Why Locusts Harm Crops

Why Locusts Harm Crops

Long ago, when the world was still young, the sky seemed closer to the earth and people believed that everything in nature had a story. Among the spirits of the sky lived a proud spirit named Satanas. He always wanted to be the most important. He disliked listening to anyone else and argued even when there was nothing worth arguing about. One day he became so angry that he cried, “I will decide for myself how everything should be!” He grabbed a handful of dry sand and hurled it into the air. The grains whirled upward, glittered in the light, and were about to fall back to the ground. But the Creator saw what had happened. “Anger thrown into the world rarely disappears without leaving a trace,” he said calmly. “Let every grain become a reminder of how easily one thoughtless act can trouble many others.” Then something extraordinary happened. One grain trembled and sprouted tiny wings. Then another. Then a third. Ten. A hundred. A thousand. Within moments, the small cloud of sand had become a great humming swarm of insects. “What are they?” the other spirits asked in amazement. The insects scattered in every direction and descended toward the earth. Below them, young fields were green with rice, grasses, and other plants. The new creatures were terribly hungry. They landed on leaves, nibbled them, flew onward, and ate again. People looked up and saw the air itself seeming to move above their crops. “Look at the sky!” “We must protect the fields!” Neighbors ran out together. They made noise, waved branches, guarded young plants, and helped one another. Wherever people worked together, at least part of the harvest could be saved. Eventually the swarm moved on. For a long time, the people watched it disappear into the distance. Satanas watched too. Only then did he understand how much trouble had grown from one angry handful of sand. Something that had seemed tiny and momentary had multiplied into thousands of beating wings. From then on, old storytellers said, locusts sometimes appeared in great swarms over the fields and quickly ate the green plants. And the story carried a warning. Before throwing anger into the world, stop and think about what it might become. One grain of sand seems very small. But thousands of grains can fill the sky.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