Prevod
Gospodična Polyphemus si je že od takrat, ko je bila še drobna zlatozelena gosenica, želela v družbo. Življenje je začela na javorovem listu z nekaj bratci in sestricami, ki so se hkrati z njo izlegli iz skupka sploščenih jajčec; njihova mati jih je bila odložila tja deset dni prej. Prvo, česar se je spominjala, so bili svetloba, barve in zvoki, ki so jo obdali, ko je tistega majskega jutra predrla lupinico. In prvo, kar je storila, je bilo to, da je pojedla lupinico, iz katere je pravkar prilezla. Nato se je seznanila z bratci in sestricami; mnogi so prav tako pojedli svoje jajčne lupinice, le dva sta se nemudoma lotila javorovih listov. Še dobro, da si je že tedaj vzela čas za spoznavanje, saj se je družina kmalu razkropila in nekaterih sestric ni videla nikoli več.
Svet se ji je zdel nadvse prijeten kraj za življenje. Toliko je bilo za pod zob! Pa še toliko vrst listja je imela rada: hrastovo, hikorijevo, jablanovo, javorovo, brestovo in še marsikatero drugo. Včasih si je zaželela, da bi imela troje ust namesto enih. Tiste dni ni imela veliko obiskov. Res je tu in tam prišla mimo kakšna druga gosenica, toda skoraj vse so bile tako lačne kakor ona in niso mogle govoriti, ne da bi nehale jesti. Seveda bi lahko govorile s polnimi usti, a ona je bila za kaj takega preveč olikana, poleg tega pa je pravila, da potem ne bi mogla tako uživati v hrani.
Nikar ne mislite, da je bilo narobe, ker ji je bilo toliko do jedi. Počela je le tisto, kar se od gosenice vrste Polyphemus pričakuje, in tudi vi bi morali ravnati enako, če bi bili taka gosenica. Ko je bila stara deset dni, je morala tehtati desetkrat toliko kakor tisto jutro, ko se je izlegla. Pri dvajsetih dneh je morala tehtati šestdesetkrat toliko, pri enem mesecu šeststodvajsetkrat toliko, pri petdesetih dneh pa štiritisočkrat toliko kakor ob izvalitvi. Vsak drobec njenega telesa je nastal iz hrane, ki jo je pojedla. Zato je bilo prehranjevanje tako pomembno, veste, in če bi si izbirala napačne vrste listja samo zato, ker so bile okusne, ne bi nikoli zrasla v tako lepo in veliko gosenico. Bolje bi bilo, da ne bi jedla ničesar, kakor da bi jedla napačno hrano, in tega se je dobro zavedala.
Kljub temu si je pogosto želela, da bi imela več časa za obiske, in si zamišljala, kako družabno bo živela prihodnje leto, ko bo dobila krila. »Takrat bom vse nadoknadila,« si je rekla, »ko bom nehala rasti in bom imela čas za igro.« Potem je pojedla še nekaj dobre, preproste hrane, saj je vedela, da gosenic, ki ne jedo, kakor je treba, ne čakajo srečni metuljski dnevi.
Petkrat si je vzela približno en dan oddiha in tedaj ni pojedla prav ničesar. To je bilo takrat, ko se je levila: zlezla je iz tesne stare kože in se pokazala kar se da sveža in čista v novi, ki jo je že čakala spodaj. Po zadnji levitvi je bila pripravljena zasnovati svoj zapredek in takrat je bila zares prelepa gosenica. Dolga je bila približno toliko kot majhen češnjev list in tako lepo zaobljena, kot je gosenica le lahko. Bila je svetlozelena, s sedmimi poševnimi rumenimi črtami na vsaki strani telesa in škrlatnorjavo liso v obliki črke V na zadnjem delu vsakega boka. Po telesu je imela veliko drobnih oranžnih izboklin, ki so se med premikanjem čudovito lesketale. Iz njih so poganjali drobceni šopki ščetin.
Imela je tri pare pravih nog in več parov navideznih. Prave noge so bile na sprednjem delu telesa in so bile vitke. Pričakovala je, da jih bo obdržala za vedno. Navidezne noge so se imenovale panožice. Rasle so bolj zadaj in bile debele, nerodne ter brez sklepov; ko bo njen zapredek spreden, jih ne bo več potrebovala. Brez njih bi morala zadnji del telesa vleči za seboj kakor kača. Z njimi pa je zadnji del telesa lahko hodil prav tako kakor sprednji, le nekoliko počasneje. S pravimi nogami je vselej naredila nekaj korakov, potem pa počakala, da so jih panožice dohitele.
