Once upon a time in the highest canopy in the highest tree, there was a colony of caterpillars. All the caterpillars were a beautiful vibrant green, except Henry who was a deep brown color. All of the other caterpillars made fun of Henry because he was different and didn’t match everyone’s vibrant green radiance. Henry had no friends of his own. With no one to talk to he simply started talking to a twig on the tree he called home. Even though Henry had a plain appearance his personality was just the opposite. He made tons of jokes with his friend twiggy laughing and carrying on. Though Henry knew the twig wasn’t real he still took comfort in when somehow the wind blew just at the right time to make twiggy wag as if he was laughing too.

One bright shiny morning the other caterpillars were dancing together, bobbing their upper bodies around wildly. Henry saw them and really wanted to join, but they wouldn’t let him. Henry became very sad, so he inched away from the dance party. As he was noming on a leaf, he suddenly became overwhelmed with hunger. He began to eat and eat and eat. Henry had never eaten so much food in his life! He just couldn’t get full. Until finally when all the leaves around him were gone and in his tummy Henry began to sense his eyes drooping. He wrapped himself up tight in a cocoon for the wind was blowing especially hard that night. Feeling content he slowly drifted to sleep.

Many months went by with Henry inside his pupa. All the other caterpillars wondered where he went, but they didn’t really worry. They all thought he was an odd guy anyways. Then on late afternoon one spring day Henry woke up and felt different somehow. He got out of his bed and stretched. When Henry saw the looks on all the caterpillar’s faces he became very concerned. He had never gotten so much attention. One of the caterpillars finally wiggled forward and asked what had happened to him. Henry didn’t know what he was talking about. Maybe there had been a really bad winter and the other caterpillars had gone a little off the branch, Henry thought. Something distracted Henry from his thoughts, it was a purple wing. It was gorgeous, and then he realized they were his! He had turned into a beautiful purple butterfly! Everyone gathered around and complimented on his beauty.

From that day on no one ever made fun of Henry again or anyone else that looked different because they all realized that sometimes the more different you are the more beautiful you can become. Henry was very happy about his transformation as well as the transformation of all the other caterpillar’s attitudes.

And everyone lived happily ever after.