The curious adventures of a field cricket

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

i. A few Words about Myself — my Childhood

and Youth i

Chapter I. A Few Words About Myself — My Childhood And Youth

I EXPERIENCE some embarrassment in beginning this tale. In conformity with ordinary usage I must introduce myself to the reader, talk about myself, say a word or two about my appearance and my character.

B

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Now in talking about yourself it is very difficult to maintain a happy medium. If you assume an air of" modesty, you are supposed to be fishing for compliments; but if you go to the other extreme, you are set down as foppish, vain, and presumptuous, which is still worse. To avoid this double danger, I have decided on a course which I think will please everybody. I shall describe neither my figure nor my features. Sensible folks who write their memoirs, their travels, or their adventures, are in the habit of giving their portraits on the title-page of their books. This seems to me a capital plan, and I shall adopt it.

In the first place, and as is only natural, a reader likes to be familiar with the features of an author who, in a more or less considerable number of pages, is to confide to him his feelings of dread or of enthusiasm — in a word, all the emotions of his soul. For instance,, when your author says, ‘ I was amazed,’ * I was struck dumb with terror,’ ‘ I was convulsed with laughter,’ or uses other similar expressions, it is pleasant to be able to imagine the changes successively produced in his features by amazement, terror, or wild mirth. To own the truth, I have a pretty good opinion of my personal

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appearance; but for all that, I assure you I give you my portrait for the reasons already stated, not from any silly feeling of vanity. On mature consideration, I shall say nothing of my character, of my virtues, or of my faults. They will be revealed in the course of my narrative. This matter settled, I beg leave to relate as briefly as possible the story of my childhood and the causes which led to my adventures.

I never knew my parents. This is the case with almost all insects. When we are born our parents are already dead, and have sometimes been dead a long time, so that the expression * spoiled child’ could never be used in connection with any of us. You must not therefore jump to the conclusion that our parents launch us into life without caring what becomes of us. 0, no; very far from that. Few have any idea how great is the solicitude of parents for their offspring in our world, or what self-denial, what devotion, is met with in every stage of our existence.

My earliest recollections go back a long way. I did not become suddenly conscious of life, and my notions on the delicate question of my origin are very confused.

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Ransacking the depths of my memory to the utmost, I dimly recall the following facts.

I found myself shut up in a very cramped position in a kind of oblong box, with my limbs folded up and pressed against my body. How long I had been in this strange situation, how I got there, and why I was there, were all equally incomprehensible to me. The wish to make myself more comfortable led me to try and turn round, and the result of this effort was that my box split from top to bottom. The first moment of surprise over, I ventured to push one foot through the newly-made opening, then a second, then a third. The opening became wider. Growing bolder by degrees, I put out my head, and at last my whole body was free.

I now found myself in a kind of tiny vault only lighted by a narrow crack in the ceiling. Instinctively I longed to reach the luminous point, and I endeavoured by fresh exertions to enlarge the opening through which the light reached me. It was a long and painful task, which resulted, however, in complete success. I reached the surface of the ground. When the rays of the sun first fell on me I was very much dazzled and also inexpressibly delighted. After stretching my limbs

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one after the other, I looked around. The view was very extensive. A kind of escarpment of earth enclosed a small space, where crowds of little creatures like myself were moving about. These young crickets made up my family ; they were my brothers and sisters, who, like myself, had just come out of the egg.

I think it would be useless to give all the details of my childhood and youth, so I refrain from doing so. There was one event, however, which I cannot pass over in silence, for it was a turning point in my career and considerably influenced my general tone of mind. I allude to a catastrophe which upset the life, hitherto so peaceful, of my family, and which gave me my first bitter thoughts. From that day dates my first disenchantment, not, alas, the last. But before telling you what this event was, and with a view to making you understand exactly how it came about, it seems to me absolutely necessary to give you a minute description of the place we lived in.

