The Garden of Greed

Sanjeeda Hossain

Far away from human contact, the lush and shadowy garden ends where the forest begins; a shallow river separates the two. Our story starts in midsummer when the insects of the garden have come back to life after a long period of hibernation: some of them have just hatched out of their eggs, some are desperately seeking food, and some have even experienced a metamorphosis, for example, Butterfly.

Butterfly

Butterfly sits on a high branch of a fig tree. Her wings are radiant brown. Tiny white dots and orange rings make those wings look like a head with two penetrating eyes. She is one of the many daughters of the Purple Emperor, the glorious and majestic butterfly of the garden. The broad rays of the summer sunlight bedazzle butterfly. It’s been just a few hours since she came out of her cocoon.
She has been a voracious feeder of leaves. Right after hatching, the only thing she has been doing is eating. Repulsive yellow spines on her repugnant, sluggish body warded others off; even the desperate protein-seeking mummy birds considered her poisonous and inedible for their ever-hungry chicks. She just remained heedless to everyone’s disgust. She had to get inside her woven sack. Now, as she flaps her gorgeous wings and goes on smooth, giant flights to higher and higher branches, even the blue-sky stares at her in wonder.
But Butterfly continues to be avoided by everyone in the garden. They usually avert their eyes from her because of her past ugliness. Now, they feel threatened by her beauty.
Being rigorously unloved and unattended by all the creatures around her, she decides to hide herself during the daytime. She comes out from the burrows of the trees only at night, feeds on the nectar of flowers and sits alone on the green, round leaves of the white-water lily plants on the green pond.
Until she meets Bee.

Bee

Bee carefully flies above the green lily pads on the pond; lazy creatures of the garden frown at her behind her back. Fluttering from one white flower to another, she reminds herself that she is a worker; she has to earn bread for the hive she belongs to. She diligently gathers pollen from the lilies, piles them up in a ball and clumsily carries them to the honeycombs. Workers like her will be given this tasteless mound of grub, but the Queen will have the royal jelly.
At night, the fireflies come out. Countless stars shine from distant galaxies and the big, round, yellow moon glows upon the inky-black pond water. A bunch of reddish-orange goldfish can be seen plodding underneath the water. The insects of the garden must always remain cautious. The eyes of predators follow them everywhere at night.
Nonetheless, after a long, hard day of work, Bee steals a little jelly from the hive pantry, carries it in a pouch of green grass and sits beside the heedless butterfly sucking dew drops from the lily pads.
“The Queen lives for years, but the workers who maintain her hive only have a few months, just to
be trampled down by such thankless drudgery.” Bee sounds exhausted as she slurps the jelly.
“I wish I could have a hive all by my own, me being the Queen,” Bee mutters. She asks Butterfly,
“What do you want to do in life?”
“Lay eggs. Maybe…,” the Butterfly hesitantly replies.
Bee offers her a scoop from the royal jelly. Butterfly gulps it down without a second thought.
As they become best friends, everyone in the garden maliciously stares at the jubilant pair.

The Squad of Three

One day, like every other perfect friendship, the two get tired of each other’s company. And, out of their boredom appears a trio: a group of three male insects dwelling in the ground. Grasshopper poses to be the leader of the pack. Along with him is a fire ant, the ever-nodding, gullible, good one of the three, preparing himself to execute the sole purpose of his life: getting ready to serve his queen at the mound.
Fly, between the two, is a misfit.
“Fly’s job is to vomit upon the garbage. What is he doing in the garden?” Bee expresses utter
distaste and horror as she informs Butterfly about the trio for the first time.
“Whom do you like then?” Butterfly inquires.
“Have you seen Grasshopper jump? His tricks to camouflage himself can fool the strongest of
predators in the garden. He can stridulate. Ant can also do that! Together, they rub their legs and
fill the garden with melody. Fly can only buzz and annoy. He is a nuisance.”
Bee becomes terrifyingly vocal about Fly’s ill nature.
The pair’s night sessions over the royal jelly revolve around just one topic: the squad of three, Bee being infatuated by the seemingly versatile Grasshopper.
In order to prove goodness, the good need to be set against the bad. Therefore, Bee fiercely admires Grasshopper and vehemently dislikes Fly. But the more Bee abhors Fly, the more exciting and irresistible he seems to Butterfly.
After all, you have to admit, they both are “flies”.

