Yellow Butterfly Wings: Mary's Story

One day, in the late spring, a little boy named Avery found a big, beautiful, yellow and black butterfly. The butterfly could not fly; she had a wing that was too short on one side. The butterfly looked sadly up at Avery.

"I will help you," said Avery.

Avery picked up the butterfly very gently. "I will call you Mary," he said. Mary fluttered her yellow wings. She liked the little boy very much.

Avery set Mary on a big plant inside his house. The plant had red flowers. Mary liked the flowers but soon she was hungry. The red flowers were not the right flowers for Mary; she could not sip the nectar of these flowers.

"What will I feed you?" asked Avery. Mary looked at him and fluttered her yellow wings.

"What will I feed her?" Avery asked his mother.

"We must find out what kind of butterfly she is," said his mother, "then we will know what kind of flowers she needs."

Avery and his mother looked at a big book about butterflies. They saw many pictures of yellow butterflies. Then Avery saw one that looked just like Mary. It had black stripes on the yellow wings and little blue dots along the bottom.

"There she is!" Avery pointed to the picture.

"She is a Swallowtail Butterfly," read his mother. "Swallowtail butterflies like many types of flowers: geraniums, lilacs, thistles and even dandelions."

Avery knew where to find dandelions. He ran outside and came back with a bunch of dandelions. He put them into a vase and then he set Mary on the flowers. Right away, Mary uncurled her straw-like tongue called a proboscis. She used her proboscis to sip nectar from the flower.

Avery smiled. Mary fluttered her wings with joy.

The book also said that Swallowtail Butterfly babies, or caterpillars, eat the leaves of trees like black cherry, aspen, poplar and choke cherry trees. The mother butterfly will look for these leaves to lay her eggs upon.

Avery went outside again and cut one branch of a cherry tree. He put the cut end of the branch into water so that the leaves would stay green. Then he set Mary on the branch. Mary crawled up and down the branch fluttering her beautiful wings. She was very pleased with the branch.

After a while, Avery saw that Mary had laid seven little green eggs on the branch. The eggs were bright, round and spread out on different parts of the branch. Mary looked tired but very proud of her new eggs.

Ten days went by and Avery waited. Mary also waited.

Finally, the day came when the little eggs hatched. Out came seven very tiny brown caterpillars. The caterpillars began to eat the leaves. Avery made sure that Mary's babies had fresh leaves every day.

The little brown caterpillars grew quickly. As they grew, they turned green with spots that looked like eyes on their backs. They ate and ate, they grew and grew until they were big fat caterpillars. They looked like green snakes with blue eyes. They could stick out special tongues like snakes too. These tongues are called osmateria.

Avery cared for the caterpillars. He also took good care of Mary. He loved his butterfly and she loved him. But she was getting very old. Swallowtail butterflies only live a short while. Mary became tired and finally closed her eyes. Avery saw Mary laying still and he began to cry.

"I will keep your babies safe," he told Mary. And he did.

When Mary's caterpillars were a few weeks old, they wanted to leave their branch. They wanted to find a place to make a chrysalis. The boy put the caterpillars into a big jar. He put branches into the jar for the caterpillars to climb. The caterpillars went round and round in the jar. After a while, they stopped and built little thread hammocks to lay in. They hung sideways on the branches. Finally, they transformed into chrysalises.

The chrysalises looked like brown leaves on the branch. Now they would sleep all winter. Avery put the jar in the garage so that the chrysalises didn't get too warm. Avery watched and waited all winter long. Mary's babies slept and slept.

Then one day, in the late spring, Avery watched as a big, beautiful, yellow butterfly crawled out of one of the chrysalises. Soon, Avery had seven beautiful Swallowtail butterflies. They had yellow and black striped wings with blue dots along the bottom. They fluttered their new wings excitedly as they prepared to fly for the first time.

Avery took Mary's children outside. He did not want to see them go but he knew that they needed to be free. A big tear ran down Avery's face as he let the butterflies go. Up, up they flew on perfect wings. They soared around in joyous loops and waved goodbye to their friend. Avery waved goodbye too.

Then he noticed something. Only six butterflies had flown away. One little butterfly was still trying to fly but she had a wing that was short on one side. She tried and tried but she could not fly. She looked sadly up at Avery.

"I will help you," said Avery.