The Butterfly Lion

The Butterfly Lion is a 1996 middle grade novel by British author Michael Morpurgo. The novel follows a young boy named Michael Morpurgo as he runs away from boarding school in Wiltshire, England, while an embedded narrative chronicles the lives of Bertie and Millie Andrews, past residents of a massive estate near the boarding school. The Butterfly Lion explores themes of friendship and enduring hardship, with heavy use of symbolism and metaphor throughout.

Morpurgo is a well-known author of children’s books, most notably the historical fiction War Horse (1982). His work often blends historical fiction with magical realism. He has won literary accolades, including several Carnegie Medals, and has been knighted for his contribution to British literature.

The novel has been illustrated by Christian Birmingham. The artwork in The Butterfly Lion is done in pencil on paper and features realistic images of the characters in British and South African landscapes. Images are often vignettes, lacking clearly defined borders. The artwork features cross-hatching that creates contrast within large areas of white space; characters are often seen from nontraditional vantage points, often from the back or in profile.

Birmingham is a well-known and prolific British illustrator, and winner of the Costa Children’s Book of the Year, Red House Children’s Book Award, and Smarties Book Prize.

This guide refers to the Harper Collins Children’s Books 1996 edition.

Plot Summary

As a young boy, Michael Morpurgo runs away from boarding school in Wiltshire in heavy rain, intent on catching the train to London to escape a bully. During his Sunday escape, a passing car startles him and he runs through a gate where he meets an old woman named Millie Andrews. She kindly invites Michael to tea, and he accepts. As his clothes dry, Millie tells him a long story.

As Millie speaks, the boy watches a blue lion on the hillside. She tells of a little boy in South Africa named Bertie, who rescues an orphaned white lion cub from a pack of hyenas. Bertie and his mother revive the lion, and he soon becomes inseparable from his feline friend. When Bertie turns eight, his father decides to send him to boarding school in England and to sell the lion to Monsieur Merlot, a French circus owner. Bertie attempts to set the lion free, but it cannot survive in the wild and returns just as Merlot arrives with his crate.

Bertie is sent to Wiltshire, and the lion goes to France to star in a circus as The White Prince. After their departure from the farm in South Africa, Bertie’s mother dies of a broken heart and the boy vows never to return or see his father again. He is happy to be in England, which is somewhat close to France.

One day, young Millie is flying a kite in the garden when a boy running away from boarding school appears. He tells her of a childhood in Africa, and of a white lion cub. Millie and Bertie agree to meet every Sunday. Over the years the two form a deep friendship that grows into love. They go away to college and write to each other often. During WWI, Bertie disappears into the trenches in France. Millie becomes a nurse so she can look for him, never losing hope that she will find her love again.

One day, Millie recognizes Bertie’s face in a newspaper praising the bravery of a soldier who has been awarded the Victoria Cross. She travels to the hospital where he is recovering from his heroic rescue of two wounded soldiers. Afterward, they meet every Sunday, as they once had as children in Wiltshire.

One Sunday, they are walking in the bombed French village when they spot a poster for Monsieur Merlot’s circus. They find Merlot and The White Prince near death from starvation. Reunited, Bertie and the lion resume their friendship. Bertie convinces his superiors that his lion—the symbol of Britain—must be saved. The group sails to Dover: Bertie the war hero, his beloved nurse Millie, and the white lion. The media adore the spectacle and the symbolism.

Millie and Bertie marry, and The White Prince lives with them on Millie’s childhood estate. After many good years, the lion dies. Bertie is heartbroken until he devises a plan. He will cut a portrait of the lion into the chalk of the hillside, giving immortality to the animal that he so loved. Millie agrees, and over the next 20 years they chip away at the hill until they form it into the shape of the lion. Then, Bertie dies of old age, leaving Millie alone.

The chalk hillside attracts Adonis Blues, stunning butterflies that cover the lion’s shape and give the appearance of life to the monument where both the lion and Bertie have been laid to rest.

When the story ends, Millie drives Michael, now dry and warm, back to school. He asks if he can visit on Sundays, and Millie agrees, hinting that Michael should endure his studies just as the war hero Bertie Andrews once did.

Back at school, Michael asks his history teacher about Albert Andrews. The teacher directs him to the church, where there is a memorial to Bertie’s bravery. The teacher adds that Bertie’s widow died soon after Bertie. The boy is startled and cannot sleep.

The next day Michael rushes to the house, but it has long been abandoned. He finds the lion on the hillside covered in Adonis Blues and hears a voice asking him to remember the story, remember them, and keep the lion white.

The boy agrees.