too—­he has so many quaint ideas.

THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID

Kiddy Katydid and his relatives were in possession of a secret that none of the Pleasant Valley folk can solve, though they waste much time and energy trying to guess it.  Even to this day it is doubtful if anyone other than Kiddie himself really knows what Katy did!  But his friends are a curious lot and they work their brains over-time to think of some scheme to make Kiddie tell.  If you want to know what they do accidentally discover about Kiddie himself and how excited every body becomes as the rare news spreads from mouth to mouth, you will find that and many other remarkable things about him in this interesting story of his life in the Maple tree that grows in Farmer Green’s yard.  You will like Kiddie.  He is very modest and retiring—­behaving very much as any well raised youngster should, and when you understand just how it happens that he keeps repeating that funny remark about Katy, you can join him in the hearty laugh he has on his friends.