RAMBLINGS OF THE MIND
Then Little Huge found out why and he almost dropped to his knees.
Angie was one of the most, if not the most beautiful of the butterflies in the park. The male population wanted to be with her, as badly as the female butterflies wanted to be like her. There was never a butterfly before that has created such an influence to the kaleidoscope of butterflies in the park or the swarm.
Angie was a curious mix of maturity and that carefree attitude of a preteen girl, which she still was. That frequent flashes of carefree-ness belied her intelligence. She could discourse on subjects that could befuddle many butterflies far her senior. And on many occasions, she has facilitated discussions relevant to the issues they were currently facing – The Interruption and Intervention of Metamorphosis (or The IIM). The Council of Butterflies in the park, had had several meetings and conferences, seminars and deliberations to solve or prevent it from happening again.
This was triggered by the pain, suffering, and death of pupa James, who never grew to be an adult, because some human sliced the cocoon to free poor little pupa James before his time. He never grew his wings, never became strong enough to grow up. He practically remained as a pupa, or some kind of the mutant whose eyes bulged out of his socket, held only by the very thin skin around what was supposed to be his head.
His suffering did not last long, for the little pupa James died three days after he was pulled out from his cocoon.
The cheering and jeering from the gymn faded as he walked further and further from the school grounds. With every little step
On that day, even Angie’s beauty was covered by the gloominess of the surrounding circumstances. They were on their way to bury Angie’s brother, little pupa James. From the fact-finding committee, the report stated that a human being saw the cocoon, inside which was little pupa James undergoing Metamorphosis.
As all butterflies knew, this was the critical stage during which the pupa is hatched into a full adult butterfly. James never became one, and the human being never even knew he had sentenced the pupa to death.
From an egg, James became a larva (or a caterpillar). As a larva James by design of nature, spins a silk-like cocoon around himself. While inside the cocoon, like all other butterflies, the adult structure of James would have been formed, through two tiny glands called “Corpora Allata,” which would then secrete Juvenile Hormones or JH for short.
The JH would exert its influence on another set of glands, the “Prothoracic glands,” which eventually would secrete a hormone called Ecdysone.
Both JH and Ecdysone controlled molting, growth and pupation, eventually leading to the development of an adult, beautiful, colourful butterfly.