The Twinkling Star

“She said she will marry me and love me for all eternity if I bring her the most beautiful gift in the world,” said a boy sitting under a weeping willow tree. “But I am afraid I will never find it…whatever it is.”

A tear trickled down his cheek, it wobbled as it rolled, and sometimes it looked like the shape of a heart.

“What’s that?” whispered a starling.

The other birds stopped singing to listen.

“I‘m not sure…” said a blue tit, and he went all shivery.

“I never heard anything like it before,” said a chiffchaff.

“Sounds like a waterfall,” said a wagtail.

“Or a fire crackling,” said a hummingbird.

“Or an angel singing,” said a nightingale, whose mind was always on heavenly things. “But I think it is the sound of the little boy crying under the willow.”

“Sing along,” said a warbler.

“Ooh yes,” echoed the other birds. “Please do.”

“I have a cold and my voice is heavy, I’m not sure if I can reach that high,” said the nightingale.

“Oh try,” said the others. “Please!”

So encouraged by his friends the nightingale sang.

“That‘s it!” said the boy, jumping up like a jack-in-the-box. He looked up to see the tiny bird singing with passion.

“A nightingale! I should have guessed. Nothing is as beautiful as a nightingale singing. I will take her to my love…

…excuse me, little nightingale,” he called, “I am sorry to interrupt, but I can hear you singing and believe that it is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Will you come to my love and sing her your song? For then she will marry me and love me for all eternity.”

“Thank you for complementing my singing,” said the nightingale. “But if I come to your love who will sing to the old people as they walk in the evening? Or who will sing with the children on their way to school? Or who will serenade the young lovers as they kiss in the moonlight? I am sorry, for as much as I would like to, I simply cannot come.”

“Oh,” said the boy, sitting down again and burying his head in his hands.

“Don’t worry,” said the nightingale. “Flowers are far more beautiful than birdsong. They have soft silky petals, all pretty colours, and smell of nature‘s perfume. You know how girls like perfume. Take your love a flower.”

“Which one?” asked the boy spring up on his feet.

“Over here…” said a zebra swallowtail butterfly, who was sitting on a thorny bush. “Take a rose.”

On the tree were lots of little buds waiting to blossom and in amongst them was a single rose efflorescing in all her beauty. The boy stood on tiptoes and being ever-so-careful not to hurt the young flower, felt with his fingers her delicate petals.

“That tickles,” giggled the rose and she breathed out her sweetest scent to show her appreciation. It was her way of blowing a kiss.

“Mmmm…” said the boy dreamily, “you smell of exotic spices worn by Indian princesses and your petals are as soft as silk. The nightingale was right, her singing sounds beautiful, but you look, feel and smell beautiful. Plus you are red - the colour of love! This is just too perfect to be true. I will take you to my love. I will take my love a red rose!”

And he reached for his penknife to cut the rose from off the tree.

“No!” screamed the rose. “Please don’t kill me!”

“I’m not killing you,” said the boy, opening out the blade. “I am taking you to my love. When she sees how beautiful you are, smells your sweet perfume, and feels how silky your petals are - and when she realises that you are the colour of my heart, she will marry me, and love me for all eternity.”

“But if you cut my stem, my life will sap out of me,” said the rose, "and I will only live for a few days in a vase on your table. For my petals will shrivel up, my scent will turn rotten, and I will not be beautiful anymore, for I will be dead.”

“Oh dear,” said the boy, and he looked sad.

“Don‘t despair,” said the rose. “Look! The sun is rising - it is the most beautiful thing in the world. The sun makes everything grow. Without it there would be no nightingales, or roses, and even you wouldn’t be here without the sun. The sun is a golden fire, and you know how girls like gold. Take your love the sun.”

“Wow,” said the boy, as he squinted at the sky. “I will take my love the sun. She’ll wear it on her finger as a golden wedding ring. It will be a symbol of my love for her forever and ever. Yes, I’ll take my love the sun.”

“Take me?” said the sun. “I am far too bright and hot. As a wedding ring I will scorch your love’s finger, and I am so bright that if you look directly at me for too long you will go blind. Then you and your love will never see each others faces ever again. And if you take me out of the sky, planet earth will freeze, and be so cold that no one would survive. Not polar bears or penguins or even Eskimos.”

“Oh dear,” said the boy, and he started to lose hope.

“Don‘t worry,” said the sun. “For the moon is far more beautiful than I. It is under the moon that love is made - when my light reflects in lovers’ eyes and they whisper I love you, and I love you too. I make life but the moon makes love. Take your love the moon.”

“Oh yes,” said the boy excitedly. “I’ll take her the moon!”

