|
Chomper, the grasshopper, climbed up
the green stem of a rose bush. It was covered with white roses that had
pink around the edges of each petal. He moved carefully over the brown
thorns, check out each leaf, searching for one he thought would be perfect
to munch and chomp. At last he found one. It was big, veiny, green and
tender. He began to nibble on it. CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!
Lily, the frog, was down in the dirt
near the rose bushes’ roots. She was trying to rest. She’d found a
comfortable spot where it was cool and damp but couldn’t get to sleep
because of all the noise. "Who is making all that noise?" she croaked. She
looked up and saw Chomper munching away on a leaf. "Chomper, stop making
so much noise. That chomping sound is keeping me awake. I want to take a
nap!" she called up to him. CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! "Stop it right now!" Lily
demanded.
Chomper looked down from high up in
the rosebush. He had a hard time seeing Lily because she was as green as
the rose bush stems. When he spotted her he called down, "I’m sorry, Lily.
I’ll try to chomp softer." He started chomping again, but much quieter.
Chomp chomp chomp.
Lily, not hearing the noise any
more, fell asleep.
Spud, the potato bug, was leaning
against a rock. He was reading his favorite book, ‘Rolling In the Wind’.
Concentrating on the words was difficult because he kept hearing Chomper’s
loud chomping. CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! Spud shouted up to him, "Chomper, stop
making so much noise. I can’t even read my book with all that chewing.
Stop it right now!" he ordered.
The grasshopper looked down from
high up in the rose bush. He saw Spud, who was the same color gray as the
rock he was leaning against. He had a book in one of his many hands.
"Okay, Spud. I’ll try to chomp quieter."
So, he did just that. He chomped
softly. Chomp Chomp Chomp
Spud was able to read his book now,
undisturbed.
Honey, the bumblebee, was flying
around the white roses, going in and out of the bright yellow centers, and
gathering nectar. She was daydreaming; thinking about the pollen and
nectar and how pleased the Queen would be when she came back to the hive
with all she had gathered. Suddenly she was distracted by a loud noise.
She listened. CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! She flew down to where the noise was
coming from and saw Chomper munching away on a leaf. Honey called out,
"Keep the noise down. BUZZ! BUZZ! You are so loud. BUZZ! BUZZ! How do you
expect me to gather pollen when you are chomping away like that? BUZZ!
BUZZ! Stop it right now!" she buzzed.
Chomper looked up at the black and
yellow striped bumblebee. She was hovering just above him, her wings
moving quickly up and down. "Sorry, Honey. I’ll try to chomp softly." So
Chomper did just that. Chomp Chomp Chomp
Honey went back to her pollen and
nectar gathering and Chomper enjoyed his leaf.
It didn’t take long for Chomper to
start munching loudly again. CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!
Legs, the lime green caterpillar was
spinning his cocoon on the branch of a nearby bush. He kept making
mistakes and getting himself all tangled up in it because Chomper was
making so much noise. "Chomper, how can I finish my cocoon and change into
a butterfly if you keep making all that noise?" he called over to the
grasshopper. "You are being too noisy. I can’t concentrate. Stop it, right
now!" Legs commanded.
Chomper looked over at the other
bush to see where Legs was making his cocoon. He saw him. He was such a
bright lime green that it wasn’t hard to spot him. "I’m sorry, Legs. I
don’t want to disturb you. Go back to spinning your cocoon and I’ll try to
be quiet." Chomper did just that. Chomp Chomp Chomp. Legs went back to
spinning his cocoon, relaxed and peaceful.
After just a few minutes, Chomp was
chewing loudly once more. CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!
Chirp, the black cricket, was
singing a beautiful operetta, but the chomping noise distracted her. She
couldn’t rub her wings together and get the right tone. She kept making
mistakes and it was all Chompers fault. "Chomper! You are being too noisy.
I can’t sing. My wings won’t rub together right. Stop it right now! I need
to finish my operetta," she told the grasshopper.
Chomper looked over at Chirp. He was
getting tired of the others telling him to be quiet. He’d had enough.
