Early one spring day, Sally Sue and her mommy planted a small vegetable garden.
Sally Sue planted all her favorite vegetables. She planted carrots, corn, lettuce and even pumpkins.
Sally Sue watered the garden every day and with her mommy’s help, removed the weeds.
She was so excited to watch her vegetables grow and her mommy was so proud of her.
The plants grew and grew. One day Sally Sue noticed that the plants didn’t look good. They had brown spots on their leaves and it looked like something was eating them.
Sally Sue’s mommy said that it looked like there were little bugs called aphids eating her vegetable plants. Sally Sue was sad. But her mommy told her not to worry. In a few days there would be some hero bugs coming to the rescue.
The next day, when Sally Sue went to the garden, she saw pretty, little beetles all over. They were red with black dots on their back. Her mommy saw that Sally Sue was afraid that these bugs would also eat her vegetable plants, so she yelled out "The heroes are here. Three cheers for the Ladybugs."
"Ladybugs?" Sally Sue asked. "You mean the heroes are girls?" Then she asked, "Where are the boy bugs?" Her mommy then explained that there were both girl and boy beetles and that they were just called Ladybugs. "Then why are they called Ladybugs?" Sally Sue asked.
Her mommy then explained that when she was little, her grandfather had told her that since they were pretty, and all little ladies are pretty, just like you Sally Sue, they became known as Ladybugs. "Oh" said Sally Sue. "That’s it?" "I was also told that many years ago, in the middle ages, the farmers crops were being eaten by aphids and they prayed to Mother Nature for help."
"In the next few days, these beetles came and ate the aphids, saving their crops. In respect for their prayers being answered by Mother Nature, they named them Beetle of the Lady.
In time they became known as Lady Beetles and later just Ladybugs" "It doesn’t really matter." said Sally Sue. "They are pretty and helpful, and with due respect to the "boys"… thank you ladies!"
Later that summer, Sally Sue had lots of yummy vegetables. And in early fall, the biggest pumpkins she ever saw.
