The Letter to the Moon

Night fell, and the moon was round.

Tonight, the moon was extra bright.

Dudu the owl put on his little cap—

Nighttime was when Dudu went to work.

Huh? In the mailbox, there was a very strange letter.

On the envelope, in wibbly-wobbly writing, it said—

"To. The. Moon."

A letter for the Moon!

Dudu turned the letter over.

On the back was a drawing of a tiny little field mouse.

Dudu looked up, way up high.

The moon's home was in the sky.

So high, so far away...

"But a mail-carrier delivers every single letter!"

Dudu flapped his wings.

"Goodnight letters, away we go!"

Dudu flew up and up, and up and up.

Past the tallest, tallest tree.

"Huff... puff..."

His wings were so, so tired.

But the moon, oh the moon,

was still far, far away,

up in the sky.

Soft Mr. Cloud came floating by.

"Dudu, let me give you a lift."

Mr. Cloud carried Dudu,

floating and floating, up to a high, high place.

Dudu stretched his wings as far as they would go—

He still couldn't reach.

Mr. Cloud said:

"The moon lives even higher than the clouds, you know."

Dudu slowly flew back down.

"Hmm... I'll go ask the one who sent it."

The little field mouse on the back of the envelope—

Dudu knew that mouse!

It was Doudou, who lived beside the pumpkin patch!

Doudou's home was in a snug little burrow.

"Knock, knock. Doudou, are you asleep?"

On the bed, the little blanket wiggled.

Out from under the blanket

peeked two little ears.

"Dudu... I can't sleep."

Doudou said, in a small, small voice:

"When it's dark outside,

I feel all wiggly and shivery inside,

and I just want to hide under my blanket and find my mama for a hug."

"On nights when the moon is shining, I'm not scared.

But on nights when the moon hides away,

everything is dark, dark, dark..."

"So I wrote a letter to the moon,

asking it to please, please not turn off its light."

Dudu wrapped his wings around Doudou, ever so gently.

"Doudou, that wiggly, shivery feeling inside,

when you want to hide, when you want a hug—

that feeling is called scared."

"And it's okay to be scared.

When I was little, I was scared of the dark too."

Doudou's eyes went wide.

"You get scared too, Dudu?"

"I do. Everyone gets scared sometimes."

Dudu gave a little wink.

"I can't carry your letter all the way up to the sky.

But—

I know a secret."

"Every single night,

the moon sneaks down

to take a splishy-splashy bath in the pond!"

"Come on, I'll take you to find it."

They came to the pond.

Doudou crouched down and looked—

"Whoa..."

The round, round moon

was right there in the water,

so bright, so big,

so close, so close.

Dudu said:

"The words inside your letter—

tell them to the moon yourself.

They'll get there even faster."

Doudou looked at the moon in the water,

and said in a small, small voice:

"Moon, when it's dark, I get scared.

Will you please stay with me?"

A soft wind blew by,

and the moon in the water twinkled and twinkled—

as if to say, "Of course. Of course."

Just then, a little cloud drifted over.

The moon in the water slowly disappeared.

"Huh..."

Doudou scooted close and held on to Dudu's wing.

Dudu said softly:

"Don't be scared. Look—"

The little cloud drifted away,

and there was the moon again, still shining bright.

"The moon is just playing hide-and-seek.

Sometimes it hides behind a cloud,

and sometimes it hides a little longer—

but it's always, always there.

It never, ever goes away."

Back at home, Dudu opened the little curtain.

Moonlight fell softly, softly,

right onto Doudou's pillow.

"See? This is the moon's letter back to you."

Doudou snuggled under the blanket and whispered:

"The moon is always there,

so I'm not scared anymore."

Dudu picked up his mail bag.

"Time for the rest of my letters — away we go!"

All the letters were delivered.

Dudu flew back to the post office and took off his little cap.

The moon was still up in the sky,

shining softly on every home.

Goodnight, Doudou.

Goodnight, Moon.

Goodnight to you, little one, listening to this story.