Green Fool Grasshopper helps Settle the West

The name of this grasshopper may sound like a joke, but according to insect historians it has great significance. Apparently in the mid 1800’s a wagon train of pioneers was heading west, and desperately out of food. One evening they wearily rolled through the shortgrass prairie on Colorado’s eastern plains and saw a camp fire in the distance. Desperate for help, they approached the fire. When they arrived, there was a group of drunken grasshoppers playing fiddles and laughing their mesothoraxes off. The grasshoppers had just finished a feast of cornbread and ground squirrel stew, and the pioneers noticed heaps of leftovers around the campfire. Desperate for a meal, the pioneers introduced themselves and begged the Grasshoppers to consider bartering for their leftovers. Surprisingly, the Grasshoppers agreed without hesitation. The pioneers deliberated what they had that was absolutely worthless, but could be passed off as a fair barter. After all, they were dealing with mere insects who couldn’t possibly be very intelligent. One of the pioneer’s daughters, a little girl of 9, had been bored to tears on the long trek across the plains. To pass the time, she’d been collecting pretty little white flowers from the Lanceleaf Frogfoot Plant all across Kansas. The pioneers spoke in private about what to give the grasshoppers.

The girl’s father said, “Let’s just give em a pile of these little white flowers”.
“A pile of flowers! What kinda fool would fall for that?!”, another contested.
“Well, we ain’t got nothin else so let’s just pretend they’re valuable and see what happens”.

When the pioneers presented their offering of Frogfoot flowers, the grasshoppers hesitated for a moment.

“Ok, we’ll take em, just pile the flowers up here and come get your stew and cornbread” said the alpha Grasshopper.
The pioneers couldn’t believe what they’d just gotten away with and were trying to hide their grins as they loaded the food onto their wagons.
“Them’s must be the most foolish Grasshoppers alive!”, hooted one.
“Well, we ain’t never come across such critters before, so let’s give em a name”
“Ok, let’s call em the Green Fool Grasshoppers!”

As the pioneers rode off, they heard the most raucous laughter in the background. The Grasshoppers were rolling on the ground laughing so hard it hurt their spiracles. They couldn’t believe they’d just unloaded pots of greasy slop to these dimwitted humans in exchange for a whole pile of delectable Lanceleaf Frogfoot flowers. It turned out that the Grasshoppers resorted to eating ground squirrel stew and cornbread because a long drought prevented a good bloom of wildflowers in these parts.