Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little butterfly who lived in a garden. He lived all by himself and had many flowers to visit each day. He took much pride in his flowers and made sure that each was looked after. He felt he was their guardian and fussed and worried over them.
When evening came, he would pick out a very large leaf and tuck himself in underneath it.. When it rained, it was very hard to keep dry. He had to find a very strong leaf that wouldn’t bend when it got wet. Sometimes his wings would get wet and stick together.

When morning came, he would flit here and there and always started at the same end of the garden. He would select the part of the garden that was the farthest from the house. First the lilies, then the roses, and all the flowers in between. Usually, when he finished that part of the garden, he always had a visitor. Sometimes, he was glad so he could rest beneath a leaf or shelter himself from the sun.

He recognized the visitor, as she always wore a hat. He could not really see her face, but he knew she loved the garden. She would spend an hour or two pulling up the many weeds; checking each row of flowers to see if they needed any special care. Once in a while, he would see her glance his way and he would pull his wings up tighter.

He wished sometimes she wouldn’t stay so long. There was much-needed work to be done. When she turned her back, he would take a chance and fly out to visit a few flowers. There were some he really loved. When she turned his way, he would quickly settle underneath a leaf again.

One day as he was flitting from flower to flower, it became very dark. The wind became so strong he could hardly stay in the air. He fell to the ground just as it began to rain and he crawled under a leaf. His wings became very wet and were very heavy. He stayed there all that night, hoping by morning his wings would be dry.

When morning came he didn’t come out as early as he usually did. He was tired from the night and being tilted on his side by the wetness, had exhausted him. As midmorning approached, he began to think of the flowers and knew he had to try to fly. His flowers needed him to take care of them! He slowly lifted his wings and moved them back and forth for a moment. When he felt he was ready, he spread them and flew up to a flower.

As he sat there, still moving his wings, he noticed the visitor. She was already in the garden and was much closer than usual. She was busy hammering a long pole into the ground and didn’t seem to see him. Feeling unnoticed, he sat there and watched. Soon, she reached down and picked something up from the ground. It was very beautiful; a long box with pretty sunflowers and leaves painted on it. It had a small roof made of shingles. As he watched her hang the box on the pole, he noticed three small little slits in the side of it. All of a sudden he knew what it was! He had seen them in other gardens where his butterfly friends lived! He had been so envious when night drew near and his friends would disappear into the small openings. A butterfly house! He was to have a butterfly house!

After the box was hung, the visitor picked up her tools and turned to go. Just before leaving, she paused a moment, then glanced back at him and smiled.