The Voyage of the Caterpillar

Chapter 4: The Farm

Trixie and I made our way in silence alomg the forest floor. The sun was slowly setting, and long shadows were cast along the ground, giving the forest an eerie feel.

"I hope we make it there before dark. I don't want to be eaten." Trixie said anxiously.

"What would eat a caterpillar at night?" I asked her. She knew more than me.

"In this forest? You do not want to know."

"Come on. Now you're just making me more curious."

Trixie lowered her voice and turned to me. "I've heard tales from a close friend of mine... Although I've never actually seen this with my own eyes, he claims he has."

"Who is this friend of yours?" I looked into her eyes.

"His name is Hermy. He's had quite some scares before, he says. But he's a lone caterpillar, and he doesn't stop by much. Always traveling, he is."

"So he is a caterpillar. And what has this Hermy seen that scares him so much?"

"Monsters. Monsters, he claims! Huge ones, little ones... Some majestic, like a white horse with a horn on its head.."

"Wait, what?!"

"You heard me."

"That doesn't sound scary."

"But there's more! Some were just gruesome, like a hungry flying lizard! And some were just odd!"

"Odd? What kind of odd?"

"Like a horse with the head of a human!"

"Yikes, that is odd! And do these monsters eat caterpillars?"

"Hermy says so."

"But can you really believe everything Hermy says?"

"I don't know. He seems pretty honest, though."

The two of us continued on our way. Occasionally, as the sun dipped lower in the sky, Trixie would say, "We're almost there!" Or, "Just a little further!" Although, it felt like we were walking forever.

"Were do your friends live? We've been walking for quite a while!" I finally panted, out of breath.

"Not far! Really, not far!" That was her usual response. And so we continued walking.

After a few more minute of climbing over twigs, stones, and leaves, Trixie finally announced, "Here we are!"

We had arrived at a large open spot between two trees, right near a small creek. The clearing was filled with flowers of all kinds, and some small seeds and pollen and nuts and grasses. It was a caterpillar's heaven, so much food in one place!

"Where are we?" I turned to Trixie.

"This is my friend's farm!" She responded.

"Farm?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yup! my friends grow lots of different berries and nuts as you can see."

"Grow?"

"Oh, they'll explain it better than me!" She turned to one of the two trees and called, "Kingsly! Patil! It's me, Trixie!"

A wooden door at the base of the tree opened, and a sleepy caterpillar crawled out. He was a curly haired caterpillar, and he wore a collar of leaves around his neck.

"Trixie!" He said. "Why are you here so late? Is it that order of herbs you wanted? We'll have them ready by tomorrow-"

"No, no, no Kingsly! Is Patil around?" Trixie cut the other caterpillar off.