Some children are just like the dingo in this story. They are the eternal optimists and will always bring light and hope to dark places. They are wonderful children and are kind and helpful to others.
A long time ago when the earth was formed, it was in complete darkness. All of the animals were in a deep sleep waiting for the dawning of the first day. When the earth sun was ready, he travelled a long way to take his place in the sky. As Sun neared the earth, morning appeared with a gentle light spreading across the landscape, waking all of the animals from their dreamtime. The animals saw their country for the first time and it was magnificent.
With great excitement, the animals explored the landscape and saw the forests, mountains and rivers. At the end of the first day, Sun was tired and wanted to go to sleep. Sun warned the animals that his light would soon fade and would not return until the morning. All the animals scurried back to their homes for fear of getting lost in the dark. As Sun set, the earth once again fell into complete darkness. On the second day, the animals asked Sun if he could keep some light in the sky during the night, but Sun said he needed his sleep, otherwise he would not be able to warm the day and help the earth to grow. The animals tried to make sure no one was ever left alone in the darkness.
Meanwhile, far away in the outer heavens, all the moons were getting ready to take their place in the universe. The earth moon was very shy and nervous. When it was time for her to travel to earth, she panicked and lost her way. Moon found herself in a distant dark galaxy all alone. Moon was scared and started to cry. It was so cold that her tears turned into ice crystals. The ice quickly surrounded Moon, trapping her. The more she sobbed, the thicker the ice wall became. No one could hear Moon’s cries.
Back on earth, the animals loved their days roaming around country but still feared the darkness at nighttime. In the forest lived a large family of dingoes with lots of pups. One little dingo loved visiting and playing with all the animals and often travelled far from home chasing geckoes. Everyone loved Little Dingo, even the geckoes. Little Dingo knew where everyone lived and was always helping gather the little ones and get them safely back to their homes before dark.
One day Little Dingo was helping a baby wombat return to his den at sunset. Wombat was too heavy for Little Dingo to carry and Wombat walked so slowly that it took ages to reach his family. This left Little Dingo too far away from his own home when the darkness came. As the light faded, Little Dingo desperately tried to run home. Poor Little Dingo, he just could not find his way in the dark and could not even see where to shelter for the long night ahead. Little Dingo ran around frantically but he kept tripping over and bumping into things. He ended up falling into a deep crevice in the mountain. Little Dingo knew no one would be able to come looking for him until the morning. He was so scared he started to howl. He howled and howled and howled long into the night. His call echoed through the mountains and was amplified across the universe. His cry pierced the outer heavens and shattered the ice wall of tears holding Moon. Moon was finally free.
Moon could hear Little Dingo’s howl and she knew in her heart she had to follow his voice. She no longer had to find her way across the universe on her own, she had Little Dingo guiding her to her rightful place above the earth. The shattered ice crystals slowly fell across the darkness to form stars along the path left by Moon in her hurried escape. As Moon arrived at the earth, a gentle glow surrounded Little Dingo. Little Dingo looked up in surprise to see a beautiful new moon smiling down at him, shrouded in a glittering night sky.
‘You found me and rescued me,’ said Moon gratefully.
‘And you found me and rescued me!’ said Little Dingo with great relief.
Moon gently laid down some moon dust to help Little Dingo climb out of the crevice and gave him a moonbeam to help him light the path on his way home.
All of the animals were overjoyed with Little Dingo’s return and praised him for bringing light into the darkness. In celebration, all the dingoes got together that night and sang a welcome song to Moon and her stars.
Every evening Little Dingo would sing to Moon so she never felt scared or alone again. And every night Moon would light Little Dingo’s path so he could always find his way home in the darkness—but Dingo kept his moonbeam close by just in case.