Not based on true events

With an exalted leap, the fly again fixed his eyes upon the vine, and yes, indeed, it was not as tight against the flower’s stalk. Then, little by little, beginning at its tip, it peeled away like a petal, round and round the stalk, unscrewing and unwinding, and collapsing until it finally fell flat on the ground. At that auspicious time, Syrphid let out the loudest cheer possible for a fly, a cheer which you and I could faintly hear, and the sunflower trembled all over with repressed joy. The next day was even more thrilling, for the vine had now passed her, and was winding away through grasses before her. Finally, in a week’s time, its tip had vanished in the distance, and was never seen again. The next day, the sunflower who had so aided her wild cousin in her distress was visited by a certain hoverfly, who brought with him an offering of a small seed which he dropped near her, and it blossomed and bloomed, and the sunflower was never lonely again.

Garden Sunflower
Helianthus annus

Also known as the Common Sunflower, the Garden Sunflower is native to North America and Peru, and can be found in Saskatchewan. The flower heads are larger than those of the Wild Sunflower ( Helianthus decapetalus) which grows mostly in the U.S. A. This is especially true when it comes to the Russian variety of the Garden Sunflower, which is a literal giant. The heads of this species can reach two feet in domestic plants and six inches in wild ones, and the height can span to over fifteen feet. The Garden Sunflower, in its wild form, was cultivated by the First Nations people, who ate them raw or dried, or roasted and ground to make a coffee-like drink. The seeds were also used in cakes, and are eaten by Black-capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches, Downy Woodpeckers, American Red Squirrels, Least Chipmunks and numerous other wildlife. 

Hoverfly
Family Syrphidae

These colourful wasp-like or bee-like flies are commonly seen around summer flowers and gardens where they eat pollen and nectar, in the meantime hoping that no one realizes their fly identity. They are wondrous fliers, hovering and darting here and there in split seconds, and zooming from blossom to blossom. Despite their misleading appearance, these insects do not sting, even though they sometimes pump their abdomen as if threatening to do so. The lives of their larvae are varied. Some act as janitors, cleaning our world of animal remains, others feed on aphids and other soft insects, while yet others go into bee and wasps nests and eat the deceased members. These flies are my personal favourites, though I still enjoy having a friendly Blue Bottle or Housefly for company.

P.S. The sunflower in this story does not symbolize Ukraine. It is just a plain, ordinary beautiful fall sunflower.