In a sunny garden, under a green leaf, a tiny yellow egg was hidden. When the morning dew fell, a small, elongated larva — a tiny baby ladybug — emerged from the egg. Its tummy was so hungry that it immediately looked around for something to eat.
On Monday, it found an aphid and ate it, but its tummy wasn't full.
On Tuesday, it found and ate two tiny flies, but it was still hungry.
On Wednesday, it nibbled on three soft leaf stems, but its tummy was still empty.
On Thursday, it ate four sweet flower petals, but it wasn't satisfied.
On Friday, it tasted five drops of dew, but it was still hungry.
But on Saturday, it came across chocolate cookie crumbs that a gardener's child had dropped on the ground. It ate a crumb of chocolate, a drop of sweet compote, a piece of apple paste, a nut crumb, some powdered sugar from a paper bag, a grape seed, a bread crumb, a piece of cheese, a drop of honey, and a piece of fruit cake. That night, the little ladybug's tummy hurt very badly.
The next day was Sunday. The little ladybug, tired and sick, curled up on the nearest green leaf and ate only a few fresh aphids. Its tummy ache slowly went away. Now it felt light and healthy.
It was no longer the tiny larva it once was — it had grown big and strong. It built itself a small, sturdy home under the leaf — a cocoon. Inside this home, it waited quietly for a week, eating nothing, just resting.
One morning, the cocoon slowly cracked open, and out came a little ladybug with red, black-spotted, shiny wings. It slowly opened its wings, dried them in the sun, and flew over the garden — it was now a healthy and happy ladybug that knew its size.
