A Butterfly Named Braveheart

Photos and story by Krista J Holmes-Storey

A Butterfly Named Braveheart

A story about friendship.

Written & Published by Krista Storey

E-mail: ProgressiveSolutions1964@gmail.com

ISBN #978-1-7777381-0-5

Printed by Elite Printing, Orillia, Ontario, Canada

Copyright 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.

Printed in Canada

This book is dedicated to all those who followed Braveheart’s journey, my family and friends who helped get our story onto these pages and, of course, to Braveheart for bringing us light during the darkness.

This is Krista. She loves all creatures like dogs and birds and squirrels and bees and especially butterflies.

So much so, her friends started to call her The Butterfly Lady.

She loves to stand in the middle of the garden with her camera and watch all the insects coming and going. There are dragonflies, bees, butterflies, moths and insects she has never even seen before. She likes taking pictures of their little faces.

In the summertime, the Monarch butterflies return from warmer climates to lay their eggs on the milkweed plants. The female Monarch lays hundreds of tiny eggs the size of the tip of a pencil.

Wow!

They attach their eggs to the underside of the milkweed leaves.

In about four days, the eggs hatch into tiny little caterpillars.

After they hatch, all they do is eat milkweed leaves ..... and poop!

They just eat and poop!

All that munching makes the caterpillar very chubby. Within ten days, with its full belly, it will find a hiding place in the shade to build its chrysalis.

First, they hang upside down in the shape of the letter

By the next day there is a shiny, green chrysalis in its place. The Butterfly Lady is always excited to see so many chrysalids hanging on the fence, under garden leaves, under the deck and even on the garden hose.

Sometimes she moves them to a safer location to keep them out of harm’s way.

With a piece of cotton thread, she gently ties the black stem at the top of the chrysalis to something safe.

Every day she checks on the chrysalids around the yard. At first, they are a beautiful green with pretty specks of gold. Then, they turn from bright green to blue, until the butterfly’s wings can be seen through the chrysalis shell.

It will soon be time to hatch.

After one or two weeks, when the time is right, a beautiful Monarch butterfly hatches. She loves watching the new butterfly emerge. It is a miracle every time.

It is magical!

One day in early September, The Butterfly Lady saw a Monarch butterfly walking across the lawn. A butterfly walking through the grass? That didn’t seem right. She gently picked it up and took it to some flowers in the garden to snack on nectar. When she took a closer look, she saw that it was different from other Monarchs.

H H

It’s a BOY

One thing was for sure, those little black dots on its hind wings meant that it was a boy. But his wings were so tiny. They hadn’t fully grown. He flapped his wings and flapped his wings some more but, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fly. He would just glide to the ground, so The Butterfly Lady would pick him back up so he could try again.

A butterfly that couldn’t fly?

What would become of him?

It would soon be time to fly south to warmer climates with the other butterflies. If he couldn’t fly, he would surely be eaten by a bird or die when the weather got cold. So, The Butterfly Lady decided to take him indoors.

She searched for information to find out how to fix a broken butterfly. She even called the experts at the Butterfly Conservatory for help. She learned that, just like people, sometimes butterflies are born different than others and, with so many things threatening their habitat, many butterflies don’t survive at all.

It didn’t look like her new friend’s wings were going to grow and he was never going to be able to fly.

He was very strong and feisty. He flapped his wings a lot. Every day they would visit the garden and he would try to fly.

He seemed to get very frustrated when his little body wouldn’t take flight.

But he never gave up.

Because of his strength and determination, The Butterfly Lady decided to name him Braveheart.

It suited him perfectly!

Since Braveheart was going to stay for a while, he needed a safe place to live. The Butterfly Lady made him an enclosure and set it by the window inside the house.

Every day, she brought him his favourite butterfly plants from the garden. Butterflies like the nectar from flowers such as purple coneflower, asters, milkweed and goldenrod.

Soon it was fall and all the flowers were dying. So, for food, The Butterfly Lady mixed up some homemade nectar of honey and water for her little friend.

She carried Braveheart to the edge of the dish. He didn’t know what it was, so she gently helped him uncurl his looooooong tongue into the sweet water. He thought it was yummy and he drank and drank.

yumYUM

The weather outside was getting too cold for a butterfly and Braveheart had been living indoors with The Butterfly Lady for well over a month.

By this time, there were no more flowers in the garden and he was getting bored of just honey water, so The Butterfly Lady offered him some watermelon and grapes. He loved them!

Watermelon was his favourite. Every morning, when she brought him fresh fruit, Braveheart would make his way to his dish to eat.

