Interesting3 to 6 years old500 to 1000 wordsEnglish
Story Content
Once upon a time, in a cozy little meadow filled with sparkly flowers, lived a tiny firefly named Flicker.
Flicker loved to zoom around at night, blinking his little light for everyone to see!
He’d zip past the grumpy old owl, the sleepy snails, and even the busy little ants carrying crumbs.
But one night, Flicker woke up, and his light... was GONE!
He tried to blink, he tried to wiggle, but nothing! No light!
"Oh no! What am I going to do?" Flicker cried, his voice a tiny whisper in the big, dark meadow.
He flew down to a big, bluebell flower and asked, "Bluebell, have you seen my light? It's gone!"
The bluebell gently swayed. "Maybe the moon has it, Flicker. The moon likes shiny things!"
So, Flicker zoomed up, up, UP into the sky, towards the bright, round moon.
"Mr. Moon! Mr. Moon! Have you seen my light? I can't find it anywhere!"
The moon chuckled, a big, round, friendly chuckle. "Your light? Oh, I haven't seen it, little firefly.
"But look, the stars are twinkly tonight! Maybe one of them has borrowed it by mistake!"
Flicker felt a little bit sad, but he bravely flew towards the sparkly stars.
"Excuse me, Starry Stars!" he called out. "Has anyone seen my light? I've lost it!"
The stars twinkled and shimmered. "Your light, little one? Hmm... Maybe Mrs. Spider has seen it. She has lots of webs and she likes collecting shiny things!"
Flicker was getting tired, but he didn't give up. He flew all the way back down to the meadow and found Mrs. Spider spinning a web.
"Mrs. Spider, Mrs. Spider, have you seen my light? It's disappeared!"
Mrs. Spider stopped spinning for a moment and looked at Flicker with her eight tiny eyes.
"Your light? Oh, dear! I haven't seen it. But I do hear the wind whispering about a sleeping flower near the pond... Perhaps your light is resting there."
Flicker was almost ready to give up, but then he remembered his mommy's words: 'Always keep searching!'
He flew towards the pond, and there, nestled in a cozy water lily, was a very sleepy daisy.
Flicker gently tapped the daisy petal. "Excuse me, Daisy? Are you resting on something...shiny?"
The daisy slowly opened her petals, and right in the center... was Flicker's light!
It wasn't really *inside* the daisy, it was reflecting on a tiny drop of dew on her petals!
The dewdrop caught the light from a faraway window and made the daisy look like it was shining.
"Oh! There it is!" Flicker shouted with joy.
Flicker quickly flew around and his little light came back. It was never gone, he just couldn't see it well!
He blinked brightly and happily danced in the meadow.
From then on, Flicker always remembered to look around very carefully, because sometimes the best things are hiding in plain sight!