Just for Kids / Karim, the Grumpy Caterpillar

 

By Margo Wayman

 

 

Karim was a caterpillar hairy and brown.

He never would smile, all he did was frown.

 

He sat on a leaf of a milkweed all day,

Munching on leaves, not wanting to play.

 

He had no friends, except an ant or two.

He never had a visitor, so all he did was chew.

 

When the sun came out and shone so bright,

Karim felt warm and his hair stood upright.

 

He looked so funny, this hairy little beast.

When Wasim worm saw him, he was scared, to say the least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"What are you? A monster?" Wasim asked from behind a leaf.

Karim looked at him and said, with much grief,

 

"I'm a caterpillar, silly. Now what do you want with me?"

Karim glared at the worm, who was as embarrassed as could be.

 

"Don't you ever smile? Wasim questioned with a grin.

"I never see your teeth, just a scowl, and your chin."

 

"Caterpillars are grumpy. That's the way we're meant to be.

I don't want to smile. I don't know how, you see!"

 

Karim began to feel sad as he answered Wasim that day.

"I don't smile. I just chew, and I don't want to play!"

 

Wasim was unhappy for himself and for Karim.

"If you'd give it a try, you'd see smiling's quite keen."

 

The worm hung his head down and slowly crawled away.

Karim yelled, "Don' come back here again, another day!"

 

Time passed quickly. Karim sat on his leaf alone.

The ants left. It was raining. He was chilled to the bone.

 

He missed Wasim worm and wished he'd not been so mad.

"I'd better go and find him, say I'm sorry, and not bad."

 

Karim found the worm laying in a bed of dirt.

He looked kind of sad, like he'd really been hurt.

 

"Hello, Wasim," Karim whispered. Wasim looked up to see

Karim smiling at him, asking, "Let's be friends, you and me?"

 

Wasim worm then smiled back for a while.

"Of course we can be friends. You really can smile?"

 

"I practiced a lot and I'm sorry that I was mad,"

Karmi said, "You taught me how, and I'm not so bad.

 

 

 

 

 

It's not good to be sad. It's not good to be sore.

I need friends like you everyday more and more."

 

Karim continued his speech, then the two went to play.

For them having fun would be no chore each and every day.

 

 

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