When wolves grew up, they did not sprout wings and fly away. Gotham knew this because his mama and papa were still around, and they were grown up. The story that Mati was telling didn't sound like growing up at all, and how in the world could a caterpillar build a house? Wolves and humans could build houses because they had hands, and birds could build nests because they had beaks to hold the sticks, but caterpillars just had tiny wiggly arms and an itty bitty mouth. The story just didn't seem right, and as the pup stared at his little friend his brows were furrowed in disbelief. Mister Green, as much as he might like to be, would never be a butterfly. Butterflies must be born like birds, with their wings already on even if they don't know how to use them. And why would the caterpillar have to go inside a house to grow its wings? This story, frankly, was completely made up! Mati was either trying to sound smarter than she was by saying something so strange, or she was trying to see how gullible he was. And he, Gotham, was not gullible!
For a moment he stared at the caterpillar some more, wanting to ensure he was completely sure that Mati was being silly before calling her out on it. It was clear, though, Mister Green would simply never be a butterfly! Gotham swung his head back to Mati, his narrowed eyes meeting hers. His eyes glared at her in disbelief, but on his maw there was the slightest of smiles. He yipped playfully, "Yer a-lyin' to me!" Perhaps this was a good move by Mati, to tell the pup something ridiculous to make sure that he could think for himself. Well, Gotham was no sheep! He would not buy into this caterpillar-butterfly conspiracy. That would just be silly. If Mati had wanted him to develop his own critical thinking skills, she should have started off with something less obviously false. He was onto her little game, now, and would think hard about anything that she told him in the future!