When Sam and Lee were caterpillars, they could not be separated. From the very moment they hatched out of their eggs on the same leaf, they were friends. They would do absolutely everything together. Whether that meant eating Eucalyptus leaves (which was sure to upset their stomachs) or going on long and tiring journeys; where there was one, so was the other.

As you can imagine, this could prove quite interesting. Take for example the time Lee wanted to sneak up on Molly Magpie while she was asleep and give her a fright. Now most young caterpillars know that it isn’t exactly a bright idea to sneak up on a magpie. After all, next to worms, caterpillars were a magpie’s favourite meal. This would have worried most caterpillars, but not Lee. Lee was crawling up the tree before Sam could say ‘stop you fool, she’ll eat you alive’.

So consequently, Sam followed Lee into the enemy's nest. When they arrived at the fork in the tree where the nest was, they found that Molly Magpie was sitting in her nest asleep. They knew this because she was snoring. Although until then, neither of them realised that magpies snored. Lee turned to Sam with a mischievous smile. ‘Okay, here’s the plan. I’m going to weave my way through the floor of the nest. I’ll sneak up right underneath her and bite her on the bottom. That’ll give her a fright. Then as soon as I bite her I’ll shoot back down into the nest so she won’t see me.’

‘What do I do?’ asked Sam.

‘That’s easy. You get the fun job. All you have to do is hide here on this branch and watch. Believe me, it will be worth it.’

So Sam stayed on the branch, snuggling into a crack, and watched intently. Lee crawled down off the branch and underneath the nest. It seemed like ages between when Lee disappeared into the nest and appeared just inside the nest. It must have been hard tunnelling. Almost straight away Molly Magpie felt a bite on her foot. When this happened she did what all birds do when they get a fright. Suddenly Lee was wearing yesterday’s dinner and could hardly move. Lee was a sitting duck, a stuck caterpillar.

Molly Magpie looked at the mess she had made in her nest and saw her breakfast opportunity. Somehow Lee managed to crawl into the nest a bit further. Molly came after, pecking away at the nest she had masterfully created only a week before. Sam didn’t know what to do. Lee was going to be eaten alive. Just then was one of those rare moments in life. Sam knew the only way to save Lee’s life was to distract Molly from her meal. So without anymore thought, Sam called ‘Molly, Molly Magpie, come and get it,’ while wriggling around on the branch.

Now the appeal of a live wriggling caterpillar was much more than a scared shuddering caterpillar covered in bird poo. Suddenly Sam realised the stupidity of the action. Molly was flying straight towards the branch. All Sam could do was crawl back further into the crack and hope that was enough. Also hoping that Lee could get free from the sticky mess and somehow stop Molly having a double helping of caterpillar for breakfast.

Luckily the crack went deep enough into the tree to stop Molly being able to reach her beak in far enough. But she tried. It must have been nearly lunch time before she gave up. Also before Sam heard a familiar voice far away yelling ‘Molly Magpie, come and get it’.

Sam knew this was the only chance to escape. Sam shot down the tree, quite surprised that Molly was nowhere to be seen, and straight into the hole that both Sam and Lee called home. Sam couldn’t believe Lee’s greeting with a piece of their favourite leaf. Sam could even less believe the words Lee uttered spitting leaf everywhere. ‘Sam. Wasn’t that exciting. Let’s do it again!'

Sam was quite relieved to find out that the ‘let’s do it again’ part was actually a joke, and had to admit that their morning’s adventure had been, if anything, exciting. That little episode made most of their other expeditions sound boring. But told individually, they were all exciting.

There was the time Lee wanted to find out what a sock tasted like and ended up being carried inside a house on that sock. Sam had to sneak past the family dog, wait for the door to be opened, and bolt through the doorway into the laundry. Then the night was spent sorting through all the dirty clothes looking for Lee. Lee was found asleep in the sock, the conclusion ‘they’re great to use as beds, but they taste terrible’.

