Samantha and the Ten Thousand Ladybugs

By Vicki H. Budge

And God made … every thing that creepeth upon the earth (Gen. 1:25).

One morning Samantha asked her mother if she could go over to Brother Brown’s house to help pull weeds in his garden.

“Of course you may,” Samantha’s mother replied. “Just be home before noon. I’m sure that Brother Brown will like your help.”

Samantha found Brother Brown in his garden. “Hi, Brother Brown,” Samantha said. “I came to help you.”

“I’m glad to see you, Samantha,” Brother Brown said. “There are lots of weeds to pull.”

Samantha pulled weeds in the carrots. She pulled weeds in the beets. Then she pulled weeds in the corn.

“You’re a wonderful helper,” said Brother Brown. “Come into the garage, and I’ll show you some other helpers.”

Samantha went into Brother Brown’s garage. “See that box,” said Brother Brown. “My other helpers are inside it. They help me get rid of little bugs that would ruin my garden.”

Samantha wondered what was in the box. She picked it up—it felt empty! Surprised, she took the lid off the box. Ten thousand ladybugs were crawling all over each other. Some of them flew out of the box. There were ladybugs on the car. There were ladybugs on the windows. There were ladybugs on the workbench and the walls and the rafters. There were ladybugs everywhere.

“Oh—oh,” said Brother Brown. “I forgot to tell you not to take the lid off the box until we took it outside.”

Brother Brown and Samantha carried the ladybugs that hadn’t already escaped out to the garden. Then they left the garage door open to let the rest of the tiny creatures out into the yard. And before noon most of the ladybugs were out in the garden, eating the little bugs that were eating the vegetables.

Brother Brown was very happy as he and Samantha looked over the garden. “I have the best helpers in the world,” said Brother Brown. “A wonderful young lady and ten thousand ladybugs can’t be beat!”

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney