The Spider and the Butterfly

Behind The Scenes

(Sad scrapped content ahead + potential Trigger Warning?)

My story's origins originated from a strange thought that popped into my head while watching some of the old cartoons. I thought in my head: "What if I could go back in time to either meet the Fleisher bros or work for Walt Disney, and ask if we could make a cartoon about a good spider for once?"

Now keep in mind that this would take places decades before the "Charlotte's Web" movie comes out. And I guess you could say I got tired of that "bad spider" trope.

So, with that in mind, I just started writing. And before I knew it, I had come up with a short story that was originally WAY darker and sadder than what made the final cut. And after reading it to some buds of mine, they said that it definitely needed a happier ending, along with some more depth to the characters.

Here's the original text for "The Spider & The Butterfly":

(One stormy day, a butterfly flits about, hoping to find some flower nectar to drink before rain comes. She manages to find some near a barn entrance, and settles down to drink. However, as the forest around her grows gloomier, she has no idea that she's being watched.

Just above where she lands, a spider has just finished building a web. He sees the butterfly, and settles down to watch her fly from flower to flower. He seems entranced by her beautiful wings.

Just as the butterfly lands on the final flower, a scorpion appears and acts very hostile towards her. She tries to get away, but the scorpion grabs one of her wings. As she's struggling to get free, the spider comes down and attacks the scorpion, holding down its stinger with one of his legs. Unfortunately, the butterfly's wing is torn and she cannot fly.

All she can do is helplessly watch as the spider, after draining the scorpion of its juices, advances toward her. She closes her eyes, terrified. The spider gently takes her wing, and sows it back together with some web. Then he goes back to his web above her. The butterfly is confused, but before she can fly away, it starts pouring rain. She takes shelter in the flowers.

The next day, the spider's web is glittering with dewdrops. The butterfly is very thirsty and tries drinking the drops from the flowers, but they keep falling from the petals. The spider notices her predicament and holds one of the dew drops in his hands out to her. The butterfly shrinks back, but reluctantly, she eventually drinks the drop.

Slowly but surely, the butterfly loses her fear of the spider after seeing he means her no harm. However, as the days go by, the flowers the butterfly is on start to wilt. She isn't sure if her wing has healed. She starts to lose her balance and nearly falls...until the spider grabs hold of her and brings her up to his web. He carefully touches her wing, and sees that it still needs time.

The butterfly and the spider sit by one another for a while, and while the butterfly is repulsed by the spider eating other insects, she appreciates his kindness toward her. One day, the spider wants to surprise the butterfly by giving her new flowers she can drink from. She happily drinks the nectar, hoping it will heal her wing faster.

The spider protects the butterfly from a wasp, too. He gets stung, but the butterfly heals him with some of the nectar she left over. The following night, a full moon rises in the sky. The forest is full of life: crickets sing to one another, frogs perform an orchestra of croaks, and light bugs chase one another in the darkness.

The butterfly falls asleep on the spider, who decides to give her one last surprise before autumn comes. Her wing is nearly fully healed.

When the butterfly wakes up, she sees that the spider has created a web in the shape of a heart, admitting his love for her. However, the spider is very exhausted from doing this and can barely move. The butterfly tries to offer him something to eat, but he refuses. Then he points to a burrow he made in the ground, indicating that he may die soon.

The butterfly is heartbroken. The spider tries to convince her to leave and points up at a flock of butterflies migrating for the winter. With tears in her eyes, the butterfly holds the spider and kisses him. The spider holds her hand for a moment before letting go, dragging his weak body to the burrow.

As he lays in the burrow, he sees the butterfly take off from the web. Her wing is healed and she joins the other butterflies in their migration. The spider smiles, happy to have been loved.)

As you can see, not a very happy outcome for either Fang or Daisy. And during that moment in time, I hadn't given them names yet, either.

There was another plot I came up with where Mist the Mantis was a cruel dictator, and that all of the insects slaved and toiled under his harsh command. But then I thought, "Nah. That's too much like 'A Bug's Life'." At one point, Fang was going to be a lot meaner and be the butterfly's guard, hired by Mist himself. But Daisy's small acts of kindness convince the spider to help her escape. Which ends badly as well: Fang is killed by Mist, and Daisy, who is so distraught over the death of her forbidden lover, takes her own life.

Definitely NOT good.

So in the end, I made up the story as I went along. I made the basic outline, meaning I knew how it would begin, how it would end, and then filled in all the details in the middle. I like to think that it improved my writing skills along the way. And that I kept the spirit of the old bug cartoons alive in the process. In my head, I had to imagine a plot that the Fleischer bros themselves would've made, and mix it together with some of Walt Disney's scenery and angst.

Sorry for all those words. 😆 I just hope that those of you who have been reading the story have sincerely enjoyed it, and that I'm planning on making a story about the Moonshine Mob soon. So far, all I've come up with was a title: "The Don of Inkwell Isle".

Well, that's all for now.