The Cocoon and the Butterfly in English for Kids

The butterfly struggle story is the type of story that falls under the educative categories of storytelling. As a result, it is quite popular and is included in most science chapters and textbooks in elementary grades. The butterfly story explains that things will always happen when it is the right time for it to happen and also tells us how essential the presence of patience, understanding and hard work is during most situations. Teaching these values to young children is a splendid idea, as the story provides enough information and entertainment along with good morals that can be easily understood by them.

The Cocoon and the Butterfly in English

The story starts off with a man who is obsessed with butterflies. One day, he comes across a cocoon with a tiny opening, indicating that there is a butterfly inside struggling so hard to break free and come out of it. Excited and curious, the man decided to wait till the butterfly was able to come out, as he was very eager to see it come out of the cocoon and was also hopeful that it would be able to spread its wings and fly.

So, the man decided to wait, no matter how long it took, to witness the grand flight of the insect. However, he could see that the butterfly was struggling for a long time and showed no signs of breaking free anytime soon. He had been watching for the past ten hours, and could see that the butterfly was still continuously struggling to get out of the cocoon. Becoming impatient and feeling concerned for the butterfly, he grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the cocoon, helping the butterfly come out of it completely. He was truly overjoyed to see the butterfly no longer struggling and expected it to fly.

Unfortunately, the butterfly had a swollen body and weak, small and thin wings. He did not know that it is only during the struggle that the fluids from the butterfly’s body will be absorbed and developed in making its wings bigger. Since he interrupted the process, the butterfly was unable to complete it wholly and was left with a swollen and weak body that can only slowly crawl around the floor, not healthy enough to fly. True, the man cut open the cocoon with good intentions, but he was unaware of these processes. As a result, the butterfly will most probably have a very limited lifespan and the man was unable to satisfy his curiosity and interests.

The Pictorial Representation of the Cocoon and the Butterfly

Fun Fact of the Cocoon and the Butterfly Story

Butterflies are never born, they are made and created. They always stem from worms as they were previously a worm, or more specifically, a caterpillar during their past life. It may seem like a tedious task, but in order to become a full-fledged butterfly, they will struggle to come out of the cocoon for days on end. Eventually, their hard work will certainly pay off as they will emerge as adult butterflies and can finally start to fly. Hence, it is from a caterpillar that they develop into a beautiful butterfly with many events and situations, as nature is truly wondrous and magnificent. Moreover, this is one of the rare stories that contain both morals and biology, so the children will be educated on both basic science and moral values.

The Cocoon and the Butterfly Story Moral

In this butterfly struggle story, one can find two morals in it. The first one is that without any struggle, you can’t ever succeed. No matter what happens, hard work will always lead to success. Yes, it may seem like it will never end, but without fighting or working hard for any goal, achievement, or aim, you’ll never truly get what you desire. The second moral of the story is to not interfere with or interrupt the business of others. Don’t go help others unless they ask for your help since some people may seem like they are in trouble or are in need of help, but on close speculation, it’ll be understood that they do have things under their control.

According to this cocoon and the butterfly story moral, the man wanted to put the butterfly out of its misery - misery in the eyes of the man - and cut open the cocoon. But he was oblivious that he isn’t supposed to do that because he will only harm the butterfly. And that is exactly what he ended up doing, unfortunately.

Note to Parents 

The Cocoon and the Butterfly Story is very important for the childrento be aware of the basic human values and the concepts of basic science, as mentioned previously. Parents who narrate this story are in for a pleasant surprise themselves as this story is sure to pique the curiosity of children and encourage them to read more books, educating themselves in the process. Exposing this story in the form of story-telling is very much suggested as the morals will be known to them in an interesting and engaging manner.