The Two Caterpillars

One day, while they were munching on a nice delicious green leaf, a strong breeze blew them off the tree and they both landed on the ground. They looked up and saw how far their little home was, all the way up in the top of the tree.

"Oh, no" said Cater "it will take us forever to make it back home." Pillar sighed and then she said "You're right, but we will just have to keep going until we make it, otherwise we will never get home." So they started climbing the tree. They were a bit surprised because the part they were climbing was smooth and gray, not at all like the rough brown part up at the top of the tree where their home was. But since they had never been to the bottom of the tree they thought that this was just how it was. They had only climbed a few inches however, when the tree started to move! "Wow, the tree is moving now" said Pillar sounding a bit worried. "Look!" Cater said pointing up "This isn't the tree that we're climbing. It's the foot of Elephant!" When Pillar looked up she saw two giant elephant eyes looking straight at her.

The elephant said "Why are you tickling my leg you little caterpillars?" By now Cater and Pillar were very afraid, but they explained to the elephant how the big wind had blown them out of the tree and they had thought his leg was the bottom of the tree where their home was.

The elephant was very kind even though he looked very frightening to the little caterpillars and he felt very sorry for them being stuck on the ground so he decided to help them. He put his long trunk down next to them and told them to climb on. Then he carried them up to the top of the tree by stretching his long trunk way up high. The caterpillars were thrilled to be home again and they both shouted at exactly the same time "Thank you Elephant! You saved us a lot of work climbing back up this big tree." The kind elephant waived his long trunk at the two caterpillars and went happily on his way.

The two caterpillas continued to live in the top of the tree and to take care of each other, but soon it was time for them to make their cocoons and turn into beautiful butterflies. Cater and Pillar said goodbye to each other and promised that who ever came out first would stay and wait for the other one. Then they spun their cocoons and sealed themselves inside.

While they were in their cocoons, another big storm came and blew them off their branch and far away. But this time they did not land next to each other. Cater landed near the river and Pillar landed near the field.

When they came out of their cocoons the caterpillars could not find each other. They looked this way and that but they couldn't even see their home. Each caterpillar, now a beautiful butterfly, was alone in the middle of the great big world. "Where is Cater?" Pillar said when she came out. "Where is Pillar?" Cater thought when he came out. So the two butterflies decided to look for each other.

As he flew off Cater looked down at himself and realized that he had turned into a butterfly with a yellow body and yellow and black spotted wings. He didn't look anything like the little green caterpillar he had been before he closed himself up in the cocoon. He landed on a nearby leaf and sat there wondering how he was going to find Pillar since he didn't even know what she looked like any more either. All his life he had known her as a little green caterpillar too. "This is not going to be easy" Cater thought to himself, "How can I search for my sister butterfly when I don't know what to look for?"

But Cater knew that he had to find her somehow, so he flew up into the air and began to look around for his sister. Each time he saw another butterfly he would rush over and ask, "Are you Pillar?" But each time the answer was "No" so he kept looking. He must have asked one hundred butterflies this question, but none of them were his sister. Everyone wanted to help and they all asked what she looked like but Cater could not tell them because he didn't know. All he knew was that her name was Pillar and that she was his sweet sister.

By now Pillar was just as worried. She had also realized that since she had turned into a butterfly with purple and red wings and blue spots, her brother must look different too. She knew that he must have changed just as much and she would never be able to recognize him. How was she going to find him? How? How? How?

Pillar also began to look for Cater by flying around and calling his name as loudly as she could. Suddenly she had a great idea and she started to ask all of the other insects she saw to help her find her brother by calling his name too. Before she knew it there were hundreds of insects flying around calling her brother's name. The air was full of bugs saying ''Cater".

Before long Cater heard someone calling his name and rushed see who it might be. He followed the sound of his name until he reached a big fat green praying mantis. Cater was very disappointed to see that it was not his sister, and he asked the praying mantis why he was calling his name. The praying mantis told him that a beautiful purple butterfly with blue spots was looking for her brother and had asked him to help.