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Creepy Crawlies in Morty’s garden

Morty discovers the castle garden. His cousin Minerva, who is a trainee witch, is working in the garden.

“Oh, Minerva” Morty says, “all this garden work seems very boring to me. It’s hard work and I don’t think it’s fun.”

Minerva looks up from her work. “But a witch needs herbs, fruit and plants for magic potions.” “Yes, sure. You need to know all this stuff because you want to be a witch when you grow up. But not me, I want to be a knight”, Morty answers.

Morty’s cousin is only a trainee witch but she already knows a lot about magic. She is quite happy that she can grow her herbs in the garden. “Besides, who says I’m doing all the work alone?” she answers and smiles at Morty. “Sure, I do a lot of work but I also have little helpers.”  

Betty comes fluttering down from Godfrey’s laboratory. “Yes!” she says. “I’m one of the helpers!” She proudly explains that bats are famous for eating many garden pests during their nightly flights. Pests are insects that can do a lot of damage because they eat the plants. Minerva laughs and pats Betty’s head. “Thanks a lot for your help! But, believe it or not, I also have insects as helpers.”

Betty and Morty look at each other. “Really?” Betty asks. “Sure,” answers Minerva. “A lot of the creepy crawlies are very useful to a gardener! And they are also good for you: Spiders, for example, eat a lot of insects. They catch them in their cobwebs. And look here!” Minerva points to a dragon herb growing at Morty’s feet. “There’s a ladybird on it,” Morty says.

“Did you know that ladybirds are a gardener’s friend? They eat aphids which are really nasty pests.”

Betty is surprised. “I had no idea that insects could be so cool! Are there any more?”

Minerva nods. “Yes, of course. The wiggly little earthworms, for example.” “Ah, I don’t like these wiggly earthworms. They are yucky,” Morty says. “But they keep the garden soil loose which is good for the plants”, Minerva answers. “And there are other little helpers: ants are famous for eating all kinds of other insects.”

Morty squirms. “Yuck! Ants also like sweet food! We had ants crawling all over our last picnic! It was yucky. But the next time we have a picnic, we’ll check carefully that there are no ants in the area. Hey, speaking of sweet food, I know another insect that is very useful: Bees! They make honey.”

“Indeed!” Minerva agrees. “And from beeswax you can make candles. As you see, with so many helpers, being a gardener is not boring at all. Here’s an idea: You can help me with the garden work and afterwards I will make some refreshing lemonade.”

“Lemonade?” ask Morty and Betty. “Cool. Of course we will help you.”  They all spend the rest of the afternoon in the garden.