Cee is very excited.
Tomorrow is their birthday!
The day they finally get to become a butterfly.
They can't even sit still!
Did you know that butterflies can see lots of colours? Much more than we humans can!
Cee can't wait to see all the new and beautiful colours.
They are staying over at Grandma Butterfly’s house ahead of the big day tomorrow.
Grandma always tells Cee how colour in the world is made from kindness.
“The more you care about others, the more colours come into the world!”
On the journey to Grandma’s, Cee had hoped to make some new friends along the way.
There was a ladybird resting on a big green leaf.
At least, they had thought it was a ladybird… it had no spots!
“Hello, are you a ladybird? Where are your spots?” Cee asked rudely.
“Yes I am. I wasn’t born with any spots.” The ladybird had replied.
“Oh, that’s very strange! I thought all ladybirds had spots.” Cee continued, whilst moving away. Unsure they wanted to be friends with a spotless ladybird.
Later, Cee had come upon a spider hanging in a tall oak tree.
“Hello!” Cee called up, “Do you want to be my friend?”
The spider didn’t say a word and turned its back on Cee.
“How rude!” exclaimed Cee, “I don’t want to be friends with you either.”
Cee had arrived at Grandma’s disappointed that their journey had provided no new friends.
That night, Cee begins the transformation into a butterfly.
They become a chrysalis and hang from a branch like a big, long sack.
The next morning, Cee is ready to break free.
*crack* Cee emerges with the biggest wings and smile.
“It’s my birthday today!” they shout excitedly.
But wait… where have all the colours gone?
Cee begins to panic, “I thought I was supposed to see more colours!”
Grandma Butterfly comes to see what all the fuss is about.
“Grandma I can’t see any colours!” Cee cries.
“That’s very odd. Have you been mean to anyone recently?” Grandma asks. “I told you that the kinder you are, the more colourful the world is.”
“No, I’ve only been kind! I tried to make friends on the way.” insists Cee.
Cee decides to get some fresh air, they sigh “life is so unfair!”
They see the spider again, the silent one.
“H-hello…” the spider whispers, “s-sorry I’m not very good with words, I tried to write to you instead.”
Cee stops and looks at the spider.
The spider is on a huge, wonderful web that spells the word “HELLO”.
Cee didn’t notice that before.
“I like your web.” said Cee, “That must have been hard to make.”
“Oh, thank you!” the spider blushes, “It’s my favourite thing to do.”
“I’m sorry for calling you rude, do you want to be friends?” Cee asks.
The spider smiles and nods.
Suddenly the leaves were green again!
“The colour is coming back!” Cee shouts happily.
Cee realises that Grandma was right. They were unkind to the spider yesterday and being mean made the colours disappear.
Cee goes to find the spotless ladybird.
“Hello Ladybird” Cee says, “I’m sorry for calling you strange.”
“Everyone teases me for having no spots but it’s just who I am.” the ladybird replies.
“You are beautiful, with or without spots. I know this now.” Cee continues.
“Thank you, you are very kind. Do you want to be my friend?” asks the ladybird.
“I’d love to!” smiles Cee.
Cee watches as the sun comes out from behind a big fluffy cloud.
The sky is blue again!
In fact, all the colours are back.
The ladybird’s body is an even brighter red.
Cee realises they can now see spots on the ladybird that were just too special for everyone to see.
Cee invites both the spider and the ladybird to the birthday party.
They all have lots of fun playing games and eating cake.
Birthdays are much more exciting when you have friends to celebrate with!