Standing on top of a mushroom the size of a car, was a man-sized, pot-bellied butterfly with a human face colored a dark shade of blue. Its orange-brown wings, which stood up straight but sagged at the tips, fluttered in rhythm with its song as it rose and fell in melody. In its left hand, the butterfly held a tube connected to a ring of brown barrels which surrounded its large, automobile-sized mushroom. The butterfly was singing from a scroll it was holding in its right hand. The blue-faced butterfly's song enchanted Lisa's ears, and calmed her mind, which was just moments ago, full of worry.
The singing stopped when the butterfly put the tube to its mouth. A light-brown, bubble filled fluid suddenly raced out from one of the barrels and through the tube before being sucked into the butterfly's mouth. It then looked toward a row of trees and saw a little girl in an orange dress, watching from behind them. The butterfly drunkenly greeted Lisa, "Hey, how's it goin'?"
Upon the greeting, the butterfly suddenly burped as a bubble erupted out of its mouth. The bubble floated up as a small dot the size of a fly but quickly grew as big as a watermelon. There were words inside the bubble that read: "Salutations young lady. How do you do on this fine day?" After Lisa managed to read the message encased in the beer bubble, it suddenly popped. Lisa found what the butterfly did to be very strange, but with her curiosity pushing her forward, she stepped closer to the blue-faced insect.
"Hi! I'm Lisa. Lisa Simpson. I'm doing just fine, thank you. That thing you did with the bubble was very neat, Mr...?"
"Oh... thank you, my name is-" The butterfly's drunken reply was suddenly interrupted with a burp that came with another word-filled beer bubble which read: "Well, thank you very much. My name is Barney G. Butterfly, and it is a pleasure to meet you, young miss Simpson."
"It is a pleasure to meet you too! Your singing is absolutely beautiful, what were you singing?"
"Oh, thank you little lady I-" Again, the drunken butterfly's reply was interrupted with a burp followed with a word-filled bubble, which read: "It was an old nursery rhyme my now dearly departed grandmother used to sing for me when I was a budding caterpillar."
"An old nursery rhyme? Could you tell me what it was about? The song sounded great, but I had trouble understanding the words."
Barney chuckled and then burped again. "Why, I'd be honored to tell you what it was about. It is in butterflynese, so humans have a hard time understanding it, but it tells of a great, great story."
"Really?"
"Yeah, they even made an Opera about it for the King of-" Yet again, Barney burped and made another word-filled bubble: "The nursery rhyme version was made into a grand Opera that was performed before and greatly loved by all the noble aristocracy of the great Butterfly Sovereignty. I was vocalizing the role of the narrator when you came upon me. It is considered to be one of the most sophisticated of tales full of drama, romance, intelligent observations on the nature of life itself, and is considered one of the greatest stories ever told. Why, all the greatest scholars of our time have the original nursery rhyme memorized by heart."
The beer bubble, overloaded with words ballooned to the size of a cow and made a loud popping sound as it suddenly disappeared. Lisa still wanted to know more. "So, what was the story about?"
"Oh, the story? It was about the time Tiger Tycoon Tom was wrestling with Daly City Dan for the world championship. When the referee started the match, Triple T attacked DCD with a triple flip spinning hurricane piledriver. Triple T went for the pin, but DCD got his shoulder up and fought back with his 650 Manilla Drop. Then Jolly Jerry Bumblebee Clement Street Gorbachov tried to interfere, but then Triple T's best friend in the whole wide world, Bam Bam Big Boo Boo Bungalow Loo Kuei Valencia Shimada Popeye Ryu Ken Scorpion Ahura Baal Zulustein stopped him, and then-" Before another bubble burped out, Lisa interrupted Barney.
"Wait, so the nursery rhyme and opera are about a pro-wrestling match?"
"Yeah! And then after Triple T's best friend and Jolly Jerry Bumblebee Clement Street Gorbachov were dragged out of the arena by the security guar-" Barney was yet again interrupted by a burp followed by a bubble which read: "After the comrades were spirited away, only the two long-time foes remained to do battle. At first, it was like two great bulls of evenly-matched strength and stamina pushing against one another, with neither giving ground nor losing it. Finally, Daniel from the borough of Daly, cracked the metaphorical claws of his Tiger-dubbed foe, and unleashed a hailstorm of furious attacks which pummeled his archenemy to the ground. On the blood-splattered white canvas of the square ring, they-" Before the bubble grew to the size of a house, Lisa popped it with a stick from the forest floor.
"Um, I just remembered I have to do something, could you just tell me how it ended?"
