The Dung Beetle's House - a Short Story for Kids

A humble dung beetle, as its name implies, made a small, rather shabby house from some recently deposited dung in an ugly patch of ground away from towering mounds of dirt but protected by some low hanging branches.

He had made it with the hopes of attracting a mate and starting a family. Soon afterwards a lovely female approached him and said “well, have you made me a house, grandiose in style, lofty in intentions, and full of luxuries and on a high place so that I may look down upon the rest? After all I am a princess and only the best will do for me.”

To this the humble beetle replied, “I made a house from what we dung beetles do, it is the best dung that I could find, it is not lofty, located on top of a hill, nor it is full of luxuries, but it is however made with love and with the best intents that I can offer. I offer it to you my princess to build a nest and raise our young.”

With disdain the princess looked at him, scolding him for the shoddy work and humble abode. “What makes you think that this house is fit for a princess” she said in a pretentious mode.

The humble beetle, never losing composure replied “You see, I make what I can with what life offers me, but I do it with love. I should not be judged for what I have but for what I do with what I have and after all, why do you think we are called what we are?”

Being late in the season and with the weather turning worst, she hastily accepted never even glancing or thanking the humble beetle for his offer. Soon after laying her brood of eggs, she departed never to be return, as dung beetles do, or she just thought.

Soon after wards heavy rains flooded the area and heavy winds laid waste to all but one of the houses. Hardly any eggs survived.

A few weeks had passed when the princess came upon a group of very healthy and robust looking young “dungees”, and could not help but admire them.

She couldn't help herself either and stopped to talk with them. They told her how their house was the only one that had withstood the rains and the wind. It must have been because of the protection that a branch had offered them or where it was built or how much care it had taken to build. Their father had put a lot of love into its creation and they loved him for it. They were well fed and cared for by their father, but they never knew their mother as it’s customary with their kind.

The princess soon realized that she was gazing upon her offspring and the house was still standing looking as humble as before where no other house had remained.

From that day onward the princess chose her mates neither for what their houses looked like, nor for where they stood or how luxurious they were built, but instead for the care that the maker had put into its building.

The words she had heard once before came to mind: “You see, I make what I can with what life offers me, but I do it with love. I should not be judged for what I have but for what I do with what I have and after all, why do you think we are called what we are?”

By the way, she never judged any other dung beetle for its appearance and she never forgot why she is called what she is.