How to Befriend a Butterfly

A butterfly is trying to get in to Hedgehog's apartment through the window, but the window is not the opening kind.

Once there was a sweet little hedgehog. She lived alone in the trunk of a large tree. Her home had a nice strong door and a sweet little window where the sunset shone it’s purple and orange colors every night. There was a shed out back where she stored all her gardening tools.

Hedgehog was happiest sipping her strawberry tea and eating chocolate truffles. Her favorite thing to do was snuggle up in her heavy quilt on her rocking chair and read by candlelight.

One unusually cold and snowy evening, when she was almost falling asleep, something made a loud “THUMP” against the window.

It woke her up, but it didn’t register. She stirred a little in her blanket to get more comfortable and opened her book again.

She didn’t get very far when she heard the sound again.

This time she took notice.

“What was that?” she asked herself.

She closed her book and slid out from under the quilt onto the soft woven rug in the middle of her living room.

“THUMP!”

“Oh, my,” she said. “Something’s hitting the window.”

She Rushed over to the window and looked out. It was snowing. The moon was very bright. She loved this time of year. The white snow, the tea by the fireplace…

“THUMP!”

“Oh,” she exclaimed. “It’s a butterfly.”

The window was set inside a solid mould and so it could not be opened.

“She wants to get inside,” she mumbled.

So Hedgehog waddled over to the closet to grab a coat.

“THUMP!”

“Oh, dear,” she said. “I’ll have to hurry. She’s bound to hurt herself.”

She hastily put on her coat and wrapped a scarf around her neck and opened the front door..

“Butterfly!” she called out. “You’re welcome to come in for a nice cup of tea, but I can’t open the window.”

“THUMP!”

“Oh, dear,” she said. “You’ll have to come in this way. Through the door.”

The butterfly did not understand. She just kept on thumping into the window.

Hedgehog tried again.

“Butterfly!” she called out slowly and loudly. “I said, you’ll have to come in this way.”

“THUMP!”

“Oh, my,” she said. “If only I could speak Butterfly.”

Then she had an idea.

“I’ll attract her with food,” she said, and she waddled into the kitchen.

She was back in no time with a plate of Currant Scones and Clotted Cream.

“Here you are,” she called out, and then waited. The butterfly looked over for a moment, but then kept on banging into the window.

“Oh,” said Hedgehog, “silly me. I forgot the tea.”

She waddled back inside.

“I’ll have to put the kettle on,” she called out as she waddled into the kitchen.

As she was waiting for the kettle to boil, she heard the butterfly hit the window a couple of times, but she couldn’t make the kettle boil any faster.

She brought the tea out when it had finished, but the butterfly still would not come to the door.

She sat and thought for a moment.

“Maybe butterflies don’t like tea,” she said to herself. “Maybe they like music.”

Well, Hedgehog didn’t own a record player, but she did own a didgeridoo.

“I’ll get my didge,” she said as she waddled up to the bedroom.

She tested it upstairs first.

“FOOOOON!” Then silence for a moment, then, “DOOWAAAAAOOO!”

Then she came downstairs. She stuck the end of the didge just outside the door and began to blow in it. She made all sorts of animal sounds in it, all the time keeping the low drone rumbling along.

She made an owl sound, and a dog barking and a crow’s “caw”. She even tried a cow, but it sounded more like a toilet flushing.

She finished playing, set it up in the corner of the room, and looked outside. The butterfly was still flying at the window.

Hedgehog was at a loss.

“Suit yourself,” she yelled out at the butterfly, and slammed the door.

She didn’t really mean to be impolite, but she thought she’d try that “tough love” she’d been hearing about.

She stood by the front door for a few moments, and it seemed to have worked. The butterfly stopped hitting the window.

“Good,” said Hedgehog. “Maybe now I can get some rest,“ and she waddled up to her bedroom.

Hedgehog had just drifted to sleep when another loud “THUMP!” came from downstairs.

“Oh, no!” said Hedgehog. “She’s back.”

Hedgehog tried to put the pillow over her head, but it didn’t help.

Then, suddenly, Hedgehog had an idea. She went into her closet and grabbed colorful fabric, some wire hangers and some swimming goggles.

Then she rushed down the stairs and out the front door to the garden shed.

There was a bunch of cutting and hammering and gluing and taping and stapling, and then it stopped.

She turned on a bright light inside and stepped into the doorway. She had built a couple of huge butterfly wings, strapped them on her back put on the swimming goggles and was wrapped in a black fabric. The bright light shone around her like she was an angel.

But it wasn’t. It was Hedgehog dressed like a butterfly.

Well, this got the butterfly’s attention. It quickly turned from heading toward the window and headed straight for Hedgehog.

“Oh, goodness,” yelped Hedgehog. “She’s coming quite fast, isn’t she.”

So Hedgehog bolted out of the doorway of the shed, and ran across the yard toward her house, into her front door, and fell right into her favorite rocking chair.

When she finally gathered herself to turn around, she was happily surprised that the butterfly had followed her into the house, and was perched on the edge of the cup of tea that Hedgehog had made for her earlier.

“Oh, good,” said Hedgehog. I hope it’s warm enough.”

Then Hedgehog stood up, closed the front door, stoked the fire and sat herself down to talk.

“So, little butterfly,” said Hedgehog. “Do you like my wings?”

They were friends from then on. Hedgehog always knew that if Butterfly got stuck outside again, all she needed to do was to fetch the butterfly suit from the garden shed and jump around like a “silly pants”.

The End