For the past couple days, Maurice has been awol. I haven’t been worried though – he sometimes likes to go on a jaunt to another plant, spend the day hanging out (literally) and then return home to his borage shrub, refreshed by his adventures and the change in scenery.
Anyway, I had these cute little guys to distract me:
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- Hide and Seek
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- Another Borage Warrior
So I wasn’t prepared for the worst, when Big Spoon called to me from the herb garden this afternoon. In his hand lay Maurice.
It was clear he had been dead for some time. His vibrant, fresh green complexion was olivey yellow, and he looked like a crumpled leaf. There was something so sad and pathetic about his pose, with his arms thrown up as though to protect himself.
Given Maurice’s predilections for living dangerously, Big Spoon thought that he probably got stung by a bee. I wasn’t convinced that a bee could puncture Maurice’s carapace, which resembles green overlapping armour. I’d always thought his biggest threat would be a hungry bird, but of course a hungry bird wouldn’t leave the body behind.
I went online, and discovered two more likely possibilities: slugs, which produce an enzyme that is toxic for praying mantises, and old age. Most praying mantises live only for one year in the wild, and die after mating (the males!) or laying eggs (the females). So maybe Maurice got slugged, or maybe he just got old.
We buried him next to the raspberries, not far from the borage plant he called home. We felt quite subdued by his death, although it’s just business as usual for nature. When I next looked, his home wasn’t even empty any more; a tiny interloper had already taken over Maurice’s turf.
I will miss him on my daily inspection round the garden.
Maurice, Guardian of the Herb Garden
