"Look, a butterfly," Jolena Exclaimed.
"I thought that creature was called a moth," Charlotte replied.
"It looked just like the butterflies on my shirt," Jolena said, pointing to her shirt, "only yellow and black, not pink and silver."
"Let's ask Mandy!" both girls exclaimed together.
They found Mandy knitting. Mariah was reading to her as she worked.
"Mandy," Charlotte began, "we have a question."
Mariah stopped reading, and Mandy took off her glasses and put her knitting down.
"We saw a creature flying around in the garden," Jolena said. "I thought it was called a butterfly, just like the ones on my shirt."
"I thought it was called a moth," Charlotte said.
Mariah was interested, too. "I know butterflies and moths are flying insects that have big wings," she said.
"I've heard them called butterflies," Mariah continued, "but I've also heard them called moths. I thought there were just two names for the same thing. I thought a butterfly was just a pretty moth," she added.
"They are very close to the same thing," Mandy said. "That's because they are related. They are insects that belong to the order Lepidoptera (leh-pih-DOP-ter-ah), which means 'scaly wings,' but they are different from each other in some ways. You're right, Mariah. We think of butterflies as pretty, because most butterflies are more colorful than most moths, but not always."
"If I don't know anything about what you saw," Mandy continued, "I would have to guess that it was a moth, because there are many more kinds of moths in the world than butterflies." Mandy paused and thought. "On the other hand, if you saw it just now, and it was flying around, it was probably a butterfly," she said.
"You see, butterflies usually are awake in the daytime, like us," Mandy explained. "Moths usually come out at night, but there are some that like to be out in the daytime."
"It was definitely awake," Jolena said.
"We saw it flying around," Charlotte said, "so it must have been awake."
"Or flying in its sleep," Jolena pointed out. Then she giggled.
"Did it stop flying while you were watching it?" Mandy asked.
Charlotte and Jolena looked at each other and thought.
"Yes," they both cried at once.
"It landed on a flower in the garden," Jolena said.
"Yes," Charlotte agreed. "It crawled around on the flower and then stopped for a little bit."
"Then," Jolena added, "it went to another flower and did the same thing."
"It was probably drinking," Mandy explained. "Most butterflies and moths drink nectar (NEHK-ter), which is a sweet liquid found in flowers. They drink it the way hummingbirds do. Now tell me, when the creature stopped, what did it do with its wings?"
The two girls looked at each other and thought. They tried to remember what they saw. They would have closed their eyes to remember better if they could have, but their eyes don't close, so they had to pretend. They remembered something like this.
"When the wings stopped moving," Charlotte began, "the creature sort of held them like this." Charlotte put her hands up over her head and back as far as she could reach.
Jolena nodded.
"That sounds like a butterfly," Mandy said. "Most moths rest with their wings covering their sides."
"Some, though," she explained, hold their wings flat against whatever they are resting on."
"What did its antennae (an-TEH-nee) look like?" Mandy asked.
"What's that?" Mariah asked. (As a writer, Mariah is always interested in new words.)
"Antennae are something like ears," Mandy explained, "but they do more than just hear. They can smell and feel. There are two of them."
Mandy asked Mariah if she could use her pencil and notebook. Mariah agreed and handed them to her.
Mandy drew two pictures on it. She drew a line with a little ball on top. Then she drew another line and some little lines coming off of it. That one looked sort of like a skinny feather.
She showed the pictures to Jolena and Charlotte, while Mariah looked on.
"Did your creature's antennae look like this," she asked, pointing to first of the pictures, "or was it more like this?" She pointed then to the second picture.
Charlotte and Jolena both pointed to the first picture. They pointed to the one that looked like a line with a little ball on the end.
"Then it was a butterfly," Mandy said. "There are moths that are awake in the daytime and butterflies that are awake at night. There are moths that hold their wings more like butterflies when they rest and butterflies that hold their wings more like moths. There are moths with antennae that are more like those of butterflies, and butterflies with antennae more like moths', but if your creature had all of these features, it had to be a butterfly."
"That's interesting," Charlotte said.
"There's one more way butterflies and moths are different," Mandy went on, "Although you wouldn't have seen it. You see, both of them start life as caterpillars (KAT-uh-pill-ers)."
"But caterpillars" objected Jolena, "don't look anything like moths or butterflies! They look like worms with little legs!"
"That's true," Mandy agreed, "but caterpillars are baby moths or butterflies. They change shape when they grow up. They shed their skins several times as they grow. Then they go to sleep to change and grow wings."
"How do they do that?" Mariah asked.
"The caterpillar makes itself a little changing room," Mandy explained. "Here's another way moths are butterflies are different. The kind of changing room it makes depends on whether the caterpillar is a moth or a butterfly."
The dolls all looked at each other, trying to imagine a caterpillar in a changing room.
"A moth caterpillar will attach itself to a branch, twig or leaf in a safe spot," Mandy said. "It will spin a cocoon (cuh-COON) for itself."
"A cocoon is like a sleeping bag out of yarn from the moth's own body," Mandy continued. "In fact, the silk we sometimes use for clothes is made from the cocoons of a very special caterpillar."
"On the other hand," Mandy went on, "after a butterfly caterpillar attaches itself to a branch or twig in a safe spot, it sheds its skin for the last time, and its outside hardens to make something called a chrysalis (KRIS-ah-liss)."
Either way, the caterpillar goes to sleep for a long time. When it wakes up, it has wings and a skinny body. During this in-between stage, while it's sleeping and changing, it's called a pupa (PEW-pah), no matter whether it is a moth or a butterfly," Mandy said.
"I wonder what it's like," Charlotte said, "to wake up and find you have wings and a skinny body."
The dolls thought about that.
"In poetry and stories,"Mariah said, "a butterfly is often used to mean the beginning of a new life. Now I think I know why. I guess that's because it starts out as one thing and changes to another."
"Yes," Mandy agreed. "It's like how a ball of yarn can become a sweater."
"It's like how waffle batter can become waffles," Jolena suggested.
"Or," Charlotte added, "how a bunch of notes on a piece of paper can become music!"
"Or how words we write can become a story," Mariah suggested, "like this one."
"Will we change into anything?" Jolena wanted to know.
"No, Jolena," Mandy said. "We will always be dolls. Our purpose is to help children change and grow up to be adults who can look after themselves and their families. We teach them to be kind to others, and to know how special they are."
"That's good," Jolena said. "I don't want to change into something else. I like what we are and what we get to do."
"That means we're special, too."
Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
More information about butterflies and moths can be found here.
"What's that?" Mariah asked. (As a writer, Mariah is always interested in new words.)
"Antennae are something like ears," Mandy explained, "but they do more than just hear. They can smell and feel. There are two of them."
Mandy asked Mariah if she could use her pencil and notebook. Mariah agreed and handed them to her.
Mandy drew two pictures on it. She drew a line with a little ball on top. Then she drew another line and some little lines coming off of it. That one looked sort of like a skinny feather.
She showed the pictures to Jolena and Charlotte, while Mariah looked on.
"Did your creature's antennae look like this," she asked, pointing to first of the pictures, "or was it more like this?" She pointed then to the second picture.
Charlotte and Jolena both pointed to the first picture. They pointed to the one that looked like a line with a little ball on the end.
"Then it was a butterfly," Mandy said. "There are moths that are awake in the daytime and butterflies that are awake at night. There are moths that hold their wings more like butterflies when they rest and butterflies that hold their wings more like moths. There are moths with antennae that are more like those of butterflies, and butterflies with antennae more like moths', but if your creature had all of these features, it had to be a butterfly."
"That's interesting," Charlotte said.
"There's one more way butterflies and moths are different," Mandy went on, "Although you wouldn't have seen it. You see, both of them start life as caterpillars (KAT-uh-pill-ers)."
"But caterpillars" objected Jolena, "don't look anything like moths or butterflies! They look like worms with little legs!"
"That's true," Mandy agreed, "but caterpillars are baby moths or butterflies. They change shape when they grow up. They shed their skins several times as they grow. Then they go to sleep to change and grow wings."
"How do they do that?" Mariah asked.
The dolls all looked at each other, trying to imagine a caterpillar in a changing room.
"A moth caterpillar will attach itself to a branch, twig or leaf in a safe spot," Mandy said. "It will spin a cocoon (cuh-COON) for itself."
"A cocoon is like a sleeping bag out of yarn from the moth's own body," Mandy continued. "In fact, the silk we sometimes use for clothes is made from the cocoons of a very special caterpillar."
"On the other hand," Mandy went on, "after a butterfly caterpillar attaches itself to a branch or twig in a safe spot, it sheds its skin for the last time, and its outside hardens to make something called a chrysalis (KRIS-ah-liss)."
Either way, the caterpillar goes to sleep for a long time. When it wakes up, it has wings and a skinny body. During this in-between stage, while it's sleeping and changing, it's called a pupa (PEW-pah), no matter whether it is a moth or a butterfly," Mandy said.
The dolls thought about that.
"In poetry and stories,"Mariah said, "a butterfly is often used to mean the beginning of a new life. Now I think I know why. I guess that's because it starts out as one thing and changes to another."
"Yes," Mandy agreed. "It's like how a ball of yarn can become a sweater."
"It's like how waffle batter can become waffles," Jolena suggested.
"Or," Charlotte added, "how a bunch of notes on a piece of paper can become music!"
"Or how words we write can become a story," Mariah suggested, "like this one."
"Will we change into anything?" Jolena wanted to know.
"No, Jolena," Mandy said. "We will always be dolls. Our purpose is to help children change and grow up to be adults who can look after themselves and their families. We teach them to be kind to others, and to know how special they are."
"That's good," Jolena said. "I don't want to change into something else. I like what we are and what we get to do."
"That means we're special, too."
Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
More information about butterflies and moths can be found here.
Photos: First butterfly photo Image by PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay. Second butterfly (closeup) photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash. Moth with closed wings photo by Tim Goedhart on Unsplash. Caterpillar photo by Sara Codair on Unsplash.
Silk cocoon by butterflyarc on Pixabay.
Chrysalis photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash.
Mandy's T-shirt design adapted from an image found on UIHere.
Mandy's T-shirt design adapted from an image found on UIHere.
You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.
Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.
Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
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"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
Do you like our stories? Some of them are available in print:
The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Being Little, Besties and Distraction.
The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want and The Boys Cook Dinner.
The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.
Our book of poems, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook includes Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.
The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.
Available now from BookBaby and other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. The Stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the vendor gets a cut. The Writer's author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find our books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your library to get them for you.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
Copyright © 2019, 2024, 2026 by Peggy Stuart
