It was June, leafs were fully grown, dark green, and moving lightly with the breeze.
After chatting a bit about the weather, the leaf finally asked: “What brings you here?”
The caterpillar was caught off guard and a bit absentmindedly stuttered: “Well, as a matter of fact … I was thinking…” and he never finished the sentence. “I have a great request to make of you. Every morning you get your day’s food from the tree and you don’t have to go out and find any, but I don’t always have it so easy to find something to eat. And so – that is why I am here”
“Well, if I can help you in any way, why I’d be glad to”, Said the leaf sympathetically. “But my problem is that I am firmly tied to this tree, and so I can’t go along and help you look for food.”
“You know, you have such a beautiful green dress…” ventured the caterpillar.
The leaf thrilled at this admiration and twirled about in delight.
At first, the leaf was not sure it heard correctly. But when it saw the caterpillar’s eyes, it knew it had heard right. It look a slow deep breath and then thought to itself, “The caterpillar is hungry and tired, but should I give him a piece of my one and only dress?”
It was a hard decision to make but the leaf reasoned this way: If I say “No”, the caterpillar would probably eat some of my dress out of hunger anyway. The leaf could not prevent that, but if it said ”Yes”, it would be helping the caterpillar and his gratitude would bring joy and satisfaction. Anyway a person can always go on living with a hole in one’s dress.
So the leaf gave part of its dress to the caterpillar to eat. Actually he only ate a little bit and then stayed on to chat in gratitude with the leaf.
In the fall of the year, the leaf with the hole could look back at a useful and happy life.
It turned beautifully colored with age and then fell in a half dance to the ground.
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| الصورة بعدسة جوني ناصر |