The little unicorn and the evening glow

Posy was a little white unicorn with a horn no longer than a finger. Every evening, at the edge of the meadow, her horn lit up all by itself with a soft glow like a candle. But tonight it stayed dark. Posy had jumped too much, run too much, nibbled too much clover, and she wasn't sleepy at all.

"Oh well," she said. "I'll go and say goodnight to everybody." And off she went on tiptoe hooves, clip, clop, clip, clop, through the damp grass.

By the pond, the frog was yawning on his lily pad. "Goodnight, frog," Posy whispered. "Ribbit," said the frog, and he closed his eyes. At the tip of Posy's horn, a little blue dot appeared, no bigger than a firefly.

Under the old oak tree, the hedgehog was sleeping in a ball. "Goodnight, hedgehog." Pfff, went the hedgehog in his sleep, and his prickles lifted a little, then settled again. The dot of light grew.

At the far end of the meadow, two bunnies were snuggled together at the back of their burrow. Posy didn't want to wake them. She breathed a tiny "goodnight" into the entrance, and the light on her horn turned yellow, like butter.

After that, there was nobody left to visit. The moon rose behind the hill, round and pale. Posy opened her mouth wide and let out an enormous yawn, aaaah. Her horn was glowing now like a little lamp.

Mummy Unicorn was waiting outside the stable, her own horn lit too. Posy lay down in the straw with her head against Mummy's warm side. Clip, clop... and then no more clop.

The light on her horn dimmed slowly, like a candle being carried away. First it was yellow, then blue, then just a dot. Out in the meadow there was one more faraway ribbit, a hedgehog's pfff, and Mummy's breathing, long and even. Posy was asleep.