The Tortoiseshell beetle is a story about a boy who struggles within the four walls of a classroom until his teacher takes him on a walk outside and introducing to the nature all around.
Written by Yuvan Aves
Illustrated by Reshu Singh
Art Directed by Canato Jimo
Edited by Bijal Vachharajani
Published by Pratham Books
There’s a boy in school who sits near the blackboard every day,
squinting at the chalk-words to get his spellings right.
Rohith tries hard to fix himself with his small, blunt pencil, which won’t stop inverting his letters.
One monsoon day as he sits alone, staring at the margins in his notebook,
uneasy to the noise within the school’s four walls, Sudha Ma’am calls him outside.
With his small, chequered handkerchief
she wipes away the dejected faces of other adults,
and takes him on a walk along the lake nearby.
She shows him the waving trails of procession ants on the sand
Moving up the bund where the water had risen.
Looking for a new place to nest after the rains.
They follow the ants’ paths right until the dense, thorny cane bushes.
Moving up the bund where the water had risen.
Looking for a new place to nest after the rains.
They follow the ants’ paths right until the dense, thorny cane bushes.
Sudha Ma’am and Rohith watch the skittering frogs
as they run on the water’s surface.
When they walk close to them, the frogs plop into the tea-brown lake,
which grows lily pads for the frogs to rest on.
as they run on the water’s surface.
When they walk close to them, the frogs plop into the tea-brown lake,
which grows lily pads for the frogs to rest on.
Palm swifts make long ribbons with their flight,
then settle among the palm fronds.
then settle among the palm fronds.
Under the heart-shaped leaves of the morning-glory plants,
Rohith finds strange black hairy specks
nibbling little paths on the leaves’ laminae.
He shows them to Sudha Ma’am and asks who they are.
Rohith finds strange black hairy specks
nibbling little paths on the leaves’ laminae.
He shows them to Sudha Ma’am and asks who they are.
She says,
“No one would ever guess that,
months later, these small, slowly
crawling creatures...
“No one would ever guess that,
months later, these small, slowly
crawling creatures...
“Transform into tortoiseshell beetles
the only creatures that shine like golden star-glitter
by this lakeside.”
the only creatures that shine like golden star-glitter
by this lakeside.”
