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1:07

The story of the small green Caterpillar

1:10

and the Beautiful white Butterfly

1:17

In a kitchen garden at the rear

1:19

of an old brick house in

1:21

a country town stood

1:24

long rows of stately corn,

1:27

whose shining green blades

1:30

glistened in the sun and

1:32

rustled if a passing breeze spoke

1:34

to them. Near

1:38

at hand were some thickly leaved

1:41

currant bushes, which looked

1:43

as if they had been so busy

1:45

bearing bunches of juicy red

1:47

currants that they had found

1:50

no time to grow tall like their

1:52

neighbors the corn. Just

1:57

across the garden path was a fine

2:00

bed of feathery asparagus, separated

2:03

from the rest of the garden by a low

2:06

wooden border about two

2:08

inches high. I

2:12

do not know as to whether or not it

2:14

was this exclusive life they

2:16

lived that made them so lacking in

2:18

strength, But

2:20

they were swayed by the slightest

2:22

breath of air. Now this

2:25

way and now

2:27

that. In

2:32

the same garden were many other

2:34

vegetables, and towering

2:36

far above them all were some giant

2:39

plum trees. At

2:43

least they seemed like giants to the potato

2:45

vine and tomato plants near by,

2:49

both of whom were of a creeping nature,

2:52

and had a great admiration

2:54

for anybody or anything

2:57

that was higher than themselves.

3:02

The young potato vines used to

3:04

look up from the top of their hills

3:07

and wonder if they would ever

3:09

get as near to the sky as

3:12

the branches of the plum tree seemed

3:14

to be silly

3:17

things. They did not know

3:20

that their value lay in there keeping

3:22

close to the ground and

3:24

bearing as many fine, smooth

3:26

skinned potatoes as possible. That

3:30

is, the younger vines did not know this

3:32

important fact. Our

3:36

story, however, is not about

3:39

the potato vines, but

3:41

of something very wonderful which took

3:43

place upon the outside

3:46

leaf of a round green

3:49

cabbage head, which stood,

3:51

along with the other cabbage heads,

3:54

in one corner of the garden.

3:59

I don't believe you would have understood

4:02

much of what was going on if you had

4:04

been there, anymore

4:06

than did the happy faced little woman

4:08

who owned the garden. She

4:12

thought. She loved her garden, every

4:16

tree and shrub and herb

4:18

that grew in it. Still,

4:21

she spent a great deal more time

4:23

looking at the swift flowing river

4:26

and the stretch of hills beyond than

4:29

she did at her cabbage heads.

4:34

She spent hours each

4:36

day poring over her books,

4:39

while the most wonderful things

4:42

were happening all around her,

4:46

under her very nose, as it were,

4:49

or rather, I should say, perhaps under

4:52

her very feet, things

4:55

far more interesting than her books

4:58

could possibly have been. Among

5:04

these wonderful things of which her

5:06

garden could have told her was

5:09

the life story of a little

5:11

green caterpillar whose

5:13

home was on the outside leaf

5:16

of a large green cabbage

5:19

head. He

5:22

was not an inch long and

5:24

not much bigger around than a good sized

5:27

broomstraw. Yet

5:29

he was an honest little fellow in his

5:32

way, and spent most

5:34

of his time crawling about

5:36

on his cabbage leaf and nibbling

5:39

holes in it, which

5:41

you know, is about all a caterpillar

5:43

can be expected to do. The

5:47

great beautiful sun

5:49

high up in the sky sent

5:52

his bright rays of light down to

5:54

warm the little caterpillar just

5:57

as regularly, and was

5:59

seemingly just as much love as

6:01

he sent them to make the thousand

6:04

wavelets of the swift

6:06

flowing river sparkle and

6:08

gleam like diamonds, or

6:11

as he sent them down to rest in

6:13

calm, still sunshine

6:16

on the quiet hilltops beyond.

6:22

The little green Caterpillar's life

6:24

was a very narrow one.

6:27

He had never been away from his

6:30

cabbage leaf. In fact,

6:32

he did not know that there was anything

6:35

else in the world except cabbage

6:38

leaves. He

6:40

might have learned something of the beautiful,

6:43

silvery moon, or the shining

6:45

stars, or of the glorious

6:48

sun itself if he

6:50

had ever looked up, but

6:54

he never did. Therefore,

6:56

the whole world was

6:58

a big cabe leaf to him,

7:02

and of his life consisted in

7:05

nibbling as much of the cabbage

7:07

leaf as possible. So

7:12

you can easily imagine his surprise

7:15

when one day a dainty

7:18

white butterfly settled

7:21

down beside him and began

7:23

laying small green eggs.

7:28

The little caterpillar had never before

7:30

seen anything half so beautiful

7:33

as the wings of the dainty white butterfly,

7:37

and when she had finished laying her eggs

7:39

and flew off. He, for

7:42

the first time in his whole life,

7:45

lifted his head toward the blue

7:47

sky that he might watch

7:50

the quick motion of her wings. She

7:54

was soon beyond the tallest

7:56

leaves of the tomato plants, above

7:59

the feathery tips of the finest faragus,

8:03

even higher than the plum trees. He

8:06

watched her until she became a mere

8:09

speck in the air, and at

8:11

last vanished from

8:13

his sight. He

8:16

then sighed and turned

8:18

again to his cabbage leaf. As

8:21

he did so, his eyes rested

8:23

on the twenty small green eggs,

8:26

which were no larger than the heads

8:29

of a pin. Did

8:34

she leave these for me to care for?