We were born in a kind of shallow excavation surrounded by a perpendicular escarpment, probably the result of the pressure of a stone which had formerly rested there. Each of us had scooped out a little grotto

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for himself in the escarpment, and the flat central square served as a general meeting-place. The desire to extend our field of action, however, soon led us to pierce a passage, by means of which we could go beyond the bounds of our common home, and sometimes alone or in small parties we went for walks or indulged in a little music in the open air.

One evening — it was in the month of May — tempted by the mildness of the atmosphere, we left our residence in a body. The moon was shining brightly, the air was laden with the most exquisite scents, and a thin bluish vapour rising from the ground gave a matchless harmony of tone to all surrounding objects. We were vividly conscious of the joy of mere existence.

Above us a nightingale was warbling his most joyful melodies. His shakes, now tender, now impassioned, thrilled me through and through. My brothers and sisters gave themselves up to happy frolics. As for me, my emotion choked me. I withdrew a little distance to be out of the noise. I tried to bring myself into harmony with the inspired songster, whose music had so intoxicated me. How elevated, how pure, how ethereal, how refined I thought must be the feelings of

A terrible sight.

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that charming creature ! How fortunate he was to be -able to express them in such notes ! Would that I had wings on which to soar to him and tell him of the enthusiasm he had aroused in me !

He ceased singing suddenly. I looked up to ascertain the cause of his silence, and at that moment a mass -of earth, which knocked me down and nearly buried me alive, was flung in my face. My head alone escaped, and what did I see ? A terrible sight, which still haunts me when I cannot sleep at night. The heavenly creature, whom I had been worshipping a minute before, had hopped into the midst of my brothers and sisters, and was massacring them wholesale. The survivors of my unhappy family, shuddering with terror, were eager to get back to our colony, but the -entrance of the passage was too narrow to admit of all rushing into it at once. My brothers availed themselves of their superior strength to get in before my sisters, whom they pushed back roughly. What cruel egotists fear makes of us all ! My poor sisters ! I seem to see them still pleading for pity, now from their brothers, now from the hateful nightingale ! Very few escaped drom the massacre. As for me, the earth which covered me hid me from the horrid murderer. It was that which

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saved me. A little later I got back to our home, now a scene of the utmost desolation. There remained but eight of my sisters and twenty-two of my brothers. I refrained from reproaching the latter in any way. Their crime was the result of the instinct of self-preservation.. Perhaps if I had been amongst them at that awful’ moment I should have done as they did. Moreover,, their manner clearly proved that their consciences^ severely pricked them.

'• I have dwelt long upon this incident, because — as I have already said — it exercised a considerable influence on my general views of life. I reflected much upon it,, and realised that henceforth I must mistrust my first impressions ; that I must sometimes examine my feelings,, and never allow myself to be carried away by irrational enthusiasm. I now knew that the most charming and attractive creatures are sometimes the most treacherous and the most to be avoided. Later observations in the course of my adventurous life ratified this first opinion.

Another thing of a totally different character greatly influenced my fate. A little later signs of discord began to disturb our family relations. Discussions, which used to end amicably, now took a different turn. They often

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became acrimonious, and several times I had to interfere to prevent a fight. I must explain that we had grown older. We were completely transformed, alike physically and mentally, and, without disguise, I must own that our bodies were more improved than our minds. A new feeling, hitherto unknown, had taken the place of the affection which formerly animated us. The exacting passion of jealousy, the mother of so much evil, gradually acquired sway over the minds of my brothers. It soon became impossible for us to live together. We separated, and each went his own way, to scoop out a private residence for himself. Our birthplace was a meadow, sloping gently to the south. A few scattered trees — walnut I think they were — cast a little shade here and there, leaving the rest of the field exposed to the heat of the sun. The shady places were much sought after by us crickets. I settled down beneath the shelter of a large stone, which protruded from the ground, and from the summit of which I could enjoy the beautiful view it commanded, without venturing far from home. I lived a very lonely life. I forgot to< mention that, after the catastrophe related above, my brothers fought rather shy of me, evidently feeling somewhat embarrassed in my society. They were

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aware that I had witnessed their unworthy conduct in the melancholy emergency. I had never reproached them ; we had never talked the matter over together, or, indeed, made the very slightest allusion to it ; yet their feeling against me gradually became positive aversion, and what especially grieved me was that my sisters were at last won over to regarding me in the same manner. One day, on some trivial pretext, one of my brothers picked a quarrel with me, and suddenly, when I least expected it, flung himself upon me with the greatest fury. I was obliged to defend myself, and in this fratricidal struggle I was unlucky enough to inflict a mortal injury.