Fly

Therefore, one day, Butterfly spots Fly rolling on the dung and comes/flies down to learn about him.
“Bee told me that you are a pest. You carry harmful creatures in your body. You spoil food. You spread disease. You are common. You are found everywhere. You cling to others without any firm identity of your own,” Butterfly thus begins her first conversation with Fly.
She indeed lacked the social skills, the prerequisites for surviving the adversaries of the garden, while the fly was fully equipped with them.
“Thank you for letting me know about how I am perceived by creatures living on sugary substances,” said Fly through his stinky mouth. “I help the garden’s environment by feeding on feces, dead animals and rotten fruits. I do not just contaminate them; this is a process called decomposing: I spit on the food to soften it. And Bee calls it vomitus? Huh? A wide variety of organisms use me as a transport, just as Bee transports pollen and helps in plant breeding. I can also rub my legs like Grasshopper or Ant; not to make music but to taste my food. Yes, I live on other animals. I can even drink blood if that becomes a necessity… Tell me, o owner of such magnificent wings, can a bee ever be a fly?”
Butterfly becomes immediately fascinated by the eloquent Fly. She wants to know more about him.
“I am a normal insect, you see. I rest at night. We can speak more if you can only manage it during
the daytime.”
…
“So, you are moving in with that nasty Fly? Go, have a look at yourself on the pond. You are such a
refined, majestic creature of the garden. Think again.” Bee sounds clearly disappointed.
“As the hooves of the horses create a storm of dust and the chariot race begins, Fly sits on the
chariot’s wheels and exclaims that it is he who has stirred up the dust,” Bee bursts out in rage.
“He is loathsome. Such an accursed irritant! It was all my fault! I should have never told you
about him,” Bee cries in anger.
By the way, Bee is leaving the garden; she has made herself her own hive in the forest, away from the resentful existence of insects, leaving Butterfly behind.
“I think you should just concentrate on royal duties, your highness,” Butterfly speaks up, “and let
the benefactors of the garden do their mighty job.” She is equally distressed. The self-proclaimed
Queen is spoiling her new-found joy.
“All right. Since Fly has finally lured you down to the ground, I wish you all the very best in
your conjugal life amidst excrements and animal carcasses,” Bee says by way of a farewell and
immediately leaves Butterfly.
Butterfly smells the spring in the air.
Faraway from the pond and after crossing many a rotting bark, tangled shrubs and dried wet leaves, she arrives at Fly’s den.
Creatures of the garden gossip: “So, has Butterfly come down from the treetops to lay her eggs in Fly’s abode?”
“Yes, she cleans and clears up the space and makes herself busy to be accustomed to the life of
Fly.”
Fly introduces Butterfly to Cockroach.

Cockroach

The old Cockroach, an even more common insect than Fly, sports every feature of a pest, but he troubles none with his inoffensive existence. Cockroach is hardy. Having endured all sorts of extremities, he stays here in the common shelter. He mostly spends his time alone among the rotting woods and dead leaves. He recognizes Fly as his son.
He warns Butterfly about the hardship of life on the ground and weighs her capacity to earn food. Butterfly obviously does not pay much heed to the dull Roach’s words, until she meets Spider.

