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by Ellen Denham
Once upon a time, a tadpole who swam in the water looked up and saw a caterpillar who crawled upon a leaf. They were able to greet each other in their own way, she, by wiggling her tail, and he, by lifting the front of his long body and waving his many legs.Each day they met in this way, and each day they grew more curious about each other. The caterpillar leaned down towards the tadpole, but soon bumped his nose against the surface of the water and pulled back, realizing that he could drown. The tadpole stretched up towards the caterpillar, but felt the air against her skin and knew that she must keep her gills in the water in order to breathe.
Resigned to the wall the surface of the water made between them, they found other ways to get to know each other without touching or entering the world of the other. She swam in little circles and wrote him poetry in the ripples of the water. He hung upside down from a leaf above her, dancing and twirling in the breeze.
Although separated by the water, they came to love one another deeply. They longed all day for the times they would meet and converse together in their own ways. They became more creative in their attempts to get to know each other further still in spite of the barrier between them. The caterpillar painted pictures on a leaf, and danced all the things he could see from above the water -- a leaf twirling in the breeze, a bird flying overhead, raindrops falling. The tadpole blew bubbles that carried to the surface her song of running streams, darting fish, cool clay and round pebbles.
Even so, they eventually became distressed that they could not touch one another or enter the other's home. They wanted it so much they decided that there had to be a way. Out of their longing to be together and their deep love and friendship, they changed and grew. The tadpole worked very hard at growing lungs so that she could breathe air. The caterpillar spun silk to wrap himself in, not knowing why, but feeling that somehow this was the right thing to do.
When he vanished from sight inside the cocoon, the tadpole missed him terribly. She strained to make her emerging legs grow strong and worked hard all day on breathing air, little by little, until she felt she was ready to emerge from the water -- a beautiful green frog. She hopped upon a rock where she could reach the cocoon where her love lay sleeping, just in time to help him emerge as a lovely butterfly, spreading his wings in amazement and looking at her with even more wonder.
The butterfly never learned to swim, nor the frog to fly, but together they lived thereafter. If their love was strong when they were not able to touch, it was doubly so now that they could share life together. She kept him from the dangers of flying too high, for he had her to come back to. He kept her from sinking to low in the stream's depths, for she longed always to return to him. Their love had changed them; like flowers towards the sun they grew together till they were able to live and love in a world that could accommodate them both.
Ellen Denham is a classical singer and voice teacher who lives in Indianapolis. She met her husband on the internet in 1994, and this story is a reflection of their relationship.
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