The Caterpillar,
the Fly and the Mouse
by Diane Height
“What’s
so silly?” says the caterpillar to the fly,
and the fly to the mouse, and the mouse to both
of them. “What do we have in common, us
three, setting out on this journey in this make
believe world of nonsense?” they all said at
once.
“Where
are we going?” asked the caterpillar.
No one
answered.
“Well,”
said the fly, “why should anyone respond to
the caterpillar when it can’t really speak?
He doesn’t know how to talk or read or write.
Where are we going?”
“Why do
you ask?” asked the mouse. “You can fly
anywhere, so why do you need to be with us?”
“I
can’t go far,” said the fly,
“unless I’m in something else. And yes
I can fly, but I only live a short time, so
what’s the sense of flying if I only live a
short time?”
“Well,”
said the caterpillar, “I only crawl, and not
very fast, so I need transportation also. But
what about you, mouse?”
“I can
run very fast, but I have to watch out for the
cats. So I still need something to carry me. But
I think I live longer than you two--unless
I’m caught by a mouse. Then it’s
all over.”
“So have
we decided where we are going?”
“No, but
I think we are almost there.”
“What a
happy voyage,” said the caterpillar to the
fly, and the fly to the mouse.
“We
should do this more often and tell others, but
not the cat because the cat would eat me,”
said the mouse. “I must taste very good
because it’s eaten others of my kind.”
“Are we
there yet?” said all three.
“Who,”
all three said to each other, “can tell when
we reach our destination because we don’t
know where we are going; and if we don’t
know where we are going, how do we know when we
get there? How do others know when they get where
they want to be?”
“As for
me,” said the caterpillar, “I
can’t speak, read or write, and I’m
slow, but I do know when I’m crawling around
and around in circles.”
“As for
me,” said the fly, “I can fly, and I
don’t live long, but I do know when I’m
flying around and around in circles because I
fall to the ground.”
“As for
me,” said the mouse, “I’m fast
because of cats, but I do know when I’m
running around and around in circles because I
never escape the cat.”
“So we
must be there,” said the caterpillar, and
the other two said, “Yes, we must.”
And so they
were. “We’re here!” one of them
said, or was it all three?
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