THE OLDEST DRAGON-FLY NYMPH
When the Oldest Dragon-Fly Nymph felt that the wings under her skin werelarge enough, she said good-bye to her water friends, and crawled slowlyup the stem of a tall cat-tail. All the other Dragon-Fly Nymphs crowdedaround her and wished that their wings were more nearly ready, and thelarvae talked about the time when they should become Nymphs. The OldestNymph, the one who was going away, told them that if they would be goodlittle larvae, and eat a great deal of plain food and take care not tobreak any of their legs, or to hurt either of their short, stiff littlefeelers, they would some day be fine great Nymphs like her. Then shecrawled slowly up the cat-tail stem, and when she drew the tenth andlast joint of her body out of the water, her friends turned to eachother and said, "She is really gone." They felt so badly about it thatthey had to eat something at once to keep from crying.
The Oldest Nymph now stopped breathing water and began to breathe air.She waited to look at the pond before she went any farther. She hadnever seen it from above, and it looked very queer to her. It wasbeautiful and shining, and, because the sky above it was cloudless, thewater was a most wonderful blue. There was no wind stirring, so therewere no tiny waves to sparkle and send dancing bits of light here andthere. It was one of the very hot and still summer days, whichDragon-Flies like best.
A sad look came into the Nymph's great eyes as she stood there. "Thepond is beautiful," she said; "but when one looks at it from above, itdoes not seem at all homelike." She shook her three-cornered head sadly,and rubbed her eyes with her forelegs. She thought she should miss thehappy times in the mud with the other children.
A Virgin Dragon-Fly lighted on the cat-tail next to hers. She knew itwas a Virgin Dragon-Fly because he had black wings folded over his back,and there were shimmering green and blue lights all over his body andwings. He was very slender and smaller than she. "Good morning," saidhe. "Are you just up?"
"Yes," said she, looking bashfully down at her forefeet. She did notknow how to behave in the air, it was so different from the water.
"Couldn't have a finer day," said he. "Very glad you've come. Excuse me.There is a friend to whom I must speak." Then he flew away with anotherVirgin Dragon-Fly.
"Hurry up and get your skin changed," said a voice above her, and therewas a fine great fellow floating in the air over her head. "I'll tellyou a secret when you do."
Dragon-Flies care a great deal for secrets, so she quickly hooked hertwelve sharp claws into the cat-tail stem, and unfastened her old skindown the back, and wriggled and twisted and pulled until she had all hersix legs and the upper part of her body out. This made her very tiredand she had to rest for a while. The old skin would only open down for alittle way by her shoulders, and it was hard to get out through such asmall place. Next she folded her legs close to her body, and bent overbackward, and swayed this way and that, until she had drawn her long,slender body from its outgrown covering.
SHE SWAYED THIS WAY AND THAT. _Page 146_]
She crawled away from the empty skin and looked it over. It kept theshape of her body, but she was surprised to find how fast she wasgrowing slender. Even then, and she had been out only a short time, shewas much longer and thinner than she had been, and her old skin lookedmuch too short for her. "How styles do change," she said. "I rememberhow proud I was of that skin when I first got it, and now I wouldn't beseen in it."
Her beautiful gauzy wings with their dark veinings, were drying andgrowing in the sunshine. She was weak now, and had them folded over herback like those of the Virgin Dragon-Fly, but, as soon as she feltrested and strong, she meant to spread them out flat.
The fine Big Dragon-Fly lighted beside her. "How are your wings?" saidhe.
"Almost dry," she answered joyfully, and she quivered them a little toshow him how handsome they were.
"Well," said he. "I'll tell you the secret now, and of course you willnever speak of it. I saw you talking with a Virgin Dragon-Fly. He may beall right, but he isn't really in our set, you know, and you'd betternot have anything to do with him."
"Thank you," she said. "I won't." She thought it very kind in him totell her.
He soon flew away, and, as she took her first flight into the air, asecond Big Dragon-Fly overtook her. "I'll tell you a secret," said he,"if you will never tell."
"I won't," said she.
"I saw you talking to a Virgin Dragon-Fly a while ago. You may havenoticed that he folded his wings over his back. The Big Dragon-Fliesnever do this, and you must never be seen with yours so."
"Thank you," she said. "I won't. But when they were drying I had to holdthem in that way."
"Of course," said he. "We all do things then that we wouldn'tafterward."
Before long she began egg-laying, flying low enough to touch her body tothe water now and then and drop a single egg. This egg always sank atonce to the bottom, and she took no more care of it.
A third Big Dragon-Fly came up to her. "I want to tell you something,"he said. "Put your head close to mine."
She put her head close to his, and he whispered, "I saw you flying withmy cousin a few minutes ago. I dislike to say it, but he is not a goodfriend for you. Whatever you do, don't go with him again. Go with me."
