“The Butterfly” is the 9th of the 12 movements from the suite “Aus Andersens Marchen” , Op. 30, subtitled “A Musical Picture Book” by the Russian/Ukranian composer Serge Bortkiewicz. Each piece in the suite is based in some way on a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. This ninth piece tells the story of a butterfly who decided he must marry and obviously, being a butterfly, it had to be to a flower. He flew around the garden but none of the flowers seemed quite right. Spring and summer passed and finally, in the autumn, he decided to propose to the little mint plant. The mint plant replied that it would be foolish to marry, as they were now both so old. So the butterfly remained a bachelor and one day, late in autumn, he took refuge in the warmth of a house where he was seen, admired and stuck on a pin. He consoled himself by thinking, “now I sit on a stalk just like the flowers, probably just like being married: you are stuck’.