“Take the moon!” laughed the moon (who was in the sky, even though it was only just after noon). “I am far too big to carry, and if I come to your love who will shine on the river, and make the water sparkle? And who will glisten like silver on the fruit tree tops? And if I disappear from the sky, who will ever fall in love again?”

“Oh dear,” said the boy.

“Never mind!” said the moon. “The stars are far more beautiful than I. After love conceives under the moonlight, a star is the sign of new life. Every time a baby is born, a new star twinkles in the sky - just like the star shone for baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Stars sparkle like diamonds and you know how girls like diamonds. Take your love the stars.”

“The stars!” cried the boy and tears of joy ran down his cheeks. “Nothing is more beautiful! I’ll take my love the stars! I’ll wait until night time, and one by one I will take the stars from the sky. And when I have them all, every single one, I’ll make a tiara of stars to crown my love’s head and she will be my eternal princess. The brightest star will be a wedding ring and sparkle like a diamond. She’ll wear it for ever and ever, as a symbol of my love for her.”

So he waited for night to come - he waited, and waited. “Is anything more beautiful than the stars?” he prayed.

Soon a blanket of red and orange covered the blue sky and the sun snuggled up to bed.

“Sunsets are beautiful, too,” said the boy, “I hope I’ve made the right choice.”

Soon lover’s in each other’s eyes were gazing at the moon, and one by one night’s candles lit the sky and twinkled.

“Here are the stars - there’s the brightest one!” said the boy reaching up.

“Got it!” he said, clenching his fist tight so as not to let it go. He slowly opened his hand to see his precious treasure.

“Oh no. Where’s it gone?” said the boy. “I missed it - it’s still in the sky!”

Again he reached up to take it. But when he opened his hand he still wasn’t holding the brightest star.

“It seems to slip through my fingers,” said the boy, stretching up with both hands.

“Wow…look at that one!" A star went shooting across the sky. “It’s too fast!” he said trying to catch it.

“Soon it will be morning,” said the boy “And I will have to tell my love that I will have no beautiful gift for her.”

“Will just one of you go?” said the moon to the stars. “See how upset he is?”

“We have to stay here,” said the stars, “twinkling in the sky, so everyone in the world can enjoy us.”

“But there are so many of you,” said the moon. “Surely no one will notice if one star is missing. It could even be a star that isn‘t very bright.”

“We would miss it,“ said the stars. “Yes, some stars shine brighter than others, but we’re all stars."

“Now what am I going to do?” said the boy. “Stars are definitely the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. But I can’t seem to get one. Perhaps they’re too far away. If I take my love a diamond, will she know that it isn’t a real star? Anyway, I can’t afford to buy a diamond, because I am not very rich. So now my love will not love me, and all eternity I shall be alone. I must go and tell her."

He turned around and began the long, lonely walk to where his love lived. All the way there the stars twinkled, and he kept trying to take one, but he could not.

The boy arrived at his love’s house and knocked the door.

“Hello,” said a girl as she opened the door.

‘Her voice sounds as sweet as the nightingale singing,’ thought the boy. ‘Her skin is as soft as the petals of a rose, her scent as sweet, and her lips as red. Her hair is golden like the sun, her nightdress pure white, as bright as the moon, and her eyes twinkle like stars.’

“I tried my very best to bring you the most beautiful gift in the world,” said the boy. “First I heard the song of a nightingale,”

“How beautiful,” smiled the girl.

“But the nightingale would not come…so I was going to bring you a red rose…”

“Roses are beautiful.”

“…but the rose would die if I cut her stem. So I wanted to bring you the sun to be your golden wedding ring…”

“The sun is beautiful, too," said the girl.

“…but the sun is too hot and would burn your finger…so I wanted to bring you the moon, but if the moon disappears from the sky no one will fall in love...so then I wanted to bring you the stars,” said the boy, his eyes glistening with sorrow.

“The stars,” said the girl. “Oh how I love the stars!”

“I tried to bring the stars but,” he started to cry “I could not reach them. Therefore I am ashamed to tell you that I did not bring you the most beautiful gift in the world. So now you must tell me that you do not love me and that I will never know your gentle hold, your soft caress, or your tender kiss, and that I will never see you again and so I will be alone for ever. And now my heart is going to break because I love you,” said the boy.

Tears trickled down his cheek. They sounded like a waterfall, or a fire crackling, and they sparkled.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” said the girl. She wiped his cheek with her hand, and a tear trickled around her wedding finger, like a ring, and it sparkled. “For your loving heart is more beautiful to me than the nightingale and the rose, the sun, the moon and the stars. So I will marry you and love you for all eternity and under the moonlight we will together make the most beautiful gift in the world.

And soon a new star twinkle twinkled in the sky.