I was literally overwhelmed with horror. No one had witnessed the involuntary murder, yet my brothers did not hesitate to charge me with it. I could only conclude that the attack on me had been preconcerted amongst them. The event, however, had disappointed their guilty wishes. A fresh but better planned attempt of the same kind might he made at any moment, and I therefore at once decided to leave a spot where my life was in constant danger.

This resolution once made there was no motive for putting off its execution ; on the contrary, there was

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every reason for losing no time about it. I waited, liowever, until sunset to start, and once more I climbed up on to my stone to look for the last time from my favourite observatory on all the objects which had become familiar to me, and to bid them farewell for ever. On this occasion my voice was silenced, and my usual joyful songs were replaced by suppressed sighs. Long did I gaze upon the old trees dotting the meadow, the winding path leading across it, the silvery waters of the meandering river at the bottom of the valley, the distant town, and the rows of poplars with their leaves gently rustling in the evening breeze. Farewell, landscape familiar to my childhood; I look upon thee for the last time ! As I came down again I reflected how unconsciously we attach ourselves to the things about us, and how dear the most ordinary objects become to us when we have to leave them.

Would you believe it? I now felt some emotion in looking at a sturdy burdock growing behind my house. I knew every leaf ; I had seen each one gradually unfold itself; the very bees which came to hover over the flowers were familiar to me. One day a cassida (beetle) had established herself on one of the leaves, and had begun to feed on it. At first I felt angry, for this seemed

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to me a kind of desecration of my favourite plant ; but reflection convinced me of my injustice, and I ended by* making a friend of my neighbour. She listened to my songs of her own free will, and flattered by this homage to my musical talents I conquered the repugnance with which her slovenly habits at first inspired me. Of course you know that the grubs of some beetles are in tho habit of covering themselves with their own excrement. Once, at the beginning of our acquaintance, I had applied an injurious epithet to this custom. My neighbour was not at all offended, but gently told me that she could quite understand the aversion she inspired, that she was ashamed of its cause ; but that the dirtiness with which I reproached her was not the result of depraved taste or even of carelessness, but of necessity. All the members of her family, she added, living as they do in exposed situations on leaves, are compelled toresort to some such means to protect themselves from the voracity of birds ; that what excited my disgust had a similar effect on those terrible enemies ; and that after all it was well worth wThile to put up with some little inconveniences for the sake of preserving life. I admitted the justice of these arguments, and, as I have said, we struck up quite a warm friendship. A littlo

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before the time of which I am now writing my cassida underwent her metamorphosis — her wings were grown, and she took flight.

Whilst I was indulging in these reflections the day had gradually faded into twilight. I roused myself from my reverie, and without one backward glance I left the home of my childhood.

CHAPTER IL

EARLY ADVENTURES, AND WHAT SUCCEEDED THEM.

It was now the end of July. The day had been hot, and the evening, instead of being cooler, was even more sultry. Brilliant flashes of lightning and the roll of distant thunder now and then gave warning of an approaching storm. The path I was following wound through the grass of the meadow. Nocturnal prowlers, such as amarus, harpalus, and staphylinus beetles, in search of their prey, now alone, now in parties of two or three, were beginning to come out. I was not at all afraid of them, for I was provided with a pair of jaws formidable enough to inspire respect. Of course I was not afraid. Still I felt a little excited and nervous. Was it the thunder in the air, or was it because it was something new for me to be wandering about at this time of night? I don’t know how it was, but the slightest noise made me tremble. Even the noisy flight of a dung-beetle constantly passing backwards and. forwards above my head ruffled my nerves.

