Week 4 Story: The Ladybug and the Wasp

The Tortoise and the Ducks from Wikimedia

There once was a ladybug who rather enjoyed being in the spotlight. In her loveliness of ladybugs, the more spots a female ladybug has, the greater her popularity. This poor ladybug, despite her aspirations for greatness, had hardly any spots at all. All her sisters, on the other hand, had many spots and were able to garner attention from the male ladybugs on a large scale. The received all the marriage proposals and starred in all the great shows in the loveliness of ladybugs. This lack of attention made the ladybug quite upset and led her to doing something drastic in order to obtain more spots.

So as to increase her number of spots, the ladybug decided to go on an adventure. She thought that she could perhaps find someone or something who could help her gather more spots or make it appear that she had. She was crawling along a leaf in the midst of her travels when a wasp zipped along her field of view. The wasp had not yet seen the ladybug, yet she trembled in fear. Wasps were known to prey on ladybugs, and all the ladybugs in her loveliness had warned her not to go out alone on the off chance she met a wasp. She tried to crawl back down the leaf, out of sight, when the wasp spotted her.

"Hello, little ladybug. I see you are all alone. Have you been banished from your loveliness by your fellow ladybugs?" the wasp asked coolly. She darted back and forth quickly, encompassing the little ladybug.

"I have not been banished! I am merely on an adventure to obtain more spots," the frightened ladybug blurted out. She had no methods of escape at this point, and decided to be honest.

"What a coincidence, little ladybug. I just so happen to know a way you can easily have more spots. Would you like to hear of it?" she buzzed with a sweet, yet sour tone to her voice.

Feeling rather cautious, but also curious, the ladybug replied, "If you are willing to share your wisdom, I shall take it."

The devilish wasp was delighted to hear this, and thus told her how she could garner more spots. "Little ladybug, do you see this pointer on my backside? It is just the right size to decorate your body with more spots if I just dip it in a little ink. Would you like me to do this for you? It shall be quick and easy."

The young ladybug knew that wasps were dangerous, but did not know how, so she was ignorant to the lethal nature of that wasp's pointer. Due to this ignorance, she agreed after pondering it for a bit. "If you would be so kind, I'll take up your offer."

From that point, the ladybug was doomed. The wasp did as she offered, but the little ladybug did not end up with more spots. She unfortunately suffered the cruel fate of death, as the wasp stung her repeatedly and promptly ate her remains. Not even in her death did she receive the kind of attention she wanted.

"Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune".





Author's note: 

I based this little story off of one of Aesop's fables. It is loosely based on the fable "The Tortoise and the Ducks," or more specifically, the moral of that story, which I included at the end of my story. In Aesop's fable, a tortoise wants to be able to leave his home and see the world, but cannot since he is attached to his home (shell). Ducks offer to carry him, but tell him to keep his mouth closed on the stick they use to carry him, or he might fall. One duck compliments him, stirring his vanity and causing him to let go of the stick and fall to his death.

In my story, the lady bug, in a vain attempt at gathering more spots, gives into her curiosity and meets a cruel fate at the hands of the wasp. Therefore, "foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune." Furthermore, I noticed most of the stories from Aesop's Fables were told from the perspectives of animals, so in the same realm, I went with insects.

As a bit of research for this story, I looked up what a group of ladybugs was and saw that it was called a "loveliness," which I found so adorable. On the other hand. I didn't look up if wasps sting their prey. Let's pretend they do for the sake of my story!

Finally, you may have noticed that this reading is quite easy to follow and uses little advanced vocabulary. I purposely wrote it as a child's tale to mimic the writing style from Aesop's Fables. Because it is a story with a moral, it should be easy to understand. Don't trust strangers just because they promise you something you desire!

Bibliography

Aesop's Fables by Winter