A
Little Scorpion lived in a big, thick, beautiful forest. It was full of big,
beautiful trees and all kinds of streams and rivers that broke up the forest
floor. Where there weren’t rivers and streams; leaves covered the forest floor
which provided places for critters such as scorpions to hide and play around.
Now this scorpion, from all outward appearances was pretty ordinary. The Little
Scorpion had the same features of any other scorpion such as six legs, claws,
and a tail with a stinger on the tip. In fact from all outward appearances this
scorpion seemed to be pretty average. This scorpion wasn’t unique or special in
terms of its color. It was a typical, run of the mill, brown scorpion, like the
ones you might find in North America. What made this scorpion different
however, was the fact that this scorpion was a dreamer. This particular
scorpion would spend hours dreaming of traveling to far off places, places that
no other scorpion had ever seen before. He also dreamed of seeing sights and
sounds that most other scorpions couldn’t even imagine.
One day
while the scorpion was playing around in the forest with its friends it
discovered a large wooden box. Being the adventurous type the Little Scorpion
decided to investigate the inside of the
box. Then suddenly, just as the scorpion had found its way into the box
it began to move. Although the Little Scorpion didn’t know it at the time, all
of its dreams were about to come true. The little Scorpion was getting ready to
have an adventure that it would never forget.
The journey was long and although
it wasn’t particularly hard on the Little Scorpion, there were times when it
found itself wondering if the journey would ever come to an end. After what
seemed like forever, without any warning, the journey was over. The wooden box
that the Little Scorpion sneaked into finally reached its destination. Because
the scorpion didn’t know where the shipping container was headed, it didn’t
have any expectations about what the destination might be, or what it might
look like. Oh, sure, the Little Scorpion had wondered and even dreamed, just
like before. Even so, nothing could have prepared the Little Scorpion for what
it was going to encounter in this new place. This new place was very different
from the forest where it had lived its entire life.
As the
Little Scorpion began to climb out of the large wooden box everything seemed
strange and new. The Little Scorpion didn’t recognize anything. Everywhere it
went it encountered something new and exciting. Eventually the Little Scorpion
found a place to hide while it slowly tried to learn about its new environment.
A couple of times out of curiosity the Little Scorpion wondered away from its
hiding place and each time it got lost because nothing about its new
environment was familiar. The air smelled different, the sun was at a different
place in the sky than the Little Scorpion was used to seeing it. In all of the
Little Scorpion’s exploring it couldn’t seem to find any leaves to hide under
or play around in. The Little Scorpion seemed to recognize some of the
creatures that it encountered. Still most of them looked very different
compared to what it was used to seeing in the forest. All of these new
creatures acted so strangely, even the ones that seemed familiar. On any given
day the scorpion could be surprise multiple times by the behaviors of the
creatures that lived in the surrounding area. And did I mention the food? In
many instances the scorpion struggle to figure out what to eat or how to locate
anything to eat. When the scorpion finally did figure out what to eat it
usually had a peculiar smell or strange taste. Mostly it was just different.
One day
while the Little Scorpion was bravely exploring this new place it noticed a
Butterfly that had been hovering over the area. The Little Scorpion watched
until finally the Butterfly landed a short distance away. The Little Scorpion
was desperate for a friend and decided to investigate. As the Little Scorpion
neared the place where the Butterfly had landed it began to see just how
brilliant and beautiful the Butterfly really was. “This Butterfly is truly
amazing” thought the Little Scorpion to itself.
This Butterfly was unlike any Butterfly the Little Scorpion had ever
seen before. It was sky blue and neon pink with silver mixed in different
spots. It was almost as if someone had taken the two colors along with the
silver and twirled them together before gently laying them on the Butterfly’s
wings. Oh, and the wings. They were enormous! As the scorpion got closer the
Butterfly flew away. As the Butterfly flew away the Little Scorpion could not
help but admired the graceful way it floated through the air. Although the
Butterfly was very beautiful, the Little Scorpion never expected to see it
again.
A very
short time later as the Little Scorpion was once again out exploring and
traveling about in its new surroundings the Butterfly reappeared. For some
strange reason this time the Butterfly seemed oddly drawn
to the simple Little Scorpion. It gently floated down and began a conversation.
Without any explanation, rhyme or reason, the two of them hit it off and became
instant friends. The Little Scorpion and the Butterfly spent hours with each
other talking and playing with each other. They were a very odd sight to see.
