The Chameleon and the Moth

It was only by accident that the chameleon met the moth, or rather the caterpillar, as it had not yet undergone the metamorphosis to become a moth.

Normally, the caterpillar would have been a quick meal for the chameleon, but the chameleon had just finished eating a praying mantis which had given him quite a battle and he was a little tired.

It was the reason the chameleon had fallen from a higher branch to a lower one. And upon landing on the lower branch, the chameleon confronted a small caterpillar.

The caterpillar, completely surprise by the chameleon that had just appeared in front of him, reared up on his back pairs of legs and blurted out: “Hey…what! Your eyes – what’s wrong with your eyes. Did you bang your head?”

Slowly, and in a monotone voice, the chameleon replied: “Nothing. I can see just fine.”

“But your eyes are rolling around in different directions.” The caterpillar said excitedly.

“They’re supposed to,” the chameleon stated, “I can see in two different directions at once.”

“And your color…? You were just a light green and now you’re brown.”

“That, too,” said the Chameleon, “Is part of being a chameleon.”

“And now, if you’re done with your questioning, I have a few questions for you.”

“O.K.,” Said the caterpillar, “Ask away, but then I have to get back to work. Time is running out.”

“First,” began the chameleon, what are you doing?”

“I’m making a chrysalis,” replied the caterpillar.

“Why?”

“So, I can change into a beautiful butterfly; hopefully, a monarch butterfly.”

“It looks more like a cocoon to me,” said the chameleon.

“No,” said the caterpillar emphatically, “It’s a chrysalis. I’m sure.”

The chameleon rolled one eye around in a circle, but said nothing. The caterpillar took no notice of the eye rolling. He was busily back at his task.

For a long time, neither one said anything. Slowly, the caterpillar disappeared into his “chrysalis” and the chameleon was left alone on the branch. And with that, the chameleon started walking in that herky-jerky chameleon way along the branch, away from the chrysalis.

Once a week, as he passed through the vicinity, the chameleon stopped in to see if the caterpillar had emerged from his chrysalis.

Finally, after about a month, the caterpillar emerged from his chrysalis and the chameleon was there to see it.

“How do I look?” he asked as he dried his delicate wings in the breeze.

“You have been transformed,” replied the chameleon.

“I have become a beautiful monarch butterfly,” and with that he leaped into the next breeze and disappeared into the distance, leaving the chameleon alone on the branch.

In reality the caterpillar had emerged as an ordinary brown moth, but the chameleon said nothing for he thought: “Who am I to interfere in the dreams and aspirations of others.”

And as the chameleon watched the sun go down, a soft wind made the branch sway gently and the chameleon closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like to fly in the breeze like a butterfly. After a few moments, he thought to himself, “This swaying branch is as close as I will ever come to flying.”, and gave his eyes a good roll - in opposite directions because that's what chameleons do.