The
Dragonfly Story
Down
below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little colony of water bugs.
They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun. For many months
they were very busy, scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the
pond. They did notice that every once in awhile one of their colony
seemed to lose interest in going about. Clinging to the stem of a pond
lily it gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more.
"Look!" said one of the water bugs to another. "one of our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do you think she is going?" Up, up, up it slowly went....Even as they watched, the water bug disappeared from sight. Its friends waited and waited but it didn't return...
"That's
funny!" said one water bug to another. "Wasn't she happy
here?" asked a second... "Where do you suppose she went?"
wondered a third.
No one
had an answer. They were greatly puzzled. Finally one of the water bugs,
a leader in the colony, gathered its friends together. "I have an
idea". "The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk must
promise to come back and tell us where he or she went and why."
"We
promise", they said solemnly.
One
spring day, not long after, the very water bug who had suggested the
plan found himself climbing up the lily stalk. Up, up, up, he went.
Before he knew what was happening, he had broke through the surface of
the water and fallen onto the broad, green lily pad above.
When he
awoke, he looked about with surprise. He couldn't believe what he saw. A
startling change had come to his old body. His movement revealed four
silver wings and a long tail. Even as he struggled, he felt an impulse
to move his wings...The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from
the new body. He moved his wings again and suddenly found himself up
above the water. He had become a dragonfly!!
Swooping
and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt
exhilarated in the new atmosphere. By and by the new dragonfly lighted
happily on a lily pad to rest. Then it was that he chanced to look below
to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the
water bugs! There they were scurrying around, just as he had been doing
some time before.
The
dragonfly remembered the promise: "the next one of us who climbs up
the lily stalk will come back and tell where he or she went and
why." Without thinking, the dragonfly darted down. Suddenly he hit
the surface of the water and bounced away. Now that he was a dragonfly,
he could no longer go into the water...
"I
can't return!" he said in dismay. "At least, I tried. But I
can't keep my promise. Even if I could go back, not one of the water
bugs would know me in my new body. I guess I'll just have to wait until
they become dragonflies too. Then they'll understand what has happened
to me, and where I went."
And the
dragonfly winged off happily into its wonderful new world of sun and
air.......
Inspired by the DragonfLies ^^
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