Rooroo the ladybird believed she was the biggest star in the garden. She loved being the centre of attention. Every morning, she polished her shiny red wing covers until they sparkled like tiny jewels. Then she searched for the perfect stage, a leaf, a flower petal, a slender stem, or the edge of a flower pot.

“Watch me!” she would shout before every take-off.

Rooroo’s parents were far too busy to watch. Every morning, they searched for leaves covered with aphids, spider mites, and other tiny garden pests. Ladybirds loved eating them. Rooroo’s clever mother had laid her eggs close to an aphid colony, so her babies would have plenty to eat as soon as they hatched. Rooroo‘s brothers and sisters happily munched on aphids. Rooroo wrinkled her nose.

“Yuck! I will never eat aphids,” she declared.

Instead, she nibbled on pollen, sipped nectar, and sometimes even took little bites from flower petals.

Her mother sighed. “I hope the gardener doesn’t catch you eating her flowers. She loves our family because we protect her plants.”

Rooroo simply shrugged.

One crisp winter morning, the whole garden was busy. The ants marched in long lines, carrying food. The bees buzzed from flower to flower, collecting nectar.

A dragonfly zipped through the air. Rooroo had just finished polishing every single black spot on her wing covers. She climbed to the very tip of a dry stem.

“This,” she announced proudly, “will be my most graceful flight ever!”

She stretched her tiny legs, smiled confidently, and slowly opened her bright red wing covers.

Just then…

A gust of wind whooshed beneath them.

Instead of flying into the sky, Rooroo landed gently on the lady gardener’s finger.

The kind gardener smiled, blew her a flying kiss, and carefully placed her back on a leaf.

“Oh my!” gasped the grasshopper.

“My goodness!” cried Rooroo’s mother, almost dropping the mouthful of aphids she was eating from a ficus leaf.

The dragonfly stopped in mid-air. Rooroo felt like the biggest movie star in the world. She gave a tiny bow.

The wind suddenly changed direction.

Whoosh!

Rooroo was lifted off the leaf and wedged tightly into the sharp corner of a dry stem. She looked nothing like a glamorous movie star.

The ants stopped marching. A butterfly floated down and landed on a beautiful white flower. The neighbourhood photographer spotted the butterfly and quickly clicked a picture.

Even the snail, who almost never hurried anywhere, slid over as fast as he could.

“Need a little help?” he asked.

Rooroo puffed herself up.

“I was merely testing the wind. Thank you.”

“Of course you were,” everyone replied in a chorus.

With a gentle push and a careful nudge, they freed Rooroo from the stem. Rooroo fluttered to the nearest leaf, straightened her wing covers, and cleared her throat.

“Spectacular take-offs,” she announced with great importance, “are completely unnecessary.”

The leaf beneath her nodded politely.

From that day on, whenever the wind became unusually strong, everyone in the garden quietly looked at Rooroo. She pretended not to notice, but she always made sure her wing covers stayed firmly folded.

Photos and story by Prerna Jain.