Insect!

One morning, while sitting outside at the teachers' table:

Teacher 1: Binta, what is this insect called?


There is a large black insect hovering about the  table.

Me: That is flying? Will it sting you?
Teacher 1: No, it will not sting you, not usually.
Me: Because it looks sort of like a wasp, and it makes these nests like a wasp, but if it will not sting you then I do not know.
Teacher 1: No, I know these wasps. It is not a wasp.
Teacher 2: But there is something that doubts me. I have never seen two of them fly together.

I give a why-should-that-matter type of puzzled look.

Teacher 2: The people, they say this type of insect will not reproduce.
Science Teacher: Is it an insect? Maybe it is an arachnid. We need to see, does it have two pairs of legs or three?

We busy ourselves trying to get a close enough look to determine the number of legs.

Teacher 1: I saw three pairs of legs.
Science Teacher: No, I think those were antennae. I think there are only two pairs of legs.
Teacher 4: The belief with the people is, this insect does not reproduce.
Teacher 2: Me too, I will believe it, because I have never seen two of them fly together.
Teacher 1: I am a conservative, so I must believe the tradition.
Teacher 2: This insect, they are all male.
Teacher 4: Or females.
Teacher 2: Yes, or all females.
Me: All male or all female? But how does it make more of itself?
Teacher 2: After it kills an insect of a different species, it will make it into its own image.
Me: And bring it back to life?
Teacher 2: Yes.
Me: Hep! But I think that cannot be.
Science Teacher: Yes, of course, that cannot be. God made two of every creature.
Me: And if you look inside that thing [I point to the nest] won’t you see eggs and, what are they called, larvae?
Teacher 4: Yes, the worms, they are there.
Teacher 2: Of course.

The discussion continues, with Teacher 2 unconvinced that eggs and worms are sufficient proof of reproduction. It’s decided that I should try to catch one, both so we can determine once and for all whether or not it is an insect or an arachnid and also so we can examine it for the presence of a reproductive system. Naturally I declined to do anything more extensive than swat at it half-heartedly.