Karl Wiener

The butterfly

 
          One day a cabbage invited his friends for a feast. He had spent many an hour choosing special dishes and delicious wine and soon the guests were in high spirits. They toasted again and again the health of their host and they joyfully sang along the accompaniment of music played by the crickets. Among the guests was a young caterpillar, sitting at the lower end of the table. The sound of the singing and the seductive scent had her attracted. Not being shy, she quickly joined in the fun helping herself to the food. At the height of the feast some colourful butterflies started to dance. The caterpillar took great pleasure in their graceful movements and hoped for a day when she could dance like them.
           The banquet continued for many a day and as she didn’t stop eating the caterpillar became bigger and bigger. But the nights grew longer and the time between sunrise and sunset shortened. Autumn had arrived. The party came to an end, the music stopped and the guests all went home. Eventually the caterpillar found herself alone. She felt lonely and shivered with cold. Hiding herself away in a cleft of an oak tree’s chappy bark she made a shawl of silk that warmed her and she fell asleep, dreaming that she could dance as gracefully as a butterfly on her own wedding day.   
           Spring came and sunshine warmed the earth and the hearts. Flowers came into bloom and bees swarmed around in search of nectar. The caterpillar finally awoke from her sleep. Inside her refuge it was so gloomy that she strained with all her might to escape from the darkness and she finally succeeded, squeezing herself through a small hole she emerged. The bright sunlight dazzled her. She closed her eyes, stretched her body and with a big yawn she shed her winter coat that had become too tight for her and looked around with some curiosity. A puddle sparkling in the sunlight showed her image reflected in the water. She had become a colourful butterfly of breathtaking beauty.        
          Her heart was filled with joy. She spread out her wings and folded them again to test out her power. Finally she flew away. She fluttered from flower to flower refreshing herself with the sweet nectar of the delightful blossoms. But she lost her heart to a tender bud that flourished under her kisses and became a dark red rose. Neither rain nor storm prevented her from visiting the flower that she had come to love with all her heart. There in the shade of the rose’s petals she felt so happy and they spent many a night together gazing up in the sky and counting the stars.
        The summer passed and as the year also the butterfly grew old. One day she set out to pay a visit to her beloved rose. But she suffered from the cold. From time to time she had to stop and catch her breath and now and then she also dozed dreaming of days that were now past. Sometimes she couldn’t recall whether she was a butterfly or a dreamy little caterpillar. Maybe she thought to be already a leaf of the flower that she loved with all her heart. When she arrived at the rose’s place a gust of wind whirled her high in the sky. She disappeared behind a cloud together with the last leaves of the rose.

All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Karl Wiener.
Published on e-Stories.org on 10/20/2007.

 
 

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