Ko se je vreme ohladilo, je gosenica Polyphemus začela po tleh iskati primeren prostor za svoj zapredek. Med odpadlim listjem je našla izvrstno vejico in sklenila, da ga bo pritrdila nanjo. Tedaj se je začelo njeno najtežavnejše delo: predla je puhasto gmoto sivobele svile, ki se je oprijemala vejice in enega od suhih listov ter bila skoraj natanko take barve kakor list. Mimo so prihajale druge gosenice in se ustavljale na klepetu, saj jim v času predenja zapredkov ni bilo treba jesti.
»Bolje bo, če zapredek pritrdiš na drevo,« je rekla bleda modrozelena gosenica Promethea. »Namesti ga v zvit list, tako kot jaz, in pecelj ovij s svilo, da ga utrdiš. Potem se boš lahko gugala ob vsakem pišu vetra, svila pa bo preprečila, da bi se list odtrgal.«
»Ampak jaz se nočem gugati,« je odgovorila gosenica Polyphemus. »Raje bi mirno ležala in premišljevala.« »Pritrdi ga na drevesno vejico,« ji je svetovala bledozelena gosenica Cecropia z rdečimi, rumenimi in modrimi izboklinami. »Potem te bo veter le narahlo pozibaval. Pritrdi ga na vejico in ga na obeh koncih lepo zoži, potem pa —«
»Da,« je rekla gosenica Polyphemus, »potem pa mi bodo modre šoje in siničke v zgornji konec tlačile pšenico, koruzo ali žir. Prav nič si ne želim svoje spalnice spremeniti v koruznjak.«
Prav tedaj je prišlo mimo še nekaj gosenic vrste Polyphemus in se strinjalo s svojo sorodnico. »Kar imejte svoje domove na drevju,« so rekle. »Me že vemo, kaj hočemo, prihodnje poletje pa bomo videle, katera je imela prav.«
Gosenice vrste Polyphemus so si zapredke spletle na tleh, kjer je veter nanosil odpadlo listje med kamne in kjer ni bilo verjetno, da bi nanje stopila kakšna krava ali ovca. Najprej gmota grobe svile, za katero so potrebovale pol dneva, nato notranji premaz z nekakšnim lakom, potem toliko svile, kolikor je je gosenica lahko spredla v štirih ali petih dneh, nazadnje še en notranji premaz z lakom — in zapredki so bili gotovi. Ko so se gosenice vrste Polyphemus udobno namestile za dolgo zimsko spanje, si je vsaka rekla približno takole: »Uboge gosenice na drevju! Kako jih bo zeblo! Upam, da bodo spomladi srečno prilezle na dan, a močno dvomim.«
In ko so gosenice vrst Cecropia in Promethea zadremale za čez zimo, so rekle: »Kakšna škoda, da so se tiste gosenice Polyphemus odločile ležati kar po tleh. No, saj smo jim svetovale, kaj naj storijo, zato me nismo nič krive.«
Vse so preživele čudovito zimo in se gugale, pozibavale ali mirno ležale, prav kakor so si bile izbrale. Zgodaj spomladi sta prišli kmetica in njena hčerkica nabirat divje cvetlice ter odgrnili listje med kamni. Izpod njega se je prikotalil zapredek, ki ga je spredla prva gosenica Polyphemus, in kmetica ga je pobrala ter odnesla s seboj. Morda bi našla še več zapredkov, če je deklica ne bi bila poklicala drugam.
Tako se je zgodilo, da je nekega majskega jutra ob oknu dnevne sobe v beli kmečki hiši stala deklica in opazovala gospodično Polyphemus, kako počasi leze iz zapredka. Nekaj dni prej je v spodnji konec zapredka začela pronicati kisla, mleku podobna snov, ki je mehčala trdi lak in mehke svilene nitke, dokler se ni odprla drobna odprtina. Zdaj je bilo vse pripravljeno in gospodična Polyphemus se je prerinila na plano. Bila je zelo mokra, slabotna in nebogljena. »Oh,« si je rekla, »veliko lepše je biti pravkar izvaljena gosenica kakor pravkar izlegla nočna metuljčica. Ostalo mi je samo šest nog in s temi se bom le stežka prebijala naokrog. Hoji se bom morala kar odpovedati.«
To ji je vzelo ves pogum. Saj si lahko predstavljate, kako ji je bilo. Navajena je bila imeti toliko nog, vse prejšnje poletje pa se je veselila časa, ko bo lahkotno plavala po zraku in srkala med iz cvetlic. Vso zimo je sanjala o tem. Zdaj pa je bila tu — mokra in slabotna, s samo šestimi nogami in štirimi čisto majhnimi, zmečkanimi krili. Njeno telo je bilo tako veliko in debelo, da ga ni mogla dvigniti z okenske police. Najraje bi zajokala — vse skupaj je bilo tako žalostno in polno razočaranja. In tudi bi, če se ne bi spomnila, kako zelo jok skazi obraz. Ko je pomislila na to, je sklenila, da bo raje zadremala, in to je bilo nadvse pametno, kajti jok stvari vselej poslabša, spanec pa jih izboljša.
