In a deep, dark forest of towering trees, smooth stones, and whispering flowers, there lived a giant mantis named Jude. He waited motionless among the leaves to grab prey.
Jude had a huge sharp, triangle-shaped head and a long, bending neck that helped him see everything around him. He spent his days perfectly still, waiting for moths, crickets, and grasshoppers to wander too close. Hunting was what Jude knew best. It was how mantises survived. It was how Jude believed the world worked.
One warm summer night, something unusual happened.
Hidden among broad riverbank leaves that barely concealed his towering body, Jude noticed strange shapes by the river. A family of five humans had arrived, unfolding a tent beneath the silver moon and the golden scatter of stars.
Jude watched closely as the mother, father, and three children moved about, laughing and pointing, making sounds he did not understand.
To Jude, they looked soft. Slow. Easy.
He decided the two largest ones would make the finest meal, and the three smaller ones could be saved for later. So, Jude waited. He was very good at waiting.
His wide eyes followed the family for days. He watched them float down the river on bright rubber rings. He watched them gather around a glowing fire, turning white cubes on sticks until they puffed and browned. At night, they made clumsy music with a battered guitar and a banjo that twanged like an insect’s call.
But the strangest thing they did happened every morning.
They stood close together. They held hands. They bowed their heads and spoke softly into the air.
Jude did not understand their words, but he felt something when they spoke—something powerful and watchful. He began to wonder if a great Being was listening. A Being far greater than a mantis hiding in the leaves.
Still, Jude was hungry.
One morning, he rose high on his hind legs and leapt from the shadows. The family scattered at once, their feet pounding the ground. Jude froze. Things had not gone as planned. He slipped back into the forest, his green body vanishing among the leaves.
He tried again days later, creeping near the river after dark. This time, he managed to grab hold of the oldest son. But even then, something felt wrong.
Soon, the others returned to rescue the son.
There was shouting among the family.
Then, Jude felt a sharp sting and tumbled to the forest floor, struck by what looked like a camping knife. The world spun. For the first time in his life, Jude was afraid.
Curled among the roots, unsure if he would survive, Jude listened. The family was praying again—this time louder, stronger, braver.
Jude could no longer prey on the family, so he bent his legs. He did not know why.
He bowed his head.
And for the first time, Jude chose not to hunt.
Copyright 2015, 2026 Jennifer Waters
LOGLINE
In a shadowy forest, a hungry praying mantis who believes the world belongs to predators begins to question his nature when a praying family awakens something powerful and unexpected inside him.
PITCH
Jude is a fierce praying mantis who survives by hiding, waiting, and hunting—until a family of five camps near his river and upsets everything he believes about the world. Watching from the leaves, Jude studies their laughter, music, and strange daily ritual of holding hands and praying, which makes him wonder if a greater power protects them. Though hunger drives him to attack, Jude’s plans fail, and when he is wounded during the family’s rescue of their child, he experiences fear for the first time. Listening as the family prays once more, Jude makes a surprising choice that transforms him from a hunter into a creature capable of restraint, revealing a quiet story about mercy, wonder, and the courage to change.
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