Once upon a time, there lived a very beautiful Princess called
Starlight who lived on a Planet called Cresta.
It was very much like the Planet we live on which we call Earth‘
Cresta had sunshine, snow and blue water, green trees and grass.
Some of its fruits and flowers were different, there were little boys
and girls living on Cresta, but they spoke differently to us, some of the
toys were strange but they still played games with them,
So to get back to our story:-Princess Starlight had a father, King
Mydad, who was very kind and wanted to grant any wish that his
lovely daughter made.
Now the Princess was very interested in going to another Planet,
the beautiful blue Planet, we call Earth, which she had seen when
looking through her magic ring.
This wonderful ring was made of pure crystal and was special
because when anyone looked into the crystal and thought about
something, an image of what that person thought showed in the ring.
The Princess had often seen the Earth with it's lovely trees, lakes
and mountains which came into view in her ring and had dreamed of
enjoying them.
King Mydad called his great and wise men together. They were
called the "Thinkers" and he told them of the Princess’ wish. One of
the wise men said.
"Soon it will he the Day of the Red Light, and on that day the
Princess will get her wish, it will last for one whole day."
The King was very pleased with this news and ran to tell his
daughter, who was playing in the garden with a small creature like a
young fawn which trotted off when she squealed and clapped her
hands with delight.
Starlight's father explained to her that when the, Day of the Red
Light came she would get her wish to visit the "Blue Planet."
The little girl knew it was a special day. this ˜Day of the Red Light˜
for everyone at the Palace talked about it and wondered what the
King would wish for as it only came once a year....
They all remembered the time, seven years ago, when he had
wished for a lovely baby girl....
Of course that was Starlight, so it was her birthday every year on
the Day of the Red Light.
The Princess knew that only the King was allowed a wish and
Starlight, being a very kind little girl, had asked her father why he
was giving her this lovely present, when she knew there were things he
and her mother the Queen really needed.
As they sat on the grass in the garden King Mydad told his
daughter that he and her mother, had decided to give her the wish as
a reward for being such a lovely child.
Not only to her family, but to everybody she knew.
The King had. thought of all the wishes he could make....
He knew he could do with a new crown as the old one kept slipping
over his eyes!... or his cook would have loved a new oven to bake all
the palace bread.... or the Queen would really enjoy a new carriage as
the old one squeaked, making her think there were mice in it!
But he and the Queen had decided to let their daughter have the
wish as a birthday present, so he now told her to be sure that it was
what she really really wanted, the Princess said yes, she had dreamed
of seeing the beautiful place.
Soon the Day of the Red Light arrived. This meant that the whole
Planet was bathed in sunlight which had turned a crimson colour. It
lasted one whole day only. And, as promised, the Princess was
whisked away to the beautiful blue and green planet Earth.
There she appeared at the side of a forest, it was early morning and
the sun had just come out and as it started to climb the sky, it shone
very brightly.
Starlight took a deep breath enjoying all the lovely sweet smells of
the summer and looked around.

"What a lovely place to live" she murmured to herself.
Suddenly she saw a small creature (it was a rabbit) sitting looking
at her,
"Oh" said the rabbit. "What an odd thing to do, just appear,
very odd, must make a note ."
He pulled out a small note book and felt in the pockets of his little
waistcoat for a pencil.
He looked at Starlight and asked. "Do you have a pen or something,
Ooh! not to bother, I've found one," he said showing a small pencil to
the Princess and he started to write in his little book, completely
forgetting the excited Princess.
"Very odd!" he wrote and then.... "Little girl appears." He closed
the book and put it in his pocket.
Now, all the while, Starlight had been walking this way and that
just looking at the country-side.
She suddenly realised that she understood the lovely strange
creature near her, and she thought it quite exciting although it was
natural to speak to animals on her planet Cresta, so nodding to
"Pinktoes" for that was the rabbit's name, she spoke very gently and
kindly to him.
"What is your name?" Pinktoes introduced himself, to Starlight,
while hopping from one foot to the other, she told him her name.
immediately he brought out his little note book again and wrote
down "Starlight".
Now Pinktoes, having made friends with the Princess and having
heard how the she got there, the young rabbit felt that he must let all
his friends know, it really did seem important so he took out his little
note book once again and wrote.
"To tell Silvertail, Bob Robin, Truly Glow-worm and Boo Beaver."
By the time Pinktoes was through with writing his list, Starlight
wanted to know what it was all about.
He brushed up his tail and with a twinkle in his eyes said.
"Ah - Uh" and " Shh, can't a chap think," then beckoned for the
Princess to follow him, which she did.
They came to a patch of green grass and Pinktoes asked the
Princess to sit while he told her about his friends.
Silvertail was a squirrel and a great friend of Pinktoes, for if ever
Silvertail forgot where he had hidden his nuts, the rabbit seemed to
know where they were....
Bob Robin was a small bird, a Robin red breast and also a friend of
Pinktoes, with an eye for trouble and if any trouble came their way
Bob Robin would quickly warn his friends.
Truly Glow-worm was a very small worm as glow worms go, very,
very shy, but a good friend also and he helped by glowing when ever
he got excited, his little tail would light up so brightly.....
Boo Beaver also came onto the list as a pal of Pinktoes, he lived
near the water, he could not, make his tail light up like Truly's but he
could thump it on the ground and be heard by all his forest friends.
The first friend they both met was Bob Robin, who flew around
Starlight and with much twittering, perched upon her shoulder, not a
bit afraid as he chirped and called to Rabbit.

