The Butterfly that Almost Wasn't Part IV
Posted by Martha; vegetables photographed by Martha Young McQuilkin from her Patio '13 · Jun 20, 2013
Several days passed. One afternoon while Bella sat flattened down under ripening tomatoes and cucumber, heartbroken and weakened from not eating, she heard a tiny but clear cheerful voice. "Hello! What do we have here?" The caterpillar slowly turned her head and immediately curled into a ball.
A delicate elfin dragon stood before her, body sparkling in the sunshine. "Don't be afraid. I'm Elspeth. Look. Some of my scales are the same color as the flowers around you, Bella."
The dragon led her to new host vines every morning. She sung to the caterpillar in a soft, gentle voice. She whispered in her ear - tales full of adventure and beauty that awaited her. The two became fast friends.
One warm summer morning Elspeth spoke candidly. "Bella, soon you will create your own home called a chrysalis. You will sleep and sleep and sleep safely within your new home. And, one day when you are completely rested, you will emerge."
Bella's long healthy caterpillar body shuddered. "Oh no," she said. "I don't want to stop seeing you Elspeth. I don't want you to disappear from my life like Master and Mistress Buckeye did."
"I will come visit you everyday while you sleep away the time. You need to trust me."
"Well, now that you mention it, I do like small snug places, and I've been sleepy lately."
After some further discussion, Elspeth convinced her friend of her elfin dragon loyalty and the necessity of building her new home. So that afternoon Bella climbed onto the passion flower vine on Miss Martha's Patio window box. Under the watchful eye of Elspeth, the caterpillar shed her skin to produce a perfect chrysalis attached to a vine tendril by her very own spun silk thread.
Each day thereafter, while Bella slept and slept and slept, Elspeth came to watch over her friend from the nearby Japanese Maple.
(to be continued from Atlanta, Georgia, USA on Miss Martha's Patio - Earth)