A Dragonfly Tale: To Say Nothing of the Grasshopper!

By Akhilesh Mehra

Three Insects
One snail shell
And An Age Old Prophecy
Cocooned from the world is a strange flower. But see, I never expected to find it in my garden. As soon as you touch it, you can experience being a Lilliputian of Gulliver in Lilliput by becoming an INSECT. Oh, yeah, you heard itan insect. I became a dragonfly (horrible, eh?) That is when my fantastic adventure begins. Im handed a tricky task; to help a girl/grasshopper reach her home safely. But do you think that I would be able to survive this dangerous adventure? Being swallowed by a pitcher plant, getting stuck in cobwebs and a battle with a LARGE dog? But that is the least of my troubles. The real question is, was I able to change back to a NORMAL sized HUMAN? Or did I stay like that forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Jan 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482870237

Akhilesh Mehra

Dive into the fresh narrative style of Akhilesh Mehra and relish every bite of the story which will transport you to another world! Born on August 2003, he is one of the youngest authors of the country and aspires to become an international bestselling author.

Book preview

Prologue

WARNING...

T his book that you hold in your hands contains a secret so great, that it can end the human race (By changing them into insects). If you hate insects to such an extent that you want to kill them all, then keep this book down and read another one, cause if you discover that the last insect you killed was actually a human changed to an insect, then probably the cops are going to come over to your house and... Anyways, do NOT share the secret with anyone, because if you do, they'll probably end up becoming insects. In any case, you see a very, very, very strange flower, straightaway run back home and contact the Insect Help Agency (I.H.A). If any insect comes in front of you and tries to buzz, ask, Are you human? if it nods its tiny head, let him out of your house. Now, that's all I can say. Stay alert, stay away from peculiar looking flowers and please do NOT kill insects (spiders, cockroaches, moths and mosquitoes are some exceptions, frankly speaking).

With concern

Author

Akhilesh Mehra

Part 1

The Adventure Begins...

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Chapter 1

My Bizarre Dream...

"Jason! Now go to bed!" shouted mom from the kitchen. Okay mom! Good night! I called out and squirmed in my blanket; my ultimate protection against bedtime monsters. That night I had an adventurous and fascinating dream. I dreamt that I was in my garden when suddenly I noticed a beautiful flower growing in the weeds. I ran to pluck it but as soon as I touched the soft petals of the flower, the world seemed to grow in size. I felt like 'Gulliver in Lilliput'. Everything became so large. I looked at myself. What? Had my skin got so tanned that I looked as brown as mud? No! I looked at myself again carefully. Holy Heavens! I was all hairy with these small hairs upon my body! Good gracious! I had turned into an insect...perhaps a dragonfly! Just then my mother came and shouted Jason! Where are you? Oh! He must have gone to play! Silly me!

