In the light of the moon, my animal saviour －おや、救世どうぶつ、とお月さまが空から見ていいました－

“In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.

One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and – Pop! –

Out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar”

From “The very hungry caterpillar”, by Eric Carle

What is the most elegant animal on Earth?  Many human cultures have chosen one animal to worship above all others.  If our modern global culture had to pick one animal to revere and model ourselves on, which should we pick?

How about the bull?  In ancient Crete, the Minoan people chose to revere bulls.  They left many images of the animals, which are both strong and beautiful.  Some images even show men and women leaping over the backs of bulls.  Bull-jumping could be a more fun sport than bull-fighting.

Or how about the crocodile?  It might not seem like an obvious choice.  But ancient Egyptians had a crocodile-god called Sobek.  The god was pretty scary, but at least his life was elegantly simple.  Egyptians also called him, “He who eats at the same time as he mates.”

But here is my suggestion.  How about the butterfly?  I have never heard of a butterfly-god, but some cultures have been fascinated with the butterfly.  It is often associated with great change because of the way it transforms itself from a humble caterpillar into a beautiful and delicate butterfly.  It is easy to see how people began to connect this transformation with death and rebirth.  Some Native-American cultures believed that butterflies were the reincarnations of dead warriers.  There was once a similar myth in Japan, that butterflies were the souls of people.

My favourite book is “Papillon,” by Henri Charriere.  The title means butterfly in French.  The book is the autobiography of the writer, who had a huge butterfly tattoo on his back.  He was imprisoned for murder (falsely, he claims) and kept escaping from different prisons and being recaptured, but never giving up.  The butterfly on his back seems to represent the delicate gift of freedom he eventually wins.

But the main reason I wish to worship the butterfly is for my son.  He loves the children’s book, “The very hungry caterpillar” by Eric Carle.  A song version of the book is like a magic spell for him.  If he is screaming and throwing things about, we quickly run to a smartphone to put on the song before he breaks something.  If he has flopped onto the floor, half-asleep, and is refusing to get up, we put on the song and he instantly jumps up, awake.

Thank you, butterfly.  You are the most beautiful of animals.  And your gifts are the greatest.

Vocabulary:

to worship – of a religious believer, to show praise or respect for (a) god

to revere something -  to feel great respect or admiration for something

to mate – of animals, to have sex

a reincarnation - a person or animal reborn into another body

to flop – to fall or hang down in an inelegant way