Prevod
Nekega dne je čez travniško ograjo prilezel vesel mladi Zemljemerec. Prišel je z grma ob cesti in čeprav je bil še mlad črv, je hodil po svetu z odprtimi očmi in že kar dobro vedel, kako se na njem godi. »No,« je pomislil, ko je počival na zgornji prečki ograje, »zdaj bom spoznal nekaj novih prijateljev. Upam, da bodo prijetni. Malo se bom razgledal, ali je kdo v bližini.« Visoko je dvignil glavo in res je na visokem šopu plevela nedaleč stran zagledal sedem gosenic različnih vrst.
Zemljemerec je pohitel k njim, se kar najlepše priklonil in rekel: »Pravkar sem prišel od ceste in mislim, da se bom naselil na travniku. Smem jesti z vami?«
Vse gosenice so ga bile vesele in pridružil se je njihovi druščini. Veliko jih je spraševal o travniku, o njegovih prebivalcih in o tem, kje se najde najboljša hrana. Gosenice so rekle: »Oh, na travniku je lepo in tudi prebivalci so čisto prijetni, le da prav nič ne gredo v korak z modo — prav nič.«
»No,« je rekel Zemljemerec, »če imate prijazne sosede in prijeten kraj za življenje, ne vem, česa bi si še želele.« »Vse lepo in prav,« je rekla črno-rumena gosenica, »ampak me si želimo imenitne družbe, ki gre v korak z modo. Travniški prebivalci vselej počnejo vse enako in človek se tega pošteno naveliča. Ali nam ne bi mogel povedati česa drugačnega, česa, kar počnejo črvi v širnem svetu, od koder prihajaš?«
Prav tisti hip se je Zemljemercu utrnila nagajiva misel. Vprašal se je, ali bi bile gosenice res tako nespametne, da bi ga posnemale. Zdelo se mu je, da bi bila to prav dobra potegavščina, zato je nadvse resno rekel: »Opažam, da imate med hojo telo čisto pri tleh. Videl sem že mnogo črvov, ki počnejo enako, in če jim je tako všeč, ni s tem nič narobe, toda v moji družini nihče nikoli ne hodi tako. Ste opazile, kako hodim jaz?«
»Da, da,« so vzkliknile gosenice, »pokaži nam še enkrat.« In Zemljemerec se je pred njimi sprehodil sem ter tja, pri tem pa telo usločal, kolikor visoko ga je le mogel. Vsake toliko se je ustavil, dvignil glavo in se ošabno ozrl naokrog.
»Kakšna milina!« so vzkliknile gosenice. »Kakšna milina in kakšen slog!« In črno-rjava gosenica je poskusila hoditi enako. Zemljemerec bi se bil najraje zasmejal, ko je videl, kako nerodna je črno-rjava gosenica, vendar se ni niti nasmehnil. Kmalu so vse gosenice poskušale enako in govorile: »Poglejte me. Ali mi ne gre dobro?« ali pa: »Kako je bilo tole?«
Kar predstavljajte si, kakšnih je bilo teh sedem gosenic, ko so poskušale hoditi kakor Zemljemerec. Vsakih nekaj minut se je katera prekucnila in vse so bile razgrete in utrujene. Nazadnje so presodile, da so se že prav dobro naučile, in si privoščile dolg počitek. Med njim so sklenile, da bodo odšle na dolg sprehod in drugim travniškim prebivalcem pokazale modo, ki so jo prinesle iz širnega sveta.
