Caspar the Caterpillar was born on a tall plant in the middle of a pond. His mother had laid an egg there, it seemed like a good spot for her child.

Caspar really likes the pond, it had beautiful water lilies,

and bugs

and even colourful dragonflies.

So Caspar ate and ate and ate and he grew and grew and grew. But one day he found he didn’t want to eat his juicy plant anymore, he wanted some dirt. He didn’t know why he wanted dirt, he just did!’ So he climbed down off his plant and headed for shore

 But he was suddenly attacked on his backside by a silly little Water Strider who thought he could eat him all up!

Caspar jumped and wiggled about so much the Water Strider went off in a huff, claiming Caspar was too tough to eat anyway!

Caspar carried on his journey, he really must find some dirt!

 He stretched himself and stretched himself until he reached the next leaf

But then he thought,’Maybe there is some dirt down there. I’d better look!

Nothing but goldfish down there. Goldfish! Oh my, they’ll eat me all up! I’d better get back on the lily pad.

But Caspar was a brave little caterpillar . He had to find that dirt so he started off again

But the pond was so big!

And the fish were still there just waiting for a big juicy caterpillar to fall in the water.

 All he could do was run round and round the lily pad looking for a way to shore. But it was too far! What was going to happen to him now! If only his mother had picked a land plant to lay her egg on, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

Suddenly a long black pole with a net on the end reached out to him and scooped him up off the lily pad. And the next thing he knew he was dropped into a pot full of….dirt! Caspar just dove right down into that nice warm soil, curled himself around  and sighed with happiness. At last, he could become a pupae and grow up into a moth inside his tight little skin.