182 LITTLE FOLKS 
THE STORY OF A BEAUTY. 
I dare say you have never noticed me, just because I'm a wee 
bit of a fly, and don't often come out in the glare of day. But if 
you little people don't see me, wise, gray-headed men, whom you 
call naturalists — whatever that long name means — admire me very 
much, and have written a good deal about me, besides naming me 
Golden Eye. 
That's a fine name for one so small, but I have a right to it, 
for my eye looks like bright gold, and in fact, I'm very beautiful 
altogether. I don't say this to boast, of course, for I can't help it. 
I didn't make myself. I was made by the same Creator who made 
you, and the beauty he gives us is not for us to feel proud of, you 
know. 
And in fact — as to boasting — when I come to tell you my 
story, you'll find that I havn't much to brag of, in my own conduct. 
I came to life — not a beautiful Golden Eye — but an ugly 
worm. I was fully as ugly as I looked, and all I cared for was to 
eat. Eat, eat, all day. It did seem to me that I never could get 
enough. So hungry and fierce I was, that when I could not find 
any smaller insect, I would fight with my own family and eat 
them. 
But my favorite food was aphides — I suppose you know they 
are tiny atoms of insects — and when I had eaten their juices, I 
used to cover myself with their skins till I was entirely hidden by 
them. This droll covering protected me from my enemies, you 
know. Well, in this greedy way, doing nothing but eat and grow, 
I lived a long time, what to you is about two weeks. All of a 
sudden my hunger left me, and I began to feel very odd. I felt 
that something strange v/as going to happen to me, though I knew 
no more than you what a wonderful change was coming. But I 
felt that I must have a home at once, so I went to work to make 
one. Now I can't build, you know, I can only spin ; so I made a 
house of silk, as big as a small pin, and packed myself all snug and 
tight into it. 
A 
