Once upon a time, in the middle of a big
park, there was a mother worm looking after her nest in the mud. She had many
eggs, but one of them looked different from the rest. This egg was white and
round shape; the other eggs were light brown and cocoon shape. Suddenly one by
one the eggs hatched and there were baby worms crawling everywhere. But the
white round egg took more time to hatch. When it did hatch the baby worm wasn’t
pink and smooth like its brothers and sisters; it was green and hairy.
“That is one ugly baby worm you have there” said another worm.
The mother worm also thought he was ugly, but that didn’t stop her
caring for him. But unfortunately for the ugly worm; he was teased and picked
on by the other worms. Even his brothers and sisters picked on him and called
him ugly.
One day something terrible happened to the ugly worm’s family. There
were lots of birds in the park and they began eating all the worms. The ugly
worm hid himself into the grass to not get eaten. As he was green all over the
grass camouflaged him, the birds didn’t see him so he was spared. He was
relieved that he didn’t get eaten, but he was all alone now.
The ugly worm crawled its way through the park to find somewhere else to
stay. It was too dangerous for him to stay where he lived now since the birds
were there. He hoped that he wouldn’t be teased for his ugliness again. But he
was;
“Ugh! What an ugly creature” said a spider.
“I wouldn’t have him as my mate” said a snail.
“That ugly worm is the ugliest creature I’ve ever met” said a beetle.
“This worm frightens my children” cried a ladybird “go away!”
No one liked the ugly worm at all nor did they want him around; it made
him feel more miserable and lonely than ever. He wished that the birds had
eaten him too; that way he wouldn’t have had to go through so much suffering. He
crawled to different places; like flower beds, bushes and holes in the ground.
But where ever he went, there were creatures there to call him ugly. The only
place where he wouldn’t be bothered was up a tree.
The tree that he crawled up on was the biggest tree in the whole park.
The ugly worm felt happier in the tree. There were no insects to pick on him
and the green leaves kept him safe from birds. So the tree became his new home.
To him the tree was a better place for him to be than in the mud.
One day, in the middle of summer, the ugly worm felt very strange. He
felt hungrier than ever and felt like he was growing bigger. After having a
huge feast of green leaves, he tied himself to a branch of a tree with silk.
The ugly worm had no idea why he was doing this but his instinct kept on making
him do it. So the ugly worm kept on covering himself with silk, until he was
completely covered with silk and built a cocoon. He stayed inside the cocoon
for two weeks then he burst out of the cocoon.
Being in the cocoon for two weeks had changed the ugly worm completely.
He was no longer a green and hairy worm, but a beautiful butterfly with
colourful wings of purple, white and black. The truth was he was a caterpillar,
not a worm. The butterfly spread his wings and flew around the park. Where ever
he flew the other insects thought he was the most beautiful butterfly ever.
Even other butterflies that also lived in the park welcomed him. At first the
butterfly felt shy from all the attention he was getting but he felt happy. Before
he had been picked on because of his ugliness, but now he was no longer the
ugly worm. And he was never picked on again.