I was walking rapidly on, without any very definite goal in view, trusting to chance for finding shelter for the night, when one of my hind legs suddenly sank into the ground, and I felt it seized and held in theclaws of some subterranean creature invisible to me. I shuddered convulsively; then straining every limb I bounded forward, and fell down in a little path branching off from the one I was following.

As ill-luck would have it, I alighted on the back of a beetle which was just running along this cross-road..

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It was a beautiful golden carabus, a proud and brilliant coleopteron, who was probably bound for some important rendezvous. The shock knocked him down, and he rolled over two or three times.

4 Stupid creature !’ he exclaimed, as he got up. ‘Can’t you look where you’re going?’

Now, although this was not a very polite speech, I was going to apologise, feeling that I was the aggressor, when turning a little away from me he squirted some catistic and horribly noisome liquid all over me, which got into my eyes and made them smart dreadfully.

4 Wretch !’ I cried. 4 Abominable scoundrel ! Do you call this manners? Wait a bit and I’ll make you repent of your insolence, despicable insect that you are !’

But making some sneering retort which I did not understand, he went off, leaving me mortified, crestfallen, and half suffocated with the poisonous smell of the stuff he had poured over me. To roll myself in the dust and rub myself vigorously against the stems of the grass was the work of an instant, and I succeeded in getting rid of some of the noisome stuff, though it

They hurried towards me, laughing and jumping.

still clung to my joints. I wanted to wash myself thoroughly, but where was I to hud water ? The storm might not burst for some time. Presently I spied rather a tall piece of stubble a little distance off. With some difficulty I climbed up it, and once at the top I looked round, trying to find some little pool where I could bathe. I was successful ; for in the distance, in the very path I had been following, I made out with the aid of the lightning a little puddle of water left by the last shower at the bottom of a rut. Coming down from my elevated position, and resuming the path I had left, I walked rapidly towards this natural bath. I was dose to it when I saw a party of grasshoppers, which seemed very merry; and as soon as they caught sight of me hurried towards me, laughing and jumping, evidently with the intention of teasing me. I should have liked to hide myself, bid there was no time ; and I was still hesitating what to do, when I was surrounded by the graceful creatures.

Alas, what I expected came soon enough ! As soon -as I was hemmed in on every side by their wild circle they stopped abruptly, and glanced disdainfully at poor wretched me, whilst one of them cried, e Fie ! how hor-

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rible !’ On that all the others hopped away roaring with laughter, and shouting out anything but flattering epithets. Left alone, and feeling more abashed than words can express, I hastened to the puddle and plunged into it.

I was soon clean again, and whilst I was washing I saw a magnificent violet beetle pass along the path above me. He did not notice me, and I took care not to attract his attention. I could not help admiring his elegance and the easy grace with which he ran.

4 A plague on you and all like you !’ I muttered between my teeth. ‘ Who would guess from your dainty airs that you carried such horrible scents about you? Appearances are very deceitful.’

I was going on with my interrupted task, chuckling over my own wit, when I again heard the grasshoppers shouting and laughing merrily ; but suddenly the sounds changed into shrill screams and angry yells.

4 Ah,’ I said to myself, 'the chatterboxes have just found to their cost what it is to offend an ill-mannered fellow of the beetle tribe. My coleopteron has been up to his pranks.’

On the whole I was not sorry that the ill-natured remarks of which I had been the object had been soon avenged. I made haste to leave my bath, and went off as fast as I could; for I guessed that the troop of grasshoppers would soon come to plunge into the puddle for the very same reasons that had actuated me.

My path now led into a wide road bounded on either side by a bank surmounted by a hedge. On the left, this road was lost in a pine-wood ; on the right, it led to a gate giving access to a garden, which appeared to me of vast extent. At the farther end, and a good distance off, I could see the roof and weathercocks of a house of considerable size rising above shrubs of every variety. All these observations I made by means of the brilliant and constant flashes of lightning.

Should I turn to the left or to the right? Should I scale the bank opposite to me ? It did not matter to me which way I went; for, as you know, I had no settled purpose. It was therefore the more necessary for me to find some corner in which to pass the night where I should be sheltered from the rain which seemed to be threatening. The sight of a jackdaw flying about in the pine-wood made me decide to turn in the

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other direction. I had no desire to serve for his supper.

