Caty the Caterpillar - A Heartwarming Tale About Transformation at Home
Note: We are reaching out to storytellers, parents, and children all over the world to collect stories that bring a little healing and levity to the coronavirus outbreak.
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To be clear - these stories, articles, and resources are intended to help parents guide young children and ease anxiety in the household after the serious work of preparation has been done. They are not intended to make light of the illness. While this and other stories can be shared directly with children, we believe you will find the greatest comfort in crafting stories of your own with the help of your child.
This story comes from Alahna Roach, an art therapist and the mother of four boys in rural Maine. She writes, “My current job is telling stories using a sand tray method called Moving Stories sponsored by the school-based social/emotional learning support program Transforming Rural Experience in Education (TREE).
This time inside together with my family has resulted in a re-evaluation of our priorities, and a deeper desire to care for ourselves and each other from the inside out. This story flowed naturally, hearing my boys playing, laughing, and arguing outdoors, while I prepared garden beds that have lain dormant for years.
What a gift it has been to stop and observe and connect with each of my children, with their feelings, needs, and priorities, and story has been a great way to negotiate our challenges in this unprecedented time of reflection.”
Caty the Caterpillar
By Alahna Roach
Caty the caterpillar looked up from her branch at her friend Carter. “What did you say?” she asked. “I couldn’t hear you over my munching.”
“I said - What does a caterpillar do on new year’s day?”
“I don’t know, Carter.” Caty sighed, turning to her friend.
“He turns over a new leaf!” Carter smiled his big smile at her, and she couldn’t help but smile back, even though it was not his best joke.
As she turned back to her leaf, she saw that another caterpillar had already eaten it! Carter pulled Caty away, saying, “Let’s just go. There’s other leaves. Don’t worry.”
But as they turned away to find another leaf, all they saw in every direction were caterpillars of all shapes, colors and sizes, gnawing and chewing and ripping and chomping every leaf on every bush around. The bushes had begun to look sickly and ragged, and even the grass and flowers below were dying from the caterpillars’ endless cycle of consuming.
Caty sometimes wondered if there was another way to live, but Carter would just laugh and say, “Caty, this is just how life is for a caterpillar. Would you rather be like THAT guy eating dirt in the dark all day?” He pointed below, at a worm who had stuck his head out of the ground. The worm dived back down into his hole just as a robin flew overhead.
“Hey Caty, what do you call a caterpillar with no legs?”
“I don’t know, Carter. What DO you call a caterpillar with no legs?” said Caty, already guessing the punchline.
“A WORM!!!” laughed Carter, as he munched on the left-behind stem of a leaf.
As the caterpillars grew larger and larger, they also grew hungrier and more cranky. And as they grew hungrier and crankier, they ate more and more leaves, until fights began to break out amongst the caterpillar community. When a caterpillar found a leaf, he or she would try to hide it away from the others, and everyone felt increasingly worried that they would all run out of food.
Some caterpillars dealt with their worry by telling anyone who would listen about all the many dangers they were facing, from bird attacks to humans cutting down bushes to make room for their parks and parking lots. Some continued to push others around, trying to be the biggest and most powerful caterpillars, forcing others to give them leaves out of fear. Some caterpillars just hid under branches, eyes shut tight and tummies rumbling.
Some caterpillars, like Caty and Carter, did the best they could to cheer and encourage each other. Carter continued telling jokes, and Caty continued to smile, even when her tummy was rumbling.
“Hey Caty, What are caterpillars most afraid of?”
“Dogger-pillars.”
“Hey Caty, How did the caterpillar feel about getting stepped on?”
“He was crushed.”
Caty smiled bravely at her friend, and even laughed sometimes. But one thing was sure. It wasn’t easy to be a caterpillar in these times.
Then one warm day, the glowing light of the sun seemed to draw nearer to the Earth, and it seemed to every living thing that a voice was speaking inside them, strongly urging them to do something new.
One by one, every caterpillar heard the voice inside, directing them to hang upside-down from a branch, and begin the work of building a shelter around themselves. The caterpillars did not fully understand why they were being called to do this, or for how long, and some resisted the call of that voice. Some anxiously pushed themselves to keep crawling and eating, until exhaustion forced them to finally succumb. Some that stayed out too long found that more and more birds seemed to fill the air, hungrily seeking the caterpillars that had once been abundant.
As Caty and Carter hung side by side, halfway finished with the work of building their shelters, Carter’s jokes started to become more serious.
“Hey, Caty. What was the caterpillar most worried about inside his chrysalis?”
“I don’t know Carter, what are you most worried about?”
“Well, I’m a little worried I’ll never get to ‘LEAF’ this thing!” Carter chuckled, but Caty could tell how nervous he felt. She thought of all the times Carter had helped her feel better, not just by joking around, but by sharing and caring and being a good friend.
“Hey Carter, what do you call a pillar that bends but never breaks?”
Carter’s voice came out muffled from inside his Chrysalis. “What?”
“A caterpillar.”
Many changes happened during the time inside, as hours turned into days and days turned into weeks. And just when it seemed that the darkness would become their new way of life, that warm glow of light within each living thing called out again for something new.
As she felt the call, this time Caty felt excited, not nervous, and she began wiggling and stretching at the seams of her chrysalis. She had had time to think and feel and reflect on many things during her time inside, things like sharing, and laughter, and hope. But one feeling had not changed the whole time she was inside. She deeply missed her friend.
When she finally wriggled free and lay panting on the branch, feeling crumpled and crinkly, she looked over at Carter’s chrysalis, but it was hanging there, empty. Caty hung her head sadly, and didn’t even look up at the fluttering sound on the branch above her, until she heard a different, but familiar voice say,
“Hey Caty! What do you call a caterpillar with no feet, who, get this, actually eats rotten leaves and poop and stuff, and then poops out really nice soil for the flowers and bushes and plants?”
Caty smiled up into the sunlight, and it took a moment before she recognized how dramatically her friend had changed. “Carter! I don’t know! Just tell me!”
“A worm!” laughed Carter, fluttering his brightly colored wings and lifting his new, delicate body off the branch.
Caty laughed harder than she had ever laughed. “But that’s not even funny!” she said, now trying out her own wings.
“I know,” laughed Carter. “I guess a lot of things have changed!”
And sure enough, during the weeks the caterpillars had stayed inside, the leaves had a chance to regenerate, and the flowers and bushes had grown tall and strong. And, even more amazingly, the caterpillars had all changed dramatically, inside AND out. They had all grown to realize, as Caty had, that sharing, and laughter, and hope really were the most important things. They even changed their way of living, careful to give as much to their world as they took, drinking nectar from the flowers, and carrying pollen far and wide as a way to contribute to life.
And from that time on, they followed the call of the warm light that seemed to glow inside all living things, even in times of darkness.
Announcing The Coronavirus Storytelling Challenge
Schools are closing their doors. Parents are feeling anxious. Social distancing and empty shelves have us gasping for normalcy. We need skills for handling the disease, but we also need tools for managing the anxiety that treads in its footsteps.
That’s why we created The Coronoavirus Storytelling Challenge. As the nation struggles to catch up with the disease, let’s help parents and children connect and calm at home.
PS - We want stories from parents and kids too!
Stories from kids and parents empower others to share at home. That’s the goal! Pass it on.
The Storytelling Loop is a newsletter bringing you tips, science, and real-life examples of how storytelling builds the connection between parent and child. It is a joint project of Silke Rose West and Joseph Sarosy, authors of How to Tell Stories to Children. Originally published in August of 2019, a new edition is due out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2021. You can find more from Joseph Sarosy at Fatherly. Are you involved in storytelling? Join Us.