The Seahorse and the Thread of Moonlight

In the cove where the water stayed clear even at night, there lived Cico, a small and curious seahorse.

He had a thin tail, attentive eyes, and a favourite place between two green seaweeds. From there he watched the Moon mirror herself on the sea. Every evening her reflection came down onto the water like a silver road.

One night, however, the Moon dropped a thread.

It was not a whole beam. It was a thin shining thread, floating among the waves without getting wet.

Cico touched it with his tail. The thread trembled and stayed lightly attached, like a promise.

Just then he heard crying.

It was Lalla, a little sardine, separated from her school. She turned among the rocks without finding the right passage.

“I can’t see the way anymore,” she said.

Cico would have liked to take her home at once, but the sardines moved quickly and he was not a strong swimmer.

Then he looked at the thread of moonlight.

“I will go with you as far as I can.”

He tied one end of the thread to a seaweed and held the other with his tail. The thread shone in the water, marking a clear path.

Lalla swam slowly, following it. Every now and then she grew afraid of a shadow and stopped.

“I am here,” said Cico. “Look at the thread.”

They crossed a little cave, passed a rock shaped like a turtle, and reached the warm current where the sardines usually passed.

Lalla saw her school.

“Come with me!” she said.

Cico smiled. “I cannot swim as you do. But I do not need to. The thread has brought you back to the place where you can go on by yourself.”

Lalla reached the group. Before disappearing among the silver scales, she turned.

“Thank you, my friend.”

The thread of moonlight dissolved and returned to the sky.

Cico stayed among the seaweeds, happy and a little tired. He had understood that a friend does not have to become the road forever.

Sometimes it is enough to be light for one stretch of the journey.