Once upon a time, in Skyland, where the stars danced and the flowers whispered secrets, there resided a lion who became the guardian of the stars. Each night, he would pace across the heavens, ensuring that each star glittered as brightly as it could.
One gloomy night, as Leo the lion watched over the world below, dark clouds crept from the East, shrouding the stars with an inky blackness. Protecting the stars was a heavy burden. There was no book of instructions, and so far, no one to help him. But Leo knew that if he ever failed in his watch, great harm might come to the earth. He tossed his mane and growled, and the whole sky trembled at the sound. He whirled around, and his tail brushed the clouds away.
“Go back, shadows!” he cried. “Your place is far below, and mine is here where my stars twinkle.”
But the shadows did not stop or turn back; they only rolled on, and on they came, until they were but a short distance away. Then Leo saw the stars were hanging by threads, and the blackness in the sky quickly grew thicker and thicker.
“We are in great danger,” said the twinkling stars, “if those clouds creep a little nearer. They will blot us out, our light will not reach the earth, and the night will be dark forever.”
“Soon my strength will be gone,” said Leo; “but I must struggle while I can. The world cannot be without light.”
So he faced the storm, the great King of beasts, and the shadowy clouds closed in about him, and he began to roar. Far below, men heard his voice, and lowly creatures trembled.
“My roar must frighten those clouds,” thought Leo; “it was heard down on the earth, and it should be enough to drive away the shadows.” And he threw back his head again and roared and roared, for his heart was strong, but slowly, slowly, the clouds crept nearer and nearer.
Then Leo felt the strength that was in him fast dying away, and he made three desperate jumps at his enemy, and tore several holes in the black curtain, but it would not stay torn. Next he stretched himself above the stars, and when the angry shadows struck fire from his body, he was sure they would die; but no, the dark clouds grew darker, and enveloped the stars in a thick blackness, which Leo could no longer pierce.
Then he followed the tail he had flung across the sky, and his heart dilated with joy, for he saw at the end a hole he had made when he lashed it out at the dark clouds. He rushed through the hole to the end of his tail, with the shadows at his heels; but the moment he was free he kicked it high and shut the tail hole in the clouds that had given shelter to the stars.
And when Leo rushed back to the face of the moon, and turned round to growl at the sky, it was empty except for the stars, who twinkled with such brightness that their light poured a ray far down below.
Then Leo crept up through the tail hole one more time; but before he closed it shut tight, he stopped and waved his paw to the stars hanging around him, to thank them for their help. And if you look closely up at the night sky now, you can see a small twinkling star that shimmers from that moment.
Princess Celestia once told a story about how that star was later named Leo and is now the star of the lion, who was given by the sun every time she traveled under the earth a little tiny piece of moonlight to keep it still shining up there in the dark night.
So all stars have now friends in the sun and moon, but although Leo’s memory has never faded away from this tale, the relations between lions and stars do still seem to last.
But every time a little cloud covers the stars now it doesn’t storm or rain, for it only wishes to give a new piece to the old lion a little care and to rub friendly against his back and on his long rich golden mane, for in general the days go further more than the nights, because there is really not much difference when one life is spent in the sky and in Skyland.