Then there was the time Lee decided that caterpillars should learn to swim. The ducks could swim, the fish could swim, even humans could swim. So according to Lee, there was no reason caterpillars shouldn’t be able to swim. This was by the time Sam had stopped trying to talk Lee out of doing things. So Sam watched Lee trying to see which cause of death was quicker, being drowned or eaten by a fish. Sam managed to save Lee just in time from both, lowering a long piece of grass into the water for Lee to climb up onto.

Of course, the first words to be said once Lee could speak instead of coughing and spluttering were ‘I nearly had it, I’ll have to try again tomorrow’. Luckily, Sam knew that by the next day Lee would have a totally different idea and swimming would be long forgotten.

Most of their adventures followed that pattern. Lee would have a crazy idea, Sam would go along and rescue Lee when things got out of hand. Sam didn’t mind rescuing Lee, but was scared that one day Lee would go too far and wouldn’t be able to be rescued. But one thing was for sure; Sam and Lee certainly had an interesting life as caterpillars.

That is what made it so hard to say goodbye to each other when the time came for them to build their own cocoons. They knew they could build them close to each other, but they would have to be separate. Although they had considered the possibility of a double cocoon, but decided it wouldn’t work. So they each started their own cocoons, knowing it would be the first time in their lives they had been apart.

Sam’s cocoon was practical. Gathering just enough material to weave the cocoon together, Sam found a nice place, well inside the tree and built the cocoon there. Lee, however, couldn’t cope with such ordinary accommodation. Gathering all the material that could be found, a super cocoon was built. Lee said it was just incase Molly Magpie payed a visit. No magpie was going to be able to eat their way through this cocoon.

Sam was sure Lee would have put in a spa and tennis court given the chance, but said nothing. Finally the time came to say goodbye to each other and enter their own cocoons. They knew it would be a while before they would see each other again. They wondered if they would recognise each other when they emerged as butterflies. But they were sure they would. They couldn’t go through their whole lives knowing each other to become strangers after a small change. So they said goodbye and sealed their cocoons.

Sam was the first to emerge. It was a sunny morning and the warmth on the outside of the cocoon was too much to resist. Eating and pushing through the cocoon, Sam emerged as a beautiful butterfly. Sam could have been forgiven for forgetting about Lee and admiring the new and colourful wings. But Sam’s first thought was of Lee. So flapping those beautiful wings, Sam was suddenly fluttering towards where Lee’s cocoon was. ‘Wake up Lee, wake up,’ Sam sang fluttering above the cocoon.

There was a grumble as Lee tried to get through the thick super cocoon. The thickness of the walls had stopped the birds finding an easy meal, but it was also stopping Lee from breaking free. Sam was about to fly down and start to help but was stopped by a familiar voice. It was the owl. Everyone knew and respected the voice of the owl, but still a thought went through Sam’s head; ‘owls don’t eat butterflies, do they?’.

The owl was the wisest of the birds in the forest, although Sam had never seen him out at this time of day. Sam looked up inquiringly at the owl. ‘Rest easy little butterfly, I’m not going to eat you. I don’t hunt during the day, and a butterfly isn’t very filling anyway. I had a feeling you two would emerge today, so I just thought I’d fly down and see how you were going. I must say, you’re most beautiful’.

Sam blushed, if that is possible for a butterfly. ‘Why thankyou Mr Owl. I hadn’t really had time to look at myself much. I’ve been waiting for my friend. Lee’s having a bit of trouble getting out of the cocoon.’

‘I can see that,’ chuckled the owl, ‘ but you must not help your friend. You realise that, don’t you?’

‘Why not? I’ve always helped Lee’

‘I know that, but this is a different situation. You two aren’t caterpillars anymore, you are beginning new lives as butterflies. It is very important that your friend can make it out of the cocoon without help.’

‘But why? What if Lee can’t make it?’

‘I think you’ll find that anyone who can build a cocoon like that will be able to get out of it. I can’t make you understand now, but I’ll just say that you will understand later on. It is through struggling to get out of the cocoon that Lee will gain the strength to live.’

‘But what can I do?’

‘You can be there to encourage your friend, just don’t help. You have to promise not to help.’

Sam reluctantly promised not to help Lee out of the cocoon and the owl flew away to wherever it was he slept during the day. As soon as the owl had gone, Sam heard Lee crying.

