Bani and the Moon That Lost Its Smile

In a very cosy home lived a French bulldog named Bani. He was small and sturdy, with enormous ears and a very serious face. But everyone who knew him understood that a true explorer was hiding behind that serious expression.

More than anything, Bani loved three things: good food, walks, and finding adventures in places where nobody else noticed them.

One evening Bani was getting ready for bed. He turned around on his pillow three times, sighed twice — “Oof…” — and was just closing his eyes when he noticed something strange. The Moon was shining outside, but tonight she was not smiling at all.

Usually the Moon was round, bright and cheerful. Now she looked pale, as if someone had taken away her good mood. Bani walked to the window. “Woof?” The Moon blinked softly, and a tiny silver envelope suddenly fell from the sky — plop! — right onto the windowsill.

Inside it said: “Help! I have lost my smile. Without it, all the good dreams will soon go dark. Moon.” Bani frowned. Good dreams had to be saved. He put on his little yellow backpack, packed a biscuit, a torch and one banana — because you never know when a rescue mission might make you hungry — and went outside.

The night was not scary at all. Streetlights hummed, trees whispered with their leaves and the stars showed Bani the way. Soon he reached the edge of town and entered the Forest of Sleepy Bells. Tiny bell-shaped flowers hung from every branch. “Ding… dong… ting…” Each one played a quiet lullaby as he passed.

Then Bani heard, “Oh dear!” A tiny firefly appeared in the grass. He had wanted to fly to the Moon, but his light had gone out. Bani took out his torch and lit the way for him. “Thank you! I’ll show you a shortcut,” said the happy firefly.

The shortcut led to a huge mountain with a staircase made of clouds. Bani looked up. Very high. He looked at his short legs, then up again. “Oof…” Still, he climbed. Step one. Step two. Ten. Twenty. At step thirty-five he ate half his biscuit, at forty the other half, and by fifty he had decided staircases were simply designed too long.

At last he reached a cloud and found the Moon Palace. At its gates sat an enormous shaggy guard dog. Long charcoal-and-cream fur made him look like a soft mountain, while two kind brown eyes watched from beneath his fringe. “Who goes there? I am the Guardian of the Moon! Nobody passes!” Then the Guardian’s stomach growled: “GRR-R-R!”

Bani slowly opened his backpack. His last banana was inside. Bani loved bananas. Very much. He looked at the banana, then at the Guardian, then at the banana again — and held it out. “For… me?” the Guardian asked. Bani nodded. “Nobody has ever shared their last banana with me,” the Guardian said, and opened the gates.

In the middle of the palace sat the Moon, enormous, silver and terribly sad. “Bani, the Wind of Forgetting stole my smile and hid it somewhere on Earth. I cannot find it.” Bani thought hard. How do you find a smile? He looked at the stars, the clouds and the Moon, then asked, “Woof?” Meaning: “When did you smile last?”

The Moon remembered seeing a child gently tuck a blanket around a favourite toy the night before. And Bani understood: the Moon’s smile was not an object at all. You could not lock it in a box. A real smile appears when something kind happens.

The Guardian told the Moon that Bani had given away his very last banana. The Moon looked at Bani, at the Guardian and at the empty backpack. The corners of her mouth lifted — a little at first, then more — until she laughed. Silver light flashed, the stars spun, and children all around the world began dreaming the kindest dreams.

The Moon offered Bani one wish. He could have asked for a mountain of biscuits, a million toys or a sofa as big as a room. Instead he wished that his friends would always have good dreams. “Granted,” smiled the Moon.

A cloud carried Bani gently home. He climbed onto his pillow and looked outside. The Moon winked. Bani tried to wink back, but both his eyes closed at once. A few seconds later he was fast asleep. Above the house a tiny moon bell rang: “Ding…” It meant: “Good night, Bani. Until the next adventure.”