SNICKER THE CATERPILLAR WHO DIDN'T WANT TO BE A BUTTERFLY!

   

Meet Snicker, the happiest little caterpillar around.  You can probably guess how Snicker got his name, because he's such a happy go lucky guy, always with a smile on his face.  Life is pretty wonderful for Snicker, he sits around on plants and nibbles a leaf or two.  Everything is slow and easy, that is most of the time...

Every morning Snicker gets up and brushes his teeth.  Since he was always smiling he wanted a beautiful white smile for everyone to see.  Then he would go out and munch on a daisy.  Can't say Susie the daisy was to happy. She hoped for a big wind to come along so her other leaf would swing over and whop him upside the head!  Some days she got her wish.  Those are the days daisy was smiling!

Now there were a few things caterpillars had to watch out for.  Mostly   birds.  Many of them loved a nice caterpillar for lunch.  Snicker stayed away from places like corn fields and trees where Hammerhead the woodpecker hung out.  It wasn't the best place for a caterpillar to be. When he saw Hammerhead flying in, Snicker headed the other way!

The smartest thing for Snicker to do was find a safe place on his favorite mushroom.  Many days Snicker would sit and wonder what Hammerhead felt like at the end of the day after all that banging on trees.  He probably would be happy to know that Hammerhead wasn't always feeling very good after a long day in the forest.

  Often some headache medication came in handy. Meanwhile Snicker was just strolling along looking for some fresh vegetables, for dinner.  Suddenly along came another fellow that scared Snicker every time one showed up.  The dreaded butterfly!  Snicker had been told some day he would grow up to become a butterfly but he was so happy with his present life he wasn't sure he wanted that to happen!

When one came near Snicker, he took off as fast as he   could (which wasn't very fast), he just did the best he could.  He thought butterflies were beautiful, he just never saw one sitting happily munching on a leaf anywhere.  Munching on leaves was Snicker's favorite thing in the whole world.  There were several other things if you are a caterpillar you want to look out for and keep a safe distance from...

Here is a perfect example, a sweet smiling little boy like Johnny, who loves to catch things like fireflies and put them in a jar.  He also likes to catch caterpillars and oh what a horrible scary day poor Snicker had when Johnny snuck up behind him and grabbed him to take to school for show and tell.

Snicker was so scared but lucky too, because Johnny was a kind   little boy who put holes in the top of the jar so he could breath.  After the class was over Johnny took Snicker outside and let him go on a great leaf where he had a nice lunch.  He would always remember Johnny as a friend.  Of course there were others that were not such good friends.

Chickens are another one.  They usually just peck    around on grain or corn on the ground but if a nice tender caterpillar happened along, he was breakfast!  After getting lucky enough to have a caterpillar to eat they always did this great chicken dance.  It was fun to watch but he didn't want to be the reason for a chicken dance, so Snicker stayed far away from them.

Snicker had many more friends than enemies.  Sparkle and her mate Oz were special friends.  Everyone called him Oz because of his beautiful Emerald color, which reminded others of the Wizard of Oz.  They are hummingbirds and they don't eat insects or worms.  Hummingbirds only eat nectar.  That's the sugar in the center of flowers.  They are both always trying to tell Snicker how wonderful it will be when he becomes a butterfly and can eat nectar also.

Snicker wasn't so   sure.  He still wanted to hide from the butterflies.  He thought if he could just stay away, play some baseball, he'd be OK and never have to grow up to be one.  Snicker figured if your having as much fun as he was why mess up a good deal?  He thought he'd just stay a young caterpillar and have fun forever.

    Mr. Opossum was a good friend of Snicker's too. Like the hummingbirds they stayed up higher in the trees and bushes and the opossums only come out at night.  The day was fast coming when Snicker was going to turn into a beautiful butterfly, it was something that was just meant to be and couldn't be stopped.

Rainy days were one of Snicker's favorite things. He'd grab himself a big leaf and sit down to enjoy the peace and quite.  Most all the other animals took cover and went into hide someplace when it rained.  Not Snicker, he sat right there and enjoyed every minute.  The spring rains meant the time for Snicker was growing closer and closer.  Even though he didn't know it.

Beautiful butterflies suddenly seemed to be everywhere!  Snicker couldn't believe how pretty they all were.  The wisest friend he had, Professor Owl said, "relax and become what you must Snicker, it is the way life must be."  So Snicker built a cocoon and went to sleep.  When he woke up he was one of the most beautiful butterflies anyone had ever seen!

Snicker had so many different colors, even a blue like his friend Sparkle the hummingbird.  He felt so pretty, like the frog who was kissed by a Princess and turned into a Prince.  Snicker watched all the other butterflies around him to learn what he was suppose to do.  He noticed they were always on beautiful flowers. 

   Butterflies on flower baskets and gardens people had planted.  Almost everywhere there were flowers, there were butterflies.  Snicker thought maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad life after all.  Who could say visiting beautiful flowers all the time isn't fun? 

These guys are very happy about Snicker's new life, he use to eat them before they could get to the grocery store.  Now, Snicker visits the strawberry plants when they have flowers, before they turn to strawberries.  These three strawberries are happy they will be eaten by a child instead of a caterpillar.

Snicker followed Sparkle around and a new Monarch friend he had made, watching them on the flowers.  It wasn't hard to learn to drink the nectar, as a matter of fact it was delicious.  Snicker thought to himself, this is going to be great. I can fly and get from place to place much faster than before.  He just didn't know why he had  been so afraid.  Snicker decided he loved this part of his new life!  It was going to be a wonderful summer!

IF YOU FOLLOW THE PATH LIFE IS LEADING YOU, MOST OF THE TIME YOU'LL END UP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION...