Speaker 1: That morning. The sky was a clean blue, with a
few little clouds drifting slowly like boats on the sea.
A playful little breeze was blowing, the kind that messes
up your hair and makes you giggle. Ziggy, Lily, Sky,
and Dash were in the garden, sitting on the grass,
building kites out of the biggest leaves they could find.
Look at mine, said Ziggy, holding up a leaf tied
to a blade of grass. It almost flies by itself.
Mine is prettier, said Lily, who was strong and never
gave up. It has three leaves stuck on Sky quiet
as always, stroked her leaf with one finger as if
it were a sleeping butterfly. Dash, on the other hand,
ran back and forth, making his kite flutter, and every
now and then he tripped and rolled on the grass Laughing.
Around them trotted Ziggy's four cats. Sophia, the little black cat,
purred against his legs, Dora, the brave tabby cat, swiped
at the air to catch the leaves. Poldo, big and heavy,
just sat and watched, too comfy to move. And Milo,
tall and quick now and then made a huge jump
to catch a kite in the air. It was right
then that they heard a familiar sound, chew, chew. From
behind the hedge came Toby the magic train, all colorful
with smoke puffing out of his chimney in little clouds.
He whistled happily and stopped next to the children. Then,
as always, he spoke in rhyme, good morning, children, what
a breezy day to day we fly, so hop aboard
and stay up in the clouds. I'll take you fast
and free. A trembling friend is waiting there to see.
The children clapped their hands. A trembling friend up in
the clouds. What could that mean? Let's go, Let's go,
cried Ziggy, and in a flash they were all on
the train, cats and all. Poldo had to be pushed
a little by Milo because he didn't feel like moving.
Toby whistled again and set off, but instead of going
along the tracks, he went up up high into the clouds.
His wheels turned in the air, as if by magic.
The children looked down, the garden grew smaller and smaller,
then disappeared completely under a carpet of soft clouds. When
the train stopped, the children climbed down and stood with
their mouths wide open. They had arrived in the cloud
flower garden, a garden floating among the clouds. There were
flower beds made of soft cloud trees that swayed in
the wind with leaves of cotton candy, and all around
a fence made of rainbow. The sun shone bright and
warmed their cheeks like a warm hug. Far far away,
you could hear a thunder storm grumbling softly, like a
hungry tummy, rumble, rumble, But it was so far off
that it was almost funny. How wonderful, said Sky, her
eyes shining. Ziggy did a somersault right onto a cloud
flower bed and sank in like a giant pillow. It's
all soft, Come on. But just as they were jumping
and rolling, they heard a strange noise. It came from
behind a cloud bush, a noise that went shake, shake, shake.
The cats pricked up their ears. Dora, brave as ever,
went first. Behind the bush was a checkered blanket, all
curled up on itself, trembling like a jelly. Oh, said Lily,
a trembling blanket. The blanket squeezed itself even tighter. Duh,
don't look at me, it said, in a shy little voice.
I'm terribly scared. The children came closer, slowly so they
wouldn't frighten it. Hello, said Sky in her sweet voice.
I'm Sky, Who are you? The blanket lifted one corner,
like some one peeking out from under the sheets. I'm
the flying Blanket. At night, I fly up in the
sky to tuck in the stars so they don't get cold.
But but last night something terrible happened. What happened, asked Ziggy, curious.
The blanket pointed up with a little corner. Look at
the stars. They've all gotten messy. The children looked up.
Even though it was daytime, among the clouds, you could
still see a few pale little stars, and sure enough
they were all scattered about, mixed up with no order
at all. Usually the stars make luve lovely pictures, the
blanket explained, there are shapes, the little bear, the spoon,
the butterfly. But last night that playful little breeze came
along and mixed them all up. Now the pictures are gone,
and I should go up there to put them back.
