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Danger In Butterfly Meadow
Reader Star Rating: 
Howard King
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SYNOPSIS
A butterfly meadow with hundreds of butterflies is in danger from seven lads with butterfly nets.
Mighty grandfather butterfly, Kreesis, leads the boys away from the meadow and into big trouble for them.
It was a nice sunny day and the butterflies were flying all over the meadow.
Blue ones, orange and black ones, yellow ones; any colour you could think of there was a butterfly to match. Even the plain ones glistened and sparkled as the sun shone on their wings as if they were wearing diamonds and jewels on their wings, but all was not well in this Butterfly Utopia.
A small car stopped on the country lane at the edge of the meadow and a small boy, armed with a butterfly net, sprang out followed by another and another and another until seven small boys each armed with a butterfly net had emerged from the small vehicle.
They darted hither and thither swinging and slashing at the myriad of coloured butterflies that surrounded them. Once in a while a shout of triumph would announce the capture of one of hapless creatures, but most of the wild swinging and slashing was in vain.
Some damage was being done so old grandfather butterfly, the King of all Butterflies in Butterfly Meadow, for that was the name of the meadow, decided to see that no more harm befell his subjects and stretched his majestic wings and took flight.
Seven small voices screamed in unison when they first sighted this magnificent creature.
No one had ever seen a purple striped yellow Gumpus before and each small boy had visions of seeing this great butterfly stuffed and mounted; occupying a prominent place above the mantel piece of the families living room.
Kreesis was this great butterflies name; they called him this because he was wrinkled and old. Anyway Kreesis was a good name for a rich old butterfly.
Seven outstretched arms, each holding a butterfly net, reached in the direction of Kreesis, but he managed to stay just out of reach.
So tantalizingly close, but never quite within reach.
Soon the strategy of this wily old creature began to unfold itself.
First he led them through a thicket of bramble bushes; many a punctured and bruised skin was the result.
The seven small boys with the butterfly nets were made of stauncher stuff than those who might have given up on account of a few stickers in their skin.
Next a hog tight barb wire fence accounted for many torn pants, coats and even skin.
Some of the more faint-hearted were now beginning to weaken, but the sight of old Kreesis just barely making his way ahead of the foremost netters spurned them on their way.
Finally is seemed as if old Kreesis just had to stop, but he stopped on a water lily pad just out of reach of the boy with the longest handle on his net.
There he was, this great butterfly, just one swing away from the net.
All seven boys jumped into the pool almost simultaneously.
Only old Kreesis knew that the bottom of this lily pond was almost all quicksand.
Of course the splash chased Kreesis off his lily pad perch, but he had strength enough to fly to a reed on the other side of the pond.
He watched the frantic efforts of the seven boys who had abandoned their nets in a helter-skelter scramble to save their own wet scratched and bruised skins.
All thoughts of a mounted purple Gumpus over the mantelpiece had vanished and were replaced by visions of home, a warm bath and dry clothes.
The little butterflies of Butterfly Meadow were saved by the efforts of mighty Kreesis who laughed long and heartily as he again stretched his magnificent wings and flew back to his palace in the meadow.
The End
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