Title: Romeo Patapan
Author: Simon Joseph Okeguale
Once upon a time in the land where all insects live, there lived a caterpillar whose name was Romeo Patapan. He was the only insect of its kind and he was very fat and ugly. No insect in the whole city ever spoke to him. He lived his live as a lonely and miserable insect. All the insects in the the city call him all sorts of names. Some call him a glutton, while others call him monster.
Romeo Patapan lived far away from the other insects inside a mango tree at the end of the city. He spends most of his time tidying up his surrounding as if he was expecting a visitor.
One day Romeo Patapan heard someone calling for help through his window. It was an housefly who had been caught up in a spider's web. Moved with pity, he quickly crawled out of his house to rescue the poor housefly. After releasing the housefly from his misery. The ungrateful insect flew away without showing gratitude.
All the insects gathered one Saturday for their annual meeting. All the insects had hardly sat down when Romeo Patapan entered the place. All the insects started mocking him and they humiliated him in front of everybody. Depressed and embarrassed, he walked out of the meeting and went straight to his house. He wept for hours and there was no one to comfort him.
Whenever Romeo Patapan was sad he would climb to the top of the mango tree to watch the beautiful sun and feel the gentle breeze. He would then make a wish that one day all his troubles would be over. He did this day after day and week after week hoping that one day his wish would be fulfilled. One night, he had a strange dream, he saw himself flying in the sky with his two colourful wings. The dream spoke a little to him as he woke up being confused the next morning. He pondered about the dream for many days before it fizzled out of his mind.
After taking his meal one evening, Romeo Patapan sat on the tree branch ruing his misfortune. He slept off on the tree branch and didn't wake up for days.
All the insects who saw him on the tree branch thought he was dead because his skin had changed colour. With no pity shown on the catarpiller, they walked away mocking his grave.
After some weeks Romeo Patapan broke out of his old skin. He became a butterfly and looked very handsome. All the insects who saw him break out of his old skin called out to the others. They were all amazed and were filled with shame. "The once ugly and fat caterpillar had turned out to be the most beautiful insect in the whole city", they murmured. All the insects walked away shamefully from the place.
Meanwhile, Romeo Patapan flew in the air with his wings and later met his own kind.