I soon reached the gate of the garden, and was just going through it when I met a hedgehog going in the opposite direction. Fortunately his attention w^as at the moment distracted by the barking of a dog a little distance off, and he did not see me. The roads were certainly not safe at this time of night, and I really must make haste and conceal myself if I did not wish to fall a victim to some hungry prowler. Thus far my adventures had been only disagreeable ; but if I did not look out, they might soon become tragic.

Whilst reflecting thus, I had been advancing along the garden-path mentioned above. On the left glistened the waters of a pond ; on the right were sloping strawberry-beds stocked with luxuriant plants. I left the middle of the path, where I was too conspicuous, and went near the edge, so that I could easily conceal myself under a leaf if any fresh danger should menace me. It was a good thing I did. I had scarcely turned to the right when the ground seemed to tremble beneath me, whilst a terrible noise rapidly increased. It was a carriage drawn by a pair of horses in full trot.

I sprang into a strawberry-plant, and was congratulating myself on my prudence in having left the middle of the path, when a fresh incident made me shudder with terror.

I was rolling myself up under a large leaf, determined to remain there until the morning, when I felt a heavy paw laid upon my shoulder. At this unexpected touch I turned round trembling with fear and thinking that my last hour was come. My sudden movement made the creature which had caused it burst out laughing.

‘ Why, cousin,’ it cried, 4 it strikes me I’ve frightened you finely ! But come now, is it proper for a cricket to be running about out of doors at this time of night? Where do you spring from?’

This merry greeting reassured me at once. He, or rather she, who addressed me was a mole cricket, the entrance to whose home was under the very leaf where I had taken refuge. She was standing on her threshold, but the darkness and the agitation into which the passing of the carriage had thrown me had prevented my seeing her. You know that mole crickets are our near relations ; they are very much like us, only they

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always wear brown, and their habit of constantly digging in the ground in search of the larvæ of different kinds, on which they feed, has made their forepaws of a disproportionate size. It was one of those huge paws set down upon me which had so terrified me just before.

4 Well,’ I replied, laughing, ‘I own I was a little startled, but fancy yourself in my place. I thought I was alone ; and besides, I am a little nervous and excitable.’

4 I see you are, dear cousin, I see you are ; but you know when folks are nervous they stay quietly at home at night, they don’t go roving about at unseasonable hours. I should have thought you would have been more discreet.’

4 0 cousin I’ I exclaimed, colouring a little, 4 how you do talk ! If you knew what has happened to me, you would pity me instead of making fun of me.’

4 Well, you can tell me all about it. But you had better come in with me ; we can talk more privately then, and we shall be out of the rain, which is beginning.’

4 But, cousin, I scarcely like to, people are so spiteful ; I am afraid.’

‘ Ah, ah, ah !’ she answered ; ‘ lay aside your scruples, poor child; don’t you see that I am old enough do be your grandmother?’

As she spoke she went in; and I followed her, thinking over this strange adventure. My innate delicacy had been more than once wounded by my cousin’s excessive familiarity with a relative she now met for the first time. Some of the% expressions she used betrayed a certain want of culture ; but I excused her on account of her age, and of the heartiness of her welcome. She was evidently one of those good creatures with whom one could be quite at home; she wore her heart on her sleevé, as the saying goes ; and besides, her proffered hospitality came in the nick of time.

We went along a very narrow passage, which was so dark that I had to grope my way.

‘Don’t be afraid to come straight on, dear cousin — the path is quite even. And here we are in my dining-room ; you see my quarters are pretty comfortable.’

4 1 assure you, dear cousin, that I see absolutely nothing ; my eyes are wide open, but it is so very dark .here that I can make out nothing.’

4 Of course it is; I forgot that. My home is 'so* familiar to me that I don’t need to see to find my way about it, but it’s different for you. What shall we dot 0, I know ; rest a bit ; I’ll be back in a minute.’