Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads,
there lived a little water beetle in a community of water
beetles.  They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond
with few disturbances and interruptions.

Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again.  They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever.

Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge
to climb up that stem.  However, she was determined that she would not leave forever.  She would come back and tell her friends what she had found at the top.

When she reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, she was so tired, and the sun felt so
warm, that she decided she must take a nap.  As she slept, her body
changed and when she woke up, she had turned into a beautiful
blue-tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body
designed for flying.

So, fly she did!  And, as she soared she saw the beauty of a whole
new world and a far superior way of life to what she had never
known existed.

Then she remembered her beetle friends and how they were thinking
by now she was dead.  She wanted to go back to tell them, and
explain to them that she was now more alive than she had ever been
before.  Her life had been fulfilled rather than ended.

But, her new body would not go down into the water.  She could
not get back to tell her friends the good news.  Then she
understood that their time would come, when they, too, would
know what she now knew.  So, she raised his wings and flew off
into his joyous new life!


~Author Unknown~