The Orphan Butterfly

Let it flow…

Hoy toca uno de esos relatos “inéditos” que suelo escribir como ejemplo en una clase de escritura creativa en inglés. El reto es escribir un cuento original de 200 palabras como máximo, sobre un personaje principal con una o dos características de personalidad generadas aleatoriamente (de una tabla con más de 80… creo que el personaje salió perezoso e imaginativo…) usando las palabras (en rojo) que van eligiendo los alumnos usando las cartas del juego de mesa “Once upon a time…” (“Érase una vez…” en su edición en castellano). Es una actividad que suelo disfrutar al máximo, y conservo los relatos de mis alumnos de todos los años que la he ido haciendo como si fueran un tesoro.  

The Orphan Butterfly

My father couldn’t find me here. I usually escaped when it was time for working, my older brothers could do it by themselves perfectly. I usually hid behind the logs for the chimney. I had always been the little stupid one who never did anything right, so nobody looked for me anyways. I was young and weak, and, when I was born, nobody thought I was a gift. Life in the farm was hard, and my older brothers were all very strong.

I spent most of the day behind the logs, watching the life of the small animals that were living there. I was especially interested in a spider. She was waiting for a prey on her web, when a small butterfly got trapped. I couldn’t permit it, so I rescued her. But I watched the spider, and she looked so sad to me. So I caught a small fly and left it on the web, and she swallowed it whole. 

When I looked up, there was a small girl smiling at me. “Thanks…” she said. She told me that she was an orphan. She came from a foreign land, kidnapped by a circus company. They took her away from her family, and broke her heart. She was the queen of the show: she could transform herself into a beautiful little butterfly. 

I smiled at her. I couldn’t believe her story. She smiled back, and turned into a butterfly in front of me…

My father didn´t believe my story either…