Boy and the Butterfly

A young boy found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared stuck.

The kind boy decided to help the butterfly and with a pair of scissors he cut open the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

But something was not alright. The butterfly had a swollen body and shrivelled wings.

The boy watched the butterfly expecting it to take on its correct proportions. But nothing changed.

The butterfly stayed the same. It was never able to fly.

In his kindness and haste the boy did not realise that the butterfly's struggle to get through the small opening of the cocoon is nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight.

Like the sapling which grows strong from being buffeted by the wind, in life we all need to struggle sometimes to make us strong - adapted from web