Turning over a new leaf

Ashrafi Antia narrates the adventures of a playful butterfly

Percy the butterfly had just emerged from his cocoon. Resting on a leaf, he soaked in the warmth of the sun, spreading open his gorgeous blue wings. His forewings had a deep orange-yellow band (the colour of the sun) across them and were peaked with a black apex. 

Nan, a wise old butterfly, hovered over him and warned him to stay within the safety of the forest till he learned the ropes but Percy had an adventurous spirit. He couldn’t wait to explore the exciting new world he’d entered.  

Nan, led him to a colony of butterflies resembling him. They painted a pretty picture fluttering around a bush with pink flowers and welcomed him into their group..

One day, Percy’s curiosity got the better of him and he ventured into a park with colourful, fragrant flowers. One in particular caught his attention.  He had never seen anything like it before. Just as he thought he’d get a taste of its delicious nectar, a fly beat him to it and ventured into the pitcher-shaped flower.  Suddenly, the flower closed a petal-like lid across the opening, trapping the fly. Percy gulped as he saw the plant gulp down the fly. “Beware of the Pitcher plant,” Nan called to Percy who was trembling in fear.  “Boy that was a lucky escape from the jaws of death,” he thought.

Recovering from his shock, Percy alighted on a hibiscus flower. Perking up after a sip of its delicious nectar, he spied an old lady dozing on a park bench. Mischievous Percy thought it might be fun to wake her.  He fluttered near the lady’s legs, tickling her. The flustered lady woke up wondering what had climbed up her leg. She shook out her long skirt, stamping her feet while Percy flitted away.  The other park butterflies laughed while Nan shook her head disapprovingly.

Nan had warned the young butterflies to stay away from curious children who often chased them; attempting to catch them.  Sometimes if a child caught a butterfly by its wings, it could be permanently maimed and unable to fly.  

Suddenly Percy noticed a boy with a long spindly nose creep up on his friend Olly. He caught Olly and put him in a glass jar with a lid that had a tiny hole for air.  Olly flapped and fluttered in the confines of the glass jar as his captor walked with his nose held up high in the air, proudly displaying his prize-catch.  

Percy knew he had to act fast to save his friend. He landed on the boy’s long nose and tickled it with his feet. The boy sneezed and the bottle fell, shattering as it hit the ground and allowing Olly to escape. Together he and Percy flew high into the sky.

A few days later, Percy ventured far into the forest’s dense undergrowth, drawn by a strange rotting smell.  He thought he might chance upon a meal of overripe fruit but instead he found an enormous flower. As he drew close to the flower, he found the stench overpowering and turned back. 

Percy was born a prankster.  He decided to play a trick on his friends.  He told them he had found this monstrous, fragrant flower deep in the jungle that would provide them all with a feast fit for a king.  The other butterflies followed Percy willingly at the thought of a treat. “There it is,” declared Percy, keeping a safe distance whilst ushering the others forward.  He couldn’t stop laughing when the repulsive odour overpowered them, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat. He laughed so much that he fell from the branch he was sitting on, onto the muddy forest floor. The soggy mud stuck to the underside of his wings colouring them brown. When he folded them, they looked drab and suddenly the tables were turned. Now the joke was on him.  He became the laughing stock of the butterfly flock.

Percy tried getting up but his wet muddy wings weighed him down.  Suddenly there was a loud cry from his friends and they scattered in different directions as a bee-eater swooped out of the trees towards them.  The keen-eyed bird saw Percy struggling and dived towards him. Percy prayed out loud,“Oh Lord, please save me.”  Folding his colourful wings, exposing only his mud-caked underside, he hopped towards a pile of dried brown leaves strewn beneath a large oak tree. Hiding himself under the fallen leaves, he lay motionless.  His ploy worked. The bird was confused.  Unable to distinguish Percy from the pile of leaves the frustrated bee-eater flew away.

After a long while, Percy emerged from his cover of dry leaves and slowly made his way back home. From that day on, prankster Percy literally turned over a new leaf.  His close save taught him to be more responsible. 

He taught all his friends his new-found form of self-defence. They too began to employ this technique of camouflage. Over time, their appearance changed and evolved through mutation and adaptation so that the underside of their wings resembled dried leaves and they came to be known as orange oak leaf or dead leaf butterflies.