Story: The Bear And The Butterfly
A story for children
The time had come for a little girl to have a birthday, and her parents asked her what she would like to get as a present. The little girl said, “A bear, standing like this with his arms up in the air and roaring like he’s going to eat somebody. Bears are very loud.”
“Oh my,” said her parents (they were a little surprised). “Is there anything else you’d like?”
With a little dance, she lifted her arms, and said, “A butterfly with beautiful wings who flies around the flowers and sings songs.” she said; “A butterfly makes a very small sound, but also very beautiful.”
That night, while the little girl slept, she dreamed that she was in a dark forest all alone. She could hear the sound of something … big … crashing through the the forest. The sound came closer, and the sound got louder, and from behind the trees came a great big bear. It was large and powerful, and angry, and it stood up and roared, scaring all the forest animals, who scampered away. Of course, bears are very loud. … The little girl cried in her sleep. She didn’t know it, but her parents sat with her and comforted her while she dreamed.
In her dream, something happened. The little girl came out of the forest and into a green meadow. It seemed to her she was now in a garden, filled with flowers. All the animals had disappeared, except for the bear and … a little butterfly.
The butterfly fluttered around the garden flowers, and flew right up in front of the little girl’s face. She smiled, because she thought she could hear a small sound. Of course, it was the sound of the butterfly’s song. The bear looked like he wanted to eat the butterfly and the little girl too: it roared a big bear roar and stood up on its hind legs, showing its teeth. The butterfly wasn’t bothered: it just flew away up high and the little girl flew with it. Of course, little girls can fly in dreams. Soon, the only sound was the song of the butterfly (and that was still a very small sound but also very beautiful).
When the girl woke up, it was her birthday. There were two gifts and she opened them both quickly. The first present was a stuffed bear with arms and legs which moved. The second present was a quilted-cloth butterfly with beautiful wings. The girl played with her gifts all day long. Sometimes she stood the bear up and roared a big bear roar. Sometimes she flew the butterfly around her garden and sang a small, beautiful, butterfly song.
And at the end of the day, the girl asked her parents if she could sleep with her new toys. They said, “Of course you can”, and she ran off in excitement. And when they came to her bed to say goodnight, she was already under the covers, wrapped up with her two gifts, the bear and the butterfly. And they stayed that way, held together tightly in the little girl’s arms, until the night was over, and the sun came up on a new day.