🐚 Children · bedtime · English · 3 min
For Nilesh, who is very good at sharing with others.
Page 1 of 8 · Nilesh finds the way in
One evening, when the sky had gone soft and violet, Nilesh found an archway of pink coral. On the other side was the deep blue reef, waiting as though it had been expecting somebody all along. A small brave friend came too, because a small brave friend always did.
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For Nilesh, who is very good at sharing with others.
One evening, when the sky had gone soft and violet, Nilesh found an archway of pink coral. On the other side was the deep blue reef, waiting as though it had been expecting somebody all along. A small brave friend came too, because a small brave friend always did.
They had not gone far when they heard the wobble of far-off whales — and underneath it, a small worried voice. Somebody had lost a pearl that glowed like a small moon, and without it nobody in the deep blue reef could get to sleep. "We'll help," said Nilesh, before quite knowing how.
The first place they looked was empty. So was the second. Nilesh sat down and felt that hot, prickly feeling you get when a thing is harder than you thought. A small brave friend sat down too, right alongside, and did not say a word.
That was when a patient old turtle came by. "You've been looking on your own," they said gently. "That is the hardest way to look." Nilesh took a breath, and asked for help out loud — which took more courage than the searching had.
Then Nilesh had an idea — a small one, the useful kind. It was really an idea about sharing with others. "Let's try it slowly," said Nilesh, "and together." a small brave friend thought this was the best plan anyone had ever had.
And there it was: a pearl that glowed like a small moon, tucked exactly where nobody had thought to look. All of the deep blue reef let out one long, happy breath. Somewhere behind them, the lights began going out one by one, the way lights do when everything is finally all right.
Nilesh yawned an enormous yawn. A patient old turtle showed them to a hammock of soft seaweed, and it was the exact right size. The whole world went quiet, in the good way.
"Goodnight, the deep blue reef," whispered Nilesh. "Goodnight, a small brave friend." And the deep blue reef whispered it back, very softly, so as not to wake anybody. Then Nilesh closed both eyes and was asleep before the end of this sentence.
A good thing gets bigger, not smaller, when you share it.