A Stranger
View(s):By Manoshi de Silva
The Butterfly was flying around the flowers in the morning, drinking nectar. She sat on a flower and before she could even touch it, she saw some leaves moving. She looked closer and was surprised to see a stranger. Butterfly knew all her neighbours. This one was never seen before. He was the colour of the leaves,
a shade of green.
“Hello,” said the Butterfly and the stranger politely bowed his head. “Aren’t you new around here?” she asked him. And he nodded his head. He didn’t talk much. “I didn’t even notice you at first. You’re so green, like a leaf!” said the Butterfly and the stranger nodded yet again. “You’re welcome to our neighbourhood” the Butterfly said and the stranger bowed his head and politely said “Thank you”.
Butterfly met her friend, the Ladybird on the way. “There’s a stranger in town!” she told the Ladybird. “He’s as green as a leaf!” The Ladybird looked at her in excitement. They didn’t get too many visitors in their neighbourhood. “He doesn’t talk much but he’s very polite and well-mannered,” she told the Ladybird. “I hope I’ll get to meet this stranger too,” said the Ladybird.
Later that day when the Ladybird was running along a branch, she almost bumped into someone. He didn’t look familiar. This was someone she has never seen before. “Is this the stranger Butterfly told me about?”
she wondered. But this one was brown. He was as brown as the branch. “Another stranger,” thought the Ladybird in surprise.
“Hello!” said the Ladybird.
The stranger rolled his big eyes and stared at her and said, “Hello”.
“I haven’t seen you around here before!” said the Ladybird, “are you a visitor?”
“Yes,” said the stranger, “I’ll be around here for a few days!”
“Well, enjoy your stay!” said the Ladybird.
The stranger politely bowed his
head and said “Thank you!”
On her way home, the Ladybird met her friend the Spider, who weaves beautiful webs on tree branches. “There’s a stranger in our neighbourhood!” she told the spider. “Really?” asked the Spider with interest. “Yes, he’s as brown as a branch. He said he’ll be around here for a while!” “I hope I get to see him,” said the Spider, “We don’t get visitors that often!”
Later the Spider went around, looking for a good spot to weave a web. He chose a plant with beautiful red flowers. As he was about to start his work, he saw a bright red face, as red as the flowers, staring at him from among the leaves. “Oh hello!” said the Spider and the stranger gave him a wide smile. “You are new around here! I’ve never seen anyone with such a bright red face,” said the Spider and the stranger smiled and nodded his head.
“I’m staying here for a few days until I continue my journey!” said the red-faced stranger. “That’s good to hear. We rarely get any visitors around here!” said the Spider. “But recently my friends too have come across some visitors.
So it looks like we have a few visitors  in the neighbourhood these days!”
The stranger smiled widely again. “Well, make yourself at home!” said the Spider. The stranger bowed his head and said, “Thank you!”
The next morning, the Butterfly met the Ladybird and the Spider together. “Have you met the green stranger yet?” asked the Butterfly.
“I met a brown stranger!” replied the Ladybird.
“And I met a red one!” answered the Spider, “it looks like we have a lot of strangers these days!”.
“Well the one I met was very polite!” said the Butterfly.
“So was the one I met!” said the Ladybird.
“Yes, the red-faced one was also very nice!” said the Spider.
As they continued talking they saw a yellow coloured stranger coming towards them. “Hello,” he said smiling at all of them.
“Who are you? Another visitor?” asked the Butterfly.
“Not really” said the yellow fellow, “we met once!”
“We did?” asked the Butterfly in surprise.
“Yes!” answered the stranger nodding his head. Then he rolled his big eyes and looked at the Ladybird and said, “we also met once!” The Ladybird too was very surprised. “And I met you too,” he told smiling widely at the Spider.
“Wait a moment!” shouted the Butterfly, “Aren’t you the green stranger? But you’re yellow today!” “Oh my,” said the Ladybird, “you were brown when I met you and now you’re yellow!” “Yes, I remember you,” said the Spider, “your face was red like a flower when I last saw you. But today you’re yellow!”
“It’s this same stranger we have all met. But we thought they were different ones because he was different colours on different days!” said the Butterfly. “Tell us who you are!” they all wanted to know. The stranger nodded, rolled his big eyes and then smiled widely. “I am a Chameleon! We change the colour of our skin to match our surroundings. We do it in order to hide, so that others can’t spot us easily!” he said.
The Butterfly, Ladybird, Spider and the Chameleon all laughed for awhile thinking how funny it was, that they all talked about the same stranger, thinking that it was different strangers.