Ko se je prebudila, se je počutila veliko močnejšo in vedrejšo. Bila je bolj suha in telo se ji je zdelo lažje. To pa zato, ker so se tekočine iz njenega telesa pretakale v krila. Zaradi tega so rasla in čudovite barve na njih so začele jasneje žareti. »Le kako je s tem,« si je rekla. »Ali se nočni metulji zmeraj tako slabo počutijo, ko prvič pridejo na dan?«
Ko bi le vedela, da se je prav tisti hip po vsem gozdu na veje, liste in kamne oprijemalo na stotine nočnih metuljev, prav tako nebogljenih, kakor je bila sama. Veliko metuljev vrste Polyphemus se je pravkar izleglo, saj je v njihovi družini navada, da vsi zapustijo zapredke približno ob istem jutranjem času. Morda bi bila potrpežljivejša, če bi to vedela, kajti hude čase je res nekoliko lažje prenašati, če veš, da jih prestajajo tudi vsi drugi. Seveda imajo drugi vedno kakšne težave, toda bila je mlada in nekaj časa je zares verjela, da je edina nesrečna nočna metuljčica na svetu.
Ves dan so se ji krila raztezala in ravnala. Ko se je stemnilo, je bila že skoraj pripravljena na polet. Tedaj jo je kmetica nežno prijela za krila in jo prestavila na notranjo stran žične mreže na oknu. Ko so v hiši pogasnili vse luči, so gospodično Polyphemus obsijali mesečevi žarki ter razkrili njeno prelepo peščeno obarvano telo in krila s temnim robom na sprednjem paru ter svetlejšim na zadnjem.
Na zadnjih krilih so bila temna očesca s prosojnimi mesti v sredini, skozi katera se je dalo prav lepo videti. »Rada bi letela,« je zavzdihnila gospodična Polyphemus, »in mislim, da bi tudi lahko, če ne bi bilo te grozne mreže.« Ni vedela, da jo je kmetica namestila tja zato, da bi jo obvarovala pred nočnimi pticami, dokler se povsem ne okrepi.
Skozi okno je vel veter, sladko dišeč po cvetovih divje češnje in šmarne hrušice, uboga gospodična Polyphemus pa se je ozirala proti gozdu, kjer je živela še kot gosenica, in si želela, da bi bila varno tam. »Kaj mi koristijo krila, če jih ne morem uporabljati,« je rekla. »Nekaj bi rada pojedla. Iz žične mreže ne moreš sesati medu. Ko bi bila spet srečna gosenica in bi na drevju jedla listje!« Ni bila prva nočna metuljčica, ki si je zaželela, da bi bila spet gosenica, a kmalu si je premislila.
K njej je prifrfotal drug nočni metulj vrste Polyphemus, čeden mladenič s prav takimi vzorci, kakršne je imela sama, le da je bil temnejših barv. Njegovo telo je bilo vitkejše, tipalnice pa prelepe in peresaste. Ona je bila zajetna in je imela tanke tipalnice.
