thing he had wished to avoid.

At last he decided that he would go over to the oat field at once and do
what he could to help with the harvesting--without saying anything more
to anybody.

"Farmer Green can't help but be pleased," he thought, as he started off
across the farmyard in the same direction in which Johnnie Green's
father had gone when he called to the hired man to hurry.

Daddy had not gone far before he met Buster Bumblebee. "How far is it to
the oat field?" Daddy asked him.

"Oh! It's not ten minutes' journey," said Buster. "I've just come from
the clover-patch myself; and that's twice as far."

Daddy Longlegs thanked him. And then he turned and tottered on again.
For a long time he walked as fast as he could. It seemed to him that he
must have been travelling at least half an hour. But he saw not the
slightest sign of the oat field, though he climbed a fence and peered
across the rolling meadow.

Then he happened to catch sight of Chirpy Cricket hopping through the
grass. And Daddy called to him and asked him how far it was to the oat
field.

"It's a good half-day's journey from here," said Chirpy Cricket
cheerfully. But Daddy Longlegs did not feel the least bit cheerful when
he heard that.

"For the land's sake!" he exclaimed. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?
Buster Bumblebee told me a long time ago that it was only a ten-minute
trip."

"Ah! So it is--for him!" said Chirpy Cricket. "You must remember that
he flies very fast. But I have to hop along much more slowly. And as for
you, at the pace you were travelling before you stopped to speak to me
you wouldn't reach the oat field before to-morrow morning! No--not even
if you walked all night!"

VIII

IN NEED OF NEW SHOES

DADDY LONGLEGS couldn't help feeling discouraged when Chirpy Cricket
told him that he wouldn't be able to reach the oat field before the next
morning.

"I declare," he said, "if I had known it was such a long journey I
wouldn't have tried to go there to help Farmer Green with his
harvesting. I've already walked so far that my shoes are all worn out.
And I can neither go on nor go back until I get some new ones." He
looked very doleful--for he didn't know what to do. But Chirpy Cricket
laughed merrily--as was his custom.

"Cheer up!" he cried. "You're in luck! Jimmy Rabbit has a shoe shop in
this very meadow. Just follow me and I'll show you where it is!"

So off they went. And soon they arrived at the shoe