»Hodile bomo v vrsti,« so rekle, »kolikor daleč bomo mogle, da nas bodo vsi videli. Ah, za travnik bo velik dan, ko bomo začele narekovati modo!«
Nagajivi mladi Zemljemerec ni rekel niti besedice in odpravile so se na pot. Velika črno-rumena gosenica je šla prva, za njo črno-rjava in tako naprej vse do najmanjše, ki je hodila zadnja v vrsti. Vse so usločale telesa, kolikor visoko so jih le mogle. Vsi travniški prebivalci so strmeli vanje in klicali drug drugega, naj si jih pridejo ogledat. Kadar so gosenice prišle do kraja, kjer jih je opazovalo veliko gledalcev, so vse dvignile glave in se ozrle naokrog natanko tako, kakor je to storil Zemljemerec. Ko so se vrnile k svojemu grmičevju, so jih hrbti neznansko boleli, a so si govorile: »No, enkrat smo bile pa le po modi.«
Medtem pa so si travniški prebivalci v travi govorili: »Ste že kdaj v življenju videli kaj tako smešnega?« Vse to nam kaže, kako nespametni so včasih ljudje, kadar jim je preveč do tega, da bi bili po modi.
Izvirnik
One day there crawled over the meadow fence a jolly young Measuring Worm. He came from a bush by the roadside, and although he was still a young Worm he had kept his eyes open and had a very good idea how things go in this world. "Now," thought he, as he rested on the top rail of the fence, "I shall meet some new friends. I do hope they will be pleasant. I will look about me and see if anyone is in sight." So he raised his head high in the air and, sure enough, there were seven Caterpillars of different kinds on a tall clump of weeds near by.
The Measuring Worm hurried over to where they were, and making his best bow said: "I have just come from the roadside and think I shall live in the meadow. May I feed with you?"
The Caterpillars were all glad to have him, and he joined their party. He asked many questions about the meadow, and the people who lived there, and the best place to find food. The Caterpillars said, "Oh, the meadow is a good place, and the people are nice enough, but they are not at all fashionable--not at all."
"Why," said the Measuring Worm, "if you have nice people and a pleasant place in which to live, I don't see what more you need."
"That is all very well," said a black and yellow Caterpillar, "but what we want is fashionable society. The meadow people always do things in the same way, and one gets so tired of that. Now can you not tell us something different, something that Worms do in the great world from which you come?"
Just at this minute the Measuring Worm had a funny idea, and he wondered if the Caterpillars would be foolish enough to copy him. He thought it would be a good joke if they did, so he said very soberly, "I notice that when you walk you keep your body quite close to the ground. I have seen many Worms do the same thing, and it is all right if they wish to, but none of my family ever do so. Did you notice how I walk?"
"Yes, yes," cried the Caterpillars, "show us again."
So the Measuring Worm walked back and forth for them, arching his body as high as he could, and stopping every little while to raise his head and look haughtily around.
"What grace!" exclaimed the Caterpillars. "What grace, and what style!" and one black and brown one tried to walk in the same way.
The Measuring Worm wanted to laugh to see how awkward the black and brown Caterpillar was, but he did not even smile, and soon every one of the Caterpillars was trying the same thing, and saying "Look at me. Don't I do well?" or, "How was that?"
You can just imagine how those seven Caterpillars looked when trying to walk like the Measuring Worm. Every few minutes one of them would tumble over, and they all got warm and tired. At last they thought they had learned it very well, and took a long rest, in which they planned to take a long walk and show the other meadow people the fashion they had received from the outside world.
"We will walk in a line," they said, "as far as we can, and let them all see us. Ah, it will be a great day for the meadow when we begin to set the fashions!"
The mischievous young Measuring Worm said not a word, and off they started. The big black and yellow Caterpillar went first, the black and brown one next, and so on down to the smallest one at the end of the line, all arching their bodies as high as they could. All the meadow people stared at them, calling each other to come and look, and whenever the Caterpillars reached a place where there were many watching them, they would all raise their heads and look around exactly as the Measuring Worm had done. When they got back to their clump of bushes, they had the most dreadful backaches, but they said to each other, "Well, we have been fashionable for once."
And, at the same time, out in the grass, the meadow people were saying, "Did you ever see anything so ridiculous in your life?" All of which goes to show how very silly people sometimes are when they think too much of being fashionable.
