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Jim was savoring the last days of summer before the new school term. Sitting in a pocket of willow tree roots, his back bolstered by the trunk, he closed his eyes and clasped his hands behind his head. The narrow margin of grass next to the pond was still green and its sweet tang mixed pleasantly in the warm air with the dusty brown aroma from the adjacent fields.

It was back in June, on a day almost like this one, that he had discovered the pond. He had perched on a rock by the water’s edge and was about to skip a stone across its surface when a sudden movement caught his eye. There it was again, a narrow flash of electric blue darting off to his right. Intrigued, Jim watched what looked like an airborne needle zig, then zag between the cattails, hover in place for what seemed like an eternity and then flit over the water and out of sight.

That evening Jim told his younger sister about the beautiful blue dragonfly he had seen. The next day the two of them returned and found several of the glittering creatures skimming the surface of the pond. There were brilliant red dragonflies, shiny blue ones, and some that shimmered green in the sunlight.

When they could get up close, the siblings saw that the dragonflies were about as long as one of their fingers. They had huge bulbous eyes and two sets of wings that looked like delicate mesh frames held together by glossy cellophane.

The kids watched as some of the more acrobatic ones looped the loop and Katie almost fell into the water when a blue dragonfly suddenly went into reverse and darted right by her nose.

Mesmerized by the dramatic insects, the brother and sister visited the pond every chance they got. They probably didn’t realize that people from all over the world and throughout the centuries have been just as fascinated by dragonflies as they are now. The dragonfly has been the subject of paintings, jewelry, poems and stories. In fact, the Zuni Indians of New Mexico even had a story about a mythical dragonfly that included a boy and his younger sister.

As the story goes, hard times had fallen on an Indian village. Two sleeping children awake to find that they have been accidentally left behind when their parents and the other villagers abandoned their homes to find food. To pass the time, the boy makes a toy insect out of corn and grasses and gives it to his little sister to comfort her.

The children are amazed one morning to find that the toy has come to life and is dancing, hovering, and gliding through the air. They delight in its shimmering beauty and are happily distracted. But at the end of each day, as night falls, they become sad and lonely, and wish for the return of their parents and neighbors.

The live toy is sad for the boy and girl and flies to the land of the gods. It relays the children’s fears and wishes. The gods, in turn, send messages back with the delicate insect offering comfort to the children and giving them instructions on survival. This beautiful insect messenger to and from the gods was given the name Dragonfly.

On the other side of the world, a legend tells of the first Japanese emperor, Jimmu Tenno. He climbed to the top of the highest peak in Japan and looked out over his empire. He thought the island looked like a dragonfly that liked its tail. Japan became Akitsushima, the Dragonfly Island. The dragonfly soon became Japan’s national emblem as well as the subject of much folklore.

The Japanese, like the Zuni, also have a dragonfly messenger to and from another world. They believe that the Shoryo Tombo, the Dragonfly of the Dead, brings the spirits of their ancestors back to the family during the festival of Bon.

The dazzling insect has had many names. One was katsumushi, the invincible insect. Naturally, it was a favored symbol of strength among Japanese warriors. The samurai would sometimes incorporate the dragonfly design into their armor.

Perhaps because the dragonfly plays such an important role in their culture, the Japanese were the first in the world to create a special Dragonfly Nature Reserve.

Meanwhile, in ancient Tahiti, the dragonfly was regarded less favorably. It was the shadow of Hiro, the god of thieves. A thief would release a dragonfly into the home he was about to rob and the shimmering insect would so daze the household that they would not notice they were being robbed!

To the Navajo, the dragonfly symbolized pure water. To the Chinese, perhaps because of its unpredictable flight pattern and lack of clear direction, it symbolized instability and weakness.

Jim lazes in the shade of the willow tree and Katie plops down beside him. Unaware of the many dragonfly legends, they watch the darts of brilliant color skim the surface of the pond. The buzz of summer insects is the only sound they hear. The brother and sister breathe in the whole of their summer. When in future years they look back on it, they will always refer to it as their dragonfly summer.