»Ah!« je rekel. »Sem si mislil, da vas bom kmalu našel.« »Res?« je odvrnila. »Le kaj vam je dalo to misliti?« »Moje tipalnice, seveda,« je rekel. »Vedno mi povedo, kje naj najdem prijatelje. Saj tudi sami veste, kako je s tem.«
»Jaz?« je rekla in se nekoliko premaknila. »Pravkar sem prišla iz zapredka. Danes se prvič predstavljam družbi.« »Torej niste še nikogar spoznali?« je vprašal. »Ah, čuden je ta svet — zelo čuden. Svetujem vam, da ste zelo previdni pri izbiri prijateljev. Toliko slabih nočnih metuljev je na svetu, veste.«
»Dober večer,« se je v bližini oglasil tretji glas in na mrežo je sedel še en nočni metulj vrste Polyphemus s peresastimi tipalnicami. Gospodični Polyphemus se je sladko nasmehnil, drugega metulja pa je prav grdo ošinil s pogledom. Že tisti hip bi se bil vnel prepir, če ne bi prav tedaj priletel četrti metulj. Prihajali so drug za drugim, dokler ni bilo na zunanji strani mreže devet čednih mladeničev, na notranji pa gospodična Polyphemus, ki se je trudila vse zabavati in jim preprečevati prepire. Bila je silno ponosna, da se jih je toliko zbralo na njenem prvem družabnem večeru. Vseeno pa bi ji bilo, je pomislila, še lepše, če bi lahko prišel tudi kdo od tistih, ki jih je poznala še iz goseničjih dni, da bi videl, koliko pozornosti je deležna. Neke gosenice nikoli ni marala. Kako si je želela, da bi jo tista zdaj videla!
Toda družabno življenje človeka zelo utrudi in gostom je bilo težko preprečevati prepire. Kadar se je z enim zapletla v pogovor o javorjih, je zagotovo pristopil drugi in pripomnil, da je imel kot gosenica vedno raje bukve. Potem sta se tista dva na drugi strani mreže srdito gledala, ona pa si je v naglici izmišljala, kaj bi še rekla.
Nazadnje so se tisti zunaj začeli pretepati. Le eden, najčednejši med vsemi, je rekel, da ima svoje tipalnice preveč rad, da bi se s kom pretepal. »Kaj pa, če bi se med pretepom odlomile?« je rekel. »Do konca življenja ne bi mogel ničesar več vohati.« Bil je zelo pameten, drugih osem mladeničev pa se je v resnici pretepalo zaradi gospodične Polyphemus: kadar koli se jim je zazdelo, da ji je kateri najbolj všeč, so se začeli zaletavati vanj.
Proti jutru se je kmetica prebudila in pogledala gospodično Polyphemus. Ko je videla, da je že dovolj močna za letenje, je odprla mrežo in jo spustila na prosto. Do tedaj so bili trije s peresastimi tipalnicami že mrtvi, trije so se z zlomljenimi krili nemočno oklepali mreže, dva pa sta bila tako zaposlena s pretepanjem, da sploh nista opazila, kako je gospodična Polyphemus odletela. Čedni veliki mladenič, ki ni maral pretepov, je odšel z njo in odtlej sta živela v gozdu. Toda njej od takrat ni bilo nikoli več do družabnega življenja.
Izvirnik
From the time when she was a tiny golden-green Caterpillar, Miss Polyphemus had wanted to go into society. She began life on a maple leaf with a few brothers and sisters, who hatched at the same time from a cluster of flattened eggs which their mother had laid there ten days before. The first thing she remembered was the light and color and sound when she broke the shell open that May morning. The first thing she did was to eat the shell out of which she had just crawled. Then she got acquainted with her brothers and sisters, many of whom had also eaten their egg-shells, although two had begun at once on maple leaves. It was well that she took time for this now, for the family were soon scattered and several of her sisters she never saw again.
She found it a very lovely world to live in. There was so much to eat. Yes, and there were so many kinds of leaves that she liked,--oak, hickory, apple, maple, elm, and several others. Sometimes she wished that she had three mouths instead of one. In those days she had few visitors. It is true that other Caterpillars happened along once in a while, but they were almost as hungry as she, and they couldn't speak without stopping eating. They could, of course, if they talked with their mouths full, but she had too good manners for that, and, besides, she said that if she did, she couldn't enjoy her food so much.
You must not think that it was wrong in her to care so much about eating. She was only doing what is expected of a Polyphemus Caterpillar, and you would have to do the same if you were a Polyphemus Caterpillar. When she was ten days old she had to weigh ten times as much as she did the morning that she was hatched. When she was twenty days old she had to weigh sixty times as much; when she was a month old she had to weigh six hundred and twenty times as much; and when she was fifty days old she had to weigh four thousand times as much as she did at hatching. Every bit of this flesh was made of the food she ate. That is why eating was so important, you know, and if she had chosen to eat the wrong kind of leaves just because they tasted good, she would never have become such a fine great Caterpillar as she did. She might better not eat anything than to eat the wrong sort, and she knew it.
