Monarchy and Dynastic Inheritance

A few months ago (back in the high days of summer) Beemer was playing in the back yard as I grilled some burgers. Sometime during the process where raw ground cow metamorphoses into caramelized juicy goodness, Beemer shouted "Daddy, Daddy! I found a cocoon!" I was busy flipping the meat, or something, and so to distract her/postpone any direct involvement I said, "Cool. What kind of cocoon is it?" There was a pause of maybe 15 seconds, then she declared, "It's a Monarch!" "How do you know that?" Without missing a beat she came back with, "Because it's green. With gold dots. And there's orange and black wings inside it."

I had been telling her a few weeks prior about how her grandma (my mother) and I used to collect a few monarch caterpillars, feed them and raise them into chrysalides (chrysalises, if you prefer), hatch them and release them. I was impressed with her memory. I was more impressed, though, when I finished grilling and found this:

So, we continued the dynastic tradition (thanks again, mom) and brought it inside. This was the result.

We released it later that day. Tender mercies, indeed.