"Food" toward a round sandy house, and a cheery little Cricket marching
rapidly up a green stalk in search of a dinner for three hungry little
Cricketses. It was a busy time for all except Toadie Todson.

The spring had just come, that much Toadie Todson knew, and all these
neighbors were busy putting their houses in order. Well, the Bee was
stocking his honeycomb house, the Ant was putting her summer pantry into
order and filling it with cookies, cream cheese, cake, and honey that
her Majesty, the Queen Bee, sent over every day. And the Cricket,
although his house was out of doors under a big green oak leaf that had
dropped to the ground, was busy piling up all the food he could find for
Mrs. Cricky to guard while she nursed the three little Cricketses.

Toadie Todson was tired to see so much going on. He wished they would
all be quiet and stop hurrying around. He drew a long sigh, which made
him swell up and look rounder and fatter than ever. Why couldn't his
neighbors feed as he did? He just sat there and opened his big red slit
of a mouth, gave a lazy snap, and a noisy fly, still buzzing, was
swallowed up. He moved a little further away from his hole, dragging one
fat, squashy leg after the other, then down he squatted again.

A little ball of green inch-worm dropped off the bush on to Toadie
Todson's back and began to measure its length over Toadie's big warts
and veins. It made him feel very important to have an inch-worm all to
himself to tickle his back, as important as an Egyptian Queen with a
slave to tickle the sole of her foot all the hot afternoon long. Toadie
Todson swelled with pride as the green inch-worm went measuring up and
down, up and down his back.

The Busy Bee just then flew buzzing by and buzzed to Toadie as he went: