The Dung Beetle (9)

The Dung Beetle (9)

  " My son is engaged, " one of then announced.
  " That innocent joy of my life....His most cherished ambition is to climb into the ear of a minister. He is charminly childish, and being engaged will keep him from running about, and that is a great comfort to a mother. "

  " Our son, " began another mother earwig, " came straight out of egg. He is full of life and that is a joy. He is busy sowing his wild oats, and that, too, can make a mother proud. Don't you agree with me, Mr Dung Beetle ? "
she ahd recognized him by his shape.

  " You are both right, " remarked the dung beetle ; and the earwigs invited him to come into their home and make himself comfortable.

  " Now you must meet my children, " said a third mother earwig.

  " And mine ! " cried the fourth.
  " They are so lovable and so amusing, and they only misbehave when they have stomach aches and it's not their fault that you get one so easily at their age. "

  All the mothers talked and their children talked ; and when the little ones weren't talking, they were pulling at the dung beetle's moustache with the little tweezers that each of them had in his tail.

(9/20)