Baby Caterpillar – A Children’s Story by Corona Cermak, Tanzania

 

Illustrated by Morris Rioba, Kenya
This story is dedicated to my husband, Vlastibor Cermak

 

1 – After five lonely days inside the egg, Baby Caterpillar decided to go and look for her family. She ate the wall of her egg and pushed herself outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 – She walked through a football ground, barely escaping the feet of the footballers. Quickly, she crossed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 – She walked across a busy road, just missed by the tyres of the speeding cars. Quickly, she crossed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 – She walked through a thick forest. Other animals including birds tried to eat her up. Quickly, she crossed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 – Hungry and tired she decided to stop by the fruit farm to eat. Baby Caterpillar ate, big leaves and small leaves, soft leaves and hard leaves, sweet leaves and bitter leaves. When she could not eat any more, she burped and continued with her journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 – She walked a long distance with no hope. When the sun was already setting, she thought it would be wise to have a rest. Her feet were tired and her skin had started to shed. Slowly, Baby caterpillar climbed an orange tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 – When she was on the top of the tree, she sighed with joy. She ate a few delicious leaves and stretched herself out on a beautiful dark green leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 – Suddenly, she heard a thunderstorm rolling. She was so scared of getting wet! She started thinking of what she could do to stay dry. She did not want to catch a cold at her tender age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 – Quickly, she got an idea of building a house which could cover her from the rain. She called her house a cocoon. Baby Caterpillar was very tired, so she slept very deeply. She snored for two weeks without waking up once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 – When she woke up she felt strange. But the warm sun made her feel excited and she could not wait to be outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 – She kicked open a hole in the wall of the cocoon and pushed herself outside to stretch. Baby Caterpillar could not believe her eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 – She discovered she had beautiful colourful wings! But they were still wet. She opened them wide to dry them out. She flapped them up and down in delight and they became stronger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 – She was amazed to find that she could fly. She had turned into a beautiful butterfly! She flew away to continue searching for her family, singing all the way.

14 – Fly, fly butterfly, fly high, fly low, fly, fly butterfly, fly here, fly there, fly, fly butterfly, fly back home.

 

 

 

 

The life cycle of the butterfly starts again from an egg laid by the butterfly.

This Children’s Literature was published in the February 2022 edition of the WSA magazine. Please click here to download.
Read – When I Grow Up – Children’s Poetry by Seluliwe Taina Masuku, Eswatini

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