Caterpillar

From the egg to cocoon, a caterpillar has a challenging life. It crawls its way out of the egg, eating the shell and whatever is edible in its surroundings. The caterpillar has legs to move with yes, but they’re so short that the most efficient way to move is to undulate its body like a worm while guided by the legs.

It will crawl and grow until it wraps itself in a new shell. If it’s really unlucky, it might not make it to rest in a cocoon, but not without trying its hardest to live. A caterpillar is not a good meal. It made sure of that by covering itself with prickly hair and spikes. A brightly colored caterpillar might even warn off predators by saying, ‘Hey, I’m dangerous. Don’t eat me!’

Then when the time draws nearer and nearer, the caterpillar experiences an innate urge. It is so ready to fly, to soar, to flutter — but it does not have wings yet. 

Still, it will find the next best thing. It climbs the tallest object. It searches for the hight point, to feel the wind blowing and the threat of falling to lower ground. It will not fall, it will never fall, its grip is too strong for that, but it is the same feeling nonetheless as flying. What is flying if not the threat of falling, but averting it at the last moment.

So it climbs and climbs, up poles and trees, up flowers and branches and unwitting humans. It continues to feed on leaves and smaller bugs, but it is prepared for the next stage of its journey.

It is ready.

It continues to climb higher, but only to find a sturdy home — a temporary home. When it finds that spot, it rests, it scouts, it stakes the ground and says ‘This is where I’ll be.’

The process of spinning a cocoon is slow but vital. It needs to be strong and waterproof. It has to be right on the first try. The caterpillar will not fail. 

It hangs upside down like a bat, starting from the tail and working its way to the antennae. Round and round it goes, building the cocoon one thread at a time, layers upon layers. 

By the time the caterpillar finishes, it is inside a fortress of its own making, undergoing a transformation that it awaited so eagerly. It is here that the life of a caterpillar ends and the life of a Butterly begins.