THE LITTLE BAT WHO WOULDN'T GO TO BED
"Come," said Mamma Bat, flying toward her home in the cave, "it is timethat you children went to bed. The eastern sky is growing bright, and Ican see the fleecy clouds blush rosy red as the sun looks at them."
The little Bats flitted along after her, and Papa Bat came behind them.They had been flying through the starlit forest all night, chasing themany small insects that come out after the sun has gone down, andpassing in and out of the tangled branches without ever touching one.Indeed, Mamma Bat would have been ashamed if children of hers flewagainst anything in the dark. There might be some excuse for such amistake in the daytime, for Bats' eyes do not see well then, but in thenight-time! She would have scolded them well, and they would havedeserved it, for Bats have the most wonderful way of feeling thingsbefore they touch them, and there are no other people in the forest whocan do that. There are no other people who can tell by the feeling ofthe air when something is near, and the Bats made much fun of theirfriend, the Screech Owl, once, when he flew against a tree and fell tothe ground.
And now the night was over and their mother had called them to go home.One of the little Bats hung back with a very cross look on his face,and twice his father had to tell him to fly faster. He was thinking howhe would like to see the forest in the daytime. He had never seen thesun rise, and he wanted to do that. He had never seen any of theday-birds or the animals that awaken in the morning. He thought it waspretty mean to make poor little Bats go off to bed the minute the starsbegan to fade. He didn't believe what his father and mother said, thathe wouldn't have a good time if he did stay up. He had coaxed and coaxedand teased and teased, but it hadn't made a bit of difference. Everymorning he had to fold his wings and go to sleep in a dark crack in therock of the cave, hanging, head downward, close to the rest of thefamily. Their father said that there never was a better place to sleepthan in this same crack, and it certainly was easy to catch on with thehooks at the lower ends of their wings when they hung themselves up forthe day. But now he just wouldn't go to bed, so there!
"It is your turn next," said Mamma Bat to him, when the rest of thechildren had hung themselves up.
"I'm not going to bed," the little Bat answered.
"Not going to bed!" said his father. "Are you crazy?"
"No," said the little Bat, "I'm _not_."
"I don't believe the child is well," said Mamma Bat. "He never actedlike this before. I'm afraid he has overeaten." And she looked veryanxious.
"I _am_ well, and I _haven't_ eaten too much," said the little Bat. "Ithink you might let a fellow have some fun once in a while. I've neverseen the sun in my life, and there are whole lots of birds and animalsin the forest that I've only heard about."
Papa and Mamma Bat looked at each other without speaking.
"I _won't_ go to bed!" said the little Bat.
"Very well," said his father. "I shall not try to make you. Fly away atonce and let us go to sleep."
After he had gone, Mamma Bat said, "I suppose you did right to let himgo, but it seems too bad that children have to find out for themselvesthe trouble that comes from disobedience."
The little Bat flew away feeling very brave. He guessed he knew how totake care of himself, even in daylight. He felt sorry for his brotherswho were in the cave, but he made up his mind that he would tell themall about it the next night.
The eastern sky grew brighter and brighter. It hurt his eyes to look atit, and he blinked and turned away. Then the song-birds awakened andbegan to sing. It was very interesting, but he thought they sang tooloudly. The forest at night is a quiet place, and he didn't see thesense of shouting so, even if the sun were coming up. The night-birdsnever made such a fuss over the moon, and he guessed the moon was asgood as the sun.
Somebody went scampering over the grass, kicking up his heels as he ran."That must be a Rabbit," thought the little Bat. "The Screech Owl toldme that Rabbits run in that way. I wish I could see him more plainly. Idon't know what is the matter with my eyes."
Just then a sunbeam came slanting through the forest and fell on hisfurry coat as he clung to a branch. "Ow!" he cried. "Ow! How warm it is!I don't like that. The moonbeams do not feel so. I must fly to a shadycorner." He started to fly. Just what was the matter, he never knew. Itmay have been because he couldn't see well, it may have been because hewas getting very tired, or it may have been because the strangeness ofit all was beginning to frighten him; but at all events, he went down,down, down until he found himself pitching and tumbling around in thegrass.
A Crow had seen him fall, and cried loudly, "Come! Come! Come!" to hisfriends. The Rabbits, who were feeding near by, came scampering along,making great leaps in their haste to see what was the matter. TheGoldfinches, the Robins, the Orioles, the Woodpeckers, and many otherbirds came fluttering up. Even a Blue Jay sat on a branch above the Batand shrieked, "Jay! Jay! Jay!" to add to the excitement. And last ofall, the Ground Hog appeared, coming slowly and with dignity, as aperson who can remember his grandfather should do.
"What is the cause of all this commotion?" he asked. He might have said,"What is the matter?" and then they would have understood him at once,but he was too haughty for that. He thought he had to use big wordsonce in a while to show that he could. If people didn't understand them,he was willing to explain what he meant.
"We've found such a queer bird, sir," said the biggest little Rabbit,without waiting to find out what a "commotion" was. "Just see him tumblearound!"
"Bird? That is no bird," said a Woodpecker. "Look at his ears and hisnose. He hasn't even a bill."
"Well, he flies," said the biggest little Rabbit, "because I saw him, sohe must be a bird."
"Humph!" said a Chipmunk. "So does my cousin, the Flying Squirrel, in away, yet he is no more bird than I am."
"And this fellow hasn't a feather to his skin!" cried an Oriole.
"I don't say that my son is right," said Papa Rabbit, "but this creaturehas wings." And he gave the Bat a poke that made him flutter wildly fora minute.
"Yes, but what kind of wings?" asked the Goldfinch. "A pair of skinnythings that grow on to his legs and have hooks on both ends."
"He must be a very stupid fellow, at all events," said the Ground Hog."He doesn't talk, or walk, or eat, or even fly well. He must come of avery common family. For my part, I am not interested in persons of thatkind." And he walked away with his nose in the air.
Now the other forest people would have liked to watch the Bat longer,but after the Ground Hog had gone off in this way, they thought it wouldshow too much curiosity if they stayed. So one after another went away,and the little Bat was left alone. He fluttered around until he reachedthe branch where the Blue Jay had been, and there he hung himself up towait until night.
"Oh dear!" he said, "I wonder how long a day is. I am hot and blind andsleepy, and if any more of the forest people come and talk about me, Idon't know what I shall do. They don't think me good-looking because mywings grow to my legs. I only wish I could see what they look like. Ibelieve they are _just_ as homely."
And then, because he was a very tired little Bat, and cross, as peoplealways are when they have done wrong, he began to blame somebody elsefor all his trouble.
"If my father and mother had cared very much about me," he said, "theywould never have let me stay up all day. Guess if I were a big Bat andhad little Bats of my own, I'd take better care of them!" But that isalways the way, and when, long afterward, he was a big Bat with littleBats of his own, he was a much wiser person.