Once upon a time, in a moonlit garden, there lived a lovely little flower named Mina. She was a moonflower, which means she bloomed only at night when the moon’s soft light caressed the earth. But there was something Mina longed for more than anything else: she wanted to bloom as beautifully as she was painted. Every night, as the sun sank below the horizon, she would fold her dainty petals and dream of the time when she would unfurl them all in splendor.
Each evening she anxiously awaited the gleaming moon to light her tiny spot in the garden. The fireflies and silver beetles and all the little night creatures would come to admire the lovely Mina. The flowers in the garden said to her, “You are more beautiful than we all!” But still, she was so modest that she felt unworthy of such praise.
One night, as she was admiring the big round moon, a wise old firefly came and hung swinging above her. “What is it, little Mina,” he said, “that you are watching for?”
“Oh, Mr. Firefly,” said Mina, “I am watching for the dawn that I may unfold my petals and bloom as beautifully as I am painted upon my delicate skin.”
“Why wait till dawn?” said the firefly. “You are beautiful now. You do not need the light of the moon to shine.”
So with one soft touch of his glowing body, the firefly multiplied himself a thousand fold, and every petal of little Mina was aglow as she had long desired. And now she looked so lovely that all the little creatures of the night began to sing her praises.
“Mina,” they called, “The Lady of the Moon! Mina, the Flower of the Dawn! Mina, the beautiful moonflower!”
So intoxicated was Mina with all their affection that she did not notice that the dawn had arrived until she saw her petals folded over her head. Then everybody bade her good dawn and glided away into the green foliage, for the sun was rising fast.
At last handsome Beppo, the sunbeam, came dancing down through the leaves to pay little Mina his morning visit. When he had laughed and tittered at him for the shade the foliage kept from her, he said quite seriously: “But you have blossomed brightly, Mina!”
“Not so brightly as I should have done if Mrs. Moon had been kinder to me and let me bloom all night,” said Mina petulantly.
“Pretty flower,” said Beppo the sunbeam, laughing merrily, “Mrs. Moon never meant to be unkind, and, make me your friend, and I will make up to her for it—and, as I am coming now, I will stop here all day and talk to you.”
Then little Mina thought it would be foolish to grieve any longer, so she expanded her tiny petals, and they hung out in the grateful sunshine all day, till the last sunbeam had said goodnight and glided away.
But on the next moonlit night Mina was more than herself. She was so beautiful that even great Mrs. Moon smiled upon her and cast a halo of light around her dainty figure. Then the twilight creatures all came to see her, and she was proud without being vain, and the firefly had the happiest night of all his life. Then little Mina slept till the sun woke her in the morning.