Brave duckling

Every morning the hostess brought out a full plate of chopped eggs to the ducklings. She put the plate near the bush, and she left.
As soon as the ducklings ran up to the plate, a large dragonfly flew out of the garden and began to circle over them.
She chirped so terribly that the frightened ducklings ran away and hid in the grass. They were afraid that the dragonfly would bite them all.
And the evil dragonfly sat down on a plate, tasted the food and then flew away.
After that, the ducklings did not come to the plate for the whole day. They were afraid that the dragonfly would come again.
In the evening, the hostess removed the plate and said: "It must be that our ducklings are sick, for some reason they are not eating anything."
She didn’t know that the ducklings went to bed hungry every night.
Once their neighbor, a little duck Alyosha, came to visit the ducklings.
When the ducklings told him about the dragonfly, he began to laugh.
Well, brave men! - he said. - I'll drive this dragonfly away alone. You will see tomorrow.
“You're bragging,” said the ducklings. - Tomorrow you will be the first to get scared and run.
The next morning, the hostess, as always, put the plate of chopped eggs on the ground and left.
- Well, look, - said the brave Alyosha, - now I will fight with your dragonfly.
He had just said this, when suddenly a dragonfly buzzed.
Right from above, she flew onto the plate.
The ducklings wanted to run away, but Alyosha was not afraid.
Before the dragonfly had time to sit on the plate, Alyosha grabbed her by the wing with his beak. She escaped with a force and flew away with a broken wing.
Since then, she never flew into the garden, and the ducklings ate their fill every day.
(B. Zhitkov)