For this time we lose
our sucking-beaks, but we regain our six legs, and in addition we get
a second pair of eyes, we find on our heads a pair of long, slender,
hairy feelers, and, most pleasing of all, we have been provided with a
pair of wings. Our wings are not yet full-grown or ready to fly with,
so we still remain quietly in our resting-place for a few days longer,
when we shed our skin once more, and then fly away, looking just as I
do now. Our sisters, though, when they shed their skins the second
time, make no change in their bodies, except to grow larger. They
remain with their sucking-beaks thrust into the leaf. They keep
increasing the size of the wax scale or shell over their backs, until
they are entirely covered by it. Now they look just as your mother
did. From above, all one can see is the flat circular wax scale with
two spots on it, where the folded-up cast skins are. Underneath the
scale lies the Orange-dweller, with its sucking-beak stuck into the
sap, but with no legs or wings or long, hairy feelers. After a while
she lays a lot of eggs under her body, and then dies. And soon the new
family is born. Now this is the way we grow, and all of the wonderful
things which have happened to me will happen to you,--if the Beetle
does not get you."
With that the winged Orange-dweller flew away, and little Citrinus was
left alone, wondering over the strange story. After taking a drink of
sap from the leaf on which he was standing, he wandered aimlessly
about until he came to a large yellow ball hanging from the branch,
which gave out a delightful odor. Scrambling down the slender stem by
which it was suspended, he walked out on to the shining surface of the
orange; for, of course, that is what the yellow ball was. He tried a
drink of sap from the ball and found it delicious. He decided to stay
on the ball, the more readily as he was getting rather tired with his
long traveling, and a sort of sleepy feeling was coming over him. So
thrusting his beak far into the ball, he went to sleep. How long he
slept he doesn't know, but when he awoke he could hardly believe his
senses. He had no legs; and on his back there was a thin shell of wax
and a little packet. He realized, too, that he was bigger than he was
before he went to sleep. Then the strange story told him by the winged
Orange-dweller came back to him, and he knew that the stranger had
told the truth. The first great change had happened. He was delighted,
for he thought it would be very pleasant to have wings and fly about
wherever he wished, to see the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account