The Moon Rabbit | Dreamjourney · The Quiet Corner — A Gentle Sleep Story

Hello, my little ones. I am Luna, and this is my friend Twinkle. There you are, all tucked in, warm and soft. I am so glad you are here with me tonight. How was your day today, little one? Long, maybe. Full of so many things. It's all finished now. Every bit of it. There's nothing left to carry. You can let your eyes grow heavy whenever they'd like to. There's nothing at all to do now. Only rest and listen and be here with me and Twinkle for a little while. Have you ever looked up on a clear and silvery night? That big, round, gentle moon, so soft and so far away? And have you ever looked closely at the soft shapes upon it and wondered just a little if someone might be up there? Someone kind, looking down, keeping your company through the night? Well, there's an old, old story about that. People have told it in many lands for a very long time. It's the story of how a small, kind rabbit came to live on the moon. Come along with me and I'll show you. You are resting warm in the soft grass at the edge of a quiet forest. Long, long on a gentle evening. The sky is turning silver. The first stars are coming out soft and slow. And here in the forest live three little friends. A monkey, an otter, and a small, soft rabbit. They were the kindest of friends, these three. And of them all, the little rabbit had the gentlest heart. He spent his days doing small, kind things. Sharing his clover, listening to the birds, keeping his friends good company. The rabbit had almost nothing of his own, but what little he had, he gave gladly. Now, on this soft, silver evening, an old traveler came walking slowly through the forest. He was tired. He had come a very long way, and he was weary and hungry, and his feet were sore. He sat down to rest beneath a tree, and he said softly to no one in particular, Oh, I am so hungry. Is there anyone who might help a tired old traveler? The three friends heard him, and straight away, each one hurried off to help. The monkey scampered up into the trees quick and clever, and gathered an armful of sweet, ripe fruit, and brought it down and laid it gently before the old man. The otter slipped into the river, smooth and quiet, and came back with fresh fish and laid them down, too. And the old traveler smiled and thanked them warmly. Then he looked at the little rabbit, and the rabbit's heart sank just a little, because the rabbit had nothing to bring. He could not climb the trees like the monkey. He could not swim the river like the otter. He ate only the soft grass, and that was no supper for a hungry traveler. But the little rabbit wanted so much to help. With his whole heart, he wanted it. So he came forward, and he bowed his small, soft head, and he said, I have no fruit, and I have no fish. I have only myself and my willing heart. But whatever I can do to help you, anything at all, I will do it gladly. And the old traveler grew very still, because he was not really a tired old traveler at all. He was a wise and gentle being from heaven, who had come down to see what kindness lived in the world below. And he had found it in the smallest, softest creature of them all, who had almost nothing and offered everything. Little rabbit, he said, warm and low, your kind heart is the most beautiful thing I have felt in all my travels. Such gentleness should never be forgotten, and very gently, softer than a breath, he lifted the little rabbit up off the warm grass, past the tops of the trees, up into the silver evening sky, up all the soft way to the moon. And there, he set the little rabbit down in a good and gentle home, high in the quiet sky, so that everyone below, forever after, might look up and remember him. And that is why, my little ones, on clear and silvery nights, if you look up at a big round moon, and look softly, you can still see him. There, the little moon, curled up in his home, in the sky, gentle and safe, keeping watch over all the sleepier children of the world. A kind heart is a beautiful thing, and a kind is never, ever forgotten. The silver forest grows soft at its edges now. The three friends, and the gentle traveler, and the moonlit sky, drift slowly away. The story folds itself up, gently, and tucks itself away, and tucks itself away, until another evening. That's the one for tonight, my little ones. You did enough today, you were enough today, and there's all the time to rest now. I'll say goodnight soon, but only for a little while. I'll be back again. You are warm, you are held, you are exactly where you belong. It's up there, too, in the soft home, in the sky, watching over you the whole night through. Goodnight, my little ones. Sleep soft. I'll see you tomorrow, with Twinkle and another old story. You rest, you dream, you sleep, deep and easy, the whole night through. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder you are.