It pleased her so much that she tried to
sing it again to Father Cricky for the Marsh Grass Vesper Quartette. Of
course it was all about Toadie Todson, and this was it:
_A Lament
Very slowly_
Mournful, mournful notes,
In our little throats we sing
Flowers, flowers dead,
For our Toadie's head we bring
THE SULLEN CATERPILLAR
All the little green Inch-Worms and the energetic, thin Road-Worms
called him Glummie for short, although his whole name was Longinus
Rotundus Caterpillar. That's a very long, hard name, and they couldn't
be bothered with a name like that for such a sulky fellow as he. And for
fear I shall take too long telling my story about him, we also will call
him, not Longinus Rotundus Caterpillar, but Glummie. Glummie was born
into a most talented and attractive family--that means a family that
could do many things very well and was pretty to look at; but from the
time he went out to eat his own leaves he was sullen. Nobody knew
exactly what was the matter. It is true his sisters were prettier than
he, for they had long yellow hair that waved all over a silky green
body, and they had dark yellow-brown eyes. But a boy should not mind
having his sisters prettier than he. And he had an older brother they
all called "Squirm." He was very much liked; he was browner and larger
than Glummie, and he was always doing nice things for his brother, and
Glummie shouldn't have been jealous.
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