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 a while one of their colony seemed to lose interest in going about with its friends. Clinging to the stem of a pond lily it gradually moved up, up, up and out of sight and was seen no more.

They all wondered where it went to. Was it unhappy in the colony? They waited but it never returned. Finally the leader in the colony, gathered everyone together. They solemnly promised that the next one to climb up the lily stalk would come back and tell the others where they went and why.

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 broken through the surface of the water, and fallen onto the broad, green lily pad above.

When he awoke he couldn’t believe what he saw. An amazing change had come to his old body. He had four beautiful wings and a long tail.
The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from the new body. He moved his wings and suddenly found himself up above the water. He had become a dragonfly.

Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew though the air. He felt exhilarated.

By and by, the new dragonfly lighted happily on a lily pad to rest. Looking into the water he realised that he was right above his old friends, the water bugs! There they were, scurrying about, just as he had been doing some time before. Then 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, 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 happened to me, and where I went.”

And the dragonfly winged off happily into its wonderful new world of sun and air.