One night the Stars, slippery with rain, dropped the Moon into a puddle.

For a while the Moon lay happy. It looked up at the Stars and saw how beautiful they were. In all its years the Moon had never once looked up at the Stars, and so this was something new; something exciting.

The Stars were happy too. It hadn’t been easy keeping the heavy Moon in place night after night so now, as they looked at the puddle full of Moon, they smiled and drifted across the sky.

But puddles are wet and the floor is cold, colder than a sky full of Stars, and before long the Moon wanted to climb back up but found it could not for the puddle was deep and the Moon could not swim.

It sent moonbeams to ask the Stars to help but they were too far away and the day was coming.

The Moon had to stay where it was.

It stayed as a red dawn smiled across the sky, licking its lips.

It stayed as the horizon cracked to let the Sun shine through.

And it stayed as the day stretched and shook away sleep.

High in the sky, the Sun saw the Moon and wanted to play. But the puddle did not want the Moon to leave.

The Sun was strong and the sky was no longer slippery and soon the puddle was holding on so tightly that the Moon broke into a hundred thousand pieces and fell into the sky.

Then the Sun grew cold and the Sun grew bored and went to sink its teeth into trees. The Moon could not follow. It was spread too thin and felt too tired to pull itself together.

Alone, without the Stars without the puddle without the Sun, the Moon floated and spread until it became a cloud. A cloud made of Moon.

And when night came once more, the Stars gathered the cloud in their arms and made themselves a new Moon and held on tight.

This time, they thought, we will be more careful.

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The Clouds Are Made Of Moon was first published by The Pygmy Giant.