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Billy Bumblebee demanded, as he buzzed around Old Man Hoppy-toad's head. "I don't know!" said Old Man Hoppy-toad when he had swallowed the pancake. "Yes, you do!" Thumbkins cried as he caught Old Man Hoppy-toad's hand. "Who made those pancakes for you?"
"Suppose you climb upon my back, Thumbkins, and let me help you find her!" said Billy Bumblebee, as he buzzed his wings, making the flower sway up and down. So Thumbkins climbed up the flower stalk and took a seat upon Billy Bumblebee's back. "Let us fly way up in the air so that we may look down over all the country!" said Billy Bumblebee, as he made his wings whirr and climbed high in the air.
"It is always nice and dry there," he said, "for the rain runs right off the mushroom and does not touch my little cobweb home!" That night as he lay in his little thistle-down bed, Thumbkins heard it thundering. "I'm very glad that I haven't a home built right out upon the bare ground like the meadow-larks!" he said. And as the thunder grew louder, Thumbkins turned over and tried to go to sleep.
Thumbkins thought at first Mamma Meadow-Lark was crying, and he said: "Are you cold, Mamma Meadow-Lark?" "Yes, indeed!" Mamma Meadow-Lark replied as she shook her ruffled feathers, sending the water flying in all directions.
Thumbkins kept very quiet, for the baby meadow-larks were sleepy little fellows, and before he knew it Thumbkins was sound asleep himself, with an arm around one of the baby birds. Thumbkins did not know how long he had been asleep, but when he awakened the rain had ceased. Thumbkins knew it had stopped raining for he could no longer hear the rain drops pattering upon Mamma Meadow-Lark's back.
Thumbkins he came very near crying. And Billy Bumblebee said to Old Man Hoppy-toad, "Now you must leave our neighborhood, for we do not permit anyone to bother anyone else in the Town of Tinythings." So Old Man Hoppy-toad had to pack up all his things in a red handkerchief and hustle out of town.
Tommy Grasshopper, Granpa Tobackyworm, and all the other friends of the Thumbkins came and ate the lovely pancakes, covered with the delicious honey. And, after eating as much as they could, everybody caught hold of hands and danced until late in the night, for the Katydid orchestra was there to furnish the music. A great rough stone lay beneath a gnarled old tree.
"She has not been home all day!" "Perhaps she went over to see Granpa Tobackyworm!" suggested Tommy Grasshopper, as he flicked his wings and made the blade of grass swing up and down. So Thumbkins thanked Tommy Grasshopper and ran over to Granpa Tobacyworm's house. Granpa Tobackyworm was sitting upon a blade of grass, swinging in the breeze and smoking his old clay pipe. "Oh, Granpa Tobackyworm!
There upon the floor lay an old rusty iron ring. It was the Fairy Ring. Thumbkins ran beneath the bushes and down the tiny path until he came to where Tommy Grasshopper sat upon a blade of grass swinging in the breeze. "Have you seen Mrs. Thumbkins, Tommy Grasshopper?" Thumbkins called. "I have been asleep," replied Tommy Grasshopper, "And I haven't seen her!" "Oh dear! Oh dear!" cried Thumbkins.
"GRUMP! GRUMP!" said a deep voice from inside the tin can house. Billy Bumblebee peeped through a chink in a window, and saw a hoppy-toad with his mouth full of pancakes. So Thumbkins picked up a pebble and knocked louder. Old Man Hoppy-toad came to the door with a pancake in each hand and another large one in his mouth. "GRUMP! GRUMP!" he said. "Where is Mrs. Thumbkins?"
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