As ducks and hippopotamuses and আপনি 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 দ্বারা the pond there lived a শুঁয়াপোকা 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,” ব্যক্ত the snail, who really didn’t care one way অথবা the other.
“When I grow up, I’m going to turn into something else,” she told the turtle.
“I don’t blame you,” ব্যক্ত 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!” ব্যক্ত the polliwog.
“What are আপনি going to turn into?”
But the শুঁয়াপোকা 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!” ব্যক্ত the polliwog.
“You will,” ব্যক্ত the fish. “All polliwogs do.”
“What am I going to turn into?” the polliwog asked.
But the মাছ saw a tasty bug and dashed after it.
“When I grow up,” ব্যক্ত the caterpillar, who had circled the pond and was going around for the সেকেন্ড time, “when I grow up,” she told the polliwog again, “I’m going to turn into something else.”
“So am I!” ব্যক্ত the polliwog.
“You?!” The শুঁয়াপোকা was so surprised she almost fell into the pond.
“The মাছ ব্যক্ত so,” the polliwog told her. “Fish know things. They go to school.”
The শুঁয়াপোকা was upset.
“I though only caterpillars could do it,” she ব্যক্ত rather sadly.
“What am we going to turn into?” the polliwog asked.
“Well, I’m going to turn into a butterfly!” ব্যক্ত the caterpillar.
“Then I guess I will, too!” the polliwog ব্যক্ত happily. “What fun! Let’s do it together!”
“All right,” the শুঁয়াপোকা 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 শুঁয়াপোকা started to spin a cocoon.
“This is the tricky part,” she said.
The polliwog watched as the শুঁয়াপোকা 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 ব্যক্ত excitedly. “I want to see আপনি do it!”
“It will take a while,” the শুঁয়াপোকা 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 শুঁয়াপোকা climbed out.
Only she wasn’t a শুঁয়াপোকা 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 প্রজাপতি 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 শুঁয়াপোকা wiggled by. “When I grow up,” he ব্যক্ত 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, আপনি know, a very handsome frog!” he said.
