In a forest, on a huge plant, there once there lived a community of butterflies. With some butterflies, a few caterpillars and some eggs, this butterfly community was heavily inspired by the human lifestyle. The butterflies had their own rooms, they would hangout sipping nectar, use beauty products, and even troll each other.

Among the community, were four caterpillars who were best friends. They would play, eat and explore different parts of the plant together. One day while playing around a flower, the caterpillars heard a few butterflies discussing about Pie. The butterflies said, “Do you know that Pie will be visiting our plant tomorrow?”, “Yes, I am so excited”, “They say Pie is the most beautiful butterfly in the forest, her beauty can hypnotize even human beings”

Upon hearing this, the four caterpillars got excited. They wanted to see how beautiful Pie was. From how to look, what to say and which beauty products to use when Pie comes, the four caterpillars started planning everything.

The next morning, the entire plant was buzzing with excitement. Pie had arrived. Everyone rushed towards the center of the plant. The four caterpillars freshened up hastily and started crawling toward the center. Amid the flying butterflies and other caterpillars, these four finally reached the center of the plant.

Everyone was standing in a queue to meet Pie. Jumping and nudging everyone, the four caterpillars tried to get a glimpse of Pie. But from this point, all they could see was a wing with a mix of bright, vibrant colors. After a long wait and all the freshness turned into sweat, it was finally time for the four to meet Pie. And, when they saw Pie, they were awe-struck.

Those huge wings, that body of some beautiful dancer, those delicate antennas, those legs, eyes, head, and everything was just so on-point and perfect about Pie. Pie looked at the four caterpillars and said, “You three: 1, 2, 3 are going to become the most butterflies when you grow up.” Pointing at the fourth one who was left, Pie said, “What’s this on your face? I doubt if you will become beautiful.”

Listening to this, Woo, the fourth caterpillar felt heartbroken and before she could gather back her emotions Pie asked the next ones in line to show up. It felt like Pie was validating everyone.

On the way back home, while the three caterpillars were cheering and having fun, Woo was overfilled with self-doubt and insecurity. In just a few moments, her excitement and joy turned into uncertainty and existential crisis. 

Days passed but Pie’s comments were stuck in Woo’s head. Slowly, Woo started believing that she was not as beautiful as other caterpillars. And, because of this belief, her face started spotting, her skin started sagging and the beautiful green color that she had before Pie’s arrival also started fading off.

Now, Woo was actually looking terrible. Her three best friends stopped talking to her, she wasn’t invited to any nectar-sipping parties, her room was shifted to a corner of the plant, and almost everyone stopped talking to her. No one wanted to be around an ugly-looking caterpillar.

The few butterflies who were still talking to Woo, gave her hundreds of suggestions to gain her beauty back. From various face masks, herbal drinks, beauty products, and ayurvedic remedies, Woo tried everything. But nothing worked. She was so depressed that she stopped stepping out of her room too.

One day, Woo was sitting in her room thinking about what to try next. And just then, a bright, red ladybug with amazing spots came and sat near Woo. Upon looking closely Woo realized that the bug was looking back at her. Immersed in the sparkling eyes of the bug, Woo said, “Beautiful.” And in reply, the bug said, “Wow, you are also so beautiful.” Woo was shocked. She thought, “What might the bug have found beautiful about me. I am so ugly.” Just then, a caterpillar barged into Woo’s room and said, “Get ready for the pupae stage, all the caterpillars are asked to gather at the center of the plant in 10 minutes.”

Woo said, “Okay,” and started looking for the bug. But it had disappeared.

Woo thought, “Am I really beautiful? But Pie said I was ugly. But why would such a beautiful ladybug lie?”

Soon it was time for the pupae stage.

The pupae stage is the most important stage of growth in the butterfly world. Here the caterpillars transform into butterflies after staying inside a protective shell called the chrysalis for two weeks. Their old bodies die and a new body forms in the shell.

Woo stepped into her chrysalis thinking about the sparkling eyes of the bug and its comment. No other thought of self-doubt or being ugly crossed her mind even once. For the next two weeks, Woo and the other caterpillars were going to be in hibernation and each part of their body was going to transform.

Weeks passed and finally the day of butterflies to come out of their chrysalis arrived. The entire community gathered to see the transformed butterflies. One-by-one, the butterflies started coming out. As each one got out of its chrysalis, the community started commenting, “His wings are so dull” “Oh, her body is so thin,” “Lol, those antennas are crooked,” “Look at those legs, chicken legs, haha,” everyone just went on and on.

At last, Woo’s chrysalis started opening. No one was excited for this one. Everyone had assumed that Woo was going to be an ugly butterfly. Slowly, her chrysalis started opening and a huge wing with the most unique patterns and colors flapped out. Gradually, a body with the most vivid colors and shape popped out. Everyone was pin-drop silent. No one had ever seen such a beautiful butterfly in their lives.

For the next few minutes, the entire community just kept looking at Woo without the slightest blink of an eye. 

Woo didn’t understand what was happening. She hastily flew to her room to see how terrible she was looking now. But when she saw her reflection, she could not take her eyes off herself. She had never seen anyone as beautiful as her.

The news of Woo’s beauty spread like fire and in no time hundreds of butterflies, caterpillars, moths, and insects from different parts of the forest were standing outside Woo’s room. Everyone wanted to get just one glimpse of Woo and know how such an ugly caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly.

Woo flew and stood at the center of the plant. She addressed everyone saying, “As a caterpillar Pie had told me that I wasn’t beautiful enough. She sowed a seed in my brain, I turned it into a plant and I actually started looking ugly. For weeks, I didn’t get out of my room, no one played with me and slowly I lost interest in everything. But right before entering the chrysalis, a bug looked me in the eyes and said “Wow, you are so beautiful.” I wondered what the bug found beautiful about me. This time, again a seed was sowed in my brain, I again turned it into a plant and this time the result was beautiful. But now, I realize that I was wrong both time, because I let someone else sow seeds into my brain. It is my body and brain, so shouldn’t I be the one sowing seeds in it? The society always has words to tag you with but whether to give power to those tags or not is in our hands. So be super cautious of what seeds you turn into plants. Don’t let anyone else’s opinion affect your thoughts because thoughts accompanied by belief turn into reality. So let us use this magic of belief for the betterment of our forest.”

Everyone realized that Woo was right. They had experienced the working of beliefs earlier but not so firmly. Now, like Pie, Woo visits different parts of the forest not to give beauty validations but to share her story and show the Magic of Belief.