As ducks and hippopotamuses and 당신 and I get older, we get bigger. Especially hippopotamuses.
But not caterpillars.
They turn into butterflies.
Turning into something else like that is not a thing just anybody can do.
Down 의해 the pond there lived a 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 who was very proud of being different.
She bragged about it to her friends.
“When I grow up, I’m going to turn into something else,” she told the snail.
“That’s nice,” said the snail, who really didn’t care one way 또는 the other.
“When I grow up, I’m going to turn into something else,” she told the turtle.
“I don’t blame you,” said the turtle, who didn’t much like wiggly things.
“When I grow up, I’m going to turn into something else,” she told the polliwog.
“What fun!” said the polliwog.
“What are 당신 going to turn into?”
But the 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 hurried on her way, looking for someone else to tell her secret to.
“I wish I could turn into something else when I grow up!” said the polliwog.
“You will,” said the fish. “All polliwogs do.”
“What am I going to turn into?” the polliwog asked.
But the 물고기 saw a tasty bug and dashed after it.
“When I grow up,” said the caterpillar, who had circled the pond and was going around for the 초 time, “when I grow up,” she told the polliwog again, “I’m going to turn into something else.”
“So am I!” said the polliwog.
“You?!” The 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 was so surprised she almost fell into the pond.
“The 물고기 said so,” the polliwog told her. “Fish know things. They go to school.”
The 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 was upset.
“I though only caterpillars could do it,” she said rather sadly.
“What am we going to turn into?” the polliwog asked.
“Well, I’m going to turn into a butterfly!” said the caterpillar.
“Then I guess I will, too!” the polliwog said happily. “What fun! Let’s do it together!”
“All right,” the 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 agreed, although she would rather have done it alone. “But I get to go first!”
The polliwog didn’t mind. He wasn’t at all sure how it was done. “I’ll watch you,” he said.
So when the time came, the 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 started to spin a cocoon.
“This is the tricky part,” she said.
The polliwog watched as the 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 spun. Soon only her head was uncovered.
“Now I have to close the lid,” she said.
“And when I come out, I’ll be a butterfly.”
“Go ahead!” the polliwog said excitedly. “I want to see 당신 do it!”
“It will take a while,” the 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 warned. She started spinning again and was soon out of sight in the cocoon.
For a long time nothing happened.
But the polliwog was patient.
He watched
and watched
and watched,
for days
and days,
and days.
At last there was activity in the cocoon. The end of it opened and, very slowly, the 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 climbed out.
Only she wasn’t a 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 anymore. She was a butterly! A beautiful yellow butterfly!
The polliwog was so excited he hopped up and down with delight!
He hopped! Up and down! Like a frog!
“I was so busy watching you,” he said, “I didn’t notice what was happening to me!”
“You’re a very handsome frog,” the 나비 said, as she flew off to try her new wings.
But the frog was puzzled. “I thought I was going to be a butterfly,” he said.
A 무한 궤도, 캐 터 필 라 wiggled by. “When I grow up,” he said proudly to the frog, “I’m going to turn into something else!”
But the frog wasn’t listening.
He was admiring his reflection in the water.
“I am, 당신 know, a very handsome frog!” he said.
