Once upon a time, at the very top of Mossy Mountain, there lived a little dragon called Puff. Puff was a very brave dragon. He wasn't afraid of thunder. He wasn't afraid of heights. He wasn't even afraid of nettle soup, which most dragons won't go anywhere near.
There was only one thing in the whole world that made Puff's heart beat faster: the dark.
Every evening, when the sun slipped behind the mountain and his cave turned grey, then black, Puff would tuck his nose under his wing and whisper, "I wish it were morning."
One night, while he was hiding under his wing, he heard a tiny knock at the mouth of the cave. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
"Who's there?" asked Puff, in his smallest voice.
"Only me," chimed a little light. It was a firefly, no bigger than a pea. "I saw it was dark in here, so I thought I'd pop in. I live in the dark, you know. It's where I work."
Puff peeked out from under his wing. "You live in the dark? And you're not scared?"
"Scared?" laughed the little firefly, her golden light twinkling merrily. "The dark is the softest thing in the world! It's like a great big warm blanket that the sky spreads over the mountain so everyone can sleep well. The flowers close up underneath it. The birds go quiet. The stream turns down its burbling. The dark isn't scary. The dark just says: shhh, it's time to rest."
Puff looked around. It was true — the cave didn't seem so black anymore. Silvery moonlight glowed at the entrance, the firefly's golden light danced gently on the walls, and somewhere far away a cricket played its soft evening song.
"Tell me again," said Puff, with a great big yawn, "the part about the dark being… a blanket…"
"A great big soft blanket," whispered the firefly. "The sky spreads it over the mountain. Over the mountain… over the cave… and over one small, brave dragon…"
Puff's eyes slowly closed. His wings had stopped trembling. And from that night on, whenever darkness fell over Mossy Mountain, Puff would smile, snuggle under the dark's great soft blanket — and sleep deeply and peacefully until morning.
The end. Sweet dreams! 🌙