Not having anyone to help him, Grandpa got up very early to start getting all of the animals ready for the party. He had the clothes all layed out in order by size, from the smallest to the biggest. And he told all of the animals to get lined up in the very same way.

First the smallest animals. Then bigger and bigger, until the very biggest came at the end of the line. It was the only way that Grandpa could get them in any sort of order at all, and he knew that animals loved to walk in lines.

First would have been the grasshopper because he was the smallest, but of course he was already dressed in his black tophat, green suit, bright yellow shirt, red bowtie and shinny black dance shoes and cane. So Grandpa asked him to stand on a fence post and just watch. That's just what he did, except of course he never could just stand still. He started dancing. Rapity tat, rapity tat, rapity rapity tat tat tat.

Next should have come the frogs from Grandpa's pond, but they were no where to be seen. After the frogs should have come the chickens, but to Grandpa's surprise at the head of the line were three small fieldmice. Grandpa didn't even know them!

He'd seen mice scurrying around grabbing scraps of food when they could, but he'd never even talked to one. Grandpa figured they must have heard about the party from the other animals and just got in line.

Well, Grandpa got a little flustered. Here he was all ready, with all the clothes layed out in order. And all of the animals lined up in order. And he didn't have any clothes for the very first animals!

Grandpa decided that they would just have to wait until all of the other animals were dressed, and then he'd see what he could find for them to wear. He asked them to wait with the grasshopper, and asked the grasshopper to teach them to dance to keep them all busy.

Now it was time for the chickens. There were four chickens and running all around them making little peeping sounds were 15 baby chicks. Two of the chickens were daddies, called roosters, and the other two were mommies, called hens.

For the roosters, Grandpa had bright red vests and straw hats with bright red hatbands to match. For the hens, Grandpa had sky blue dresses and straw bonnets with sky blue hatbands to match.

Now Grandpa knew that there was no way you could get little chicks to keep on any clothes at all, so he had pink and blue ribbons for their mommies to tie around their necks. Grandpa had no idea how many were girls and how many were boys, but he knew the mommies could tell. So he got plenty of ribbons of both colors and let the mommies pick the right ones.

Next came the duck. Now, it's a problem dressing a duck in anything because every chance they get they jump in the pond. So Grandpa just got the duck a hat. It was straw like the others, but it was decorated with beautiful spring flowers of all colors.

Next came the sheep. There were seven, and for each one Grandpa had a pretty little blanket that covered its back. Each blanket was a different color, and for each one Grandpa had a matching ribbon for their hair. Every year the sheep had their wool cut off to make yarn for sweaters and blankets and other woolen things, and Grandpa told them that now they could use the blankets to keep warm until their wool grew back.

Next came Blinkie, and you probably won't be surprised to hear that he was already dressed in his beautiful new red coat. He was too excited to wait for anybody's help.

Next came the cows. Four of them. They were so big that Grandpa just gave them ribbons. But he had two ribbons for each cow, one for its hair and one for its tail. And each cow got a different color.

Last of all came Grandpa's horse. Grandpa had polished his saddle and bridle, and bought him a big straw hat. The horse's ears were so long that Grandpa had to cut holes in the hat so that his ears could stick through it. The hat had a very handsome brown leather hatband that matched the horse's saddle and bridle. And Grandpa stuck a bright red rooster feather in it.

The horse was the biggest animal and the last animal in line, and now all of the animals were dressed and ready for the party. Grandpa told them that it was time to leave, and he opened the gate and they all started to walk to Mr. Morgan's house. Blinkie walked next to Grandpa and was very proud of his new red coat.