Highly Commended Story - How The Buterflies Wings Got Color?

“How The Buterflies Wings Got Color?” by Manasvi Archis Kamath, Rustomjee Cambridge International School, India, is the Highly Commended story in the junior category of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

How The Buterflies Wings Got Color?

Butterflies are seen all around; they come in all various colors. But, have you ever imagined how they are filled with such coruscating colors? Well, this story starts a few centuries before humanity existed. There were butterflies, but, with colorless wings. Their wings were translucent sheets of cells; they were barely seen passing by. Then, butterflies ate minute insects and lived in tribes.

Once there was a butterfly named Izzy. She was the only daughter of her two warm and kind parents; they were an extremely happy family. Izzy was tender-hearted and polite just like her parents. She also had many close friends in her tribe. But little did Izzy know she was the one who changed the fate of butterflies.

One fine day Izzy was woken up by the deafening sound of the cock. She squeezed her way through her little cocoon. She realized her parents had left in search of food before dawn, so she flew up to her friend Carolina and pulled her out of her long springy cocoon, and darted towards the open grassland. It was truly a wonderful view of the flat land with tiny hair like grass and a few spread out trees. They could also see a gang of buffalos passing by a stream. They sat by a cliff near the view and gossiped about all that was happening in butterfly village for hours. It was late afternoon and the sun took a slight dip behind the cliff as it started to get dark. Carolina immediately decided to go home saying “my parents will ground me if I am late, again!”

After some time, as the sun dived deeper, Izzy felt famished, so she hurried home to see what her parents had got for her, after long hours of searching. As she got closer to the village, she caught a glimpse of all the butterflies gathered together. Izzy decided to hover closer to the crowd to investigate. But what Izzy saw shook her to the core. She saw Carolina lying down with a crumpled wing, and a squashed body. She felt a cold shiver running through her body, Izzy pushed her way through the crowd and went closer towards her. Carolina’s parents were also there by her side and in tears of shock. Izzy was told that she was stepped upon by some animals rushing home.

Izzy could not sleep that night and refused to eat even her favorite bugs, the aphids. Her parents tried to comfort her but, alas, they were too tired to stay awake with her. Izzy was completely lost in thought of Carolina. On the inside Izzy was blaming herself for Carolina’s horrible condition. She just wished she had gone with her, and imagined that her condition would have been a lot better if she were just seen by those animals. In the heat of the moment, Izzy decided to fly far away from her village. She swiftly made her way out of her cocoon, without making a sound.

In no time, Izzy was flying in the jet black open sky with faint purple moonlight. She flew so far away she lost track of where she was. After journeying for a long one-and-a-half-hour, Izzy finally decided to make a stop. She had stopped near an open field of flowers, they were of all different colors and sizes, but Izzy could see none due to the darkness filled in her mind by watching her friend almost die.

Izzy sat by the edge of a petal of a beautiful pinkish-blue flower, with her antennas drooping down and body slightly curled up. All the time she sat there she just hoped all the animals could see the butterflies and her poor friend who went through so much misery. A few moments from then Izzy felt a tingling cramp in her tummy and suddenly turned so hungry she could eat an entire fish. She hadn’t got anything to eat nor did she have the courage to go and search for bugs in the middle of the night. She looked around for a little while, and noticed something slimy in the center of the flower. It looked gooey and glossy, Izzy took a leap of faith and stuck her proboscis in the liquid. It was slightly sticky, sweet and energizing. Izzy spent a next couple of moments to finish it to the end. Izzy immediately made up her mind, she thought “I should have never come here in the first place; I have acted like such a coward. My friend is in the village and I just ran away, when I need to be by her side!”

Izzy eventually found her way back to her home, just before dawn. She rushed into Carolina’s cocoon and didn’t leave her side until early afternoon. As soon as she felt slightly tired she decided to go to her own cocoon and have some rest. As she flew out she saw everyone looking at her in a surprising manner. Just as she was about to enter her cocoon, one of the butterfly pulled her aside and said “look at your wings”. Izzy hurriedly turned back and saw a mesmerizing pair of wings. They had turned from a faded white to a solid mixture of blue and pink.

Izzy was stunned, so were all her friends even her parents. Anyway, Izzy eventually found a suitable reason for it. She realized that the sticky fluid- which is now called nectar – imparted the color of the flower into her empty wings. Izzy showed no selfishness and told the little secret behind her beautifully colored wings to all the butterflies in town. This news spread from one butterfly village to the other. Slowly all the butterflies in the world were filled in wide range of colors. So now you know how the butterfly’s wings got color.