Tender leaf or not, he decided to leave and find another rose bush; one
with tender leaves growing on it, of course. He hopped off the bush to the
ground. He bounced past some beautiful orange poppies, some fragrant
purple violets, and some colorful purple pansies touched with yellow
centers that were dancing in the breeze. He sprung past some crimson red
chrysanthemums and sunshine yellow marigolds. As he hopped away he could
hear Lily croaking, Spud rolling around, Honey buzzing, Legs spinning his
cocoon, and Chirp singing her operetta. "And they say I’m noisy!" he
muttered to himself. "Just listen to them all."
He landed with a plop near a yellow
rose bush. He climbed up the thorny branch and found himself a soft, but
firm leaf. It was quiet there. He looked around. He saw no other insects,
so he knew he’d not be disturbed. It was so quiet that he lay down on the
leaf, rolled it up around him and fell asleep.
As Chomper lay snoozing, trouble was
going on back at the other rosebush. Beek, the bluebird, had been flying
around. She spotted Honey buzzing around the roses. He flew down and tried
to swallow her. Honey flew off in terror and hid inside one of the pink
and white rosebuds. Beek landed on one of the branches looking for her.
He couldn’t find Honey but he did
see Legs as he spun his cocoon. He jumped over to him and tried to pull
the lime green caterpillar out. Legs, frightened, quickly spun the rest of
his cocoon and sealed himself up inside. Beek was just about to eat the
entire thing when he heard a noise below.
He looked down and saw Spud lying
against a rock, reading a book. He swooped down to gobble him up but Spud
saw his shadow and curled up in a ball. His hard shell closed tightly.
Beek couldn’t pick him up. He kept rolling out of his mouth. He finally
gave up and flew up to a sturdy branch.
Chirp was rubbing her wings
together. She didn’t hear Beek as his wings fluttered next to her. He was
just about to grab her when she turned around and saw him. She pushed with
her strong back legs and flew off into the grass and hopped away. Beek
couldn’t find her anywhere. She had vanished.
Beek was getting angry. He started
to chirp. CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP! He was hungry and wanted a bug to eat.
Lily, hiding in the roots of the
bush, watched in horror as beak tried to eat all of her friends. She
hopped away as quickly as she could and went looking for Chomper. She
leapt passed the poppies and the violets, jumped over the pansies,
chrysanthemums and marigolds and landed right at the bottom of the yellow
rose bush.
She leapt up and down, trying to see
Chomper. Finally she spotted him curled up in a leaf, sleeping. CROAK!
CROAK! CROAK! "Wake up, Chomper!" she called out.
Chomper heard her and sat up.
"What’s the matter, Lily?" he asked, laying over the edge of the leaf.
"Beek, the bluebird, is trying to
eat us all. We need your help!" she begged.
"What can I do? I’m just a noisy,
annoying, chomping grasshopper. Remember?"
"Please come and help us, Chomper,"
she begged again, ignoring his sarcasm.
Chomper hopped down from the leaf
into the dirt. He sprung over to the bush with the white roses. Lily
followed right behind him. He looked up and saw Beek, who was now flying
just above the bush. Beek figured if he couldn’t eat them, he’d terrorize
them instead.
Chomper thought of an idea. He
sneakily climbed up the stem of the bush and found a branch with a few
sharp thorns on it. He chewed it off, quietly chomping, and then climbed
high into the bush with the branch in his mouth. When he came to one of
the roses, he climbed inside and sat still, holding the thorny branch.
Beek swooped down at the insects.
Chomper lifted the branch tightly in his hands. When Beek flew by, he
swung it and the sharp thorns went right through Beek’s feathers.
"OUCH!" he squawked. The thorns hurt
him so badly that he flew away to his nest. Never again did he come back
to the rose bush and try to eat them.
From then on, Lily, Spud, Honey,
Legs, and Chirp never complained about Chomper’s chomping. He could chomp
as loudly as he wanted. The others felt safe and happy just knowing he was
there. Chomper was happy because the tenderest leaves of all were on that
rose bush.
CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP! |
