L is for Ladybug--and Laughter!

"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.

Your house is on fire, and your children are gone..."

Clip art courtesy of http://everything-ladybug.com

This nursery rhyme, traditionally called "Ladybird, Ladybird," has many different variations, but these are the lines I remember my mother reciting nearly every time we saw a ladybug when I was a child. I've learned recently that some of the verses are actually quite grim, like this one:

"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.
Your house is on fire;
your children shall burn!"

That's cheery...

I really don't remember my mother telling me more than the first two lines of the rhyme, but those two lines were enough to foster a love for ladybugs that I've carried with me all my life. Now usually, I'm not the kind of person who wants anything to do with insects, but ladybugs seem different somehow, probably because I've always imagined them to be loving moms just trying to take care of their babies--babies who, it seems, may or may not have been left alone and may or may not have been trapped in a fire.

(Perhaps it would have behooved Mother Ladybug to find a babysitter...)

I still think that ladybugs are among the nicer, prettier insects. First, they're often red, which is my favorite color, and second, I've never met one who tried to bite me. As such, I've always been kinder to them than I am to, say, spiders or the many icky, beady-eyed little bugs that my son likes to capture and then bring over for Mommy to have a look at. I've never tried to squish ladybugs, and I'm proud to say that I played no part in the little-known but horrific battle that took place in my childhood home, The War Between the Ladybugs and Dad, the Mad Vacuum Wielder. The silly creatures were confused one year and mistook our house for their own. Maybe they'd lost their home in a fire, in which case maybe Dad could have been a little more understanding.

But I still think Mama should have hired a babysitter...


So what are your feelings about ladybugs? Beautiful friend or pesky foe?