Letter to the Moon
Little Bunny Lili lived with her grandmother in a big carrot-shaped house with a skylight. At night, when the stars blinked in the sky, Lili would cuddle up in her grandmother’s arms and beg for a story.
“What story would you like to hear tonight?” Grandma asked lovingly.
Lili gazed at the twinkling stars outside, thinking to herself, The stars are so far away. Even if I stood on a stool and stretched out my arms, I still couldn’t reach them! Has Mama also gone to a place far, far away? She tilted her little head and perked up her long ears, then shouted, “Grandma, I want to hear a story about Mama!”
Grandma hugged Lili tighter, as if afraid she might catch a chill. Gently patting Lili’s back, she said, “Your Mama, with wings as light and delicate as a dragonfly’s, flew away one full moon night. She shook her wings gently, and by accident, she flew off…”
Hearing that her Mama flew away like a dragonfly, Lili burst into tears, becoming a little ball of sorrow.
“My dear child, don’t cry!” Grandma wiped away Lili’s tears with a small handkerchief and continued, “She flew and flew, and finally reached the moon. You know, going to the moon is the dream of every bunny. There’s a sweet-scented osmanthus tree there, and your Mama thought to herself, I want to bring some osmanthus blossoms back to decorate Lili’s blue dress… So she stood quietly under the osmanthus tree, waiting for the flowers to fall. You see, one day in the heavens is three years on Earth. One blossom, two blossoms, three blossoms… Finally, the osmanthus flowers swirled down from the branches. Mama quickly caught them in her big skirt, overjoyed. But she forgot that as the flowers were falling, winter had already arrived. The Milky Way had frozen over, and the oars couldn’t row through the ice. So, Mama had to wait, wait for the ice and snow to melt…”
“Then… isn’t Mama cold?” Lili asked, blinking her eyes, worried.
“No, your Mama is a green bunny. She ate the green grass, and her fur became green, just like a warm coat.”
“Oh!” Lili finally felt reassured and murmured to herself, “Mama really is special…”
“My dear, it’s late now, time to sleep.” Grandma yawned and got up to turn off the light.
“Grandma,” Lili suddenly asked, “how can I go to the moon to find Mama?”
“Well…” Grandma was stumped by this question.
“Aha! I’ve got it!” Lili wriggled out of Grandma’s arms, took off her socks, and stood barefoot. She folded her sky-blue blanket into quarters, then climbed under it, leaving her head and long ears peeking out. She excitedly exclaimed, “Grandma, I folded the blanket into an envelope, so the mailman will deliver it to Mama tonight! If I sleep inside the envelope, I can hug Mama!”
“That’s right. A mailman named ‘Dream’ will take you to the moon, and under the osmanthus tree, you’ll see your Mama, who loves you very much. My sweet granddaughter, when you see her, tell her that today Lili picked 15 mushrooms and helped Grandma make mushroom soup.” Grandma’s eyes glistened with tears.
“Okay! Grandma, look! I’ve even put the ‘stamp’ on!” Lili straightened her perfectly folded pillow and blinked excitedly.
Grandma leaned down, kissed Lili, and hummed a lullaby. Before long, Lili drifted into a sweet dream. Look, she was smiling in her sleep—she must have smelled the fragrance of the osmanthus blossoms.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
