Wildwords - The Works of Author Gary Ferguson

When Nanabush returned to the children in the forest, he was surrounded by a flashing, fluttering blanket of butterflies. The twins were delighted, and set about waving and stretching to catch one in their chubby hands. For a long time they crawled after them, then stood on their tiny feet and tottered, and finally ran through the forest laughing, all the while hoping to catch even one of those beautiful flying creatures.

And that is how butterflies taught children to walk.


	But what was he supposed to do next? Hour after hour he sat there, hoping for some further instruction from Great Spirit, but no word came. Finally out of boredom Nanabush began tossing the stones into the air, first one at a time, then big handfuls. Once he tossed several high into the air and they did not come back down again! Instead they changed into the most beautiful winged creatures-the very first butterflies.

		When Nanabush returned to the children in the forest, he was surrounded by a flashing, fluttering blanket of butterflies. The twins were delighted, and set about waving and stretching to catch one in their chubby hands. For a long time they crawled after them, then stood on their tiny feet and tottered, and finally ran through the forest laughing, all the while hoping to catch even one of those beautiful flying creatures. And that is how butterflies taught children to walk.