Recently I wrote about bugs and how their little legs can make us shudder uncontrollably. That made me think about something even more horrifying: caterpillars. Even though some of them are really pretty with their perfect little geometrical figures on their skin, I can hardly bring myself to get near one… and as for touching them — forget it!

In Russian caterpillar is гусеница. It is a noun of feminine gender that incidentally has nothing to do with гусь “goose” that seems to have the same root.

Some dream interpretations suggest that seeing a caterpillar in your dream means getting involved with something undesirable, causing you distress. A caterpillar on your clothes that can’t be shaken off means some unpleasant encounters in the future. However, if you squish a caterpillar in your dream, good luck won’t leave your side. (source)

I remember when I was little, my friends and I were playing on the swing we had in our garden. That swing was big enough to fit several people. Being a good girl, I took my shoes off and climbed onto the swing ready to have fun. Little did I know what my friends were plotting. They found a big fuzzy caterpillar with a green body and a bright orange head and placed it carefully in one of my shoes. When I finally put my shoes back on, I could feel that my foot was not alone in there. As soon as I realized what it was, I jumped so suddenly that the swing jerked and folded in half, dumping us all on the ground. I remember shrugging and screaming but the joke was on my friend who pulled the prank — he landed on the caterpillar!