To-day I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie. An inner impulse rent the veilOf his old husk : from head to tail Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew : Through crofts and pastures wet with dew A living flash of light he flew.
Tennyson
Under a bank Tom one day saw a very ugly dirty creature sitting; it was about half as big as himself, and had six legs, and a big stomach, and a most ridiculous head with two great eyes, and a face just like a donkey"s.
"Oh," said Tom, "you are an ugly fellow, to be sure!" And he began making faces at him, and put his nose close to him, and hallooed at him, like a very rude boy.
When, hey presto! all the thing"s donkey-face came off in a moment, and out popped a long arm with a pair of pincers at the end of it, and caught Tom by the nose. It did not hurt him much, but it held him quite tight.
"Yah, ah ! Let me go !" cried Tom.
"Then let me go," said the creature. "I want to be quiet. Iwant to split."
Tom promised to let him alone, and he let go. "Why do you want to split?" said Tom.
"Because my brothers and sisters have all split, and turned into beautiful creatures with wings; and I want to split too. Don"t speak to me. I am sure I shall split. I will split."Tom stood still and watched him. And he swelled himself and puffed, and stretched himself out stiff, and at last-crack, puff, bang !-he opened all down his back, and then up to the top of his head; and out came a most slender, elegant, soft creature, as soft and smooth as Tom; but very pale and weak, like a little child who has been ill a long time in a dark room. It moved its legs very feebly, and looked about it half ashamed, like a girl when she goes for the first time into a ball-room; and then it began walking slowly up a grass stem to the top of the water.
Tom was so astonished that he never said a word, but he stared with all his eyes. And he went up to the top of the water, too, and peeped out to see what would happen.
And, as the creature sat in the warm, bright sun, a wonderful change came over it. It grew strong and firm, the most lovely colours began to show on its body, blue and yellow and black, spots and bars and rings. Out of its backrose four great wings of bright brown gauze, and its eyes grew so large that they filled all its head, and shone like ten thousand diamonds.
"Oh, you beautiful creature!" said Tom; and he put out his hand to catch it.
But the thing whirred up into the air, hung poised on its wings a moment, and then settled down again by Tom, quite fearless.
"No!" it said, "you cannot catch me. I am a dragon- fly now, the king of all the flies; and I shall dance in the sunshine, and hawk over the river, and catch gnats, and have a beautiful wife like myself. I know what I shall do. Hurrah!" And he flew away into the air and began catching gnats.
"Oh, come back, come back," cried Tom, "you beautiful creature. I have no one to play with, and I am so lonely here. If you will but come back I will never try to catch you.""I don"t care whether you do or not," said the dragon-fly; " for you can"t. But, when I have had my dinner and looked a little about this pretty place, I will come back and have a little chat about all I have seen in my travels. Why, what a huge tree this is! And what huge leaves on it!"It was only a big dock; but you know the dragon-fly had never seen any but little water-plants; so it did look very big to him. Besides, he was very short-sighted, as all dragon-flies are, and never could see a yard before his nose, any more than a great many other folks who are not half so handsome as he.
The dragon-fly did come back, and chatted away with Tom. He was a little conceited about his fine colours and his large wings; but, you know, he had been a poor, dirty, ugly creature all his life before; so there were great excuses for him. He was very fond of talking about all the wonderful things he saw in the trees and the meadows; and Tom liked to listen to him.
So, in a little while, they became great friends.
From The Water Babies, by Chaerles Kingsley
Author.-Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) was an English clergyman and novelist. His chief works are Alton Locke, Yeast, Hypatia, Westwood Ho! ,Two Years Ago, and The Water Babies.
General Notes.-The dragon-fly is better known in Australia as a horse-stinger. What are the stages in the life of an insect? What is meant by "hawk over the river"? What do you learn about dragon-flies from this reading lesson? Do you know any other stories in which ugliness changes to beauty?