Prilla and the Butterfly Lie by Kitty Richards

P RILLA KNELT ON the library shelf. She put her hands over her mouth to hold back her laughter. She kept her eyes on a little girl in pigtails who stood on her tiptoes, reaching for a book.
    The girl grabbed the book and slid it off the shelf. Quick as a wink, Prilla popped out from the space where the book had been. The little girl stared at Prilla for a moment. Then she squealed with delight, her blue eyes wide. “A fairy!”
    “Shhh!” said the librarian. She gave the girl a stern look. Prilla giggled. She turned a somersault in the air and…
    “Grab him, Prilla!” a voice cried.
    Suddenly, Prilla was in a sunny meadow, back in Pixie Hollow. Nettle, a caterpillar-shearing-talent fairy, stood in front of her, holding a pair of shears. Nettle pointed to the caterpillar that Prilla was supposed to be keeping still. The caterpillar was bucking around like a little green bronco. It had knocked over a sack of caterpillar fuzz. Prilla was ankle-deep in the stuff.
    Prilla sighed. It had been a long and trying day. She was very fond of Nettle, who enjoyed games as much as she did. Just the week before, Prilla and Nettle had had a cartwheel race across a field of buttercups. Afterward, they had collapsed in the grass in a fit of giggles. That was when Nettle had asked her if she would like to give caterpillar shearing a try. Prilla had agreed.
    The day had started well enough. Nettle gave Prilla a tour of the caterpillar corral. First they had seen some caterpillars hatching from eggs. Then they’d watched a few caterpillars shedding their skin. Next they had seen some furry caterpillars making their cocoons.
    Suddenly, Nettle had grabbed Prilla’s arm. “We’re just in time to watch a butterfly hatch!” she’d whispered.

    Prilla had held her breath as they’d silently watched the butterfly emerge from its cocoon. She was amazed that a funny-looking caterpillar could transform into such a beautiful creature.
    Watching the butterfly hatch had been exciting. But Prilla had quickly realized that shearing caterpillars was not. Her job was to hold the caterpillars while Nettle clipped their fuzz with her shears. Prilla tried hard to help. But the truth was that she didn’t really like shearing caterpillars at all. It was hot in the sun. It was dull doing the same thing over and over again. But most of all, Prilla just didn’t like caterpillars. Not one bit. They were prickly. They were kind of ugly. And they were ornery.
    Bored, Prilla had finally allowed herself to drift off and blink over to the mainland. Prilla was a mainland-visiting clapping-talent fairy, the only one in Pixie Hollow. In the blink of an eye, she could zip from Never Land to the mainland to visit children. Prilla’s talent was very important, for it kept children’s belief in fairies alive. When children didn’t believe in them, fairies died.
    But Prilla didn’t visit the mainland only to save fairies’ lives. She also went because it was her favorite thing in the world to do.
    And look what had happened! She hadn’t been paying attention, and now things were getting out of control.
    Prilla leaned forward to grab the cranky caterpillar around its middle. It wiggled away from her, and Prilla stumbled. The other shearing-talent fairies chuckled in sympathy.
    “He’s a wild one, he is,” said Jason, a caterpillar-shearing-talent sparrow man.
    Prilla tried once again to seize the creature. The caterpillar reared up. Prilla lost her balance and fell backward. She landed in the grass with a soft thump.
    “Don’t worry, Prilla. You can do it!” Jason called, noticing the frown on Prilla’s face.
    Still the restless caterpillar wiggled. “There, there,” said Nettle in a soothing voice. She put down her shears.
    Nettle’s gentle tone calmed the caterpillar. It began to settle down. Prilla stood and brushed herself off. Not knowing what else to do, she bent to pat the caterpillar on the head.
    Quickly, Nettle began to shear the caterpillar. In a