Butterfly

Little Girl and the Butterfly

         Once there was this little girl. She was like any other little girl growing up.
She had black hair, soft smooth white skin.  She wore a little dress, some nice black shoes with white socks.  She went outside to play in her backyard.  It was a spring day. The sun was out and almost directly above her. The grass was green and had been even mowed a few times.  But dad's mower broke and the grass grew higher in one part of the yard.
         The little girl liked playing hide and seek in the tall grass. No one could see her. She could look out as if invisible and see her mother in the back window washing at the sink.
         As she watched her mother in the kitchen window something moved in her vision to the right.  She did not see it at first, but as it came closer to the tall grass she could clearly see it was a butterfly.  So it did not take much time at all and all her focus moved from her mother to the butterfly.
         As she watched the butterfly she hoped that it would come to the tall grass where she was hiding.  She said, "Come here little butterfly," "Come here little butterfly."  She felt if she said it over and over again the butterfly would hear and would want to come play with her.
         The butterfly came closer and closer until it indeed flew above the tall grass. She watched it closely and as she did it came down and landed within arms reach on a tall blade of grass.  The wind wasn't blowing and the grass stayed stationary so she was able to see the butterfly.  The butterfly was all yellow except it had black trim all around it. She watched as the beautiful butterfly gracefully opened it's wings.  She thought for a minute and said to the butterfly, "Oh you’re so beautiful. You’re so beautiful I must keep you."  She thought she might keep the butterfly in her room. That way she could talk to it and wake up to it and it could be a playmate and a friend to her.
         So when the butterfly closed it's wings she thought it was the best time for her to try catching it.  She reached out with both hands and caught the butterfly in both hands. She was so happy she stood up and ran into the house to show her mother. But she also needed to find something to put it in.  So as she approached her mother in the kitchen she excitedly asked her mother for a big jar she could keep her butterfly in.
         Her mother said that she had seen a few big yellow butterflies the last few days. There must be a bunch in the area.  Her mother said that they were very pretty and delicate.  She told her daughter that it would not be right to keep them in the jar when they have there work to do looking pretty in the yard. Most of all they would have their freedom.
         The little girl said, "No it's my butterfly and I am going to take care of it. I will find out what it eats and feed it and give it air and I will love it and it will be fine."  The little girl got so mad at her mother after she tried talking her out of her decision that she held the butterfly a bit tighter when she got madder.  Her mother tried to get the butter fly from the little girl and she held the butterfly just a bit more tight.  The little girl’s hands really weren't that big and she was holding the butterfly real tight.
         Finally when things really got heated between the little girl and the mother the little girl yelled out, "Fine, okay here is the butterfly."  As she opened her hands
to her mother they both looked at the butterfly and it didn't look the same.  The little girl held the butterfly so tight that the butterfly barely opened it's wings.  It looked so different because she held it to tight and a lot of the color in it's badly broken wings had rubbed off in her hands.  It's body barely moved.  She cried and cried, but a minute later the butterfly died. 
         She looked at her mother and said, "She loved it and it's dead."  She thought no longer would she see the butterfly that she loved so much.  She and her mother buried the butterfly amidst the tall grass in the yard.
         The next day she was in the backyard again. She was in the tall grass. While she was there her eyes looked over the tall grass and there was another butterfly. It was beautiful too, just like the other one.  She thought for a moment that she should keep it and she could love this one too. So she caught it and put it in a jar. She didn't tell her mother about this butterfly.  She forgot to put holes in the top of the jar and by next morning she woke and found the butterfly dead. It had died with it's wings together and suffocated with no air.  She cried and cried and cried.  I am never going to be able to have a beautiful butterfly for a friend.
         That same day she was out in the yard again and saw another two butterflies and thought oh great there are two I can have one of them.  So she caught one of the butterflies.  She was so happy that she ran in the house and put it in the jar. She took the jar to the garage and got some nails and a hammer and put holes in the jar cap so that the butterfly could breath. She was happy then so she could love the butterfly and have it in her room.
         The little girl woke up and looked in the jar and to her surprise and astonishment she found the butterfly laying on it's side. This one too had died. She wondered what she didn't do this time to make the butterfly feel comfortable. Then it hit her. She didn't feed it and she didn't know what they ate.
         So all through that day she looked outside in the tall grass for another butterfly.  She thought she was getting real good at catching butterflies.  But she was feeling bad that so many of them had died because of her.  She found and caught another one. She put it in the jar; made sure it had air and this time she put some grass in and a few dandelion flowers into the jar. She felt sure that this butterfly would be happy and eat.  Then it would keep her company and she would love it.
         She awoke the next morning the sun was coming into her room and she went to say good morning to her beautiful butterfly.  "Oh no!" she said this one to had died. She sat down and cried and cried and cried. She thought back to all she did for all the beautiful butterflies.  All she could picture was the butterfly that had died in her hand, it's wings that were broken and her little tender heart gave out and she cried some more.  After she cried and could not cry anymore her mother said, "Why don't you go out and play it's a beautiful day." She really didn't want to, but she decided she would.
         She walked outside and looked around the yard. She decided she would go make a fort in the tall grass. So she brought her dolls out into the tall grass.  As she was busy with her dolls her eyes caught the movement of a butterfly flying inches above the talk grass.  She looked at the butterfly. For a minute as she watched she did not say anything. She got this real warm feeling in her heart, she remembered all the other butterflies she caught and looked up at this one oh so beautiful.  It started to fly away and she did not get up to catch it. She looked at it and smiled at it and said, Goodbye butterfly...I really love you!