But I'm too scared. It's so high up. What if
I fall? And it started to tremble again? Shake, Shake, Shake,
Sky sat down beside it and stroked one corner. Don't cry,
We'll help you. Meanwhile, Ziggy was looking at the sky
and inside his head something started to turn. He stared
at the scattered stars, frowned, scratched his head, and then
all of a sudden, a little light lit up in
his eyes. Aha, he shouted, jumping to his feet. I
have an idea. The stars are like the dots in
that game, you know, the one where you join the
dots with a pencil and a picture comes out. We
just have to line them up in the right order
and the pictures come back. But they're way up high,
said Lily. How do we get there? Ziggy looked at
the soft clouds, one on top of the other, rising
toward the sky like big white steps. We'll climb. The
clouds are soft. We can jump from one to the other,
like on a bouncy castle. Dash jumped for joy. How
fun I'll race milow. But the blanket trembled again. I
I can't do it. I'm too scared to fly so
high up and here Ziggy did something important. He sat
down next to the blanket and said, you know what,
I'm a little scared too. See my knees are shaking
a bit, and he showed his legs going wobble wobble.
But you can face fear anyway. Being brave isn't having
no fear. Being brave is being scared and trying anyway.
And besides, you're not alone. We're here with you. The
blanket looked at him. Would you really be scared too, really,
said Ziggy. But let's go one little step at a time,
small steps Okay. The blanket thought about it, then nodded
with its little corner. Ok One little step at a time,
and so the great climb began. Ziggy jumped first from
one cloud to the next, doing somersaults and landing soft.
Come on, Blanket, hold my corner. The blanket reached out
a trembling corner and Ziggy grabbed it. Together they climbed
onto the first cloud. The blanket closed its eyes, then
opened them again. Oh nobody fell, I did it wonderful,
cried Sky from the low. They climbed higher. Lily never
gave up and always found just the right cloud to
plant her feet on. Dash and Milo raced to see
who could jump the highest, and every now and then
Dash ended on his bottom with a soft poof that
made everyone laugh. Poldo, the big One, stayed down below
to stand guard with Sophia, because climbing really wasn't for him.
The higher they climbed, the closer the stars got. They
were cold and bright, big as snowballs that sparkled. Ziggy
took one in his hand. Now, he said, we have
to remember the pictures. The blanket tells us where each
star goes, and we put them back in line. The blanket,
which by now felt braver, looked at the sky and
began giving instructions. That one goes more to the left,
that one up high, that other one near the moon.
And then it became a dance. Ziggy tossed the stars
like little balls, Lily pushed them into the right spot,
Dash did somersaults to reach the farthest ones, and Sky,
who had climbed up gently too, set the smallest ones
with her fingers delicate as when she stroked her leaf.
Little by little, the pictures came back, first the little bear,
then the spoon, then the butterfly. The sky was becoming
tidy and bright again. But one star, the naughtiest one,
had ended up far far away, deep in a gap
between two clouds. Nobody could reach it. I'll get it,
said the blanket, and everyone looked at it in surprise.
I can fly, remember, I had just forgotten to be brave.
It took a breath, trembled a little more, but then
it stretched out in the air and took flight. It
flew light as a kite, caught the naughty little star
with a corner and put it back in its place.
The last picture was complete, a great shooting star with
a sparkling tail. The whole sky shone again, tidy and beautiful.
The stars made their perfect pictures. We did it, they
all cried together, hugging on a cloud. The blanket twirled happily.
I faced my fear and I found out I'm brave.
Thank you, friends. I never thought a blanket and some
children could become friends were so different. Real friends, said
sky with a smile, can be as different as they like.
What counts is the heart, not the checkers. They came down,
jumping from one cloud to the next, and Poldo and
Sophia welcomed them with big purs. Just then they heard
the familiar whistle, chew chew. Toby the magic train had
come back for them. He whistled happily and spoke in rhyme.
The stars are shining, each one in its place. The
fear is gone, and joy is on your face. Being
brave is not to have no fear at all. It's
trying anyway, and Yu'll stand tall. The children climbed aboard
waved good bye to the flying Blanket with their hands,
and the blanket waved back with all four corners. The
train drifted down slowly through the clouds and brought them
back to the garden, where the playful little breeze was
still blowing, but now it seemed like just a playful friend.
That evening, before going to sleep, the children looked at
the sky from their window. The stars made their pictures,
the little bear, the spoon, the butterfly, the shooting star,
and in the middle, for a moment they saw a
checkered shadow flit by flying light. It was the flying Blanket,
tucking in the stars without any fear any more.