Spider

Spider spitefully stares at Butterfly as she enters her nest after a week-long forage. She is venomous and her bites are deadly. Butterfly instantly feels scared of her.
“Is that hideous thing a food?” she asks Fly.
“No, Butterfly has come here to reproduce more food for us,” Fly timidly replies to her.
Later, he convinces Butterfly that such words are often told to the angry Spider to pacify her. They actually mean nothing.
Nevertheless, Butterfly discerns that the only thing discussed in this part of the garden is food. Fly’s sole purpose in life is to bring food for Spider. She hears a rumor floating in the air: Spider had once eaten Cockroach’s pair of testes, rendering him timorous and impotent. He is now unable to ever escape her network of sticky webs. He is under a constant threat of being transformed into food by Spider. If there will ever be a food shortage, he will be eaten by her.
Therefore, he only approaches her when she is full.
Butterfly also learns through her coexistence that Fly’s den is basically owned by Spider. Cockroach and Fly abide by her commands. It is her cage, her tangled webs from where they can hardly escape. In the name of freedom, freedom from Bee, Fly has brought herself down slavery – a mere slave of Spider.
Fly, who is now mostly engaged managing food for so many mouths, has hardly any time for sweet talk. Butterfly often remains thirsty. There is no puddle around. Also, feeding on animal droppings and rotting flesh is not easy for her. She craves tree sap and honeydew.
Moreover, she is carrying her eggs.
Spider’s nest is situated in an undisturbed and secluded area of the garden, and she guards it with all her might by hanging upside down from her web at its opening. No insect ever dares cross her path. Fly and Cockroach stay out all day to avoid the lethal venom of Spider.
Butterfly fearfully stays with her the whole day; she has become Spider’s prisoner; slowly and painfully she is losing her mind out of terror and hunger.
Moreover, she is worried about her eggs. She laid them already four days ago and constantly guards them against Spider. The dome-shaped green eggs will gradually turn purple before they will hatch.

Fungus

Before Butterfly had even met Fly, Spider left Fungus upon Fly to control him. She often provokes Fungus to torment him whenever he abdicates his responsibility of serving food to her. Fungus is also gradually making him sterile so that he cannot produce any more eggs of his own. Consequently, he has become a zombie and listens only to Spider’s commands.
Butterfly’s urge to save herself and her eggs from Spider only makes him furious. He bought her the precious willow leaves from the forest to lay her eggs on. What more does she want?
Besides, Fly has become seriously ill. Fungus has started eating up his gut in obedience to Spider’s latest command; she is growing throughout his body. He straightens his legs and constantly flaps his wings in pain. He prefers to bask in the heat of the sun; high temperatures ameliorate his agony. Butterfly offers her assistance to him as a devoted spouse does.
“Is there any way I can help you remove that pain?” she asks.
“I have been carrying Fungus on me since my childhood. She is my sibling. I can never shake her
off.”
Thus, Fly finally imparts to Butterfly the core purpose of his life.
“Will you carry her on my behalf?” he asks.
No, she cannot do that; she cannot leave her eggs in Spider’s nest, not even for a moment.
Amidst such insecurities, she finishes laying all her eggs on the sixth day. She is hungry and tired and she dozes off, but she wakes up hearing a crunch and discovers the Spider lapping her saliva on her eggs and licking them at short, irregular intervals.
“Everything my son earns for me is mine,” she chants.
She hears Butterfly approaching, and immediately brings herself down from the eggs. However, she keeps guarding them as she murmurs, “These eggs belong to me. Get away from what my son has bred for me, you butterball!”
Spider has poor eyesight. She can only know who is around by feeling the vibration on her web. And she knows it is Butterfly who is awake to save her eggs.
Meanwhile, the owner of the garden is cutting off the willow trees of the garden. The roots of the trees are creating a blockage under the soil, hampering the sanitation system of his house and breaking down the water supply pipes. He is scattering lemon peels around his blueberry plants and the rinds touch Spider.
She is startled at first; the fertilizer made out of that citrus food burns her skin off. She instantly moves away from the eggs but manages to attack Butterfly.
She bites off what she thinks is the head of Butterfly.
Butterfly shudders but firmly clutches the willow leaves with her legs. She has laid her eggs on them. She hurriedly flees from Spider as she greedily munches on her false head, a massive chunk from her wings.
Butterfly looks back at Fly for the last time. She is leaving him, never to come back again. His body is stuck on a leaf of blueberries. The shoots of Fungus have burst out from his abdomen. Her roots are penetrated deep inside his cuticle. Soon, she will spread her spores to infect a new fly.
As Butterfly finally manages to cross the shallow river, she realizes that it is her time to die. She places her own willow leaves around plenty of willow trees in the forest. Her babies will never have to worry about food.
Has she been a good mother to her caterpillars? She asks herself.
The insects of the garden have always replied to her queries.
But she has left the garden behind.