"Thank you," said she, yet she began to wonder what was the matter. Shesaw that just as soon as she visited with anybody, somebody else toldher that she must not do so again. Down in the pond they had all beenfriends. She wondered if it could not be so in the air. She rubbed herhead with her right foreleg, and frowned as much as she could. You knowshe couldn't frown very much, because her eyes were so large and closetogether that there was only a small frowning-place left.
She turned her head to see if any one else was coming to tell her asecret. Her neck was very, very slender and did not show much, becausethe back side of her head was hollow and fitted over her shoulders. Noother Dragon-Fly was near. Instead, she saw a Swallow swooping down onher. She sprang lightly into the air and the Swallow chased her. When hehad his beak open to catch her as he flew, she would go backward orsidewise without turning around. This happened many times, and it waswell for her that it was so, for the Swallow was very hungry, and if hehad caught her--well, she certainly would never have told any of thesecrets she knew.
The Swallow quite lost his patience and flew away grumbling. "I won'twaste any more time," he said, "on trying to catch somebody who can flybackward without turning around. Ridiculous way to fly!"
The Dragon-Fly thought it an exceedingly good way, however, and was evenmore proud of her wings than she had been. "Legs are all very well," shesaid to herself, "as far as they go, and one's feet would be of verylittle use without them; but I like wings better. Now that I think ofit," she added, "I haven't walked a step since I began to fly. Iunderstand better the old saying, 'Make your wings save your legs.' Theycertainly are very good things to stand on when one doesn't care tofly."
Night came, and she was glad to sleep on the under side of a broad leafof pickerel-weed. She awakened feeling stupid and lazy. She could notthink what was the matter, until she heard her friends talking about theweather. Then she knew that Dragon-Flies are certain to feel so on darkand wet days. "I don't see what difference that should make," she said."I'm not afraid of rain. I've always been careless about getting my feetwet and it never hurt me any."
"Ugh!" said one of her friends. "You've never been wet in spots, or hiton one wing by a great rain-drop that has fallen clear down from acloud. I had a rain-drop hit my second right knee once, and it has hurtme ever since. I have only five good knees left, and I have to be verycareful about lighting on slippery leaves."
It was very dull. Nobody seemed to care about anybody or anything. Thefine Big Dragon-Flies, who had been so polite to her the day before,hardly said "Good morning" to her now. When she asked them questions,they would say nothing but "Yes" or "No" or "I don't know," and one ofthem yawned in her face. "Oh dear!" she said. "How I wish myself backin the pond where the rain couldn't wet me. I'd like to see
my oldfriends and some of the dear little larvae. I wish more of the Nymphswould come up."
She looked all around for them, and as she did so she saw the shiningback-shell of the Snapping Turtle, showing above the shallow water. "Ibelieve I'll call on him," she said. "He may tell me something about myold friends, and anyway it will cheer me up." She lighted very carefullyon the middle of his back-shell and found it very comfortable. "Goodmorning," said she. "Have you--"
"No," snapped he. "I haven't, and I don't mean to!"
"Dear me," said she. "That is too bad."
"I don't see why," said he. "Is there any particular reason why Ishould?"
"I thought you might have just happened to," said she, "and I shouldlike to know how they are."
"What are you talking about?" snapped he.
"I was going to ask if you had seen the Dragon-Fly children lately," shesaid. And as she spoke she made sure that she could not slip. She feltperfectly safe where she was, because she knew that, no matter how crosshe might be, he could not reach above the edges of his back-shell.
"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place," he snapped, "insteadof sitting there and talking nonsense! They are all right. A lot of theNymphs are going into the air to-day!" Now that he had said a few uglythings, he began to feel better natured. "You've changed a good dealsince the last time I saw you."
"When was that?" asked she.
"It was one day when I came remarkably near sitting down on a lot of youDragon-Fly children," he chuckled. "You were a homely young Nymph then,and you stuck out your lower lip at me."
"Oh!" said she. "Then you did see us?"
"Of course I did," answered he. "Haven't I eyes? I'd have sat down onyou, too, if I hadn't wanted to see you scramble away. The larvae alwaysare full of mischief, but then they are young. You Nymphs were oldenough to know better."
"I suppose we were," she said. "I didn't think you saw us. Why didn'tyou tell us?"
"Oh," said the Snapping Turtle, "I thought I'd have a secret. If I can'tkeep a secret for myself, I know that nobody can keep it for me. Secretscan swim faster than any fish in the pond if you once let them get awayfrom you. I thought I'd better not tell. I might want to sit on yousome other time, you know."
"You'll never have the chance," said she, with a twinkle in her bigeyes. "It is my turn to sit on you." And after that they were very goodfriends--as long as she sat on the middle of his shell.