Still, she often wished that she had more time for visiting, and thought that she would be very gay next year, when she got her wings. "I'll make up for it then," she said to herself, "when my growing is done and I have time for play." Then she ate some more good, plain food, for she knew that there would be no happy Moth-times for Caterpillars who did not eat as they should.
She had five vacations of about a day each when she ate nothing at all. These were the times when she changed her skin, crawling out of the tight old one and appearing as fresh and clean as possible in the new one which was ready underneath. After her last change she was ready to plan her cocoon, and she was a most beautiful Caterpillar. She was about as long as a small cherry leaf, and as plump as a Caterpillar can be. She was light green, with seven slanting yellow lines on each side of her body, and a purplish-brown V-shaped mark on the back part of each side. There were many little orange-colored bunches on her body, which showed beautiful gleaming lights when she moved. Growing out of these bunches were tiny tufts of bristles.
She had three pairs of real legs and several pairs of make-believe ones. Her real legs were on the front part of her body and were slender. These she expected to keep always. The make-believe ones were called pro-legs. They grew farther back and were fat, awkward, jointless things which she would not need after her cocoon was spun. But for them, she would have had to drag the back part of her body around like a Snake. With them, the back part of her body could walk as well as the front, although not quite so fast. She always took a few steps with her real legs and then waited for her pro-legs to catch up.
As the weather grew colder the Polyphemus Caterpillar hunted around on the ground for a good place for her cocoon. She found an excellent twig lying among the dead leaves, and decided to fasten to that. Then began her hardest work, spinning a fluffy mass of gray-white silk which clung to the twig and to one of the dry leaves and was almost exactly the color of the leaf. Other Caterpillars came along and stopped to visit, for they did not have to eat at cocoon-spinning time.
"Better fasten your cocoon to a tree," said a pale bluish-green Promethea Caterpillar. "Put it inside a curled leaf, like mine, and wind silk around the stem to strengthen it. Then you can swing every time the wind blows, and the silk will keep the leaf from wearing out."
"But I don't want to swing," answered the Polyphemus Caterpillar. "I'd rather lie still and think about things."
"Fasten to the twig of a tree," advised a pale green Cecropia Caterpillar with red, yellow, and blue bunches. "Then the wind just moves you a little. Fasten it to a twig and taper it off nicely at each end, and then----"
"Yes," said the Polyphemus Caterpillar, "and then the Blue-Jays and Chickadees will poke wheat or corn or beechnuts into the upper end of it. I don't care to turn my sleeping room into a corn-crib."
Just here some other Polyphemus Caterpillars came along and agreed with their relative. "Go ahead with your tree homes," said they. "We know what we want, and we'll see next summer who knew best."
The Polyphemus cocoons were spun on the ground where the dead leaves had blown in between some stones, and no wandering Cows or Sheep would be likely to step on them. First a mass of coarse silk which it took half a day to make, then an inside coating of a kind of varnish, then as much silk as a Caterpillar could spin in four or five days, next another inside varnishing, and the cocoons were done. As the Polyphemus Caterpillars snuggled down for the long winter's sleep, each said to himself something like this: "Those poor Caterpillars in the trees! How cold they will be! I hope they may come out all right in the spring, but I doubt it very much."
And when the Cecropia and Promethea Caterpillars dozed off for the winter, they said: "What a pity that those Polyphemus Caterpillars would lie around on the ground. Well, we advised them what to do, so it isn't our fault."
They all had a lovely winter, and swung or swayed or lay still, just as they had chosen to do. Early in the spring, the farmer's wife and little girl came out to find wild flowers, and scraped the leaves away from among the stones. Out rolled the cocoon that the first Polyphemus Caterpillar had spun and the farmer's wife picked it up and carried it off. She might have found more cocoons if the little girl had not called her away.
This was how it happened that one May morning a little girl stood by the sitting-room window in the white farmhouse and watched Miss Polyphemus crawl slowly out of her cocoon. A few days before a sour, milky-looking stuff had begun to trickle into the lower end of the cocoon, softening the hard varnish and the soft silken threads until a tiny doorway was opened. Now all was ready and Miss Polyphemus pushed out. She was very wet and weak and forlorn. "Oh," said she to herself, "it is more fun to be a new Caterpillar than it is to be a new Moth. I've only six legs left, and it will be very hard worrying along on these. I shall have to give up walking."
