My Little Friend
Once upon a time, in a far, far away land, there was a little town. In that little town, there was a small cottage near the meadow. The cottage was surrounded by green vegetation and flowering plants. Every day, the meadow was visited by lots of crawling and flying creatures, including a family of butterflies.
Now, let’s talk about the little cottage surrounded by green vegetation. This cottage belongs to the Jewel family, which consists of Mr. and Mrs. Jewel, along with their two kids: Ruby, a 6-year-old girl, and Roby, an 8-year-old boy. Every day, Ruby and Roby help their mom with the household chores, while Papa Jewel keeps himself busy with chopping and cleaning the surrounding vegetable field. He grows carrots, beans, onions, and potatoes. When the vegetables are ready, Mr. Jewel feels proud of his hard work. With the help of Mrs. Jewel and their two kids, they collect the vegetables to sell them at the nearby market. Ruby and Roby often join their parents at the market. Sometimes, while collecting the vegetables, unknowingly, the Jewels disturb the little creatures living among the bushes and flowers.
One day, Roby was not feeling well, so Mr. Jewel decided to go to the market alone, while Mrs. Jewel stayed home to take care of the children. As Roby was sleeping and their mom was busy with the household chores, Ruby was bored. Since she had no one to play with her, she started talking to herself. The quaint cottage nestled amidst lush greenery belongs to the Jewel family. The family includes Mr. and Mrs. Jewel, along with their two children: 6-year-old Ruby and 8-year-old Roby. Each day, Ruby and Roby assist their mother with the household chores.
While their father tends to the vegetable field, diligently growing carrots, beans, onions, and potatoes. When the harvest is ready, Mr. Jewel takes great pride in his labour.
“Oh! I am bored, Said, Ruby. She said school holidays are so boring, sitting alone and playing alone”, so she decided to go out to the nearby field. But Ruby knows that, before she goes out to play or roam around, she needs to finish her school homework, she quickly finishes her writing task, takes her mum’s permission to go out, she says, “Mum can I go out now, I finished my homework, clean my writing table, please, please mum can I go. Just for a while, I want to run around the field and watch the butterflies and birds, fluttering and hopping from here to there. Of course, mum knows, Ruby is bored and tired sitting doing nothing after she finished her homework. Mrs. Jewel allowed Ruby to go out and get some fresh air. Ruby was allowed to go out but reminded to be in the cottage before the sun sets, mum said, “Ruby now it is 5.30 pm by 6.00 pm you need to be in the cottage
Ruby agreed to her mom's condition, but she asked, "How will I know it's 6:00 pm?" Her mom smiled and said, "When you see the sun about to touch the mountain, then come back home. Now, I hope you understand." Ruby gave a cute smile, ran outside, and started running around, not realizing she was stepping on the flowers. The field was full of wildflowers and vegetation, the home for little crawling and flying creatures. Suddenly, Ruby heard a soft voice as if some helpless being was trying to communicate with her. The voice said, "Hello! Please don't step on the flowers." It was a big surprise for Ruby, and at the same time, scary, as she couldn't see anyone around her. Ruby was scared and couldn't control her weird imaginations. Out of fear, she shouted, "Who's here? Come out! I can't see you anywhere." Ruby was too nervous and whispered, "Where are you? Show me your face." Out of fear, Ruby started crying.
Suddenly, she heard a soft fluttering sound, as if a soft feather had touched her cheek. Out of fear, Ruby closed her eyes. When she opened them, she encountered the most beautiful tiny yellow butterfly fluttering its wings in front of her. She was unable to control her emotions and said, “Wow! A tiny butterfly. You are so beautiful. What are you doing here? Most of all, I am surprised that you can talk.”
The little yellow butterfly started laughing and giggling, saying, “Oh no, what a silly question!” Ruby got offended and replied, “What do you mean? I am not silly.” The butterfly said, “Please don’t be angry. I live here along with my family, just like yours. We live among the vegetation and flowers, while yours live in that little meadow.” “Yes,” said Ruby, “but little butterfly, you can talk. May I know your name?” The little butterfly replied, “Well, I am Hoppy.” Ruby said, “Hoppy. Well, nice to know you, Hoppy. My name is Ruby.” Ruby couldn’t control her feelings and said, “Your name ‘Hoppy’ is a bit funny.” Upon this, Hoppy replied, "You see, little girl, you don’t know anything about me, or butterflies like me." Ruby was quiet for a while, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Hoppy said, “I like to hop here and there, up and down, everywhere. That’s the reason my name is ‘Hoppy’.” Ruby felt sorry for making her little friend upset and said, “Hoppy, please excuse me. I was joking. Please tell me something more about you and your family.”
