There is a very prosperous village whose harvest overflows all the storage bins. The people decide to show off their wealth to all the surrounding communities by inviting them to an event where basically resources are wasted in a giant food fight (among adults). Only a few don’t participate- an old poor woman whom everyone ignores, and a few children who have displayed kindness and good sense. The people don’t care about wasting things because they feel certain that next year’s harvest will be just as bountiful. But it’s not. The gods punish them with a drought and people start to starve. They’re forced to leave their village and seek charity among others.
Two children (and the old woman) are accidentally left behind, and when they realize it, the parents don’t go back for them! The children are frightened but the little boy does his best to comfort and provide for his younger sister. He makes a butterfly out of corn stalks and dried leaves to amuse her, but the wings come out too narrow so it’s a dragonfly. Helpful spirits inhabit the cornstalk dragonfly and it speaks to the boy, flies out to confer with the gods on his behalf, brings him provisions one grain of corn at a time, and more. Eventually the people return to their village, thoroughly chastised by their experience. The children have been blessed and become leaders over them, and teach them better manners, responsibility and compassion. The old woman is finally supported and appreciated as she should be, too.
