In a beautiful wooden house, upstairs in the attic in the childrens room, a little boy was sleeping. His hair was as brown as chestnuts and his eyes as blue as a well. He was a good boy, but every night he was scared. He was afraid of the dark and the sounds that came from the attic. He was even afraid of the sound of the brook that was near their house. That’s why no one called him anything but “Scaredy”. He was afraid of everything.
Every evening, when it was dark, he would lie down in his bed. He covered himself with a blanket over his head so he could hide and not hear anything. He wished to sleep as soon as possible. “Let it be morning, let it be morning.” He whispered softly to himself every night under the covers.
Once he was lying curled up like this trying to sleep, something happened that he didn’t expect. Someone knocked on his duvet. “Boy, don’t hide. We want to show you something.” There was a soft voice. Slowly Scaredy uncovered the blanket and couldn’t believe what he saw. Little men were flying above his crib. They had flashlights in their hands and were lighting up his entire room. Their glow was so strong that it was like daylight in his room. They fluttered their little colored wings and flew around Scaredy. “Who are you?” He asked. The little men explained everything to him. “We are night elves. We help children not to be afraid. So they’ll never be afraid again. We’ll prove it to you. Follow us.”
They each took one end of the blanket, picked it up and carried it away. Then they gently pulled Scaredy by his pyjamas and showed him where to go. They led him to the stairs to the attic. They opened the trapdoor and pushed him up. “See, you have nothing to worry about. Take a good look around. You’ll find there’s nothing scary here. Just a cat running around now and then, but otherwise nothing.” They showed him the whole ground and assured him that it was only the darkness he was afraid of. And the darkness does nothing. It just looks scary. Then they took him to the creek. They shined the light all around and showed him it was just water. It’s nothing to be afraid of. It just murmurs, but that’s all.
Then they took him back to his crib, covered him with a blanket and said, “Let us show you something.” And they turned off all their lights. “See? It’s just dark. Yes it looks scary, but it doesn’t do anything. Trust us, you don’t have to be afraid. It’s just darkness. Boy, be brave and strong. We believe you’ll make it through this and you won’t be afraid anymore. We’ve shown you that you have nothing to fear. Besides, we’ll be close. You can call us if you need anything. We’ll give you something before we leave. To give you courage. As long as you trust in us and in magic, you’ll be fine.” The elves put a small flashlight in Scaredy’s hand. So he wouldn’t forget them. Then they said goodbye, shone the light on him one last time, and flew away. The boy fell asleep contentedly.
When he woke up in the morning, he didn’t know if he was dreaming. He sat on his bed and just smiled, because he hadn’t had such a good dream for a long time. Then he reached into his pyjama pocket and found a flashlight. His heart leapt for joy. He knew it wasn’t just a dream. From then on, not only was he no longer afraid of the dark. He knew the dark was nothing. But he also believed in magic powers and night elves to help him. And even though he was an adult, his flashlight was still on because he didn’t want to forget his friends, night elves . Any of us can believe in magic. Maybe it can help us be brave sometimes.
