This story was past down to many generations and told to me as a child by my grandmother, R.I.P.

There once was an ancient Kingdom before time of great beauty and power. Its tradition flowed deep in the earth’s blood and its wisdom was infinite. There was no suffering and no blood. People accepted death as another part of life.

In this Kingdom there were many magical beings; the noblest of them all was the dragon. The king of the dragons lived on the moon. He had milky white scales and aqua silver eyes. Many people climbed up a ladder made of silk and spiders web which glimmered when the moon was at its fullest. They would offer him crystals of every type for his hoard and in return he would offer them his blessings.

Over time the kingdom started to spread. People began to forget the wisdom and tradition. They found many crystals, but they kept them for themselves. The dragons started to disappear back to the heavens and with it the magic. No one could climb the silk ladder because no one had the sorcery to mend it. Finally people started to fear death.

It is said that the king of the dragons started to weep for his people who had forgotten him. It rained for forty days and forty nights. This was the darkest period of the world, evil had truly arrived.

It was noticed by an old emperor that the moon was getting closer everyday. As a boy he was told by his father and his father’s father about the tale of the dragon. In his kingdom they still believed in dragons thus still knowing of the ladder. So he ordered all the bravest men to climb up to the moon and offer the dragon a crystal. But the ladder was weak and fragile; all the men fell to their deaths. The emperor sat in misery as the moon came closer each and every second.

“Is there not any man strong enough or brave enough to reach the moon?” He cried.

One day his prayers were answered. A small came to his palace. She was so small that she was able to climb through the doggy door. Her hair was as black as a ravens and her eyes wide as the world glowing with innocence.

“Your grace, my name is Star. I can climb the ladder.”

He scoffed at this idea but she pressed on.

“Give me a crystal and I will deliver it to the king of dragons your majesty.”

“Run away child or I shall call the guards.”

But she did not. He was a kind emperor and could not call the guards on this poor child.

“I love climbing trees and I am small so the ladder will support me.”

This was true.

“If I give you one of my sapphires will you go away?”

She nodded. He did so and she left as if she had never been there. In fact the emperor wondered if he had been dreaming of a little fairy child. Surely he would not have given her a sapphire in real life, then again the girl held a charm over him.

But real she was. She climbed to the top of the highest mountain to the oldest ruins, there began the silk ladder. She climbed and she climbed one treacherous step after another all the way out into space. She kept going as she drew nearer to the voluptuous pearl moon. And finally she made it.

The moon was a beautiful a place, it snowed white powder and leaked silver streams. Moon frogs flew around strange trees. In front of her lay a giant cave in on the side of a giant mountain with smoke billowing out from its mouth. She headed straight for it. As she went deeper into the cave the air grew hotter. Finally she made it to the end. What she saw was a spectacular sight, mounds of crystals and precious stones glittered by the fire casting dancing flecks of light across the caves cavern. Rainbows linked through the air and prisms gave unsettling shadows. Nestled amongst these stones slept the dragon.

“Excuse me,” she said in her tiny voice.

The dragon did not stir.

“Excuse me!” she yelled, still no luck.

She walked straight up to him and screamed in his ear “, EXCUSE ME!”
The dragon reared up is mighty head giving a terrible roar. Blue flames licked the edges of his mouth. The girl backed away in fear. Then he peered down at her with his metallic eyes. A great white toothy grin spread across his face.

“Oh joy a visitor!”

She shyly held out the sapphire in front of her.

“Oh no child put that aside, the real present is you! It has been centuries since anyone has dropped in. On occasion another dragon comes from the heavens but those visits are rare. But a human! I am simply delighted”

“I-I was am here to ask why the moon is getting so close the earth. It will soon crash.”

“Well I have pondered that question myself but I’m afraid I have no answer. In the meantime would you like some tea?”

“No I must figure this out, it’s urgent.”

He gave her a sad look “, But what is there to do?”

She sat and she thought, the dragon joined her. They must have been there for ages as the pearl of the moon and the sapphire of the earth drew closer together.

“These crystals are heavy, they must weigh down the moon allot,” said she.

“That’s it! Clever child! But how do we get rid of them?”

She thought some more but this time it was the dragon who answered.

“We throw them into the pitch black sky.”

So together they gathered heaps of crystals and cast them out into the night. They stuck like glue wavering and sparkling against velvety blackness. It took them a month but their efforts were not in vain. The sky shone with light other then the moons. They stood back from their work for they had just completed a masterpiece. Star had made it to the moon even though no one had thought she would, but what she did not think was that she would actually make a friend. The little girl called them fireflies because they reminded her so much of that luminous insect. On earth all heads turned as sparks of light streamed across the sky, they named them stars.

The little girl stayed with the dragon, he did not want her to leave and she was not much appreciated on earth. And the emperor? He told his story to all the generations after him but it eventually became a myth in the eyes of people. He was able to die in peace knowing the moon was in its place.

It is said that sometimes you can see a dragon in the moon and a little girl if you just look hard enough. But I would let you know that a star is not a flaming ball of gas but a single diamond.