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.

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.