Short Story - The Black Bird and The Beautiful Butterfly!

Dazzle, the beautiful butterfly flew over to a clump of flowers in a corner of a green field. She was enjoying the cool breeze and lost herself in the scenic beauty. Suddenly, she heard a loud flapping behind… she was almost knocked off by a sudden breeze! Dazzle spun round.

A black bird was swooping down towards her, his yellow beak open, ready to gobble her up! Dazzle gasped with fright as the bird made a grab for her, snapping his beak. Dazzle managed to dart out of the way, flying past a tree and zigzagging between the green leaves.

Silence! Everything went quiet all of a sudden! Dazzle couldn’t hear the flapping sound any longer! She decided that the black bird had given up his chase and gone away. With a sigh of relief, she fluttered out from behind a large leaf. Alas! She was wrong! The black bird flew straight at her.

“Help”, Dazzle cried. The bird was so close that she could see his wide-open beak and the red tinge of his mouth as he snapped at her again! Dazzle ducked behind a tree branch with the bird following her closely. She raced to the tree top. “Help”, she cried again and felt her heart fluttering. “I have to be brave. I shouldn’t get panicky”, Dazzle muttered and tried to compose herself. With a quick flick of her wings, she turned in a circle and flew in the opposite direction. She was surprised at the speed with which she had taken off to escape the clutches of the black bird that was still following her.

Dazzle was quite sad. “Oh God! It’s not fair. Just out of the cocoon, I do not want to be eaten so soon! Please save me”, she pleaded.

“Over here”, a small voice called. “Follow me”, the voice continued.

For a moment, Dazzle thought she was imagining things. Then she saw a small pale blue butterfly flying nearby. Dazzle stared at her in amazement. Another butterfly!

“This way”, the blue butterfly said, swooping towards the hedge at the front of the field. Dazzle followed her. The two beautiful butterflies, their wings a colourful blur, flew across the field. Dazzle didn’t dare to look back, fearing that the black bird might still be following them!

The hedge was full of wild flower plants. The blue butterfly headed straight towards a big plant covered with pink blooms. The blue beauty gently slid through the twisted stems of the plant with Dazzle following her.

“Mind your wings”, the blue beauty told Dazzle. “There are thorns and they are very sharp”, she warned. Just then, Dazzle noticed that the stems of the flower plant had small, sharp, needle-like thorns.

“This is a unique plant”, the blue beauty added as they landed on a large leaf of the plant. “No bird can reach us here amidst these thorns”. Dazzle saw the black bird hovering above them for a while. Then with a squawk, the bird flew off!

Dazzle thanked the blue beauty for saving her life!

- S. Manickam,