A Plague of Butterflies
Encyclopedia
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
. It appears in his short story collection Maps in a Mirror
Maps in a Mirror
Maps in a Mirror is a collection of short stories by Orson Scott Card. Like Card's novels, most of the stories have a science fiction or fantasy theme...
. Card originally published this in an anthology he was editing called Dragons of Darkness
Dragons of Darkness
Dragons of Darkness is an anthology edited by Orson Scott Card. It contains fifteen stories, two of which were written by Card himself. The two stories by Card are "Middle Woman" and "A Plague of Butterflies"...
. His short story "Middle Woman
Middle Woman
"Middle Woman" is a short story by Orson Scott Card. It appears in his short story collections Cardography and Maps in a Mirror. Card originally published this in an anthology he was editing called Dragons of Darkness under the name Byron Walley....
" appeared in the same book under the pseudonym Byron Walley.
Plot summary
This is the story of a man named Amasa. One day a bunch of butterfliesButterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
came to Amasa to take him on a journey to Hierusalem – the land of the dead. On the way he met a man who told him the key to getting into the city. The man explains to Amasa that Hierusalem was built and sealed off from the rest of the world to keep an evil dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
from going out and killing people. The man also warns Amasa that if he kills a butterfly he will live forever. When Amasa arrives at the city he finds out that the people who live there expect him to kill the evil dragon and save the queen. Amasa says that he is done with quest
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
s and then kills a butterfly. Soon after that, the evil dragon goes to the queen and impregnates
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
her. When the child is born, the butterflies tell Amasa to kill it but he cannot because the child is so beautiful. When it grows up, the dragon woman begins mating with Amasa creating many new dragons to send out into the world. Amasa tries to kill himself to stop her, but discovers that he cannot die.
The comic
The short story "A Plague of Butterflies" was made into comic in which appears in the January 2008 issue of InterGalactic Medicine ShowIntergalactic Medicine Show
InterGalactic Medicine Show is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was founded by multiple award-winning author Orson Scott Card. An anthology also called Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show was published by Tor in August, 2008, featuring selected stories from...
. The art for this comic was done by Lance Card and the script was written by Jake Black, who also worked with Card on the comic book mini-series Wyrms
Wyrms (comics)
Wyrms is a six-issue comic book mini-series by Orson Scott Card and Jake Black, based on the novel Wyrms by author Orson Scott Card. Publication started in April 2006 by Dabel Brothers Productions and was finished in February 2008 by Marvel Comics....
.