A Butterfly That Still Thought It Was A Caterpillar: A Change Story

This story of change tells of a butterfly that still thought it was a larva. It tells of the change and its rejection. The truth is that sometimes we have more power than we are willing to see and waste energy resisting change. We keep our eyes closed on the past, trying to be someone we are no longer.

Some time ago, a small butterfly larva was born. With a little difficulty, it crawled on the ground from place to place. Until one day, tired of crawling, it decided to climb a tree. But not to any tree. S e chose to climb a tree with a big trunk and damp leaves. To the tree under which it had been playing for years.

The butterfly larva climbed and climbed, but then it slipped, fell, and was unable to move forward. But it kept trying and step by step, little by little it managed to climb. 

It came to a branch from which it could see the whole valley. The views were spectacular. It was able to see other animals, the blue sky with its white cotton clouds, and the large deep blue painted sea on the horizon. On that branch, the butterfly larva was able to breathe in peace.

It sat there watching the world around it and felt that life was too beautiful not to change with it. Although the butterfly larva was tired and at the same time grateful for its life as a larva, it knew it was time to become someone else.

Transformation of a butterfly larva into a butterfly

The butterfly caterpillar fell asleep feeling great peace and thinking about how it was destined to be something more than just a butterfly caterpillar. It slept and slept, as the enclosures grew around it, a  shell that kept the peace inside long enough for another creature to evolve.

When it woke up, it felt trapped in a hard shell that would not allow it to move. It felt like something weird had grown on its back. Seeing the effort, it was able to move something that looked like a blue wing and the shell broke.

The butterfly larva was no longer a butterfly larva, it was a blue butterfly. However, the butterfly larva had been a larva for so long that it did not realize it was no longer a larva.

The blue butterfly crawled down the tree using its small legs even though it now had wings. It carried the weight of those big blue wings, the weight that consumed its forces.

The blue butterfly moved using its legs, as it had always done, believing it to be a caterpillar and to continue its life as it was. But its wings did not allow it to move on the ground with the same agility as before.

Wing weight

The butterfly, which still believed it was a caterpillar, did not understand why its life had become so heavy. Tired of carrying the weight of its wings, it decided to return to the branch where the change had taken place. This time, trying to climb a tree, it was impossible to move forward. 

A gust of wind or any other small, unexpected coincidence pushed it back. The butterfly, who thought he was still a caterpillar, stood still and  looked up at that branch that seemed very far away. Then it started to cry desperately. 

Hearing it crying, a beautiful, wise, white butterfly approached it. The white butterfly balanced on top of the flower and for a moment it looked at the blue butterfly without saying anything. As the crying of the blue butterfly subsided, the white butterfly asked:

“What happened?”

“I can’t climb up that branch. In the past, even though it was difficult, I was able to do it. ”

“But if you can’t climb that branch… maybe you can fly to it.”

The blue butterfly, which thought it was still a caterpillar,  looked strangely at the white butterfly and then at itself and its large, heavy wings. Just like the day it came out of its shell, it moved them hard and opened them.

They were so big and beautiful. The blue color was so intense that the changed butterfly larva frightened and closed them again quickly.

“You strain your feet when you’re not using your wings,” said the white butterfly from the flight, opening its wise wings and flying away elegantly.

Departure

The blue butterfly looked admiring every movement of the white butterfly and pondered the words of the white butterfly. At that moment, it  began to realize that it was no longer a butterfly larva and maybe those heavy wings could be of some use. 

The blue butterfly reopened them and this time kept them open. It closed its eyes and felt the wind caress them. It felt that those wings were now part of it and accepted that it was no longer a butterfly larva, that it could no longer continue such a life, crawling on the ground.

It then opened its wings bigger and bigger, each time becoming more of a butterfly and less of a larva. It watched its beautiful, almost magical blue wings. Soon it realized it was flying. It moved slowly towards the branch.

Flying was much easier than dragging its legs, though it still had to hone its technique. It found that the fear of flying had not allowed it to accept what it really was, a butterfly larva that had turned into a blue butterfly. 

This story of change tells of a butterfly that still thought it was a larva. It is the story of a beautiful, blue butterfly with strong wings and able to fly against currents,  amidst storms and strong winds.

The blue butterfly had big, beautiful, blue wings. Blue in several different shades, from the lightest color of the sky to the stormiest sea. But it didn’t even know it.

A teaching of the change story of the blue butterfly

The transformation from a butterfly caterpillar to a butterfly is one of the most used metaphors when it comes to toughness. Butterflies are symbols of change, while also depicting fragility and grandeur. For that reason, the butterfly is the natural protagonist of the change story.

This story of change reminds us that we live in and are part of a changing, dynamic, constantly evolving world. But sometimes, even though we have changed and have the power to change, we do not accept it for some reason: perhaps because of fear, shame, or guilt…

In this story, a beautiful, strong, blue butterfly does not accept that it is no longer a butterfly larva and thus cannot live as it still would. One side of it wanted to change, but the other side was afraid of change and tried to cling to its past and continue living as it was before the change.

It took a while to accept and notice what its wings were for and how it was able to live on from then on. It needed a little help with that. Sometimes others see our strengths more clearly than we do ourselves.