The Yellow Butterfly: NCERT Class 3 English Story (Marigold Unit 5)

etmantra18 Jan 20217 min read

This gentle story follows a boy named Sonu as he chases a butterfly through his garden. Children will enjoy the chase, feel worried when the butterfly is trapped, and learn that living things are happiest when they are free.

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From the NCERT English book Marigold for Class 3, unit 5. NCERT’s newer Class 3 book is Santoor, but many schools still teach Marigold.

Watch: The Yellow Butterfly

Play the video three or four times. The first time, just listen. Then point at the pictures, and from the third time, say the lines along with the video. Short, repeated listening is how CALP builds a child’s English.

What your child learns

Words that tell how: slowly, silently, merrily
Words for places in a garden: rose bed, pond, peach tree
Being kind to living things
Reading a story with excitement and pauses

What the story is about

A yellow butterfly flies around Sonu’s garden, and Sonu tries to catch it. It sits on a red rose, but flies off just as he comes close. It rests on a lotus leaf in the pond, and Sonu falls splash into the water. It sits on a pink flower in the peach tree, and Sonu climbs up, but it flies away again. Then Sonu cannot see it anywhere.

At last he finds it caught in a big spider’s web in the peach tree. A hungry black spider is crawling closer. Before the spider can grab it, Sonu catches the butterfly. It is pretty, with brown spots on its yellow wings, but it looks sad in his hand. Sonu wants it to be happy, so he lets it go. The butterfly flies merrily from flower to flower, happy and free again.

New words, with Hindi meanings

silently: without making any sound (हिंदी: चुपचाप)
pond: a small area of still water (हिंदी: तालाब)
floated: stayed on top of the water without sinking (हिंदी: तैरते रहे)
escape: to get free from something that holds you (हिंदी: छूटकर भागना)
fluttered: moved its wings quickly up and down (हिंदी: पंख फड़फड़ाए)
crawled: moved slowly close to the ground (हिंदी: रेंगा)
grab: to take hold of something quickly (हिंदी: झपटना)
merrily: in a happy, cheerful way (हिंदी: खुशी से)

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

Name the three places where the butterfly sat in Sonu’s garden.
What happened when Sonu tried to catch the butterfly on the lotus leaf?
Why did Sonu let the butterfly go?
Have you seen a butterfly? What colour was it, and where was it sitting?

Answers for parents

On a red rose, on a lotus leaf in the pond, and on a pink flower in the peach tree.
Sonu fell splash into the water, and the butterfly flew away.
The butterfly looked sad in his hand, and Sonu wanted it to be happy and free.
For example: Yes, I saw a white butterfly sitting on a marigold flower in the park.

Grammar corner: Words that tell how (-ly words)

Some words tell us how something is done. Many of them end in -ly, like slowly, silently and merrily. They go with an action word.

Sonu tiptoed quietly towards the rose bed.
The spider moved slowly across its web.
The butterfly flew happily over the pond.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: The butterfly flew ___ from flower to flower. (merrily / angrily)
Add -ly to make new words: slow, quiet, sad.
Make a sentence with the word "escape".

Answers: 1. merrily · 2. slowly, quietly, sadly · 3. For example: The little bird tried to escape from the net.

Try this

Make a butterfly chase at home. Choose three spots in the room to be the rose, the lotus pond and the peach tree. One child is the butterfly and “flies” from spot to spot with flapping arms, while another plays Sonu, tiptoeing slowly to catch it. End with Sonu opening his hands and saying “Fly away!” Then let your child draw the butterfly with brown spots on yellow wings.

Tip for parents

Tell the chase in Hindi first: तितली गुलाब पर बैठी, फिर तालाब में पत्ते पर, फिर पेड़ पर. Then name each place in English together: rose, pond, peach tree. Ask in Hindi, "सोनू ने तितली को क्यों छोड़ दिया?", let your child answer in any language, and then say the answer together in English.

Questions parents ask

What is the moral of The Yellow Butterfly?

Living things are happiest when they are free. Sonu is kind: he saves the butterfly from the spider and then lets it go.

Who are the characters in The Yellow Butterfly?

Sonu, a boy, the yellow butterfly with brown spots, and a hungry black spider.

Which book and class is The Yellow Butterfly from?

It is Unit 5 of Marigold, NCERT's older English book for Class 3. The newer NCERT English books are Mridang for Class 1–2 and Santoor for Class 3–5.

Learn every Class 3 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Santoor, NCERT’s new book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, grammar, speaking and first writing practice. ₹1,299 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →