Lily and the Glowing Butterfly-Full version!

                                       Lily and the Glowing Butterfly

                                                                                                     Full version

Once upon a time in a pine forest near the Ocean there was a tribe of ladybirds. To all the other animals throughout the forest the ladybirds’ tribe was known as “The fearful Tribe”.

Amongst this tribe, lived a little ladybird called Lily who stood out from the others because of her bright blue eyes and cute purple antennaes.

She led a normal ladybird’s life, flying above bushes and thistles, hopping from one flower to the next or resting on her favourite pine tree.

Yet, Lily was not happy, she was always sad...

One thing for sure, the rules were very strict in her tribe. The ladybirds were afraid of everything so they had thought of a number of important rules to protect themselves: one rule said that ladybirds should not venture out of their small territory, another did not allow them to talk to strangers and yet another one said that they should not share food with their forest neighbours.

The thing is these ladybirds were always afraid of starving! So they would always have full stocks of food, so much, they could not eat it all in time before it rotted!

Lily was very curious. She would have liked speaking to foreigners to find out what goes on in their home countries. She even dreamt of exploring the world!

She didn’t really feel comfortable in her tribe as these ladybirds were also afraid of loving...they had come up with 2 more rules: Firstly, they shouldn’t touch or cuddle one another; they had to keep some distance at all times! Secondly, they shouldn’t talk about how they felt inside or share their thoughts...

Lily had a warm heart. She couldn’t help looking at her sisters with Love. She couldn’t help wanting to give them hugs but when she did, they would always reject her, frown and walk away.

So Lily felt very lonely, isolated from the World and from her sisters and brothers, all because of their silly rules and fears..

To understand better Lily’s tribe, one needs to know that behind all their fears laid the biggest fear of them all, the fear of suffering and dying. They were so afraid of death they thought their rules could protect them from it Even if this meant being stuck in their own little world.

Lily was too young to know if she was afraid of dying so she didn’t even ask herself the question.... She did know that when a ladybird died nobody saw her again! She didn’t really know what the word “dead” meant. She just felt huge alarm and sadness in the tribe and in her heart when a sister “disappeared”, like they said...

All these rules made Lily’s life quite miserable, she felt trapped in the tiny boring ladybirds ‘World.

Still, despite all this she always kept this funny feeling inside that another kind of life was possible. So, to feel better Lily would regularly fly on her own along the beach. There she could feel free just gazing at the horizon.

One beautiful morning at dawn, having ventured slightly out of the territory once again, Lily met a wonderful butterfly. He was elegantly resting on a seashell admiring the delightful sunrise over the sea.

He had such bright silver-blue wings!

-“Hello miss ladybird!” he said smiling,” my name is Naowa.”

Lily felt very intimidated and did not know what to do. It was forbidden to speak to strangers wasn’t it? She looked at him and did not say a word. She was dazzled by his radiant beauty.

-“Hehe, have you lost your tongue miss Ladybird? Said Nawoa

She quickly collected herself and said:” hum... hello my name is Lily”

-“What a lovely name said Naowa cheerfully, what does it mean?”

-“I don’t know”, she replied

-“Well my name means Now moment. I was just born today, this morning in fact. Today is my one and only day as a butterfly on this Earth. I wish to make the most of each second of this day, and having a friend would make it even more special. Would you like to join me?

Lily found this butterfly so gentle, so beautiful... yet she was confused,

-“when you say you were just born”, she asked, ”how come then do you only have one day to live, is anything wrong with you?”

-“Not at all, I’m in great shape! Don’t you know, Lily that butterflies only live for a few days?” he replied, “My type only live one day. So, tell me then, would you like to join me into this beautiful day ?”

Lily had mixed feelings about it all; she remembered what the rules said about approaching strangers...

But the glowing butterfly looked at her with such kindness and love that she felt her heart open up. All the love she had kept locked inside started to flow out and around her in a wave of happiness. To her surprise she started smiling! She wasn’t sad anymore and for the first time in her life she felt light and alive! She said:

“-Yes Nowa I’ll come along!”

-“I’m so glad!”, He replied” we are going to have such a great day! Shall we go?”

-“Yes! let’s go!” Said Lily smiling

And off they went, way beyond Lily’s tribe’s territory!

They flew everywhere: along beaches, through forests fields and meadows.

To Liliy’s great surprise, Nowa was greeting everybody, sharing a joke and chatting with every new creature they met! Except for toads, frogs and other well-known predators of butterflies and ladybirds of course!

Lily always kept some distance, she was not used to trusting strangers. Still she could see the wake of smiles which Nowa’s kindness created along the way.

 A little while later, at lunch time, they found a meadow packed with beautiful tasty flowers. Noawa invited then the surrounding bees and butterflies to join in the feast.

Lili was not used to this and so she said:

“Hold on! Why should we let the others know? There may not be enough for the two of us!”

Nowa smiled and said: “there will always be plenty for all of us if we look after our planet and learn to share better, that’s how Mother Nature is!”, also, he said “when you share .. flowers taste better!”

Lily felt a little silly because deep down she had always known that this was the way...

When everybody had arrived and tasted the wonderful flower blossoms and a party was thrown. Butterflies, bees, dragonflies and even ladybirds from other tribes started singing and dancing!

The party attracted more creatures who came out of curiosity first and then joined in the fun: squirrels, rabbits, field mice, racoons! They all danced and had a good laugh.

Lily felt comfortable almost immediately and started chatting and dancing with everyone. The more smiles and flowers she shared with others the more her heart opened, and bright love was now pouring out of her....

For the first time in her life, Lily was radiant with happiness!

She danced and laughed all afternoon in company of the beautiful glowing butterfly.

At sunset everyone wished them goodnight and went home.

Nowa then pointed at the stars and said to Lily:

“I would love to visit the stars, wouldn’t you? »

Lily looked up at the sky, slightly overwhelmed by the distance...she would have followed Nowa to the end of the world, and that’s what she did!

They flew towards the stars, leaving the earth behind, trees and fields became tiny and the Milky Way’s beauty blew their minds.

Suddenly  Nowa started feeling weak and said with a sigh:” Lily I feel the stars are too far for tonight... I’ll visit them... some other time. Shall we fly back?”

Lily was very cold and said “I wouldn‘t mind.. My wings are almost frozen!”

As they were flying back Nowa said:

”Lily, you are so Lucky ,you can live longer than me on this beautiful planet, remember to make the most of every moment, to enjoy and learn something new from every person you meet!” Have you noticed the magic of sharing and of opening your hearts to others? Laughing, dancing and celebrating our friendship was the most beautiful moment of my life”

Lily’s day had been so exiting she had almost forgotten that Nowa would die soon. She started feeling sad again and said:

“Nowa I’m going to miss you”.

“I’m going to miss you too Lily” he replied.

“Nowa, tell me, are you afraid of dying?”.

“My dear friend, he said butterflies are never afraid of dying because they know they are eternal. They change wings that’s all!”

“Really?” Lily was puzzled, “what do you mean?”

-“We butterflies know that life is transformation, change, mutation, there are many ways to say it… Our life changes, then goes on so that when we get out of the cocoon, from caterpillar we become a butterfly... Then when to your eyes we die, in reality we only leave our butterfly envelop on earth. We experience then another transformation, an even more beautiful one this time... That’s when we become butterflies of Light, our wings of Light are immense. With only one flap we can fly to the furthest stars...”

Lily listened in amazement and said:

-“Do ladybirds turn into light when they die? And do they leave their body’s envelop on earth?”

-“Of course”, Nowa said,” every being who comes to life in a flesh body on this earth is destined to transform one day into a being of light, free to travel from star to star, before then deciding to experience new things on earth and come back into another body.”

Lily wide-eyed suddenly realised that there was no need to be afraid of Death as it is just a transition to a new life!

So they both kept flying down back to Earth and eventually landed on a huge flower. Questions were bursting all through Lily’s mind....Then she said:

-"Who decides when it is time for the big transformation Nowa?”

-“That is a Mystery of the Universe, I personally believe it is an agreement between the Universe and your soul.”

-“What do you mean by my soul?”

-“Well, it is the being of Light inside of you; it is who you really are my dearest Lily.” He went on “oh, I’m feeling very weak... My day on Earth is ending; I feel the moment of transition has arrived. Thank you so much for spending this beautiful day with me”.

Lily looked at him, feeling sad that she had to say goodbye to her new friend.

Nowa continued, “don’t be sad sweet little ladybird, even though you won’t be able to see me anymore all you’ll need to do is remember me and I’ll be near you forevermore. My gift is for you to be there when I become Light.

-“Why won’t I be able to see you anymore?” Lily asked sadly

Very weak Now replied:

-“When I leave my material envelop and become a butterfly of Light I will be so subtle, so light, so transparent... Only other beings of Light will be able to see me although you may feel my presence when you think of me. Don’t worry little Lily we will meet again as all true friends do. So until then farewell...”

-“Goodbye Nowa, thank you for the most beautiful day in my life... I will never forget you!” Lily said softly.

Then Nowa lied down, closed his eyes and covered himself with his blue-silver wings. Lily sat beside him and waited...

Moments after Nowa’s last breath a bright strong light flashed above him.

Lily tried hard to keep her eyes open while Nowa’s huge glowing butterfly of light formed before her very eyes. He leaned towards her smiling, kissed her forehead and flew towards the stars...

After this day Lily was never the same again! She was now not afraid of living or dying, fearing no one and trusting that life would provide for her every need.

After having tried explaining without success to her tribe that living in fear was a mistake she decided to move on and live her life elsewhere. And in doing so she discovered new friends and shared with them everything she had from her lunch to her heart.

She lived each moment in joy and peace and was grateful for everything she received. And the more gratitude she felt the happier she became.

A few years later a gust of wind from a storm pushed her violently against a rock, she fell onto the ground and the impact stopped her little heart right away...

The whole of mother Nature was still during a deep moment of silence. Then a great glimmer appeared in the sky above her lifeless little body, it was a huge ladybird of Light.

She looked with surprise at her body laid on the ground below, then turned her head, stunned to discover that she had two big butterfly wings of Light!!

In that same moment she heard a familiar voice:

-“Hello Lily! I’ve been waiting for you! Hey! Great wings you have there!”

Although dizzy from her transition Lily smiled, she was thrilled to see Nowa again!

He went on:

-“So, are you ready to continue our journey? This time we can visit the whole cosmos to infinity!”

-“Of course I’m ready Nowa! I’m so happy to see you!”

She glanced one last time to her Earthly envelop on the ground then said:

“Yes! Let’s go!”

And all those who had eyes to see could gaze into the night at two giant butterflies of Light, flying to the stars....

The ladybird’s adventures were just beginning.....