retold by Paula
Willowmoon
Once upon a time there was a girl who loved the stars. Every night
before bed, she gazed out of her bedroom window at the beautiful
stars in the sky. She loved how the stars glittered. "Oh, how I
wish I could touch just one star." she thought.
One night, she decided to go on a journey to try to touch a star.
She braided her hair and tied it with a ribbon to keep it out of
her face. She put a piece of bread in her pocket in case she got
hungry. Then she took a sugar cube from her mother's tea service
and put it in her other pocket because she couldn't resist sugar
cubes. She went outside into the night. She walked along a dirt
road.
She walked, and she walked, and she walked until she came upon a
beautiful old mill. When she looked into the pond by the mill,
there were stars floating on the water! It was a warm night, so she
emptied her pockets, slipped off her shoes, and jumped into the
mill pond to try to touch a star. She paddled, and paddled, and
paddled about in the pond, but every time the girl reached out to
touch a star on the surface of the pond, it would disappear in a
ripple. She climbed out of the pond, squeezed the water out of her
clothes and her braid, filled her pockets, put on her shoes, and
continued on down the road.
Soon she came upon an ancient forest of thick-trunked trees and
dark green moss. In this forest, she saw little faeries dressed in
all the colors of the rainbow. They were dancing, so she joined in
their dance. The Faeries and the girl held hands and danced, and
danced, and danced, until they fell down on the warm, moss-covered
ground laughing. The faeries asked the girl, "Why are you up so
late, Little One?" She told them, "I want to touch a star." The
faeries all giggled. "We can help you." the Faeries said. They told
her, "Ride the One with Four Feet to the One with No Feet. Then
climb the Stairs with No Steps. Then you will touch a star." The
girl gave them the ribbon from her braid and thanked the
Faeries.
So the girl set off to find "the One with Four Feet." The girl came
to a field. In the field was a stone wall. She walked along the top
of the stone wall until she came to a large oak tree. There was a
horse tied to the tree. The girl asked the horse, "Why are you tied
up here by yourself?"
The horse replied, "I'm waiting for the One who Danced with the
Faeries."
"Oh! That is I!" exclaimed the girl. So she untied the gentle horse
and rode on the back of the One with Four Feet. The horse galloped
and galloped and galloped until he came to the ocean. There he
stopped. The girl slid off his back, patted him gently, gave him
the sugar cube from her pocket, and thanked him.
Just then, up out of the water jumped a magnificent fish. It was
red and had scales that glittered like the stars. "You must be the
One with No Feet!" said the girl.
"Yes," said the fish, "jump on my back and I will take you to the
Stairs with No Steps."
The girl rode on the fish's back across the ocean. The fish swam,
and swam, and swam with the girl on his back until they finally
came to a brilliant rainbow. The fish stopped and told the girl,
"Be careful climbing up the rainbow. " The girl climbed off the
fish's back, gave him her piece of bread, thanked him, and started
her climb up the rainbow.
It was very hard to climb the rainbow, for it had no steps. She
climbed, and climbed, and climbed up the rainbow. The farther she
climbed the colder she got, but she was determined to touch a star.
She stopped and looked back down at the Earth. It was so small and
so far away. Just as she got up to the top of the rainbow, a
shooting star whizzed by. She tried to grab it, but she lost her
balance and slid back down the rainbow. It got warmer and warmer as
she fell.
Then all she felt was the soft warmth of her own bed. When she
opened her eyes, it was daytime, and indeed, she was in her own
cozy little bed. She looked down at her hand and opened it. Out
shot a glimmer of light and then it was gone. She smiled, for she
knew she had touched a star.
The End.
