As ducks and hippopotamuses and あなた 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 によって the pond there lived a 毛虫, キャタピラー 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,” 発言しました the snail, who really didn’t care one way または the other.
“When I grow up, I’m going to turn into something else,” she told the turtle.
“I don’t blame you,” 発言しました 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!” 発言しました the polliwog.
“What are あなた going to turn into?”
But the 毛虫, キャタピラー 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!” 発言しました the polliwog.
“You will,” 発言しました the fish. “All polliwogs do.”
“What am I going to turn into?” the polliwog asked.
But the 魚 saw a tasty bug and dashed after it.
“When I grow up,” 発言しました the caterpillar, who had circled the pond and was going around for the 秒 time, “when I grow up,” she told the polliwog again, “I’m going to turn into something else.”
“So am I!” 発言しました the polliwog.
“You?!” The 毛虫, キャタピラー was so surprised she almost fell into the pond.
“The 魚 発言しました so,” the polliwog told her. “Fish know things. They go to school.”
The 毛虫, キャタピラー was upset.
“I though only caterpillars could do it,” she 発言しました rather sadly.
“What am we going to turn into?” the polliwog asked.
“Well, I’m going to turn into a butterfly!” 発言しました the caterpillar.
“Then I guess I will, too!” the polliwog 発言しました happily. “What fun! Let’s do it together!”
“All right,” the 毛虫, キャタピラー 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 毛虫, キャタピラー started to spin a cocoon.
“This is the tricky part,” she said.
The polliwog watched as the 毛虫, キャタピラー 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 発言しました excitedly. “I want to see あなた do it!”
“It will take a while,” the 毛虫, キャタピラー 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 毛虫, キャタピラー climbed out.
Only she wasn’t a 毛虫, キャタピラー 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 バタフライ, 蝶 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 毛虫, キャタピラー wiggled by. “When I grow up,” he 発言しました 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, あなた know, a very handsome frog!” he said.
