Slug
The Reluctant Butterfly
Slug: The Reluctant Butterfly
Published by Steve Copland
Copyright 2011 by Steve Copland
All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees all contents are original and
do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or work. Any part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without the permission of the author.
It was a warm sunny day when Slug was born. His mother laid her eggs on the end of a long
branch in a tree with lots of tasty leaves. She chose a large green leaf near the end of the branch,
because she knew that the branch would move in the breeze, and the birds don’t like sitting on
branches that move.
Slug’s mother was very beautiful. She had big black eyes, a kind gentle face, and four wings
covered in bright colors. She was not very old for a butterfly and Slug was the first egg she had
ever laid. When she had finished laying her eggs, she flew a short distance to a field and found
her husband drinking from a large blue flower. He had been waiting for her to return. She glided
down to the flower, took a drink, and looked at her husband.
“Did you find a good place for our children”, he asked her, his long fingers stroking her face.
“The Creator led me to that big tree on the edge of the field,” she said pointing to the place.
“He knows best, as long as we always listen to His voice we will make the right choices”, he
answered. “Come, let’s stretch our wings and check on the eggs when the sun goes down”.
High in the branches of a nearby tree were a flock of crows. Their black feathers shone in
the sun as they sat chatting together about the day. Their leader, a rather nasty crow called Silk,
was bragging about how he had stolen a golden necklace a little girl had left sitting on a seat, a
necklace her mother had given her for her birthday.
“The silly girl just left it there so I swooped down and took it before she remembered and
came running back to find it,” Silk said with an evil glint in his dark eyes.
“Where is it now?” one of the smaller crows asked.
Silk turned his head towards the speaker and stared at him.
“It is in my nest Grunt. Were you thinking to take it for yourself?”
