Drew Dragonfly Damselfly - another children's story and illustration

Drew Dragonfly Damselfly

September 9, 2007

Hi. My name is Drew and I am a dragonfly. Most people can't tell me apart from a damselfly. Maybe that’s why I have an androgynous name or a name that can be both for males and females. The truth is that damselflies like my friend, Dru or Drusilla can be both male and female. We like to confuse people and spell our names the same way.

I started out as a nymph in fresh water so did my friend, Dru the damselfly. We are practically the same insect just different suborders of the Odonata order. There are many varieties of us. We come in all sorts of sizes and colors. People like us because we eat insects that are bad for their gardens and we're pretty! We rarely bite people unless they touch our tummies. It doesn't tickle us. But we are stealth flyers so that hardly ever happens. We can fly as fast as 30 and 60 kilometers per hour or 19 to 38 miles per hour. We don't suck blood like mosquitoes; we eat them. I am a stronger flyer than Dru.

Anyway, Dru and I were hatched in a fresh water pond and as we grew we climbed out of the water shedding layer after layer of skin over more time than we will live as adults. When we were growing people called us nymphs or naiads. Those words come from Greek mythology and they are usually female but both Dru and I were nymphs and I am not a girl so I won't lay eggs. Dru happens to be a girl so she will lay eggs but not all damselflies are girls and not all dragonflies are boys.

People say I am handsome but I think my eyes are too close together. Of course, so are all dragonflies. Dru, as a damselfly has eyes wider set which I find much prettier. We both have four wings that are paper thin and iridescent, practically see through. Some people say they look like they are made of netting. I am very proud of my wings because they are quite strong so I hold them open when I rest. Dru says I am a show off and she never rests with her wings open.

I have been told that we have all sorts of nick-names all over the world. Some of them are: darning needle or devil's darning needle, ear sewer, mosquito fly or mosquito hawk, and skeeter hawk, snake doctor or snake feeder, spindle and many other variations of nick-names depending on where we live. But what's in a name?

Well I have to go now, because presently, Dru and I are over a meadow and she is calling to me that she wants to get back to a lily pad to lay her eggs.