Butterfly Princess

story written by psychologist Maria Baumgarten

It happened sometime, somewhere in the butterfly world, a world full of color, flight, humming and light. The daughter of the butterfly queen was born on a May day, bathed in the heat of the sun, and all the butterflies were in exaltation, flying and dancing happily, in a rainbow of colors. In addition to the butterfly queen's daughter, thousands of other small and cute butterflies were also born from their cocoon and were flying in the sunlight, full of innocence, happiness and lust to fly. The butterfly queen had quickly passed from the joy of the first born, to the constant concern for Sabrina's future, for she had called her that way.

In her plans, the newborn daughter was to be the most beautiful butterfly ever seen in the butterfly nation, to have the most beautiful flight, to know best to gather pollen from the flowers. She stayed for hours daily and watched Sabrina, trying to find those clues that would make her daughter special in front of other butterflies, to reassure herself. She wanted her child to be good in all and to do everything better than the other young butterflies. The butterfly queen wanted everyone in the butterfly nation to see clearly what a special and resourceful child was hers. The more she thought about it, the more she thought the little girl was moving away from her expectations. The dissatisfaction of the mother queen was increasing. Moreover, the happier the butterfly girl was, the more excited she was about her achievements and the more friends she was flying with - to the delight of all, the more unhappy and boring her mother was.

The mother's sadness and disappointment were more and more visible. The friends asked her about the reason for her sadness and then asked her how she can not be happy when she has such a happy and special child. "Special?" wondered the queen? "How do you see her special?" - says the queen of her sisters in a moment of outburst - "Except she flies from flower to flower, she laughs all day long like all the others, she's not good at anything! Don't you see that she doesn't do anything better than the other butterflies? She is just an ordinary child!", the queen said.

This dissatisfaction was visible and manifested itself every day towards Sabrina, telling her bluntly: "Little girl, you are good at nothing, look at you, all children do better things than you!", Or: "I do not know how I got such an untalented child! ", or: "Did you see that the other butterflies are more colorful and brighter than you, it seems that the sun doesn't love you enough?".

In vain did everyone tell Sabrina how special she was, she heard only the words and grumbles of her mother, twirling in her mind like a drill, and these words made her lose her radiance and color, becoming more and more sad. The sadder she became, the heavier her wings felt and the flight was more difficult. On some days she couldn't even get up and felt frozen, cold and sad. Due to the lack of sun exposure Sabrina lost her appetite. Sadness and helplessness had seized the butterfly girl.

She began telling herself the same thing over and over again. In her mind the repeating words were: "I am good for nothing! My mother is right", "I am not good at anything! My mother is right". Sabrina's life began to revolve around these thoughts that sometimes sounded like a whispered voice, at times sounded like a thunder. It was as if little Sabrina had lost the beautiful color of her wings, the flight was dull and tiring, and her mother's presence made her feel even worse.

About the sadness of the little Sabrina, also the butterflies from the plains and villages nearby have heard. Everyone offered to help with a good word, even the best doctors in the country had called. Nobody managed to cheer her up again. Every day, the little butterfly girl was paler and the color from the wings was disappearing.

Sabrine's sadness also annoyed the other butterflies, who were no longer flying. They were all hidden among the leaves and petals of the flowers in overwhelming numbness. The plains had also become silent and sad, the flowers closing their petals one by one. The magic of the flowering fields only existed in memory, just as Sabrine's joy remained in her mother's memory.

The mother sat near the butterfly princess's head and wondered where her joy had disappeared, what was wrong with her? She had only wanted what was best for her daughter. But as she struggled to remember all the beautiful things she had done to Sabrina, in her mind come like a dagger, only the reproaches, discontent and annoyance she had manisfested. The more she strived, she still could not remember one time when she had hugged her child, or when she had told her how special she was. The desire to have the most successful butterfly blinded her, her demands only created the saddest and colorless butterfly.

Then her mother spread her wings and joined them over her daughter's almost cold, empty and sad body, in a hug, like the cocoon that held her warm until she became a butterfly. There she stayed for a long time. The mother felt her heart melting and flooded with a feeling of unconditional love for Sabrina, she felt something she had never felt before, feelings that were brought in her frozen soul by her desperate hug. The warmth of her mother made Sabrina slowly, slowly, to start catch on to life and color again.

The mother realized that her love is stronger than any sunbeam and that only she can make Sabrina the most beautiful and cheerful butterfly on the plains. Since then, the two butterflies, mother and daughter, are best friends and you can often see them flying next to each other on sunny summer days.