The Little Scorpion found the Butterfly to be very helpful, because the Little
Scorpion was new to the area. There were all kinds of things that it didn’t
know, so when the Little Scorpion had a question, it would ask the Butterfly
who very kindly answered each and every time. Because the Butterfly could get
up high off of the ground if the Little Scorpion got lost or needed help
locating something the Butterfly would hover just above it and lead the way.
The
Butterfly also helped the Little Scorpion by teaching it about hidden dangers.
One of those hidden dangers was which water sources were okay to drink from.
Back in the forest the Little Scorpion could drink from whichever water source
was most convenient. In this new and strange place some water sources could
make you really sick. Another hidden danger was hiding places. Some hiding
places weren’t as safe as they seemed to be. The Butterfly once told the Little
Scorpion about a friend who walked into a little black box because it smelled
some food. The Butterfly’s little friend never came out. Although the Butterfly
wasn’t sure what happened, it warned the Little Scorpion that it should
probably stay away from places where food seemed to be hidden.
The Little Scorpion was very
grateful for all of the Butterfly’s help and wanted to do something in return
to show its appreciation. One day the Little Scorpion decided to ask the
Butterfly if there was anything it could do to in return for all of the
kindness that the Butterfly had shown the Little Scorpion. The Butterfly
thought for a minute and then said “Well, there is this one thing that I could
use some help with but I’m not sure if there’s anything you can do.”
“What is it?” the Little Scorpion
asked eagerly. One of the Butterfly’s friends, a moth, had recently gotten
caught in a spider web and the Butterfly didn’t know how to free them. The
Butterfly was very scared for its friend and didn’t know what to do. Without
hesitation the Little Scorpion asked the Butterfly to lead way to the spider’s
web.
On the way to free the Butterfly’s
friend the Little Scorpion assured the Butterfly that everything would be okay.
“I’ve my fair share if encounters with spiders and I know just how to free your
friend” said the Little Scorpion. “But I don’t think you have ever faced a
spider quite like this one” said the Butterfly. The Little Scorpion reassured
the Butterfly that it could handle the situation and tried to encourage the
Butterfly not to worry. When they finally arrived at the spider’s web the
Little Scorpion tried not to show any sign of fear. The Little Scorpion took a
long hard look at the spider’s web to try and determine the best way to free
the moth. The reason the Little Scorpion was studying the spider web so
carefully was because it knew that as soon as it tried to set the moth free the
spider would feel the vibrations in the web and come to see what was going on.
So being able to set the moth free quickly was very important.
After looking at the web for what
seemed like an eternity to the Butterfly the Little Scorpion came up with a
plan for setting the moth free. The Little Scorpion told the Butterfly exactly
where it would cut the spider’s web so that the moth could go free. The Little
Scorpion told the Butterfly to be ready to swoop in and rescue the moth. If the
spider came out and tried to do something the Little Scorpion told the
Butterfly that it would keep the spider busy until they could get away safely.
The Butterfly was reluctant because it didn’t want the Little Scorpion to get
hurt. The Little Scorpion convinced the Butterfly that there was nothing to
worry about.
Moments later the Little Scorpion
leaped in to action. The Little Scorpion began snipping parts of the spider’s
web. Immediately the spider came out of hiding to find out what was going on.
Before the spider knew what was going on the Little Scorpion had freed the moth
from the spider’s web. Unable to get to the moth before it could get away the
spider turned its attention to the Little Scorpion. The Spider chased after the
Little Scorpion in an attempt to get revenge for freeing the moth but the
Little Scorpion was too fast for the spider.
When everyone was safe the moth
thanked the Little Scorpion for saving its life and the Butterfly thanked the Little
Scorpion too. As the Little Scorpion was catching its breath it noticed
something. There was another shipping container just like the one it had
traveled in when the Little Scorpion began its adventure. Curious about where
the shipping container could take it next the Little Scorpion said good bye to
the Butterfly and the moth before entering the crate. A few minutes later the
crate was picked up by a large machine and off it went. As the crate began its
journey to its next destination with the Little Scorpion inside it noticed that
it had changed. The Little Scorpion walked over to a piece of shiny metal where
it could see its reflection. As the Little Scorpion carefully studied its
appearance it discovered the imprint of a Butterfly on its back. Apparently the
Little Scorpion’s friendship with the Butterfly had quite literally made an
impression on the Butterfly. As the Little Scorpion set out on its new journey
it reflected on all of the lessons it had learned from the Butterfly and
wondered if it had left its own impression on the Butterfly.