‘Come on Lee, you can do it,’ Sam said encouragingly.

‘I need help, please help me.’

‘I can’t. The owl said I wasn’t allowed to help.’

‘Who cares about the owl. Help me dammit!’

‘I’m sorry Lee, I can’t. I promised.’

The conversation went on that way for quite a while. Lee getting more and more annoyed with Sam and more and more exhausted. It was hard for Sam to just sit there and watch Lee. Finally Sam knew what had to be done. Sam said ‘I’ll be back’ and flew away. By the time Sam returned it was late afternoon and Lee was nearly free. Sam was so happy to see this and said ‘see, I told you you could do it.’

‘No thanks to you,’ came the harsh reply. This really hurt Sam because this was the only time in their lives they hadn’t helped each other. But Sam knew that what the owl said was true. The best way to help was leaving Lee alone. Lee was exhausted by the time the cocoon had been beaten. Sam flew down next to Lee and they rested once again as friends, although Lee was still a bit annoyed at Sam.

As night was falling they found a hollow inside a tree and sheltered from the cold. The next thing Sam knew was that Lee was flying around outside the entrance to the hollow calling out ‘Wakey, wakey Sam’. Obviously the events of the day before had been put behind them. Sam came to the entrance to see that although Lee was now a butterfly, Lee hadn’t changed.

‘Let’s see how fast we can fly,’ came Lee’s excited suggestion.

Before Sam could say ‘I don’t think that’s such a...’ they were off and racing. They flew through the forest, fluttered over fences, soared over streets, and drifted around daffodils. They were two butterflies, two friends, together. It was then that Lee had another idea. When they were caterpillars they had not dared go into the dark part of the forest. But now that they could fly, what could stop them? So back to the usual scenario, off flew Lee and Sam following after. They flew further and further as the forest got darker and darker.

When they reached the middle of the forest, they saw something beautiful. It was a pink flower growing all by itself on a mossy log. Lee zoomed down towards it, but about ten centimetres before reaching the flower suddenly stopped. It was as if Lee had smashed straight into a window.

In a sense that is what had happened. As Sam cautiously fluttered above, it was clear Lee had flown straight into a trap. Straight into a spider’s web.

This sent a shudder through Sam’s wings. Lee was doomed and Sam knew it. Soon the spider would appear and Lee would be dead. All there was to do was wait. But as Sam and Lee wept their farewell, they realised that the spider was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the spider was asleep or hunting somewhere else.

‘Come on Lee, you can make it out, I know you can.’

Lee fluttered and fought, but it was no use. Lee wriggled and twisted, but couldn’t break free.

‘You’re doing well Lee, you can make it,’ Sam shouted.

Just then Sam saw something extremely scary. A little way away the spider was returning towards his web.

‘Come on Lee, this time you can do it. Remember the cocoon.’

The spider was getting closer and closer. In a second he would be back on his web and it would all be over. Sam would be truly alone. The spider reached his web and lunged towards Lee. But just as he did, the web broke and Lee leaped out of the way. Lee’s heart was pounding looking down on the spider who had missed out on a meal. Sam and Lee met in mid air and hugged as best as butterflies can. As they happily met they saw the owl swoop down and make his own meal out of the spider.

The owl smiled at them, as best an owl can smile with a spider in his mouth, and flew away. They watched the owl disappear and then disappeared themselves. They flew back through the forest towards where they could see the rays of sun breaking through. Then out into a brilliant day.

They flew down to a meadow and around the flowers for the rest of the day, without a care in the world. Perched upon a flower they reflected about their day’s adventure. Lee always knew that Sam would be there whenever the need arose, but realised that sometimes the best help Sam could give was to sit by and encourage.

But it was Sam who had learnt the most. Sam couldn’t just fly in and help every time Lee was in trouble. There were some things, no matter how much it hurt, Sam just had to let Lee do without help. It was only through these struggles Lee gained strength.

With this strength, Lee pushed Sam off the flower and flew away laughing. They fluttered through the daisies and dandelions laughing and playing tag. It was just like old times. Two butterflies, two friends, together.