The Waterbug Story
Down below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little
colony of waterbugs. 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 a
while one of their colony seemed to lose interest in
going about with its friends. Clinging to the stem of
a pond lily, it gradually moved out of sight and was
seen no more.
“Look!” said one of the waterbugs to another, one of
our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do
you think she’s going?” Up, up, up it slowly went….
Even as they watched, the waterbug disappeared from
sight. It’s friends waited and waited but it didn’t
return..
“That’s funny!” said one waterbug 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 waterbugs 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 waterbug 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 broken through the
surface of the water and had fallen into the broad and
free lily pad above. When he awoke, he looked
about with surprise. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
A startling change had come over 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 his new body. He moved his wings
again and suddenly found himself above the water.
He became 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 landed happily on a lily
pad to rest. That
was
when he chanced to look below to the bottom of the
pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the
waterbugs! There they were scurrying around, just
as he had been doing sometime before.
Then the dragonfly remembered the promise. 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 a wonderful
new world of sun and air………
