Zig Zag the worm lived tucked inside the Book Nook, a forgotten corner of the old library in a crumbling French castle near the Rhine River. While other creatures wandered the castle halls, Zig Zag preferred to tunnel between the pages of stories. He adored them all—tales of kings and queens, brave knights, enchanted forests, and magical far-off lands.
Every morning, he wriggled out from between the spines, adjusted his tiny reading spectacles, and declared, “I must worm my way through more fine literature.”
Books made his world feel orderly. Predictable. Safe.
One chilly afternoon, as he nestled beneath a history volume, a fuzzy brown caterpillar wandered into the Nook. The creature heaved a heavy book onto the floor—The Encyclopedia of Butterflies—and opened it with a hopeful wiggle.
“Excuse me,” the caterpillar said. “I’m Wooly Bear. I’ve been told I will one day become a butterfly. Do you know how something like that is possible?”
Zig Zag brightened. A question meant he could show what he knew. He pulled the book closer and flipped through colorful diagrams.
“Well,” he said carefully, “I’m a worm, so I don’t experience that sort of magic. But this book says you enter something called a cocoon. It’s like a cave—dark and quiet. And then one day you come out changed. With wings.”
Wooly Bear’s fuzz bristled.
“That sounds frightening,” he said. “Why must I change? I like being myself.”
Zig Zag peered over his spectacles. Secretly, he felt relieved that worms didn’t have to enter caves.
“Perhaps worms don’t need to change,” he said. “Perhaps we’re already just right.”
Wooly Bear sighed, and Zig Zag felt a flicker of guilt. The caterpillar wasn’t bragging—he was scared.
“If I have to make a cocoon,” Wooly Bear said softly, “I suppose I’d rather do it here. At least I’d be surrounded by great literature.”
When winter crept in, Wooly Bear settled atop the Encyclopedia, curling against a picture of the butterfly he might someday become.
“See you in the spring,” Zig Zag said. “I’ll be making my own sort of cocoon.”
He didn’t really know what worms did in winter. He only hoped he wouldn’t disappoint his friend.
Winter passed slowly in the silent castle. Zig Zag spent the long cold days reading until his skin grew wrinkly from brushing against so many pages. Sometimes he curled beside the cocoon, reading aloud so Wooly Bear wouldn’t feel alone.
“I wish I could understand what you’re going through,” he whispered. “Maybe I’d like wings too.”
But Wooly Bear remained silent in his shimmering pod.
By spring, Zig Zag had become the proud father of five tiny wigglers, each no bigger than a comma in the books he loved.
One morning, as the first warmth of spring brightened the stained-glass windows, heavy footsteps echoed down the library corridor. The castle owner had returned. Bookshelves rattled as he stomped across the floorboards, dust exploding into clouds.
“Who made this place such a mess?” he muttered, sweeping vigorously.
Zig Zag’s heart thumped. The cocoon sat in plain sight atop the Encyclopedia—directly in the path of the broom.
“No, no, no!” Zig Zag cried. He shoved against the heavy book with all his strength, nudging it beneath a long red curtain near the window. “Wooly Bear—you must come out now!”
A tiny voice answered weakly, “But it’s cozy. My metamorphosis is finished. I was just resting.”
“There is no chapter in the Encyclopedia about what to do when the castle owner returns and you’re about to be swept away!” Zig Zag said. “Please—hurry!”
The cocoon trembled. Cracked. Split. Out unfurled the most magnificent wings Zig Zag had ever seen—bright orange and black like painted sunlight.
“I suppose my new name is Majesty,” the butterfly said, stretching his wings for the very first time.
The castle owner turned toward the curtain.
Majesty didn’t hesitate. He swooped down, scooped Zig Zag—and Zig Zag’s five brand-new baby worms—onto his wing, and launched them toward the open window.
Wind rushed past them as they soared away from the old castle. Zig Zag looked down to see the owner scratching his head, completely unaware that anything magical had occurred.
Majesty glided across the Rhine and landed at the quiet ruins of another abandoned castle. Its library stood untouched, filled with shelves of books waiting to be explored.
Zig Zag stared in awe. “A perfect new Book Nook,” he said.
Majesty smiled, his bright wings glimmering in the spring light.
“Every creature deserves a place to grow,” the beautiful butterfly said.
Zig Zag wriggled close, grateful—and humbled. Maybe change wasn’t just for caterpillars after all.
They made their home there together, among the stories and the cocoons.
Copyright 2015 Jennifer Waters
LOGLINE
When a book-loving worm and a frightened caterpillar form an unlikely friendship in an abandoned castle library, Zig Zag must find the courage to save Wooly Bear during his metamorphosis—and discovers that change isn’t only for butterflies.
PITCH
Zig Zag, a book-loving worm who lives in a forgotten castle library, befriends a nervous caterpillar named Wooly Bear who fears the mysterious transformation described in the books. When winter arrives, Wooly Bear forms his cocoon in the Book Nook while Zig Zag keeps watch, reading beside him and wishing he could understand such powerful change. In spring, the castle’s long-absent owner returns and nearly sweeps the cocoon away, forcing Zig Zag to act fast to save his friend. Wooly Bear emerges as a butterfly just in time, rescues Zig Zag and his newborn baby worms, and carries them all to a new, safer library across the Rhine. Through their adventure, Zig Zag learns that even creatures who don’t grow wings can still experience their own kind of transformation.
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