The Little Moonray

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Little Moonray

r-pHE smallest moonray pixie I was in disgrace, and all because he could not dance, When night had fallen, and the older moonrays had danced off to brighten the earth with their silver beams, he had followed as fast as his little legs could carry him. But nib ui/lic icho j dear me, his companions danced so quickly, darting here and darting there, that he had soon lost sight tliPin oi tneui. Seeing a light sinning in the window of a house set in a clump of dark pine

ia the shac i oWt an d n f course we|ll teach you to dance." He clapped bis hands smartly. -Come now, follow us. Up on ggta ,r, your toe 3.» When the dance ended, the poor moonray was fit to drop, but he was sad no longer for now he could dance, He thanked t j lo s h a dow pixies for their kindness, and danced away slowly, for his legs were very tired. 0" bis way back to the moon, he had to pass over dark forest, where the trfc i;j t j, rew t i,j c k shadows all around, Ho sat for a mo ment, on the bough of a tall old oak, and bis pale light streamed forth in quivecing, silvery patches. . • Ho was just about to start off again, when from somewhere beneath, he heard the sound of voices, and a man's shout of joy. . , ~ ' Why, here he is, and he s alive. We'rf; 'just in time. Tf it hadn't been fnr lhat one pale little moonbeam, he would have been here all night, and perhaps have been dead in the morning." With a wildly beating heart, the little moonray peered down to where three

trees, and thinking it must be the light of the moonrays, he crept through the window. But to his surprise he found that the light came from a lamp standing on the table beside the bed of a little sick child. Before he could stop himself, he was dancing on the little pale face on the pillow. The child awoke and cried fretfully, and terrified at what he had done, the little moonray had gone scampering back to the man in the moon, shivering with fright. Tho man in the moon, who had seen it all, was very angry. "For that," he said, "you must keep in the shadows till you have learnt to dance properly." And "Ha! ha! ha I" laughed the older moonrays, when the night wind whispered to them what had happened. "He can't dance. He's too silly. He never will dance." Sadly, the little moonray crent away to the dark shadows of the dark pines. Ho sat on the topmost bough of a very old tree, and listened to the wind whispering through its lofty branches. At first he heard nothing but the voice of the wind, then all at once ho heard something olsl —the patter of tiny l'eet on the hard clay path below. Peering down, he was surprised to see a number of little people kicking their legs in the liveliest dance he had ever seen. With a sudden lean, he left the treetop, and stood on the path, watching till the dance was finished. "Who are you?" he asked, then, in great excitement, "and would you ho so kind as to teach me to dance like that?" The leader stepped forward.

■By Marmot McClyxnont

men were bending over a sleeping child, huddled against the trunk of the grandfather oak. The inoonray waited till the men had lifted the child and found their way out of the wood, then in great delight he skipped back to the man in the moon Shivering with excitement, he btgan to tell his story, but the man in the moon stopped him. "I know.'' he said. I saw it all, and I am very proud of you. And, he added, "just when the brightest moonbeams were needed to-night, to help find the little lost child, they were away hiding somewhere. Thought to play a joke on me, but I'll show them tliat although 1 carry a smiling face I can be angry when lam disobeyed, in future, although you are the youngest moonray, you may dance wherever you choose, and that is more than the others can do. From now on, they will dance where I tell them." So the older moonrays found on their return to the moon, that through their bad behaviour they could no longer jeer at their little brother, and when they saw him dance, they hung their heads with shame. "We thought he couldn't dance, they said, "but surely we will never be able to dance like that."