Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home!
Tommy came in from recess and walked carefully to the hooks at the back of the classroom. He clutched at his breast with one hand and hung up his spring jacket with the other.
Soon he was sitting on a small chair in his reading circle. Readers open to begin a new story, I quizzed the children about the pictures and coached them as they read aloud around the circle. Tommy fidgeted, lost his place, and didn’t know what the story was about. I was surprised. Tommy always paid attention. He wanted to read. Something was different that day.
“Tommy, are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” he mumbled, and so we tried to carry on. Soon other students were looking at Tommy and losing their place.
“There’s a ladybug on my leg!” said Susan.
“Oh,” I said. “How many spots does he have?”
“Seven,” said Tommy. “They all have seven.” We counted.
“Susan,” I said, “take him back outside. He will be happier in the grass.”
I tried to divert attention back to the story, but another ladybug was crawling in Kenny’s hair. Tommy tried to hold his reader on his lap with one hand as he fiddled in his shirt pocket with the other. We laughed as we realized he was desperately poking ladybugs back down into his pocket.
“Oh, Tommy!” I said, “You’d better go outside and let them go!”
Laura Griffin’s article, Ladybugs Love Clusters (HCN February 2026), triggered this memory for me. I chuckled. Tommy’s ladybugs did not love being clustered in his pocket.
When I was Tommy’s age we used to sing, Ladybird, Ladybird! Why ‘lady’? Why ‘bird’? This insect is not a ‘lady’ or a ‘bird’. I discovered that this rhyme has been around for centuries. Ladybirds were named in honour of Our Lady, Mary, Mother of Jesus when science was in its infancy. The nursery rhyme is not scientific; it deals with things we cannot quantify, like fear, joy and sadness.
And why, “Fly away home, your house is on fire”? Ladybugs eat millions of aphids which decimate crops, so, in autumn, farmers used to warn their ladybug friends to flee from the stubble fires they lit. And was it also a code to warn a neighbor to flee from persecution for holding to a faith that was not sanctioned by the government?
At Easter, the seven black spots on the ladybirds’ backs were said to have reminded people of the seven sorrows of Mary. I prefer to deal with only one sorrow at a time. As Jesus died, I believe Mary was sustained in her sorrow by three things. First, she had accomplished the task God had given to her. Second, Jesus gave Mary to John to care for in his home. ( John 19:26, 27) And third, Mary saw her son after he rose from the dead. In the midst of great sorrow, no one is alone because God is always present. He provides comfort and blessing.
When I see a ladybug with seven spots I will think of one of my sorrows because Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) Then I will think of six things I am grateful for.
All these years later, I wonder whether Tommy still delights in ladybugs and whether he now tells his children and grandchildren about the day he came into his Grade One classroom with a pocketful of ladybugs.
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