A Tiny Story: The Caterpillar and the Old Man

This was originally written for The Control Problem, as a fairy tale Vera tells as a nighttime story for the children she loves. However, the tone was all wrong and it needed to go. So, while I attend to a little one with RSV, here is this, a retelling of The Old Man and the Butterfly.

One day, a beautiful caterpillar hatched from an egg. The world was bright and warm. It welcomed the caterpillar with foods to eat and clear, cool water to drink. Life was easy for this particular caterpillar. No birds or animals or bugs hassled her.

In time, the caterpillar somehow knew her body was ready for a change. Though she was happy as a caterpillar, and could live on as she had been, eating fruit and basking in the sunshine, she climbed. Up and up and up, grasping the stalk as she ascended a sturdy plant, until she reached a solid leaf. Without knowing how she knew, she placed an anchor on the underside of the leaf and spun herself a home. The chrysalis, at first soft and clear, hardened and darkened.

In that darkness, the caterpillar felt pain and fear as she transformed. The soft curves of her body, so familiar and constant, shifted and hardened. The fuzz that tickled in gentle breezes fell away as smooth edges revealed themselves. Even in that darkness, the caterpillar could sense the colors shift on her body. Was she still herself? She had been so happy before. Could she be happy again, as something new?

One day, the once-caterpillar awoke. A sliver of light shone through a crack in her chrysalis. Curious, the butterfly pried the hole larger. The same lovely world greeted her. But now, instead of seeing only the familiar greens of grass and leaves, she turned to the sky. White clouds puffed across perfect blue. The soft breeze that sung through the leaves around the chrysalis was a song for her. Is that where I belong, she wondered.

Other butterflies took flight around her as she watched with dazzled eyes. She marveled in their beauty, but she remained. She thought back to her life as a caterpillar, and felt a longing to go backwards in time. She knew now that she would never again crawl amongst vines and nibble on fresh strawberries. She would never rest on a thin branch, full and tired, taking in the warm sunshine. The sky promised her new experiences, new adventures, but she did not want new. Not yet.

Deep, booming thuds shook her chrysalis. The butterfly pushed the crack wider to take a peek. There stood a creature, large and tall, like a tree with two trunks. At the top was an orb. Was it a head? It scanned its surroundings, looking for something to do.

The butterfly tried to reseal the crack, moving as quickly and quietly as she could, but in her haste, she made it wider. Panic set in. She didn’t want this creature to notice her. She tried to draw the shards close to her body, hoping the tree thing would pass her by. Then, a large piece of her chrysalis fell to the ground. The butterfly froze.

Slowly, the large creature turned to her leaf.

It knelt and lowered its head, the huge eyes with floating disks the color of the sky looked right into her home, right into her eyes.

“Hello, little fella. Are you stuck?”

The butterfly held herself still. The creature moved one of its giant eyes closer, the bristles of its stripe of grey-white fur sharp like daggers. She looked away, hoping it would lose interest and move on.

Then, movement exploded through the chrysalis. She swung and teetered as the creature’s fingers clawed and pulled apart her home. Thunderous sounds and sharp cracks all around her little frail wings, and the caterpillar could do nothing. She could only wait, and hope it would end soon.

After some time, the creature stepped back, seemingly pleased with its work.

“Try now, little one.”

The butterfly didn’t understand its words, of course. But she knew the creature had backed away, giving her an opportunity to escape. So she pushed through the new, larger hole. Her body knew what it wanted to do. She spread her wings, the soft breeze lifting her into the air, sweet scents luring her to unseen flowers, waiting for her, eager for her to take a drink of golden nectar.

And then, she fell.

Her wings, untested by the challenge of the chrysalis, crumpled against her body. The world twisted and spun as she crashed into the grass.

The grass, her home in her slow and simple life, welcomed her back into its arms.