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The
Dragonfly Story
(Author Unknown)
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.......
Thank you
God, for the story of the water bugs and the dragonflies.
Fly Free Little One!!! |
