The Butterfly Inn

Where do butterflies go when the sun fades and the night takes over? I have heard it is said that when you wake up on a summer night, look out into the darkness until your eyes become like those of a cat. If you are very, very lucky, you will see ribbons of color ripple by, colors made by butterflies on their way to rest at a butterfly inn.

Children make these resting spots for butterflies, those children who have a love of all creatures. The children build the inns of sticks and leaves and soft, soft moss, and if you don’t know the little buildings are there, you may never notice them.

It all started long ago when a girl named Amaya found a small white butterfly lying on the path to the cottage where Amaya’s family lived. It was dusk and Amaya was hurrying home from collecting the raspberries that grew wild along the lanes. She was tired and wanted her dinner so she wasn’t being careful to look where she was walking. Luckily for the butterfly, Amaya tripped over a stone, so her foot just missed stepping on the butterfly.

She picked it up so no one else would step on it, and it waved its wings a tiny bit at her in thanks, but it was too tired to fly away. Amaya carried it up the pathway to one of the flowers in the garden and very carefully set the little creature on top of the flower. The butterfly waved its wings one more time and then closed its eyes and fell back asleep.

The next morning Amaya came out to check on it just as a bird swooped down out of the sky ready to pluck the butterfly up and carry it off. Amaya ran to shoo the bird away just in time. Most people don’t know that some kinds of birds eat butterflies, so butterflies must be very careful. Now Amaya loved birds as well as butterflies, but she knew the birds could find plenty else to eat, so she didn’t feel bad that the bird would not have a butterfly breakfast.

With all the commotion, the butterfly woke up and flew off. Amaya thought she’d never see it again, but that night the butterfly was back on the same flower, and she was amazed to find it had brought other butterflies with it. They were scattered about, each resting on their own flower. But Amaya knew the bird would be back, and maybe bring more of its own, so she worried all night long. The next day she got up just as day broke and went outside. Sure enough, as the sun rose, the birds returned and Amaya chased them away. She did this day after day, wishing she had a way to explain to the butterflies that they couldn’t sleep out in the open like they did.

One day her father asked her to help him fix the chicken coop. “A fox tried to get in last night where the wire is loose,” he told her. “Luckily the chickens set up a ruckus and I went outside to check on them. I scared the fox away but I know it will be back.”

“It’s good that we have a nice safe little house for the chickens,” Amaya said. That set her to thinking. She went to work, collecting twigs and sticks and twine to tie them together and then she built a small house with a roof and three sides. The fourth she left open. Then she set the little building over the flowers the butterflies liked to sleep on. That evening she sat on the step of the cottage and waited. The butterflies came back, flitting around from flower to flower, having one last drink of nectar. They fluttered around the little building, seeming a bit confused by it, but soon one by one they flew in and settled on the flowers inside it. One butterfly wouldn’t go in, and landed on a flower on the edge of the garden, so Amaya waited until it was asleep and then very gently carried it to a protected flower under the roof.

The next morning Amaya again got up at dawn and sat on the steps. Sure enough, the bird came back, but this time it swooped down and then swooped back up, unable to get under the roof where the butterflies still slept. It finally flew off, cawing its disappointment. The butterflies woke up and went on their way, off to play in the sun.

Now flowers need sun too, like most living beings so Amaya knew she couldn’t keep them always covered. She studied the sun and then moved the house just a little bit, turning it so that the morning light shone in on the plants beneath the roof. Flowers need water as well and Amaya studied the little house when it rained, realizing she needed to take off a few of the twigs that made up the roof. The water came through but the birds could not, so the butterflies stayed safe.

Amaya began to study butterflies and read about them in books, and learned all about which plants and flowers they liked. She filled the garden with those plants until some days it looked like the flowers were dancing, there were so many butterflies flitting about. And she added bird feeders away from the garden, out among the trees, so the birds wouldn’t be tempted by all the butterflies.

Amaya met others who loved butterflies as much as she did and she has convinced many to build butterfly inns on their own lands. The little inns are hidden away in the tall grasses of meadows or tucked into the wildflowers that grow on the edge of the woods.

Most nights, Amaya never sees the butterflies sleeping at their inn, because they flit in at dusk, and are often gone by the time she is awake, but she likes knowing they have a place to stay if they are weary. And when she goes to sleep, she likes to imagine them on their flower beds, sleeping while the stars cross the sky and the night falls quiet.

*Writer's note - Children are curious as to what is happening in the world while they are asleep, and it makes it easier to go to sleep if they can imagine a peaceful world outside. I've found with my own children that the best bedtime stories are gentle, ones that you can read in a soft voice that end with a quiet scene.