# The Firefly Author: Paynalton Canonical source: Language: en Original publication: The morning brings with it the song of birds leaving their nests in search of food, creatures of all shapes and colors emerge from their burrows to breathe in the freshness of the morning, and already insects of brilliant hues fly through the air, glowing with the light of the sun.

A new world awakens and another yawns to go back to sleep. Refuges in dark corners, the nocturnal creatures rest, waiting for their turn to traverse mountains and valleys, ride the wind, and populate the darkness that is destined for them.

Over there, a woodpecker rumbles softly over the bell tower beams, mice and lizards take refuge in the cracks, and a snake has found a good hiding place under the roots of a tree.

But there is a creature that does not sleep, a small firefly watches the sunrise with joy and lands on a flower, watching the giant star advance powerful and relentless across the sky, which turns blue before its majesty.

Meanwhile, her sisters sleep peacefully. That tiny creature looks at the world illuminated by such a grand light and wonders: How is it possible that there exists a brilliance so intense that it pulls a thousand colors from everything it touches? How is it capable of creating shadows that play, chasing every object and every creature? How is it not only illuminating the eyes, but also the heart with such comforting warmth?

When the Sun departs to carry its light to those who await its arrival in the darkness, the firefly bids it farewell, amazed by the scarlet hues that paint the clouds racing behind it like serpents dragged by a crimson carriage.

After resting a bit and recovering its strength, the little firefly joins its sisters who dance in the night forming constellations, dancing in the nocturnal wind while singing their joy to the darkness.

All of them light and extinguish their abdomens in very beautiful flashes of light of such nature that many confuse them with playful fairies flying among the grass that takes a siesta in the middle of the field.

But in its eagerness to imitate the sun, that firefly has made an effort and succeeded in preventing its light from fading, keeping its white brilliance burning all night, to the envy and fascination of its sisters, who, applauding its feat, wonder what secret motivation drives it to make such an effort.

With humility, she rejects the praises, for she knows that although her glow stands out among the other fireflies, it does not compare in the slightest to the beauty and majesty that the Sun brings with it.

It is thus that, after the dance, she retreats to a dark corner where, in solitude, she lights her light as much as she can, for she wishes one day to be able to cast a single ray of light capable of illuminating a flower, of awakening it, of giving it a playful and fleeting shadow that fades as soon as the ray of light has ceased.

The stars, great admirers of the dance that fireflies perform every night, know her well and admire the efforts of that little creature who wants to shine as much as the Sun, for they see her every night shining as much as she can, at dawn they see her receiving the sun, and at dusk they find her there, bidding farewell to the magnificent star.

Among celestial beings, this story reaches the Moon, who, in collaboration with the stars, devises a plan to give that little creature the opportunity to become the brightest light over the world.

So one day, just as the sun was shining on top of everyone's heads, the moon dressed itself in a cloak of darkness so that no one would recognize her and went to block the sun's path, blocking all the light and plunging the world into darkness.

The sky, confused and frightened, turned black, awakening the stars who looked at the moon, disguised as darkness, with fascination toward the day-night.

Day creatures panicked, "Someone has stolen the Sun!" Confused birds didn't know where to fly, dogs howled sadly, millions of butterflies hid behind the petals of the nearest flower they found. The commotion was so great that even some night creatures left their hiding places to find out what was happening.

The moon was pleased with her work and looked for the little firefly, hoping to see her happy about having her chance.

But when she found her in her eyes, there was fear. Although the firefly envied the Sun for possessing the most perfect brilliance she had ever known, she also loved it, and seeing her light fade filled her with fear just like all those creatures.

She was a nocturnal creature who didn't fear the darkness, unlike all the diurnal creatures who hadn't had time to seek shelter and screamed in frenzy.

"the world needs light!" she told herself and flew upward, lighting up her abdomen as much as she could, trying to ease the pain of those suffering from the loss of the sun.

Thus, many creatures could see a small star that weakly illuminated where the sun had once been.

But when she reached such a high altitude, the firefly could recognize the moon behind the black cloak.

"Why are you doing this?" asked the firefly.

"Oh, my little one, all of this is for you," answered the Moon, smiling from beneath her cloak, "now you are the most beautiful and powerful light in the world, and where the sun once shone, your light will now illuminate."

But if the moon expected gratitude from the firefly, she would have been disappointed to see that now there was anger in her eyes, and her abdomen now glowed so strongly that weak shadows formed wherever the light touched an object.

"If one day I must shine brighter than anything in the world!" said the firefly, angry, "I want it to be because I truly deserve it! Not because I took away the light from someone who is better than me!"

The Moon didn't know how to respond; she was really upset. Discreetly, she slid away, removing herself from the Sun's path, went to hide behind the horizon where she cried for the rest of the day and didn't return until several nights later.

When the new green light returned to the Sun, the firefly felt happy. From above, she could see all the creatures calming down and returning to their normal lives, so she descended to the nearest flower, a sunflower, where she lay down, for she was exhausted and aching from the effort, and fell deeply asleep.

The sunflower wrapped her in its petals and kept her dreams safe, for, like all sunflowers, she was looking toward the Sun when everything began and could see the beautiful brilliance of the firefly illuminate the world, heard every word of her argument, admiring the courage and effort of the firefly.

Through its roots, the sunflowers told the story of the firefly to every plant that wished to hear it, and the trees repeated the story with their leaves to the wind that played with their branches. Quickly the birds composed songs praising the firefly's bravery, and a young dove saved its life by telling it the magnificent story to the eagle that was about to devour it.

The eagle rose into the air beyond the clouds until it reached very close to the Sun. From there, it shouted the story as loudly as it could, hoping that the star would hear it, since the Sun seemed confused by everything that had happened.

It was thus that in a ray of light, the Sun asked the sunflowers where that brave creature was, and one of them unfolded its petals, revealing the firefly, who was still deeply asleep.

When the firefly woke up, it was surprised to see that it was no longer in the world, but now traveling through the cold space mounted on the first star of the night.

"Finally, you're awake," said the star, "rest a little more... we're almost there."

"Where are you taking me?" asked the firefly.

"Before leaving, the Sun asked me to tell you that he admires the great effort you make every day to improve more and more, that he admires the kindness of your heart for giving everything to those creatures, even though they did not belong to your world, who were suffering because of the lack of light, your courage to face the Moon... in short, the Sun said you have everything needed to become a very beautiful Sun, so he asked me to take you to the great nebula so that they can teach you to shine even brighter than him."

The star led the little firefly to the great nebula where the suns are born. There she is now, learning the greatest secrets of the universe, fighting every moment to shine more and more so that, one day, she may become the most beautiful star in the universe with a light that illuminates a thousand worlds.