The River, a Cow And a Butterfly

Dec 18, 2003, 12.00am IST
Neeraja Raghavan.


"Tell me mighty river! Are you changing or are you constant?" asked the butterfly. The river chortled as it sped along, over rocky pebbles and around mossy little hills. "Why, can't you see?" it replied. "Do I look still to you?"


"No, of course you are not still. You are always moving. But are you not the same river?" The butterfly asked, a trifle hesitantly. "Yes, indeed I am the same river that has flowed down the mountains and through this forest for so many, many years!" said the river grandly. "But your waters are constantly flowing away... which part of you is the same?"

"No part of me is the same, my flighty friend!" answered the river, with a hearty laugh. "I keep losing water every time the sun shines, and I keep gaining water every time the rain falls! I merge into the sea, and I began from a humble spring, I keep changing; in change, I am constant... I have neither a beginning nor an end..."

"What happens to the water that leaves you, river? Where does it go?" asked the butterfly, a trifle confused. "Oh, it goes up into the clouds, then falls down as rain onto the ground, or into some other river or sea... every drop has gone on a long journey, you know, before it comes and joins me! And it will leave me sooner or later, to go on yet another journey."

"Why, that means all the oceans and clouds are in you!" squealed the butterfly, excitedly. "Yes", replied the river, "I appear to be limited to this stream, but I contain many worlds hidden inside me." Then a disturbing thought struck the butterfly. "Can water ever disappear into nothing, river?" it asked, curiously. "No, my friend, nothing in this world can ever become nothing. All that is will always be. It may change form, like the water turning into a cloud, then into rain and then the sea... but what is can never cease to be."

"I think I'm beginning to understand!" said the butterfly, excitedly. "Just as I changed form but remained the same insect, you, too, keep changing form but are still the same river!" "That's right,” said the river as it sped along, and so did the butterfly...

The swishy sound of grass being chewed woke up the butterfly from its gentle snooze. Who was this?

Dark gentle eyes looked down at the butterfly from a big white and brown face. "Moo! Moo-oo-ooo!" inquired the cow, loudly. "And what are you doing here?" "Oh, just resting in this soft grass. How are you this evening?" asked the butterfly, politely.

"Very well indeed. But it's been a few days since the cowherd gave me a bath, and I miss that... when the water flows over my back and falls down my sides, I feel like there is nothing for me to resist or push: I just let go completely, and enjoy the feel of the cool water splashing all over my body." The cow's eyes rolled over in delight, just at the mention of such a delightful experience...

"You have taught me the secret of living, dear cow!" said the butterfly, exultantly. "As you enjoy your bath, so must we all enjoy every moment of this precious existence! For there is a purpose behind every event, a direction in each change... all of which is dictated by a simple law that says energy can neither be created nor destroyed: only transformed. Energy is eternal."

As it sank back on the cool green grass, the butterfly knew that its time had come. It knew, too, that it would merely be transformed now, from one form of energy to another. What came next? It didn't matter.

(Extract from the writer's recently published work : Curioser & Curioser )