Hoppy began telling its wonderful, amazing story to Ruby. Before Hoppy could start, Ruby asked, "Are you a butterfly or a fairy?" Hoppy replied, "Of course, I am a little female butterfly." Ruby said, "Okay, carry on with your story." Hoppy continued:
She said, “You know, Ruby, we are very useful. We work every day non-stop, from sunrise to sunset. We live on juices from fruit and flowers. Wow!” replies Ruby. She said, “It is so amazing, Hoppy your mom doesn't have to prepare breakfast, lunch, or dinner.” Hoppy replies, “Yes, Ruby, but my mom has other worries, to keep me and my brother safe from rain or wind.” Ruby looked at Hoppy with surprise. She asked Hoppy, “You too have a brother just like me?” Hoppy said, “Your brother's name is Roby, right?” She asked Hoppy, “How do you know my brother's name?” “Because I used to watch both of you running around together and calling out each other's names.”
Oh, I'm sorry for the interruption," continued Hoppy. "As I mentioned earlier, my parents are worried about our safety all the time." Ruby responded, "Our safety?" Hoppy replied, "Yes, just like you, I have siblings." Ruby was quiet for a while and then asked Hoppy to sit on her palm. She asked, "Where do you sleep?" Hoppy started laughing and said, "We sleep upright, but we don't have eyelids like yours to shut." She explained that her family lives among the flowers just under the rambutan tree.
A long, long time ago, Hoppy and her family lived in a small flowerpot. Hoppy heard this story from her grandparents, who told her that they were very comfortable and happy living in the flowerpot. At that time, even Hoppy's parents had not been born. Then, one beautiful day, another tenant moved into the house.
They cleaned up the whole yard, and when they saw the leaves were getting withered, they put the pot outside near the garbage bin. The garbage collector threw the pot under the rambutan tree, this action broke the pot, but the roots of the sunflower plant were still alive, and the roots of the plant were powerful and quickly crawled deep down in the soil of the nearby rambutan tree. In the beginning, it was too hard for the roots to crawl deep into the soil, because the rambutan tree roots were not happy to give way to the sunflower roots.
But the rambutan tree queen said, “allowed the sunflower plant to live alongside us” because the flowering plants are useful for small creatures such as butterflies, ants, and bees. Flowering helps the insects by supplying them with sweet nectars. Hoppy and her family started living under the rambutan tree.
Hoppy and Ruby quickly became the best of friends. Whenever it rained, Ruby couldn't help worrying about Hoppy and her family, which was just like hers - the only difference being that Hoppy's family were fragile insects, while Ruby's was a normal peasant family. As the two friends chatted, Ruby's mom called her to come inside the cottage as it was getting late. Ruby bid goodnight to Hoppy, bursting with excitement to tell her mother about her extraordinary adventure and her newfound ability to communicate with a tiny butterfly. However, her mom interrupted, saying, "Can we talk about this later? Finish your dinner and go to bed." Just then, Mr. Jewel entered the cottage and inquired about Ruby and Roby's day. Ruby's mom replied, "Roby was resting the whole day as he was unwell due to flu, while Ruby went outside to play and made a new friend. Can you guess who her new friend is? A little butterfly!" Mr. Jewel responded, "It would be wonderful if little creatures could talk and become our friends." Ruby was overjoyed to hear her father's response and whispered, "At least I can talk to my papa”.
Ruby excitedly shared with her father and her brother Roby about how she met Hoppy. She even promised Roby, "I will take you there tomorrow to meet Hoppy and her family. They are living under the rambutan tree." Mr. and Mrs. Jewel asked the kids to go to bed, suggesting that they could discuss it more the next day since it was getting late. The family bid each other goodnight and headed to bed.
While Ruby was getting comfortable in her quilt, she heard a loud sound near her cottage. She called out loudly for her papa, and he said, "It is nothing, just go to sleep."
The next morning was Sunday. The children were still sleeping, and Papa Jewel was off as well. Despite this, he got up as usual, took his bath, and by that time, Mama Jewel woke up. She started preparing breakfast quietly while both kids were still sleeping.
