"The fable of the Gorgeous Catyerpillar": A story about bully, for kids and adults of any age.
All caterpillars look generally the same, ugly and unappealing. Mother Nature establishes in fact that ugly caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies in the springtime. That’s because, according to the laws of Nature, one needs to crawl on the dirty soil for a long time before one can belong in the sky.
True Beauty is a reward that is conquered through sacrifice.
Once upon a time there was a nest of caterpillars, amongst which there was one in particular that was prettier than the rest. Because her noticeable beauty and the fact that she had grown tiny wings before anyone else, the other caterpillars could not help but to admire her, and dubbed her, “The Gorgeous Caterpillar.
This of course, caused the “Gorgeous Caterpillar” to strut around vainly, boasting her tiny premature wings that Mother Nature had generously given to her.
In her vain mind, the gorgeous caterpillar assumed that her tiny wings were a special gift, a reward of some kind for having special qualities that the rest did not. She started to believe that she was better than the other caterpillars, and became convinced that it was Mother Nature’s intent for her to order everyone as their rightful queen.
The first thing the Gorgeous Caterpillar did, was to make the other caterpillars stand in front of a mirror, as she mocked and pointed at them, so that they could see how ugly they looked compared to her. This made the other caterpillars cry, lamenting their misfortune. The more they despaired the more confident the Gorgeous Caterpillar became.
Aware of how they looked, the other caterpillars began to lose their confidence allowing the Gorgeous Caterpillar to control them. She then assigned each one of them a duty: One was in charge of cleaning her wings, another was in charge of bringing fresh leaves for lunch, one was in charge of polishing her boots, there even was one that fanned her when it got hot and muggy. The caterpillars had no purpose in life but to serve their Gorgeous Master.
Believing she was following the will of Mother Nature, the Gorgeous Caterpillar felt very happy with herself. Besides, she loved immensely to be served, and knowing that the moment of metamorphosis was fast approaching, she started to fantasize about soon being the queen of all butterflies.
In her logic, the Gorgeous Caterpillar assumed that the metamorphosis would turn her precious tiny wings into the largest, and most beautiful butterfly wings ever. When they saw this, the other caterpillars should recognize immediately that she is their rightful mistress.
Time passed, and all the caterpillars slowly changed their shapes inside their cocoons. They each received strength and beauty according to how much each had worked and struggled in life.Their metamorphosis happened just as Mother Nature intended it to be.
The cocoons opened one after another, and from each a beautiful butterfly came out, gently stretching out their wings. However, the branch that held the cocoon of the Gorgeous Caterpillar had been torn down by the wind, and had fallen onto the ground. She did not move or come out for some time after all the other butterflies had done so. Once she did come out of the cocoon, without opening her eyes, she heard and felt the wind blowing on what had to be her new enormous, and awesome wings.
Amongst the sound of the wind, she distinguished high crystalline sounds, voices and giggles coming from above from creatures in the sky. The Gorgeous Caterpillar opened her eyes and saw herself surrounded by beautiful butterflies, each with their own set of wonderful wings that flapped gently creating the soft breeze she had felt. They all laughed and pointed mockingly at what appeared to be her.
It was clear the she had not completely come out of her cocoon yet, and in their stupidity the other butterflies did not realized how much more beautiful she had become.
The photos for this project have been shot by Simon Hung and Vina Kao Mahoney.
In her attempt to silence the impertinent comments of the other butterflies, the now self-proclaimed Gorgeous Butterfly proudly stood up out of her cocoon. The other butterflies will have no choice but to stop their laughing the moment they take a look at what is without a doubt, the most splendid and awe inspiring wings Nature has ever given a Queen Butterfly.
But instead of wonderful new wings the Gorgeous Butterfly extended a pair of miniscule wings, the same wings she had received at birth had not changed at all, in spite of the metamorphosis she had remained the same Gorgeous Caterpillar, gorgeous for a caterpillar, but still only just a caterpillar.
The butterflies gathered closer with immense curiosity. They wanted to inspect the strange case of this Ugly Butterfly. As they got closer, the Gorgeous Caterpillar saw the small shadow that her tiny wings cast on the ground, compared to the much larger and impressive shadow of the wings of the butterflies.
The Gorgeous Caterpillar could not comprehend what was happening, those deformed wings were not hers, they could not possibly be. Some of the butterflies brought a mirror before her. She saw in her reflection the same caterpillar she had always been, but now, what had once been gorgeous and extraordinary, was unimpressive and miniscule.
Her tiny wings and rounded body were shameful compared to the beauty around her. With Spring in full swing, the caterpillar began to feel a deep anger, and tremendous jealousy for the butterflies, after all, those wings were supposed to belong to her, that is what Nature had intended.
All of the sudden the butterflies flew up into the air in search of flowers. The Gorgeous Caterpillar attempted to do the same, but no matter how hard she flapped, her tiny wings could not lift her chubby round body off the ground. In desperation, she tried to climb up the stalk of the flower, but her weight kept making her slipping down.
To be continued....