Starlight was no ordinary child and she could understand the words
that were being spoken.
Bob Robin called again and this time Pinktoes stopped, hit his tail
on the ground three times then turned his head to one side and said in
a loud voice.
"I do declare Bob Robin is there...", he was very proud that he
could make the words rhyme.
"Rabbit, where are you going? Please introduce me to this lovely
young lady. Bob Robin chirped, looking at the Princess,
Pinktoes hopped back one step, wriggled all over, and said:
"It's my honour, and pleasure, to introduce to you Princess
Starlight from the Planet Cresta."

"Oh!" Bob Robin replied, very impressed and flew up again
fluttering his wings, which was his way to say "Hello" to the little
girl.
This thrilled Starlight, and she greeted him with a little curtsey,
and then the Robin, the Rabbit and the Princess decided they must do
something with this lovely day.
Just as they were thinking of going for a Picnic, up came Silvertail
calling.
"Look at me, look at me! I'm hiding nuts in an old willow tree."
Then he stopped surprised to see his friends with their lovely visitor.
He didn't know whether to show himself or not, but decided his
friends were there, so he bravely came forward.
"Silvertail, meet our new friend Princess Starlight. We're all going
across the river to Down Glen. where we can have a lovely picnic and
enjoy the day," said Pinktoes.
Silvertail the squirrel sat back on his haunches lifted his front paws
up and rubbed his nose then bringing his small paws to his mouth,
looked at Princess Starlight and suddenly rushed off, soon to return
with some nuts, which he dropped in front of her.
The little girl, bending, down picked them up.
"Are they for me?" she asked Silvertail gently, bashfully he nodded
his head, Starlight thanked the little squirrel, as Pinktoes and Bob
Robin just looked on quite surprised at their friends actions.
"Come along Silvertail" said the rabbit as Bob Robin flew ahead of
them, they soon came to the side of a river, but there was no bridge,
the Princess wondered how they would get across.

"Oh, that is quite easy for me," sang Bob Robin fluttering across
onto a branch of a tree, where he sat proudly with his head on one
side.
Rabbit suddenly put his paw to his ear, and said "Is that Boo
Beaver l can hear singing?" as the others all sat wondering how to
get over to the other side to join him.
Boo Beaver, not noticing the friends, cheerfully sang as he worked
on his latest dam:
"With a kick and a push and a nudge, nudge, nudge,
I roll the logs all day,
With a kick and a push and a nudge, nudge, nudge
Boo Beaver clears the way,"
And with each word kick, or push or nudge he did this to his work.
The friends called to the Beaver who came quickly to see what had
happened, when they explained to Boo.
He said "No problem, my friends" and taking a branch quickly
chewed three pieces of the same length.
Bob Robin seeing what was happening flew across with a piece of
reed and this started Silvertail and Pinktoes into helping.
A small raft was soon tied together and they were all able to cross
the river, Bob Robin flying along with them. Soon they reached Down
Glen.
By this time Starlight felt it would be nice to rest and gazing in
front of her, she saw a lovely view of green grass, small pretty flowers
and trees, with mountains beyond them.
Just as she had seen in her crystal ring!
Oh it really was worth coming to Earth too meet all these friendly
animals and see such a beautiful place. What a story to tell her
father!
Pinktoes the Rabbit had a private store of food and along with the
nuts that Silvertail had given to the Princess there was enough for a
picnic..... Bob Robin remembered where he had noticed a piece of
paper big enough for a cloth and with Silvertail helping they soon had
it spread out and the meal all arranged.
While they were all enjoying the titbits, Princess Starlight pointed
to a small glow of light on the ground.

Boo Beaver peered through his glasses and said "Hm' Yes, I
thought so Truly Glow-worm, he always lights up like that when he
gets excited, and Truly always gets exited when there's food around,"
ended Boo Beaver in his deep voice.
"Hi Truly," said Pinktoes "Meet our new friend Starlight"
"Hello" said the little girl smiling at Truly.
Now all the friends were together and such a lovely picnic, Boo
Beaver brought some wood for a fire soon the whole place was alive
with shouts of laughter and singing.
But as the time passed, so the sun started to show a rosy hue, it was
time for Starlight to go, so with slight sadness in her voice, she said
goodbye to her friends.
King Mydad wished his daughter back and so Princess Starlight
left earth and to this day the four friends in the wood still talk of the
Special Picnic and Princess Starlight.

Ann Pettersen 1994.