How the Caterpillar Flew is a story of self-discovery. Butterfly was living a very unhappy life crawling on the ground because she was unaware of who and what she really is. Neither butterfly nor her friends, the caterpillars, had ever seen their own reflection. The caterpillars knew Butterfly had splendid golden wings, but kept it a secret from her because they feared Butterfly would fly away never to be seen again. One day Butterfly came across a mirror. When butterfly attempted to interact with the magical creature in the mirror, she was shock and amazed to discover it was her own reflection Butterfly realized the life changing implication of her discovery. She set out to convince her caterpillar friends to come to the mirror so they could discover their full potential too. The caterpillars reluctantly followed Butterfly to the mirror. Upon seeing their reflection in the mirror, the caterpillars were confused and not sure what to do. But, upon realizing they had their own wings too, they happily followed butterfly into the heavens.