Mom! Here! I shouted but my voice cracked and could not reach her. She brought a lawn mower and started mowing the grass. My life was in danger. It could slice me like grass. I started running away but unluckily, it started chasing me. HELP! Please STOP! I screamed but it was of no use. After a long run I finally succeeded. I was gasping for breath. The warm air passed by my face and I felt like thousands of invisible hands were slapping me. The next danger for me was stampede. Well, actually not a stampede. It was just some children from the neighbourhood whose ball had fallen in our garden. They climbed over the wall and managed to land in mom's vegetable patch. My first thought was, oh, the poor vegetables! Then oh, poor me! And then, will you please tell my mom to at least give me a proper burial? Suddenly I regained my senses. I somehow managed to escape a large sized foot that nearly CRUSHED me. I escaped my garden which was a danger zone for unprofessional Insects like me. I went outside and tried to look back at my house and noticed that I had a pair of wings too. Wow! I exclaimed I always wanted to fly! Here I go. And I took off. For once I thought that I was flying but then I realized that I was just falling. The air tugged at my skin as I crashed against the wind-shield of a car. Ouch man! That hurts! I was swiped away with the car wipers. They were pure black, and I could not help but admire the darkness of the colour. I fell on the side walk. My head was spinning; I wished to be back home, playing my video-games and eating potato chips and loafing around. Just on my left were some small cottages. They had red brick-tiled roofs with ivy on the walls. The houses had no front porches. The small stubbed chimneys stuck out like large thumbs over the roofs. I strode up to the small entrance of a small tumbledown-cottage and peered inside. The house was not fancy from inside also. A scratched oak table lay in the center with a glass of wine on it. The small carpet was ragged and worn out and the handle of the door of the room hung loose. A slight aroma drifted through the air and reached my nostrils. Chicken stew! I crawled in the shadows of the furniture into the kitchen. A small stump heighted lady was cooking food. She had a sullen face with the cheekbones visible and time and again grunted through her nose. Although I feared that the grunts would send tiny particles of mucus in the stew but at the same time the aroma of the stew was so delicious, that I couldn't resist buzzing around the dishes. From the corner of my eye I noticed the lady's aghast face as she saw me; now a dragonfly. The lady quickly removed her slippers and started smacking them on me. But I dodged them, with difficulty. STOP! DON'T KILL ME! I screamed but all she could hear was BUZZZZ!BUZZZZ! I quickly ran for the window but she closed it. Just then her children who were playing outside shouted Mommy! Mommy, Jake is hurt! MOMMY!

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Oh! My Goodness! Jake! and she scuttled away on her short legs. I followed her. As soon as she opened the door, I took my chance and escaped the house of insect doom. I ran to the side-walk and came across a colony of ants, marching towards their hill. They were carrying some bread crumbs which were much BIGGER than them. They sang as they worked along... We, we Ants, work all day long, all day long!!! Just then an ant fell down. All the ants rushed to help it. They even dropped the food they had brought for their families. They huddled together and lifted him and carried him to their ant hill. I followed them. When I reached there, they gently put the wounded ant down. Thousand questions were running in my mind. After sometime, I asked one of them Why do you always work together? If you work individually you will be able to make more progress because then everyone will do his best and why did you all rush to help the ant that faltered on the way? I stopped to catch my breath. The ant replied; "If we work together only then we will be able to make progress because 'Unity is Strength'. I can't even imagine how humans are able to work like this, every man for himself. You also asked why we rushed to help the ant. Well, it is because if we lose even one ant, the strength of our army gets reduced. We can live without food for one day but we cannot live without our families even for a minute. We are always there to help each other because 'All for One and One for All!' I was all praise for these small insects...the ants. I bade them farewell and thanked them for the important lesson they had taught me.

After flying some distance, I felt very hungry and there was only one place where I could stay and have my meals, the fields. Yes, I know what you'd be thinking. Dragonflies are carnivores by their mind, body and soul. They'll eat almost every insect that they can grab, except spiders. But still I was human by nature and if I ate a honey bee or a mosquito...err... I was sure to get an upset stomach or... well anyways, I ran in the direction where I thought that some fields must be close by.

BARK! BARK! All of a sudden, there came a loud noise from behind me. It was a dog standing beside his master, probably on a good morning walk. The dog growled at me. Timmy! Stop growling! said his master. The dog stopped growling. He started snapping at me. He wanted to eat me! Noooo! But again all they heard was BUZZZZ! The dog started chasing me. His master was now in a deep conversation with his friends whom he had met just across the road. He paid no heed to his dog who was about to swallow me whole. And believe me, this was the worst way to die. I ran and ran and finally was able to hide in an empty can that was lying on the road but this dog was really, really intelligent. He started rolling the can. Round and round I went. STOP! I shouted my head off. Just then a miracle happened. The dog stopped. His master had finished his conversation and called him. I came rolling out of the can and onto a bed of soft weed.

I was dizzy now. My eyes were closing and everything went black. I don't remember what happened next but when I woke up I got a shock. I could not move. It was like... being glued to some threads. When I looked down I saw some wheat fields. HURRAH! I'VE MADE IT TO THE FIELDS! I exclaimed. Just then there came a voice from behind. Don't be so happy, because you are about to be eaten!