THE LITTLE CATERPILLAR

There once was a caterpillar who loved the world, the sky and everything in it. It was daring and brave, and out of all of its friends, it was the only one able to make it to the tallest leaf of the tree. But within its soul, it held a dark secret.

To all its friends, the little caterpillar was the bravest one they knew. But this was not the truth. The little caterpillar had a fear greater than any other. The fear of the dark. The reason it was able to get to the highest leaf of the tree was because that was where the moon shined brightest. It made friends with the fireflies and stayed close to them on nights with no moon, and despite its great fear, was able to find ways to survive and hide it.

But as the little caterpillar grew bigger, it began to see and hear of its friends making cocoons, a dark place that they would sleep in until they would become something new and beautiful. Yet despite the enticing talk of what they would become, the little caterpillar was always too scared to make its own cocoon, and so it decided that it would just stay a caterpillar forever.

As time went on, more and more of its friends left for their cocoons, until it was the only one remaining. The fireflies would keep it company on the lonely, dark nights, but each and every day it would crawl through the tree alone. The feeling of loneliness grew stronger and stronger, until it could barely move without feeling it creak all-throughout its little body.

One day, the little caterpillar started to cry on the edge of a branch. Looking up into the sky, it saw two magnificent butterflies dancing about and remembered the laughter and joy it once shared with its friends. As the sun was going down, the little caterpillar realized that the feeling of being alone in the world was even worse than the fear of the dark.

That night, the little caterpillar crawled up to the highest branch of the tree, and with a few deep breaths and some thoughts of its friends waiting for it, the little caterpillar made its cocoon. Once inside, it realized that the dark was not something to be afraid of, that it was just the thought of the dark that really scared it.

The little caterpillar did not know how long it sat in the darkness, waiting to meet its friends again. But when it finally woke up, it realized that it was no longer the same little caterpillar at all. It had become a butterfly, and found that all of its friends were waiting for it in the sky.

A TALE BY BODHI J.M.S RYDER

ARTIST: UNKNOWN
*Please reach out to me if you know the artist so I am able to give credit where credit is due*