As winter approached, the sun got lower in the sky and the days became shorter and colder.

Every morning as the sun rose in the sky, Braveheart climbed the walls of his enclosure to bask in the warmth of the sun. He flapped his wings like he could fly but now they were becoming very tattered. Even with damaged wings, Braveheart had lived longer than most butterflies. He was living like a prince and seemed to be very happy.

Sunshine

They spent a lot of time together.

Because it was during the pandemic, The Butterfly Lady often worked from home. Sometimes, Braveheart would visit her at her desk.

What good friends they had become.

Some days they even had lunch together.

The Butterfly Lady ate her sandwich while Braveheart ate his watermelon.

As time went on, Braveheart grew weaker so, when the sun came up and he began to stir, The Butterfly Lady had to help him to his dish. In butterfly years, Braveheart was getting old and needed more help each day. He would have a few outings throughout the day and, at bedtime, she would help him up the side of his enclosure. She covered his little house with a blanket to keep it dark, warm and quiet at night.

The Butterfly Lady took good care of Braveheart and continued to bring him his watermelon each morning.

Braveheart had become a beloved part of her family. She knew that, just like other pets, he would not live forever. But she made sure that he was safe and warm and had good food to eat.

He was very good company for The Butterfly Lady. He made her smile.

little darling

Although he seemed to be content, it didn’t seem fair that Braveheart’s wings didn’t grow and it was sad to see them getting more and more tattered each day.

AH HA!

The Butterfly Lady had an idea!

Once again, she did some research. This time was to learn how to perform a wing transplant. A month earlier, she had found a butterfly that hadn’t survived a cold snap, so she had a set of perfectly intact wings to give to her little friend.

She needed scissors, fabric glue, a wire hanger, baby powder and a few other things. Then she was ready to perform the procedure.

The most important thing The Butterfly Lady needed to know, was that the procedure would not hurt Braveheart.

Butterflies don’t feel pain in their wings so, as long as he was kept carefully in place, he would not feel a thing.

The loop she made in the wire hanger to hold him still worked like a charm and Braveheart’s new wings were attached in just a few minutes.

The Butterfly Lady knew that, even with new wings, he probably still wouldn’t fly. But, with his old wings nearly gone, she really wanted to give Braveheart the chance to flap his wings again.

And he did! He flapped those wings hard. First the left one, then the right, then both of them together.

He seemed to like his new look and, to her, he looked like a King!

Braveheart was much older now. With his new, beautiful wings, he spent most of his days just staying on the side of the enclosure soaking up the sun.

The Butterfly Lady continued to bring him his watermelon and grapes and helped him down to eat. Even though some days he didn’t seem to feel much like eating.

Winter was coming and Braveheart no longer climbed the walls of his home.

It is always hard to say goodbye to someone we love and Braveheart had lived with The Butterfly Lady for 83 days. Braveheart’s friendship was very important to The Butterfly Lady. He gave her, and everyone who followed their story, so much joy and something good to look forward to each day.

This story of kindness, friendship, acceptance and resilience filled so many people’s hearts and they wanted Braveheart to be remembered in a book.

Always in our hearts

So, this is his story ... the story about a very special butterfly named Braveheart.

Braveheart did finally make the journey to warmer climates, thanks to a nice lady who purchased this book and sent it to some children in Mexico. In fact, Braveheart has captured the hearts of many and continues to fly to various parts of the world.

We hope this story about friendship inspires you to help protect important pollinators like Braveheart.

THIS IS NOT THE END

IT IS MERELY A

About the Author

This is Krista’s first book and she is currently working on her second. She loves the great outdoors and especially loves the creatures, great and small, that roam this earth along with us. Her desire is to use her photography to educate children of all ages on the importance of respecting and helping nature while teaching other important life lessons such as kindness, respect and acceptance.

Testimonials

“This story is amazing!” Isaac, age 13

“Author Krista Storey has been a quiet environmentalist as long as I have known her. She has always thought it important to pass on the lessons of nature to her two sons. The story of Braveheart is one that underlines important life lessons for people of all backgrounds and ages.”

Sherry Lawson

“The story of Braveheart and The Butterfly Lady is one that will move you and can help kids navigate through loss and acceptance. A wonderful story!”

Barrie Public Library

“This beautiful story of hope made my grandkids very inquisitive and made this Grandma’s heart very full.”

Julie Emond

“A Butterfly Named Braveheart captured my kids’ attention and hearts. The story is a great balance of scientific information, integrated into a heartwarming story.”

Alison

Emond,

mother of 3

“It is a true story about never giving up.”

Melodie, age 10