An excerpt from the book written by Trina Paulos, originally published September 1972
“How does one become a butterfly?” [Yellow] asked pensively.
“You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”
“You mean to die?” asked Yellow, remembering the three who fell out of the sky.
“Yes and No,” he answered.
“What looks like you will die but what’s really you will still live.
Life is changed, not taken away.
Isn’t that different from those who die without ever becoming butterflies?”
“And if I decide to become a butterfly/’ said Yellow hesitantly. “What do I do?”
“Watch me. I’m making a cocoon.
“It looks like I’m hiding, I know, but a cocoon is no escape. It’s an in-between house where the change takes place.
“It’s a big step, since you can never return to caterpillar life.
“During the change, it will seem to you or to anyone who might peek that nothing is happening – but the butterfly is already becoming.
“It just takes time!”
Daily Braveries 