The Great Caterpillar

This story is based on an exchange I had with my two oldest daughters, spawned by one of those innocent and curious questions that comes from the mind of a three-year-old.

They were all sitting around the campfire watching the flames dance and listening to them speak. It is during these moments when no one is speaking that curiosities rise to the surface and bubble over into words.

“Dad, have you ever seen a caterpillar?” asked the youngest girl.

“Yes. Yes I have.”

Her eyes widened. “Where?!?!?”

Her father pauses, not sure how to answer her, and replies with “in nature.”

“Nature?!?! Did you hunt for it?”

“Yes!” he says, a smile spanning his face from cheek to cheek as he leans in toward the fire. “There was one day I went to Nature and hunted the Great Caterpillar!”

“Was it long?”

“Was it long? It was six feet long!”

“That’s taller than Ani!” the oldest girl in the family chimed in.

“Taller than Ani, HA! That’s taller than me! And it was this big around,” he said, holding his arms as if he were giving the Great Caterpillar a hug. And do you know what the Great Caterpillar eats?”

Both girls shook their heads, not wanting words to keep them from the answer.

“Instead of leaves, it eats whole bushes. When I saw the Great Caterpillar eat, it crept over to a bush and chomped down on it. And when it squirmed backward, only the twigs were left! And then the Great Caterpillar looked over at me, and licked its lips.

“Did the Great Caterpillar eat you?” the younger one blurted out.

“I thought it might try, but it just said ‘Yum!’ and moved on to the next plant.”

“You’re joking, right?” the older one said, now skeptical of her father’s claims.

“Of course not! I have seen the Great Caterpillar, and I’ve even seen its chrysalis! It was as big as our van, and when it opened, the most amazing thing happened.

“What happened?”

“Well, all of the people that witnessed the opening of the Great Caterpillar’s chrysalis swore to each other that they would never speak of that day again. So if I tell you, you must never repeat it to anyone. Can you do that?”

The girls again nodded silently with wide eyes and clenched fists, eager to learn of the secret.

“Instead of one giant butterfly, ten thousand butterflies erupted from the opening, shooting out in to the sky! They created a tower of the most beautiful butterflies you have ever seen! There were butterflies of every shape and color. There were blue butterflies and pink butterflies and green and yellow butterflies. There were polka-dot butterflies, bright floral print butterflies, and butterflies with shiny metallic skin, shooting in to the sky.”

“Did they shoot in to outer space?” the younger one asked.

“No! They did not! But, let me tell you the story of when I hunted the great Space Mouse. . . . “