8:37

He said to himself. Then

8:40

came the perplexing question. How

8:43

could he, the crawling

8:45

caterpillar, take

8:48

care of baby butterflies.

8:52

He could not teach them anything except

8:54

to crawl and nibble cabbage

8:56

leaves. If

8:58

they were like their beautiful mother, would

9:01

they not soon fly far beyond

9:03

his reach? This

9:07

last thought troubled him a great deal.

9:10

Still, he watched over them

9:13

tenderly until they should

9:15

hatch. He could

9:17

at least tell them of how beautiful their

9:19

mother had been, and could show

9:21

them where to fly that they might

9:24

find her. He

9:28

often pictured to himself how they

9:30

would look twenty dainty

9:33

little butterflies fluttering

9:35

about him on his cabbage leaf for

9:38

a time, and then flying

9:40

off to the blue sky to visit the stars

9:42

with their mother. He

9:46

loved the great sun very

9:48

dearly now, because it sent

9:50

its rays down to warm the tiny

9:52

eggs. One

9:56

day he awoke from his afternoon

9:59

nap just in time to

10:01

see a most remarkable

10:03

sight. What

10:06

do you think was happening? One

10:09

after another? The small

10:12

green eggs were breaking open,

10:15

and out were crawling. What

10:18

do you suppose little

10:20

white butterflies? No,

10:24

nothing of the kind.

10:27

Little green caterpillars

10:31

were creeping out of each

10:33

shell. Their

10:35

foster father, as he had learned

10:37

to call himself, could hardly

10:40

believe his own eyes. Yet

10:43

there they were, wriggling

10:46

and squirming, very

10:48

much like the young angleworms in the ground

10:51

below. Well,

10:54

well, well, said he to himself.

10:56

Who would ever dream that the children

10:58

of that beautiful creeture would

11:01

be mere caterpillars? Strange

11:05

as it seemed to him, there was

11:07

no denying the fact, and

11:10

his duty was to teach them how to crawl

11:12

about and how to nibble cabbage

11:14

leaves. Poor

11:17

things, he used to say, as he moved among

11:20

them. You will never know the world

11:22

of beauty in which your mother lived.

11:25

You will never be able to soar

11:28

in the free air. Your

11:30

lives must be spent in creeping about

11:32

on a cabbage leaf and filling yourself

11:34

full of it every day. Poor

11:38

things, poor

11:40

things. The

11:45

young caterpillars soon became so

11:47

experienced that they no

11:49

longer needed his care. Feeling

11:53

very tired and sleepy, he

11:56

decided one day to make for himself

11:58

a bed and go to sleep.

12:03

He was soon softly wrapped

12:05

from head to toe in the

12:07

curious covering he had made,

12:10

and then came a long,

12:13

long sleep of

12:16

three weeks or more. When

12:20

at last he woke up, he

12:22

began to work his head out

12:24

of his covering. Soon

12:28

his whole body was free,

12:30

and he began to breathe the fresh

12:32

air and feel the

12:35

warm sunshine.

12:38

He was sure that something had happened

12:41

to him, though he could not tell

12:43

what. He turned

12:45

his head this way and

12:48

that, and at last

12:50

caught sight of his own sides.

12:55

What do you think? He saw wings,

13:00

beautiful white wings,

13:05

and his body was white too. The

13:08

long sleep had changed

13:11

him into a butterfly.

13:16

He began to slowly stretch his

13:18

wings. They were

13:20

so new he could hardly believe that

13:22

they were part of himself. The

13:25

more he stretched them, the

13:27

more beautiful they became,

13:31

and soon they quivered

13:33

and fluttered as gracefully as

13:36

the other butterfly wings did.

13:41

Just at this moment, a strong

13:43

fresh breeze swept over the

13:45

garden, and before he

13:47

had time to refuse, the

13:50

new butterfly was lifted off

13:52

the cabbage leaf and was dancing

13:55

through the air, settling

13:57

down now on a bright flower, and

14:00

now on a nodding blade of grass,

14:03

then up and off again.

14:08

He rejoiced in his freedom for a time,

14:11

but soon came the longing to

14:13

try his wings in the upper sunshine.

14:18

Before attempting the unknown journey.

14:20

However, he flew back to

14:23

the round green cabbage head on

14:26

which he had lived so long.

14:30

There were the twenty small green

14:33

caterpillars still creeping

14:35

slowly about and filling

14:37

themselves with cabbage leaf. This

14:41

was all they knew how to do, and

14:43

this they did faithfully.

14:47

Never mind, little caterpillars, said

14:49

the new butterfly, as he hovered

14:52

over them. Keep at your work.

14:54

The cabbage leaf gives you food, and the

14:56

crawling makes you strong. By

14:59

and by you too shall be butterflies,

15:02

and go free and into

15:04

the great upper world.

15:10

Having said this in so low

15:12

a tone of voice that you would

15:14

not have heard him had you been standing close

15:17

by, he flew far

15:19

away, so

15:21

far that neither you nor I could

15:24

have followed him with our eyes. As

15:28

for the happy faced little woman, she

15:31

did not even know that he had been near

15:33

her, or her eyes

15:36

were fastened on her book as

15:39

usual.