When evening shadows stretched across the village,
the children ran to Ajji Rukki’s courtyard.
Rukki’s eyes had grown cloudy with age,
but her voice could still paint pictures in the dark.
That night, little Kummi tugged at Rukki’s saree.
“Ajji,” said Kummi,
“tell us a brand-new story.
Not an old one.
A story no one has ever heard before.”
Rukki smiled.
“Then gather close,” she said.
Long ago, far beyond the seas and mountains,
there wandered a witch.
She searched everywhere for a place to call her own,
but nothing pleased her heart.
Then one day she found it,
a strange boggy land of wet sand and poor soil,
where most plants would never grow well.
The witch looked around and smiled.
“Ah,” she whispered. “This is my home.”
She cast her spell, and a magical palace appeared.
It was just as she had always wanted.
Strange mists curled around it.
She scattered a handful of tiny seeds into the soft mud.
She dreamed of filling the bog
with strange and magical plants.
But the witch was restless.
She chased new dreams and wandered far away.
And little by little,
she forgot all about her seeds.
Very slowly, the seeds began to grow.
Tiny plants pushed up from the bog.
They had sunlight. They had water.
But the soil was poor,
and it could not feed them well.
Their little leaves drooped with hunger.
One day the witch returned.
“My little plants!” she cried.
“You were meant to be magical.
Why are you still so weak?
My beautiful palace is not complete without you.”
One brave plant answered,
“We are trying, dear witch.
But this bog gives us so little,
and you are never here to care for us.”
The witch tried spells.
She tried potions.
But nothing changed.
In frustration, she stamped her foot.
“If you want to grow strong,” she cried,
“Find your own magic!”
WHOOSH!
She vanished into the mist.
Left alone, the little plants suffered.
Creepy crawlies nibbled at their leaves.
Munch, munch, munch...
“If this goes on,” thought the plants,
“We will disappear.”
So, very quietly
and very slowly,
they began to change.
First, they grew tiny hairs.
Then their leaves turned sticky, like sweet syrup.
One day, a little insect came crawling along...
ready to bite a leaf...
STUCK!
Days later, the little plant gasped.
“Look!” it cried.
“The bug on my leaf is making me stronger!”
And it was true.
The bog could not feed the plants enough...
but the insects gave them what was missing.
But soon they found a new problem.
One day, a big beetle landed on a sticky leaf.
It wriggled. It tugged.
And then... WHOOSH! ... away it flew.
“Oh no!” cried the plants.
“This trap is not enough!”
So, the plants kept changing.
Over many generations,
the leaves that held insects better survived best.
Slowly, those sticky leaves became something new.
“The insides of the leaves turned bright red,”
said Rukki softly,
“Like the mouth of a tiny dragon waiting for supper.”
And along the edges grew fine pointed hairs,
like little teeth.
The leaves waited.
Wide open.
Very still.
Then one day a small insect wandered in.
One step...
Two steps...
the tiny hairs were touched…
SNAP!
The leaf shut tight like a little mouth.
The insect was trapped.
“At last, the plants had found their own magic,” said Ajji.
After a long, long time,
the witch returned.
In her hand she carried another potion bottle.
But when she saw the bog,
she stopped.
All around her stood strange little plants
with red mouths and tiny teeth.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
They were catching their own supper.
The witch stared in wonder.
Her potion bottle slipped from her hand.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“You have become more wonderful
then I dreamed.”
For a moment, the courtyard was still.
Then one sleepy child asked,
“Ajji... are those little dragon plants real?”
Rukki smiled and pulled her shawl close.
“Oh yes,” she said.
“They are real.”
The witch gave them a name.
She called them Venus flytraps.
And even now, somewhere far away,
they are still waiting in their boggy home...
opening their little red mouths...
and SNAP! catching their dinner.
The children clapped with delight.
And with that beautiful story tucked safely in their hearts,
they went home ready for deep, sweet sleep.
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