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Fire in the clearing! Cricket’s house burned down. By the time Hedgehog and Frog arrived, nothing was left but a little heap of ashes. Something had burst into flames among the dry leaves, and the little red fire had darted through the grasses and over Cricket’s home, and lapped it up in a twinkling. Poor Cricket!

Winter was coming on, and the unhappy fellow stood there with never a home to his name. His friends crowded about him.

»Did everything burn?« they asked. »Where is your feather bed? Couldn’t you save your dandelion blankets? Nor your pile of sheep’s wool and bird feathers? Nor your store of food?«