 | Birds, Bees and Blossoms |  |
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THE FROG-HOPPER
I am a Frog-hopper of high renown,
And will jump you all for what you please,
And be the first to put my leg down,
For I know that I can beat you with ease.
I can leap a great many times my own length,
Without taking a run before making a spring.
For my size, neither lion nor tiger's my strength;
I am of all leapers and jumpers the king.
And will jump you all for what you please,
And be the first to put my leg down,
For I know that I can beat you with ease.
I can leap a great many times my own length,
Without taking a run before making a spring.
For my size, neither lion nor tiger's my strength;
I am of all leapers and jumpers the king.
When I come into the world I find a strange home;
You may see me lie on the leaves so green,
Buried all over in froth and foam,
And in a state hardly fit to be seen.
“Cuckoo-spit,” some do me call;
They might as well call me the foam of the sea:
The cuckoo's no more to do with it at all
Than I have with him, or he has with me.
You may see me lie on the leaves so green,
Buried all over in froth and foam,
And in a state hardly fit to be seen.
“Cuckoo-spit,” some do me call;
They might as well call me the foam of the sea:
The cuckoo's no more to do with it at all
Than I have with him, or he has with me.
To me it's a kind of a crystal grot,
And pleasant enough I find it too
To be hidden beneath when the weather is hot,
Though sometimes the sun comes and pierces it through,
Drinks it all up and leaves not a drop;
And then I can tell you I'm in a nice way;
Under a leaf I am forced to pop,
And there compelled a long while to stay.
And pleasant enough I find it too
To be hidden beneath when the weather is hot,
Though sometimes the sun comes and pierces it through,
Drinks it all up and leaves not a drop;
And then I can tell you I'm in a nice way;
Under a leaf I am forced to pop,
And there compelled a long while to stay.
The very next day I begin a new brewing,
For I can't live long out of my crystal bed;
So I set to hissing, and frothing, and stewing,
Until I find I've got it up to a nice head,
And hear it all round me gurgle and ripple,
And then who is there more happy than I?
I lie down and sleep in the midst of my tipple,
And have only to open my mouth when I'm dry.
For I can't live long out of my crystal bed;
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Until I find I've got it up to a nice head,
And hear it all round me gurgle and ripple,
And then who is there more happy than I?
I lie down and sleep in the midst of my tipple,
And have only to open my mouth when I'm dry.
When little I'm yellow, when bigger I'm green;
But when I am what I may call fully grown,
I'm black and I'm white, but oftener seen
In a fine speckled jacket of warm-coloured brown:
No longer I dwell in a grotto of foam,
But leap where I please unfettered and free,
For every flower affords me a home,
And what I live on is best known to me.
But when I am what I may call fully grown,
I'm black and I'm white, but oftener seen
In a fine speckled jacket of warm-coloured brown:
No longer I dwell in a grotto of foam,
But leap where I please unfettered and free,
For every flower affords me a home,
And what I live on is best known to me.
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