Watchwords
Chelsea the Butterfly learns that there are more important things than looking the same as everyone else. But looking different can be good too.
The Story of Chelsea the Butterfly
Once upon a time there was a little butterfly whose name was Chelsea.
Chelsea was a very unusual butterfly because when she was born she was completely white. All the other butterflies pointed at her and said, 'Everyone knows that butterflies have coloured wings but you don't. You must be a cabbage moth!'
This made Chelsea very sad and she wished that she had pretty wings like the other butterflies – pink and purple and blue, red and yellow and green –
all the colours of the rainbow.
As she rested on a petunia one day after flying around the hibiscus and rose bushes, she wished with all her heart
that she might be given just one colour for her wings.
To her surprise her guardian angel (for a guardian angel watches over all young things) hovered
in the air next to her and said, ‘Colours fade but a kind and generous heart lasts forever – so be kind and gentle and you will find the happiness you seek.’
So Chelsea did her kindness lessons every day and she became so busy doing things for other butterflies that she forgot that she was unhappy with her white wings, and the other butterflies forgot about them too.
One day a very nasty bumble bee knocked Chelsea off a daffodil when she was drinking and shouted, ‘This is my flower, moth. Get off it at once.’
The daffodil was furious and after the bumble bee flew away it said, 'What a cheek! Do you want me to refuse to serve him in future? I wouldn't mind a bit.'
But Chelsea said, ‘Don’t do so on my account. I think that the old bumble bee has such a bad temper it will make him feel unhappy all his life and there can be no greater
punishment than that.’
Chelsea's guardian angel heard her forgive the bumble bee for his rudeness and said, ‘Let the colours of your
wings reflect the brightness in your heart,’ and, on so saying, a sparkling mist appeared over Chelsea and the daffodil – whereupon Chelsea promptly turned the same golden colour as the daffodil.
When she flew around the garden and landed on a large rambling rose she turned red and, after alighting on a purple pansy, her wings shone purple.
From that day forward Chelsea took on the colour of any flower upon which she landed and, not only that, she could choose the colours her wings reflected. It was like having an endless supply of party dresses and
she was a very, very happy butterfly indeed.
As Chelsea the butterfly grew up, she added more and more colours to her wings and her body turned
silver and copper and gold. And that’s how Chelsea became the biggest and most beautiful butterfly in all the world.
The
End
© L.J. May