It's Grasshopper Time
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Beware the Hopper!
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There were two insects that intrigued me when I was a boy. One was the firefly and the other was the grasshopper. We used to catch fireflies on a summer's eve and put them in a glass jar with a hole punched in the lid. Later we would release them. I hope they weren't harmed by that short imprisonment.
Now the grasshopper was not as easy to catch. You had to be really fast to get one. When I was in the 10th grade, our biology teacher instructed us to bring a grasshopper to class for the purpose of disection. There was a grass field across from the high school. I remember those who had forgotten that day would be over there until the bell rang trying to catch a grasshopper. Some people caught more than one and there would usually be enough to go around. There was also a lot of scrambling in the room when someone left one get away. I duly disected mine and mounted the parts on a piece of paper and labeled them accordingly.
We once had a cat who loved to catch grasshoppers. He would bring them up to the back door and play with them. He also wanted us to see his catch. I suppose it was a sort of offering to his lord and master. When he tired of playing with it, he would eat it. He always started with the head and worked his way down the body. I wonder if the ancients observed this behavior and adopted it in the worship of their gods. They also would eat the offering after it was burned on the altar. The god only ate the spiritual aspect of the meat anyway.
My mother used to sing us a song about the grasshopper when we were children. A number of years ago one of my sisters came across a tape of her singing the Grasshopper Son along with several other Sunday School songs. I thought you might enjoy listening to it. I apologize for the bad recording. It was made more than thrity years ago on an old handheld tape recorder and my mother's ess's come through loud and clear. How many of you heard this little song? I would appreciate hearing from you if you did.
click here to listen to The grasshopper song.
The Grasshopper Song
A grasshopper sitting on a weed one day,
Remarked to the miller just across the way,
What would you do with all the grain you buy?"
"I'll give it to the hopper." was the miller's reply.
Chorus:
Give it to the hopper, did you say?
Put it in the chopper, grind it all away.
So the hopper with the chopper, sitting on a little weed,
Takes the miller's grain for his every day feed.
So mad was the miller at the nasty trick,
he threw at the hopper with a dozen brick.
"Come," said the hopper, "I'll explain this thing."
A-chewin' his tobacco, he began to sing.
Repeat Chorus:
- The Old Professor
Copyright © Jay D Weaver - August 22, 2009
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