"Oh sure. It ended after Daly City Dan stacked up five tables together and lit them up with-" Once again, the butterfly, Barney interrupted himself with a belch and a bubble which read: "And so, five wooden platforms were stacked atop one another and were all lit aflame. Daniel from the province of Daly, prepared to defeat the foe who wooed away his one true love, Madeline the Magnificent. Volatile emotions which had twisted and churned within Daniel of Daly's young, noble heart, pushed him to further brutalize his object of hatred by deciding to drive the motionless but still breathing body of his enemy through all five of the flaming platforms. Daniel hoisted his enemy's limp body over his mighty shoulders as he climbed atop one of the battleground's four pillars and turned to face the five flaming-" Again, Lisa popped the bubble before it grew any bigger.
"So, Dan beat Tom?"
"Yeah, but this is my favorite part where Daly City Dan puts Triple T through five burning tables, it's Mr. Bumblebee's favorite part too and-"
"Wait, did you say Mr. Bumblebee? As in Senior Bombus Monticola, the bumblebee?"
"Hey, yeah! You know Mr. Bumblebee to-" He belched out another interrupting bubble with words in it: "So you are familiar with the Queen's favored messenger, Senior Bombus Monticola. He is a dear friend to me and everyone else in the White Rabbit's domain. Senior Bombus Monticola is quite popular, he is usually invited to all the best parties."
"Really? I had just met him earlier... um, do you know where I can find the White Rabbit? Senior Bumblebee told me the White Rabbit can help me find my way home."
"You want to see his majesty? Oh, just go-" Another belch and another word-filled balloon interrupted Barney G. Butterfly in mid-sentence yet again: "If you wish to grace his majesty's presence, simply follow the road to the right of me until you find some stairs. From there go up and take a left at the first intersection. Walk straight and you will eventually find yourself in the Red Queen's garden, from there ask one of the guards for directions to the king's court."
"Oh! Thank you so much! It's been really great to meet you, but I have to get going now."
"Come back again soon, nice to meet you to-" Barney G. Butterfly, not surprisingly, burped again. "Farewell, little Lisa, it has been my pleasure to meet you. May we meet again."
Lisa waved goodbye to the blue butterfly with orange-brown wings and went down the path as instructed. As she walked along the road in the forest, Barney began to sing again, and the further she walked, the fainter his singing became. Less and less sunlight speckled the forest floor the further she went. There were fewer and fewer mushrooms at the bases of the forest trees as well, but the sounds of insects chirping and birds singing increased. Lisa followed Barney's directions exactly, and after making a turn around some trees, she saw a squirrel running along the ground, and then she looked up.
The singing stopped when the butterfly put the tube to its mouth. A light-brown, bubble filled fluid suddenly raced out from one of the barrels and through the tube before being sucked into the butterfly's mouth. It then looked toward a row of trees and saw a little girl in an orange dress, watching from behind them. The butterfly drunkenly greeted Lisa, "Hey, how's it goin'?"
Upon the greeting, the butterfly suddenly burped as a bubble erupted out of its mouth. The bubble floated up as a small dot the size of a fly but quickly grew as big as a watermelon. There were words inside the bubble that read: "Salutations young lady. How do you do on this fine day?" After Lisa managed to read the message encased in the beer bubble, it suddenly popped. Lisa found what the butterfly did to be very strange, but with her curiosity pushing her forward, she stepped closer to the blue-faced insect.
"Hi! I'm Lisa. Lisa Simpson. I'm doing just fine, thank you. That thing you did with the bubble was very neat, Mr...?"
"Oh... thank you, my name is-" The butterfly's drunken reply was suddenly interrupted with a burp that came with another word-filled beer bubble which read: "Well, thank you very much. My name is Barney G. Butterfly, and it is a pleasure to meet you, young miss Simpson."
"It is a pleasure to meet you too! Your singing is absolutely beautiful, what were you singing?"
"Oh, thank you little lady I-" Again, the drunken butterfly's reply was interrupted with a burp followed with a word-filled bubble, which read: "It was an old nursery rhyme my now dearly departed grandmother used to sing for me when I was a budding caterpillar."
"An old nursery rhyme? Could you tell me what it was about? The song sounded great, but I had trouble understanding the words."
Barney chuckled and then burped again. "Why, I'd be honored to tell you what it was about. It is in butterflynese, so humans have a hard time understanding it, but it tells of a great, great story."
"Really?"
