Zara and the Blanket of Stars

Zara was a little girl with curly hair and a window that faced the night sky. One evening, as she was getting ready for bed, she noticed something strange. The stars looked cold. They shivered and flickered, and one tiny star sneezed. "Achoo!"

"Bless you," said Zara. And then she had an idea. She took her softest, warmest blanket, the one with the yellow ducks on it, and she held it up to the sky. "Here," she said. "For the stars."

To her amazement, the blanket floated right out of her hands and spread itself across the sky. The stars snuggled under it at once. And in return, the night sky let down a blanket of its own: a blanket woven from pure starlight, soft as moonbeams and warm as a hug.

The Starlight Blanket

Zara wrapped herself in the starlight blanket. Oh, it was wonderful! It sparkled when she breathed. It hummed a tiny tune when she moved. She fell asleep faster than she ever had, dreaming in silver and gold.

But the next night, something was wrong. Zara looked out her window and gasped. The sky was dark. The stars were shivering again, huddled together without any blanket at all.

"Oh no," whispered Zara. "They gave me their blanket, and now they are cold!"

That night, wrapped in starlight, Zara dreamed she was dancing among the stars themselves. They twirled her around the Milky Way and let her ride on the tail of a comet. "Stay," they twinkled. "Stay with us forever." But Zara just smiled in her sleep and held on tighter to her blanket.

The Kindest Gift

Zara did not think twice. She folded the starlight blanket carefully, stood on her tiptoes, and tossed it back up into the sky. The stars caught it and wrapped themselves up with sighs of relief.

And do you know what the stars did then? Every single one of them twinkled extra bright, just for Zara. The whole sky glowed like a thank-you card.

Zara climbed into bed with her duck blanket, feeling warmer than ever. "Goodnight, stars," she whispered. And a thousand tiny voices twinkled back, "Goodnight, Zara."

To say thank you, the stars gathered seven of their brightest and arranged them in the shape of a little blanket. "We will call it Zara's Blanket," they twinkled, "so every child who looks up will remember to be kind." And if you look at the sky tonight, you just might see it.

Moral of the Story

Kindness given freely always finds its way back to you, brighter than before.