Once upon a time, there was a girl named Dao who loved lying down to watch the stars every night before bed.
One night, she saw a shooting star, unusually bright, fall toward the meadow behind her house.
She ran outside and found a small star lying on the grass — round and glowing, cool instead of hot.
“How are you doing?” the star asked.
“I’m tired,” the star answered in a soft voice. “I’ve flown so far, past hundreds of galaxies, past thousands of worlds.”
“Then why did you land here?”
“Because I saw the light in that house,” the star said. “It looked warm. I wanted to rest nearby.”
Dao lay down beside the star on the grass, and together they looked up at the sky.
“Can you tell me about what you’ve seen?” Dao asked.
The star told her about a planet glowing with purple light, about a black hole that swallowed everything, about a nebula as beautiful as pink clouds, about twin stars that orbited each other forever.
Dao listened until her eyes grew heavy.
“I’m getting sleepy,” Dao said.
“You can sleep now,” the star told her. “I’ll stay and watch over you.”
When Dao closed her eyes, she fell asleep too without realizing it, dreaming of the journeys through the universe the star had described.
When morning came, the star was gone. All that remained on the grass was a small round mark.
Dao smiled. She knew the star must have flown onward, but its story stayed with her in her heart.
Close your eyes now… the stars in the sky are watching over you… rest, just like the star weary from its long journey… sweet dreams tonight…
Moral: Everyone and everything needs rest, even the stars in the universe grow tired too. Good sleep is a gift that our body and mind need every night. Always give yourself the gift of good rest.