It was discouraging. You can see how it would be. She had been used to having so many legs, and had looked forward all the summer before to the time when she should float lightly through the air and sip honey from flowers. She had dreamed of it all winter. And now here she was--wet and weak, with only six legs left, and four very small and crumpled wings. Her body was so big and fat that she could not hold it up from the window-sill. She wanted to cry--it was all so sad and disappointing. She would have done so, had she not remembered how very unbecoming it is to cry. When she remembered that, she decided to take a nap instead, and that was a most sensible thing to do, for crying always makes matters worse, while sleeping makes them better.
When she awakened she felt much stronger and more cheerful. She was drier and her body felt lighter. This was because the fluids from it were being pumped into her wings. That was making them grow, and the beautiful colors began to show more brightly on them. "I wonder," she said to herself, "if Moths always feel so badly when they first come out?"
If she had but known it, there were at that very time hundreds of Moths as helpless as she, clinging to branches, leaves, and stones all through the forest. There were many Polyphemus Moths just out, for in their family it is the custom for all to leave their cocoons at just about such a time in the morning. Perhaps she would have felt more patient if she had known this, for it does seem to make hard times easier to bear when one knows that everybody else has hard times also. Of course other people always are having trouble, but she was young and really believed for a time that she was the only uncomfortable Moth in the world.
All day long her wings were stretching and growing smooth. When it grew dark she was nearly ready to fly. Then the farmer's wife lifted her gently by the wings and put her on the inside of the wire window-screen. When the lights in the house were all put out, the moonbeams shone in on Miss Polyphemus and showed her beautiful sand-colored body and wings with the dark border on the front pair and the lighter border on the back pair.
On the back ones were dark eye-spots with clear places in the middle, through which one could see quite clearly.
"I would like to fly," sighed Miss Polyphemus, "and I believe I could if it were not for this horrid screen." She did not know that the farmer's wife had put her there to keep her safe from night birds until she was quite strong.
The wind blew in, sweet with the scent of wild cherry and shad-tree blossoms, and poor Miss Polyphemus looked over toward the forest where she had lived when she was a Caterpillar, and wished herself safely there. "Much good it does me to have wings when I cannot use them," said she. "I want something to eat. There is no honey to be sucked out of wire netting. I wish I were a happy Caterpillar again, eating leaves on the trees." She was not the first Moth who has wished herself a Caterpillar, but she soon changed her mind.
There fluttered toward her another Polyphemus Moth, a handsome fellow, marked exactly as she was, only with darker coloring. His body was more slender, and his feelers were very beautiful and feathery. She was fat and had slender feelers.
"Ah!" said he. "I thought I should find you soon."
"Indeed?" she replied. "I wonder what made you think that?"
"My feelers, of course," said he. "They always tell me where to find my friends. You know how that is yourself."
"I?" said she, as she changed her position a little. "I am just from my cocoon. This was my coming-out day."
"And so you have not met any one yet?" he asked. "Ah, this is a strange world--a very strange world. I would advise you to be very careful with whom you make friends. There are so many bad Moths, you know."
"Good-evening," said a third voice near them, and another Polyphemus Moth with feathery feelers alighted on the screen. He smiled sweetly at Miss Polyphemus and scowled fiercely at the other Moth. It would have ended in a quarrel right then and there, if a fourth Moth had not come at that minute. One after another came, until there were nine handsome fellows on the outside and Miss Polyphemus on the inside of the screen trying to entertain them all and keep them from quarrelling. It made her very proud to think so many were at her coming-out party. Still, she would have enjoyed it better, she thought, if some whom she had known as Caterpillars could be there to see how much attention she was having paid to her. There was one Caterpillar whom she had never liked. She only wished that she could see her now.
Still, society tires one very much, and it was hard to keep her guests from quarrelling. When she got to talking with one about maple-trees, another was sure to come up and say that he had always preferred beech when he was a Caterpillar. And the two outside would glare at each other while she hastily thought of something else to say.
At last those outside got to fighting. There was only one, the handsomest of all, who said he thought too much of his feelers to fight anybody. "Supposing I should fight and break them off," said he. "I couldn't smell a thing for the rest of my life." He was very sensible, and really the eight other fellows were fighting on account of Miss Polyphemus, for whenever they thought she liked one best they began to bump up against him.
Toward morning the farmer's wife awakened and looked at Miss Polyphemus. When she saw that she was strong enough to fly, she opened the screen and let her go. By that time three of those with feathery feelers were dead, three were broken-winged and clinging helplessly to the screen, and two were so busy fighting that they didn't see Miss Polyphemus go. The handsome great fellow who did not believe in fighting went with her, and they lived in the forest after that. But she never cared for society again.
