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   Once upon a time, in a tropical forest 

in the Mexican area of the Yucatan 

peninsula, there was a small section of 

this forest where the happiest of the 

animals lived and talked among each 

other like the humans in their cities 

did. They all understood each other and 

grew up together, like a family. At the 

heart of the forest was a tree with two 

sets of eggs.

   Both of these sets of eggs looked 

fairly similar, except for a slight 

difference in size and shape. Much 

like the tadpoles of frogs and toads 

in a pond, these small eggs began 

to hatch during the summer, and 

soon, one by one, small insects 

began to emerge from these eggs.

   From the eggs laid on the milkweed 

leaves, a small larva named Lucas emerged. 

Lucas was a green worm-like organism who 

ate leaves. There was no way for Lucas to 

know what he was until he grew up, and 

this greatly troubled him.

   From the eggs laid under the ground 

emerged a smaller looking grasshopper 

called a nymph. This nymph, Natalie to 

most, also ate grass like a grasshopper, 

although she could not hop as high as a 

grasshopper could.

   Over time, Lucas ate more 

and more leaves to maintain 

his unending hunger for 

greens, leaves, and foliage. As 

a result, Lucas got larger than 

he was before and moved 

slower than he used to.

   Similar to the case of Lucas, 

Natalie begins to eat more 

foliage and shed her 

exoskeleton occasionally. She 

is still a small green 

grasshopper; however, she 

ends up gaining leg strength 

and can hop higher than she 

initially could.

Hola! My 

name's Lucas. 

What are 

you?

One day, while scrounging for food on a 

shrubby and hilly plain, Lucas the Larva 

came across Natalie the Nymph 

Grasshopper enjoying some

leaves out in the open.

Curiosity struck Lucas

and he walked up to her

to find out about who

and what she was.

    A look of sadness crossed Lucas' 

face.

   "I don't know what I am... Can I 

stay with you? I won't bother you 

too much! I only need a lot of 

greens, and you can keep your food 

to yourself. I just don't want to 

grow up alone anymore..."

   Natalie reluctantly agreed, and 

the two unlikely friends trudged 

out of the hilly area and into the 

forest.

   At this point in time, Natalie had 

molted her exoskeleton four times 

and she had taken on a brownish 

tan color. Lucas was still a larva, 

but he had eaten a lot of leaves, 

foliage, and greens, and was much 

bigger in size. One day Natalie and 

Lucas had maneuvered their way 

onto a branch, when suddenly...

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