By Christina K Sangma
In the heart of the Insect Kingdom, under the curled leaves of the Old Banyan Tree, lived a little firefly named Fino. He wasn’t the fastest flier, nor the brightest bug in school, but he had a dream: he wanted to be a journalist. While others buzzed about food and fun, Fino buzzed about facts. He carried a tiny notebook made of petals and wrote every interesting thing he saw: an ant stealing sugar, a beetle breakdancing, or a butterfly scandal.
But Fino had a problem, his glow.
Every night, when he went out to gather stories, his tail lit up like a lantern in the dark. It made sneaking around for secret stories impossible. Once, he tried to interview the secretive moths, but they fluttered away in fear, yelling, “Too bright! He’ll expose us all!” Another time, a sneaky cockroach ran off before Fino could get his side of the story, all because he saw the glow coming.
Fino tried everything. He wrapped his tail in leaves. He rolled in the dirt. He even asked a chameleon if he could borrow his camouflage trick. Nothing worked. The glow was part of him. And now, it seemed, it was the one thing keeping him from his dream.
“Maybe I’m just not meant to be a journalist,” Fino sighed one evening, sitting on a twig and watching the stars. A kind spider named Spindle, who often read Fino’s leaf-paper reports, crawled over and said, “Fino, maybe your glow isn’t a problem. Maybe it’s your gift.” But it ruins everything!” Fino buzzed sadly. “I can’t go undercover. I scare away the truth.”
Spindle smiled. “Or maybe you are telling the truth. Maybe honesty is your style.”
That night, Fino had an idea.
Instead of hiding in the shadows, he lit up the forest, literally. He flew high, glowing bright, and called out, “Come share your truth! No secrets! No shadows! I will write what you want the world to hear!”
At first, the bugs laughed. But then, something surprising happened.
A shy caterpillar came forward. She spoke about how worms were being bullied for being slow. A bee complained about unfair working hours at the honeycomb. Even the queen ant gave a rare speech about wanting more kindness in her colony.
Fino wrote it all, glowingly honest and fair.
His glowing reports became popular. Bugs waited for his weekly paper, The Glow Gazette, pinned to mushroom tops across the forest. Fino became the kingdom’s most trusted journalist, not because he was sneaky, but because he was brave enough to be seen and tell the truth.
The glow that once held him back had become his power. And every night, as Fino flew over the forest, his light no longer felt like a burden. It was a beacon, for truth, for justice, and for every little bug who dared to dream.