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A Butterfly Chase

Chapter 15: XIV.
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About This Book

Two young cousins, equipped by an uncle with a book, nets, and specimen tools, attempt to make a grand butterfly collection while their aunt prefers watching insects alive. The narrative follows their clumsy, patient chases through a daisy meadow, misadventures with torn nets, escapes and occasional captures, and the curious presence of a donkey. Interspersed with practical instructions and descriptive illustrations, the account balances hands-on details about catching and mounting butterflies with gentle reflections on childhood curiosity, the ethics of collecting, and learning to observe nature.

XIV.

But there is no time for laughing; the butterfly has settled on a great tuft of meadow-sweet all in flower. The two hunters, seeing this, forget all their plans, and run both together after him with all their might. But the butterfly is not so silly as to wait for them; every time he sees his two enemies come near, off he starts again. A dozen times Minnie thought she had him, and a dozen times Bertie said he had got him; but a dozen times he got away.

‘What troublesome things to catch butterflies are!’ said the two hunters. ‘What is to be done? We have tried every possible way.’