.

"All rented," said the blue-bottle. "Now-a-days one is happy to
be able to call a piece of ground one's own. If my predecessor
hadn't been snapped up by a frog two days ago, I should still be
without a proper place to live in. It's not very pleasant to
have to hunt up a different lodging every night. Not everyone
has such a well-ordered state as you bees. But permit me to
introduce myself. My name is Jack Christopher."

Maya was silent with terror, thinking how awful it must be to
fall into the clutches of a frog.

"Are there many frogs in the lake?" she asked and drew to the
very middle of the leaf so as not to be seen from the water.

The blue-bottle laughed.

"You are giving yourself unnecessary trouble," he jeered. "The
frog can see you from below when the sun shines, because then
the leaf is transparent. He sees you sitting on my leaf,
perfectly."

Beset by the awful idea that maybe a big frog was squatting
right under her leaf staring at her with his bulging hungry
eyes, Maya was about to fly off when something dreadful
happened, something for which she was totally unprepared. In the
confusion of the first moment she could not make out just
exactly what _was_ happening. She only heard a loud rustling
like the wind in dry leaves, then a singing whistle, a loud
angry hunter's cry. And a fine, transparent shadow glided over
her leaf. Now she saw--saw fully, and her heart stood still in
terror. A great, glittering dragon-fly had caught hold of poor
Jack Christopher and held him tight in its large, fangs, sharp
as a knife. The blade of the rush bent low beneath their weight.
Maya could see them hovering above her and also mirrored in the
clear water below. Jack's screams tore her heart. Without
thinking, she cried:

"Let the blue-bottle go, at once, whoever you are. You have no
right to interfere with people's habits. You have no right to be
so arbitrary."

The dragon-fly released Jack from its fangs, but still held him
fast with its arms, and turned its head toward Maya. She was
fearfully frightened by its large, grave eyes and vicious
pincers, but the glittering of its body and wings fascinated
her. They flashed like glass and water and precious stones. The
horrifying thing was its huge size. How could she have been so
bold? She was all a-tremble.

"Why, what's the matter, child?" The dragon-fly's tone,
surprisingly, was quite friendly.

"Let him go," cried Maya, and tears came into her eyes. "His