The Coat of Corpses

The Assassin bug of Malaysia, injects its victim with a special enzyme that dissolves and softens its guts so they can be easily sucked out.

And once all that's left is the insect's empty shell, the assassin bug attaches those exoskeletons to its back using a sticky secretion, piling them high to create a thick layer of protective armor that also serves to confuse its enemies.

There are some 7,000 species of assassin bugs the world over, and while not all engage in this remarkable behavior, each is equipped with nasty, highly hardened mouthparts called a rostrum.

With this the assassin bug stabs through the exoskeleton of its prey—ants and termites and bees and such. An outer sheath peels back once inside to expose the maxillae (mouthparts used for chewing) and mandibles.

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Lai hurriedly gobbled down his dinner. “Not so fast”, his mother chided. His brothers and sisters were eating too, but none as fast as him. “Your Uncle isn’t going to run away”, laughed Lai’s father. Uncle Aidan was special, though, thought Lai. He couldn’t bear to miss a moment with him, and he didn’t want dinner to delay him any more than it was necessary.

Lai had just had the last spoon of food when a familiar voice called at the door. “Uncle Aidan!!! Uncle Aidan!!” screamed Lai in excitement, and rushed to the door in triumph, the first to run into his uncle’s arms while the rest of the children still struggled with dinner. His uncle lifted him up and threw him into the air, and caught him again, as Lai screamed in delight. Soon enough, the rest were crowding around their beloved uncle too, clamouring for his attention.

“Allow him to atleast come inside and have his dinner!” cried the children’s mother in despair. “Must my brother go hungry because he decided to visit me?”

Aidan was only amused though. “Well, it shows the kids love me more than you do!” he teased. “You just worry about what to cook so that you can show off your cooking skills!”

Aidan somehow managed to get inside and sit down at the dining table. Lai promptly sat down in his lap, before anyone else could stake the claim. Lai’s parents and Aidan chatted for almost an hour, while Lai fidgeted. He wanted to show his uncle his latest water colour paintings, and the medal he had got for coming first in the running race at school.

At last, it was over, and Aidan started handing out gifts to his nephews and nieces. Lai got a battery operated beautiful red bus, that he could move about with a remote control. He was just about to get his paintings to show his uncle when the fuse blew out, and the entire house plunged into darkness!

“Alright, put your toys away”, ordered mother. “You can’t play in the dark. Off to bed, the whole lot of you!”

There were loud protests, Lai the loudest of them all. “Oh, don’t be so harsh, sister! I’m taking them all out to the front porch and tell them a story. Just give us a candle.”

Relieved, Lai followed his uncle outside with the others, and settled himself comfortably on the little brick platform outside, while the rest sat in a circle around Aiden.

“Today, I’ll tell you an old Buddhist tale; the story of Angulimala”, said Aidan. A hush fell over the audience. Lai leaned forward eagerly, ignoring the bites of the mosquitoes.

“Was he a hero?” Awan, Lai’s older brother, wanted to know.

“Well, not exactly. But he becomes a hero later on.”, said Aidan. “Angulimala was born with the name Ahimsaka. But at the time of his birth, there were several bad omens which said that he would be a thief and a plunderer!”

“Ooooooooooooh!!” said the captive audience.

“Ahimsaka was sent to a guru to study the scriptures and the arts of war. And he was an exceptional student! But the other students were jealous of him, and they poisoned their teacher’s ears against him.

So Ahimsaka was thrown out, and the teacher demanded a final fee: Ahimsaka should get him a thousand human right-hand little fingers!”

“How shocking! Why did he ask such a thing?” asked Lai’s sister.

“Probably because he thought it was an impossible feat for anyone, and that way, he could get rid of Ahimsaka too”, replied Uncle Aidan.

“And how did he go about it?” asked another child.

“Ahimsaka, instead of giving up, decided to give his guru the fee! He turned to a life of violence and crime. He became a highway murderer, hiding in the shadows, pouncing on travelers, and killing them to get their fingers!” “Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!” it was Lai who screamed, for he suddenly imagined a murderer standing in the shadows ready to pounce on him.

Everyone laughed. “Lai is a baby! He should go in.”

“Of course not!” said Lai indignantly. He spotted an insect slowly crawling up through the grass, and concentrated hard on it, trying to hide his embarrassment. The insect looks quite strange, he thought, while he kept an ear open to listen to the story.

“So Ahimsaka became Angulimala”, said Aidan. “He cut off the finger of the person he had killed, and he strung all the fingers on a string, and wore it like a garland!”

At this moment, Lai noticed that the insect walking towards him was indeed as strange as Angulimala, for it seemed to be carrying a lot of dead ants on its back! The flame from the candle lit it up, and the coat of corpses on the bug’s back glistened.

“And this went on, for years and years… Angulimala kept killing and killing… till he reached the count of 999…”

Lai noticed the bug creeping up on another ant. Quick as lightning, it seemed to strike the ant, with a sting as pointed as a dagger, and seemed to suck out its life blood.

Then quite coolly, it added the corpse to its coat, and walked along. Lai stared at it, unable to draw his eyes away. He was horrified. This seemed like an Angulimala of the insect world.

“And before Angulimala could strike his 1000th victim, the Buddha came on the scene. He showed Angulimala the error of his ways. The very grace and goodness of the Buddha made Angulimala stop the killing for once and for all…”

Lai was just feeling as magnanimous as the Buddha at that moment. He brushed off the coat of corpses of the bug’s back, and said a silent prayer that the bug should mend its ways.

“Enough! All of you in now!” cried Mother, and everyone trooped in, Lai feeling most satisfied.

Only the bug seemed annoyed. It spotted another ant passing that way. It killed it, and put its corpse on its back, continuing its killing spree.