One sunny afternoon, in the middle of a sunny meadow, sat a little ladybug on an old tree stump. She was a lovely little creature, with a round, domed back of bright crimson spotted with black, and beautiful thin wings. But alas! She was not happy.
“Oh dear! Oh dear!” sighed the little ladybug. “I wish I could do something; I wish I could do something! Here I sit day after day watching the big, beautiful clouds sail high above me. I want to fly out into that wide sunny sky. I want to soar over the sunny meadow, to dip down into the little green valleys where the flowers grow, and to skim over the banks of the little winding brooks. Oh dear! Oh dear! I will go and talk to Old Mr. Tortoise about it!”
Now Old Mr. Tortoise was very wise. When he heard the ladybug’s story, he said, “You can find out all that you wish to know. You can fly as high as the clouds if you really try. But you must not be afraid, you must not be afraid.”
“Oh, but I am so small!” cried Lila the ladybug. “How can I manage? I am so small, so small, so small!” and she sat down to cry.
Then some of the girls who happened to be passing went up to the spot where she sat. Each girl held a daisy flower, and they all began singing:
“Pretty Spot! Pretty Spot! Do not cry in vain,
Soon the boys are coming,
You will fly with them then.”
Boys and girls came running from everywhere, and at once a great many daisies and buttercups and dandelions were picked. The little girls, with flowers in hand, formed a circle, when suddenly out jumped one big fellow crying, “I’ll take you up, Lila!” So he took hold of her and tied her to a flower stem. Then every boy jumped into the flower he had picked, and away they flew, up, up into the tall clover, till they all perched on a long branch of the tall, strong, old tree.
Then they all began singing:
“Pretty Spot! Pretty Spot! Now you are not sad,
You have flown with us gently,
And you are not afraid.”
Lila the ladybug murmured her thanks, and away flew the boys and girls, deeper and deeper into the meadow.
“I am not afraid!” Lila said. “I will go and ask Old Mr. Tortoise what I must do, so that I may really fly. I am not afraid!”
So she ran to the muddy bank of the brook where Old Mr. Tortoise was digging a little hole just above the water edge.
“I want to fly,” she said; “but I do not know how to begin, and I am afraid.”
“You must eat well, and exercise well!” said Old Mr. Tortoise.
So Lila had a good meal of honey and dew, and sipping sweet nectar from the honeysuckles, she flew round and round the golden daffodils and shining marigolds, threading her way in and out among the bright tulips, till she was tired out.
But again and again she took Old Mr. Tortoise’s advice: and soon her thin wings grew thick and strong, and she did not feel so very small.
One day she felt herself quite rested after a long afternoon’s flying, and sat down to think.
“I wonder how far I could fly! I think I will just try! Up into the thick leaves of the old oak tree I will fly, and see how far off the high-pointed hills are. If the boys and girls can say how far, I know I can.”
So off she started, up past the bees and the butterflies, up the swaying leaves, up still higher, till she found herself right in the center of a bunch of pale green leaves clove-scented growing near the top of the tree. “Oh! this is my highest perch!” she said. Then she unrolled her thin wings that were now so long and broad, and flew over the tree-tops to the high-pointed hills, that looked from the top of the oak more like fluffy white clouds than a long stretch of low green hills.
Now the sun was sinking low in the western sky and painting the whole meadow and hills with a golden hue. The pine-trees were casting long shadows over the velvet turf, and the brook seemed to sparkle and dance in the flowing amber light.
And Lila sat singing loudly her baby song:
“Oh! beyond the meadow
Is a wide, wide sky;
Dearest clouds are sailing,
Everything is high!
Let me go there, let me go there!
Oh! the clouds are sailing
Overhead in the air!”
And she flew after them with all her heart.