"Yeah, they even made an Opera about it for the King of-" Yet again, Barney burped and made another word-filled bubble: "The nursery rhyme version was made into a grand Opera that was performed before and greatly loved by all the noble aristocracy of the great Butterfly Sovereignty. I was vocalizing the role of the narrator when you came upon me. It is considered to be one of the most sophisticated of tales full of drama, romance, intelligent observations on the nature of life itself, and is considered one of the greatest stories ever told. Why, all the greatest scholars of our time have the original nursery rhyme memorized by heart."
The beer bubble, overloaded with words ballooned to the size of a cow and made a loud popping sound as it suddenly disappeared. Lisa still wanted to know more. "So, what was the story about?"
"Oh, the story? It was about the time Tiger Tycoon Tom was wrestling with Daly City Dan for the world championship. When the referee started the match, Triple T attacked DCD with a triple flip spinning hurricane piledriver. Triple T went for the pin, but DCD got his shoulder up and fought back with his 650 Manilla Drop. Then Jolly Jerry Bumblebee Clement Street Gorbachov tried to interfere, but then Triple T's best friend in the whole wide world, Bam Bam Big Boo Boo Bungalow Loo Kuei Valencia Shimada Popeye Ryu Ken Scorpion Ahura Baal Zulustein stopped him, and then-" Before another bubble burped out, Lisa interrupted Barney.
"Wait, so the nursery rhyme and opera are about a pro-wrestling match?"
"Yeah! And then after Triple T's best friend and Jolly Jerry Bumblebee Clement Street Gorbachov were dragged out of the arena by the security guar-" Barney was yet again interrupted by a burp followed by a bubble which read: "After the comrades were spirited away, only the two long-time foes remained to do battle. At first, it was like two great bulls of evenly-matched strength and stamina pushing against one another, with neither giving ground nor losing it. Finally, Daniel from the borough of Daly, cracked the metaphorical claws of his Tiger-dubbed foe, and unleashed a hailstorm of furious attacks which pummeled his archenemy to the ground. On the blood-splattered white canvas of the square ring, they-" Before the bubble grew to the size of a house, Lisa popped it with a stick from the forest floor.
"Um, I just remembered I have to do something, could you just tell me how it ended?"
"Oh sure. It ended after Daly City Dan stacked up five tables together and lit them up with-" Once again, the butterfly, Barney interrupted himself with a belch and a bubble which read: "And so, five wooden platforms were stacked atop one another and were all lit aflame. Daniel from the province of Daly, prepared to defeat the foe who wooed away his one true love, Madeline the Magnificent. Volatile emotions which had twisted and churned within Daniel of Daly's young, noble heart, pushed him to further brutalize his object of hatred by deciding to drive the motionless but still breathing body of his enemy through all five of the flaming platforms. Daniel hoisted his enemy's limp body over his mighty shoulders as he climbed atop one of the battleground's four pillars and turned to face the five flaming-" Again, Lisa popped the bubble before it grew any bigger.
"So, Dan beat Tom?"
"Yeah, but this is my favorite part where Daly City Dan puts Triple T through five burning tables, it's Mr. Bumblebee's favorite part too and-"
"Wait, did you say Mr. Bumblebee? As in Senior Bombus Monticola, the bumblebee?"
"Hey, yeah! You know Mr. Bumblebee to-" He belched out another interrupting bubble with words in it: "So you are familiar with the Queen's favored messenger, Senior Bombus Monticola. He is a dear friend to me and everyone else in the White Rabbit's domain. Senior Bombus Monticola is quite popular, he is usually invited to all the best parties."
"Really? I had just met him earlier... um, do you know where I can find the White Rabbit? Senior Bumblebee told me the White Rabbit can help me find my way home."
"You want to see his majesty? Oh, just go-" Another belch and another word-filled balloon interrupted Barney G. Butterfly in mid-sentence yet again: "If you wish to grace his majesty's presence, simply follow the road to the right of me until you find some stairs. From there go up and take a left at the first intersection. Walk straight and you will eventually find yourself in the Red Queen's garden, from there ask one of the guards for directions to the king's court."
"Oh! Thank you so much! It's been really great to meet you, but I have to get going now."
"Come back again soon, nice to meet you to-" Barney G. Butterfly, not surprisingly, burped again. "Farewell, little Lisa, it has been my pleasure to meet you. May we meet again."
Lisa waved goodbye to the blue butterfly with orange-brown wings and went down the path as instructed. As she walked along the road in the forest, Barney began to sing again, and the further she walked, the fainter his singing became. Less and less sunlight speckled the forest floor the further she went. There were fewer and fewer mushrooms at the bases of the forest trees as well, but the sounds of insects chirping and birds singing increased. Lisa followed Barney's directions exactly, and after making a turn around some trees, she saw a squirrel running along the ground, and then she looked up.