Once upon a time, on a quiet, moonlit night, Polly the Owl sat upon her favourite branch and looked up at the sky. The moon was shining bright and there were thousands of stars twinkling in the distance. Polly thought to herself, “What a beautiful night! I wish all my friends could see these lovely stars.” So off she flew to visit her forest friends.
“Queenie and Reenie, come out quickly! You must come and see the stars!” she called. But Queenie and Reenie were too busy playing with their toys and did not hear her.
“Timothy,” said Polly to the little rabbit, who lived in a dark hole by the brook, “Timothy, do come out! I want you to see the stars.” But Timothy was afraid to come out in the dark, so he did not reply.
The little squirrels lived high up in the trees, and Polly flew and flew, but could not find them, for they were out at a party. Then Polly thought of a little bird who lived on the top of a Christmas tree, so she flew there.
“Cocky,” she said, “you must come at once and see the stars!” But Cocky remembered he was once wide awake at night when it was not Christmas, and he was afraid it was the same time again.
Polly felt very lonely sitting on her branch. Everyone was asleep or too busy to come and see the lovely stars. All at once she heard a tiny voice crying, “Help, help!” Polly looked around in alarm.
“Who is calling?” she asked.
“Down here, under the creeper,” said the little voice. So Polly flew down quickly. It was a little mouse.
“I cannot find my way home,” squeaked the mouse. “It is so dark, and I am afraid. Will you take me to my nest?”
So Polly took her on her back through the dark forest. It was hard work to find the tiny entrance to the mouse’s home under the great tree, but at last Polly found it.
“How am I to thank you?” said the little mouse. “Oh dear, what a lot of lovely stars! I did not know you had a star collection, Polly! Do give me one as a thank you.”
So Polly picked out the very biggest star she could see, and tucked it away in her little friend’s nest, and then off she went, still looking up in the sky.
“How strange,” she thought. “They are all winking. I wonder if they are playing a game of hide-and-seek.”
Just then Queenie and Reenie came running out, and the little rabbits appeared too. “Do come in,” squeaked Timothy. “It is so dark,” he said, “and where can we find light? The moon is not bright enough, and the stars never stay anywhere.”
“Oh, but they can stay if they like,” said Polly. “You cannot see them by day because the sun is up. You cannot see all the stars even at night because they play about and go behind the great moon sometimes. If you want to see them properly, come and perch on my tree. I always have a moon up here.”
So the little rabbits brought Timothy, and Queenie and Reenie climbed up the tree with Polly. “Oh!” squeaked Timothy. “How lovely and bright they are! How many, many, many stars you must have!”
“Sixteen hundred and ten,” said Polly.
“And how did you manage to collect so many?” asked Queenie.
“Eight years ago,” replied Polly, “I hung them all on my tree when I was a baby owl, and have never forgotten to replace the ones that have gone behind the moon.”
And from that night Polly had lots and lots of friends, who like herself saw the beauty of the stars and never minded a little darkness.