Mr. Jewel asked his wife, "Dear, did you hear some strange sounds last night as if something strange was walking around?" Mrs. Jewel replied, "Yes, it sounded as if some heavy animal was walking on the meadow." Her reply made Mr. Jewel worry about his vegetable plantation. He said with a harsh tone, "Oh no, I hope my vegetables are saved." Both Mr. and Mrs. Jewel ran out to see if anything serious had occurred. To their surprise, they were glad to see that their plantation was okay, and their vegetable patch was intact. However, as the parents ran out in haste, they accidentally slammed the entrance door, which made the children jerk in their beds. They woke up screaming for their parents. Mrs. Jewel heard the screams and quickly went back into the cottage to calm down her children, telling them, "There's no need to be scared. It was just the rushing wind that slammed our cottage door." Ruby told her mama, "Even last night it was too noisy. I was scared to even peep through the window." Then Papa told me not to worry and that it was nothing." Mama replied, "Yes, it was nothing." At the same time, Papa Jewel entered and said, "They managed to chop down the rambutan tree in the meadow." When Ruby heard this, she couldn't hold back her tears and said, "No, no! How could anyone chop down a big, beautiful rambutan tree? I cannot believe it. It was giving us fruits, and besides, my friend lives there. I must go; my friend is calling me for help."
Ruby's parents and her brother, Roby, were surprised to see Ruby's reaction. Roby started making fun of his little sister's emotions without knowing what Ruby was talking about. Roby quickly said, "Silly girl, your friend Elisa lives around our neighborhood, not under the rambutan tree." Hearing this from her brother, Ruby got furious and replied rudely, "You better keep quiet." Mrs. Jewel didn't like how Ruby responded to her brother and how she was reacting. She asked Ruby politely, "Tell us what is bothering you. We may try to solve it."
On this, Ruby replied, “mama yesterday I met a little yellow butterfly, who became my best friend, her name is Hoppy, and her family lives under the rambutan tree, on the sunflower plant, and the sunflower plant lives on the rambutan tree soil, you see how they depend on rambutan tree, mama help my friend please! On this note, Ruby started crying, which was too painful for everyone to see. Papa said ‘ok, let us go out and find your friend and her family.’ They may be still there, now wipe your tears.’
The Jewel family searched for Ruby’s little friend; Ruby guides them to the meadow where lies the chopped rambutan tree, Ruby, said, “look! ‘There are sunflowers, Ruby ran towards the sunflowers to pick them up, but Papa said, ‘wait let me help you,’ papa picked up the sunflower plant and was surprised to see five butterflies holding each other and shivering. Mr. Jewel shows the family what is in the sunflower, Ruby was so happy to see her little friend ‘Hoppy,’ she said “Hi! Hoppy, I told you I will always take care of you, no matter what?’ Ruby’s parents were speechless, and even Roby cannot believe it, what he is looking at, he was feeling ashamed of his previous behavior.
Ruby asked her parents’ permission to take the sunflower plant in their cottage. Mr and Mrs. Jewel have no problem helping Ruby’s little friend and her family. Hoppy was happy as well her parents and grandparents were happy too.
Still, Mrs. Jewel was in shock, she asked Mr. Jewel, “am I dreaming?” Mr. Jewel replies, “No, dear, things happen, sometimes it is beyond our imagination’. Ruby thanks her parents in believing her and helping her little friend “Hoppy”. Ruby’s father managed to plant the sunflower plant in a beautiful planter, and he put Ruby’s room on her window panel. Ruby’s father said, “I am putting the planter here so that your little friends’ family will not have problem to go out and shop,” Ruby laughed, ‘SHOP! Papa replied, ‘Yes, for juice, I mean nectar, on which the butterflies survive, Ruby said yes, “Hobby did mention this to me, Roby said I know about it, the life cycle of butterflies and their body parts and so on, our science teacher did teach us.” Ruby was glad to hear this from her brother, she said, ‘Roby, do teach me further, ok?
Listening to all this Hoppy jumped out from the flower sat on Ruby’s hand and said, Ruby, thanks a lot once again, for your help.
Once again reminded all, that butterflies survive by drinking nectar (juice) from flowers and fruits, Ruby asked Hoppy, how do you get the juice out of the flowers or fruits, I mean how do you drink.’ Hoppy replied, ‘our mouth got a straw, which is known as ‘proboscis’, it is like a straw’, the whole family laughed.
Jewel’s family said to Hoppy and her family, sometimes we humans forget how important little creatures are in our lives.’ We do need all of you for the ‘pollination of our flowers and fruits.’ Ruby cannot understand what pollination is, Mrs. Jewel says, ‘Don’t worry, mama will teach you. There are different forms of ‘pollination’. You will learn in your science subject.’
This is a story to educate children about insects, their body parts, and why we need them. The following are the necessary activities for young readers/learners.
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Najma.