When our world began, there was only one planet bright enough to bring light and warmth to planet earth. It was Sun. As the energy of the universe magically brought things to life on Earth, plants insects, animals and finally people, they all wanted Sun. She helped them grow, kept them warm and showed them what a wonderful place Earth was.
Sun tried to be everywhere at once but she just got exhausted speeding around Earth trying to give everyone light. And strangely enough the plants, insects, animals and people also got tired being busy every minute of every day.
So Sun came up with an idea that would help everyone. She would share her life giving warmth by moving very, very slowly from one side of the Earth to the other. And while she was away, she entrusted all the life on Earth to Night. Night had a hugely important job. It was his job to give everyone and everything the chance to rest, relax and to build up its strength for when Sun returned and began a new day.
All the plants, insects and animals loved Night. And nearly all of the people did too. But some people, especially children, were worried about the dark. When it was Night’s turn to look after everyone, some people, instead of sleeping, would start to think of all the things that worried them. Night listened to all the people’s worries as they floated up into the dark sky and began to get annoyed. Why didn’t people like him? Night forgot all about the millions and millions of plants, insects, animals and people who loved the peaceful darkness and just grew crosser and angrier as he listened to people’s worries.
Finally Night had had enough and complained to Sun. She tried to reassure him. Some people didn’t like her as she could be too hot for some people and even burn them if they didn’t protect themselves. Sun couldn’t help that and just focused on the fact that most people loved her, just as most people loved Night. But Night wanted everyone to love him.
So Sun came up with an idea to help Night. She used all her power to call far across the universe to her sister. Her sister was a planet called Moon. Sun explained her idea to her sister. While she was away, Moon would stay with Night. Her gentle soothing light would help those people who didn’t like the darkness. Moon loved the idea of helping Night and her sister.
But when Sun told Night that Moon was coming to help him, he was furious. Night didn’t want to share the people he was looking after. Night didn’t want any light in the dark; he wanted people to love pure darkness.
And then when Night saw Moon and how much people loved her beautiful silver light, he became very jealous. Night hated Moon and swore that he would have his revenge on all the people who did not love him.
Night thought hard and finally came up with a horrible plan. He began to collect all the worries of the world that floated up into the dark night sky and carefully wove them together, however tiny or insignificant. Moon watched Night very carefully. When Moon asked Night what he was doing, he would never tell her.
Finally Night finished his work. At last he had something powerful enough for him to pay back all the people of Earth who did not love him. Night shivered with excitement. He knew he had made something that Earth had never ever felt before. He had woven together millions and millions of worries. He had wrapped them up and over each other, threaded them through and round and twisted them in and out. When the sky was at its darkest and Moon was the thinnest sliver of light, Night hurled his twisted ball towards Earth far, far below. It hurtled through the darkness and exploded onto the world, shattering into millions of tiny pieces. Night had created Fear.
By the time Sun returned, Fear had created Dreads, companions for his crusade and they had spread quickly across the entire planet. Sun was furious. Night had betrayed her. He had been weak and selfish. Night just laughed. Sun could not destroy Fear. Her warmth and love would only drive Fear and the Dreads into the shadows. They would hide away knowing that Sun would eventually pass and then Night would rule again. Night thought that he and Fear would rule the darkness together.
But Night was wrong. Night had forgotten about Moon. Gentle Moon was even more angry with Night than Sun had been. Night had only listened to the small number of worries that people shared in the darkness. But the darkness was also full of beautiful dreams, dreams of wonderful things from all the people who loved Night. Night had ignored all of them and had only heard what he wanted to hear.
So Moon carefully began to weave together the millions and millions of dreams that filled the dark skies. Night looked on and laughed at Moon. “Why are you wasting your time?” he scoffed. “Silly dreams will not save anyone. Fear and his Dreads will rule the world.
But Moon knew that she was creating something just as strong as Fear, perhaps even stronger. At the very centre of her ball, Moon placed a magical creature called an OM inside. This OM was sent to Earth to collect all the heartfelt wishes and dreams and keep them safe. Because when there were enough wishes, the OM would use its energy to create a new, a second Moon and together the two Moons would drive Fear from the inky darkness once and for all.
Moon launched her ball of tightly woven dreams towards earth. It sped through the darkness like a gigantic fiery pearl before exploding in the most spectacular burst of light Earth had ever seen. In an instant a beautiful spectrum of light flashed across the world seeking out the people whose dreams had helped create it. Moon had created Hope.
Moon’s wish was that when Hope found its way into a person’s heart, before long that person would overcome the darkness caused by Fear and Dreads. But when her ball shattered so did the OM.
When Night saw what happened he just laughed. There will be no new Moon – Hope will be alone with Fear. The darkness will always be mine! Moon was sad; it seemed Night was right.
But when the single OM shattered, it wasn’t destroyed. It divided up into thousands and thousands of tiny OMs. Each tiny OM, still magical, set about collecting wishes and dreams, always pure, always from the heart. And then a strange and wonderful thing happened.
It was Night that spotted it first, a twinkling light that gleamed like a tiny diamond in the darkness. “What is that? demanded Night. Moon couldn’t say. She hadn’t put it there. But over time more and more of the tiny twinkling lights would appear. Then finally Moon understood.
While all the energy from the wishes that her tiny OMs collected wasn’t powerful enough to make a new Moon, it was strong enough to make something smaller, something that Moon called a Star. These new sparkling stars showed that a person’s dreams or wishes had come true, that even in the darkness Hope was winning.
Day after day, as Sun disappeared and Night brought darkness to the world, the inky black sky would slowly fill with beautiful pinpricks of sparkling light. From that moment on, Night knew that Fear and Dreads would do everything in their power to destroy the OMs and prevent them from making any new stars.
But the stars kept on coming, permanent and beautiful reminders to the children of earth that Hope and OMs are always there, that dreams and wishes do come true and always will.
The End.
